DOCS.
506,
507
APRIL
1918 529
infinite.[1]
Now H.
Weyl
has
actually
shown,
though,
in
a forthcoming
book[2]
that
your
continuum
can
be
understood
as
the
limiting
case
of
a
fluid
distributed
around
an
“equator.”[3]
The calculation
is
very simple.
It thus
really
does involve
a
surfacelike
singularity
which
is
completely analogous
to
that
of
a
mass-point.[4]
With best
regards, yours,
A.
Einstein.
Best
regards
to
Ehrenfest,
to
whom
I
shall
reply shortly.
507. To
Hermann
Weyl
[Berlin,]
15
April
1918
Dear
Colleague,
I
presented your paper
on Thursday[1]
but
did
not
yet
submit it for
print-
ing,
because
I
wanted
to
wait still for
your
short
abstract
(6-8 lines).
But
you
apparently
did not receive
the
postcard I
sent
you
requesting
it
in
time.[2] I
am
definitely
handing
in
the
paper
on
Thursday
and shall write
a
short
abstract
to
it
myself.
You
can
then
replace
it with
another
one more
to
your liking
at
the
correction
stage.
As
pretty
as your
idea
is,
I
must
frankly
say
that
in
my
opinion
it
is
out
of
the
question
that the
theory
corresponded
to
nature.[3]
For,
the
ds itself has
real
meaning.[4]
Imagine
two
clocks
running equally
fast at rest relative
to
each
other. If
they
are
separated
from each
other,
moved
in
any way you
like
and then
brought together
again,
they will
again run
equally
(fast),
i.e.,
their
relative rates
do not
depend
on
their
prehistories.
I
imagine
two
points
P1
&
P2
that
can
be
con-
nected
by
a
timelike
line. The timelike elements
ds1
and
ds2
linked
to
P1
&
P2
can
then
be
con-
nected
by
a
number of timelike lines
upon
which
they
are
lying.[5]
Clocks
travelling along
these lines
give a
fixed
relation
ds1
:
ds2
independent
of
which
connecting
line
is
chosen.-If
the
relation between
ds and
the
measuring-rod
and
clock
measurements
is
dropped,
the
theory
of
rel. loses
its
empirical
ba-
sis
altogether.
Best
regards, yours,
Einstein.
ds
'
i
t
dsyI/'p,
I
\
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