DOCS.
514,
515
APRIL
1918 535
514. To
Heinrich
Zangger
[Berlin,]
22
April
1918
Dear friend
Zangger,
I
was
truly
dismayed
at
your
having
been
pestered
behind
my
back
by
Else
with the
milk affair.
I
had
strictly
forbidden her to do
so
and ask
you
never
to
listen
to
her
again.[1]
It
was
not
right
to trouble
you
with such
things
after
your misfortune,[2]
and
it
is
anyway very questionable
whether
it
is
objectively
justifiable
to
deprive
Switzerland of this
nutritive
foodstuff
now,
little
though
it
may be, especially
since I
am
otherwise
perfectly
well
supplied.[3]
Since
the
thing
is
done
now,
I
thank
you warmly;
I
would also
thank
Mr.
Forrer,[4]
but
I
daren’t,
considering
that
it
would
look
like
a
request
for
the
future. When
you
see
him,
though,
do
thank
him
modestly
on
my
behalf.
Your
misfortune,
combined with
the
painful
thought of
having
been unfair
to
you
as
well
in
what
I
had
said, wrings my
heart.-[5]
My
wife is
behaving very nicely
towards
me now.
We
are
negotiating
ev-
erything
(even
the
divorce
matter)
directly
with each
other,
and
a thoroughly
friendly
and
good
tone
has
developed
between
us.
I
see
that
I
did much
damage
earlier
with
my
vehemence and
severity.
But
all
will
be
well
and
everyone
will
be
satisfied.
The
horrifying goings
on
in
the
wide world
seem
to want to
continue
forever,
and all
superior
and finer
things,
to
go
into hibernation.
The attitude
of
my
personal contacts is
becoming increasingly
inflexible and
unpleasant.
Scientifically
there
is
little
news.
I
have
managed
to
explain
a
light edge
on
an
X-ray image very probably
as
total
reflection.
Thus
there
is
the
prospect
of
finding
out
the
refractive index
of
the
substances for
Roentgen rays,
which
is
very
interesting.-[6]
Presently I
am
reading
Rousseau’s
Confessions, a
wonderful
book
and-the Bible.
Heartfelt
greetings,
also
to
your sorely
afflicted
wife,
yours,
Einstein.
515. To
Mileva Einstein-Maric
[Berlin,]
23 April 1918
Dear
Mileva,
Thank
you very
much indeed
for
the
friendly
postcard
about the
children’s
good
state
of
health.
I
hope
Albert will write
me soon
also
about
how Tete
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