434
DOC.
426
JANUARY
1918
joy.
I
am
very sorry
that
you
must
keep
to
your
bed,[2]
and
I
wish
with
all
my
heart that
you
will
be
completely
healthy
again
very
soon.
I
am
glad
that it
is
possible
for
you
to
do
something
on
behalf
of
the matter
of
such
importance
to
us,
despite your
sickness,
and
I
expect
the best
to
come
of
it.[3]
Thank
you
cordially
for
having
decided to do
so
at all.
I
hope
that
with
the
enclosed
separate letter[4] I have
complied
with
your
wishes.
I
consider it
very
commendable
to
ask
Eötvös,
since he
enjoys
great repute
among
domestic and
foreign geodesists
and
certainly
is
interested
in
the
filling
of
the
position.[5]
His
address
is
Baron Roland
Eötvös,
Roy.
University,
Budapest.
I
can
think
of
no one
else
whom
you
could contact
now.
It
would be desirable
that
a
pure geodete
be avoided for
the
Institute;
we
just
cannot function
without
geophysics
here,
no
matter
how
tenaciously pure
geodesists
from
the
polytechnics
cling
to the
designation
“Geodet. Inst.”[6]
Your kindness emboldens
me
to reveal to
you
a
secret
wish.
With the
change
in
directorship
now,
I
would
like to
become
department
head at
the
Institute,
in
order
to
secure
for
the future
as
well
the
greater
independence
I
had
already
had
as an
observer
under
Helmert,[7]
and in order to
ensure
that
my area
of
research
cannot be
taken
from
me.
As
a
matter of
fact,
I
already
direct
a
department;
I
direct the
Seismic
Service,
and all
practical
and
theoretical
research connected
with the
study
of
the Earth’s
elasticity
devolve
on
me.[8]
Added to
this
are
the
practical
researches
using
the
torsion balance.
I
have been
engaged
in
other
projects at
the
Institute
(rotation
of the
Earth),[9]
but the
ones
mentioned
are
entrusted
to
me officially.
Since I
am
not department
head
formally,
all
this
can
change
sometime.
A
department
head
position
will
certainly
become vacant with
the
change
in
directorship,
because
Krüger
will
either
become
director,
or
he
will
go
into
retirement.[10]
Since he
is currently department
head,
such
a
position
will
be
available in
any
case.
The
Ministry assigns
the
position, usually on
the
petition
of
the
director;
but
with
the
change,
the
Ministry
could also
take the initiative
itself.
I would
be
very
grateful
to
you
if
you
would assist
me
in
this
at
some
suitable
opportunity.
Thank
you
also for
the
kind
news
that
my
researches
are
being
valued.
With best
wishes for
your
health
and
cordial
regards,
I
am
yours very truly,
Schweydar.