DOCS.
523,
524
APRIL
1918 543
seen
that
through
a
rotation
around
b1
(in
Rn)
the
n-bein
can
be
brought
back
to its
initial
position
b1
b2....bn
+
+...+,
if
n
is
odd,
otherwise
not,
however.
It
thus
applies
in
the
three-dimensional
case,
just
as
in
the
immediately
clear 1-dimensional
case.
That the
mirror
image
results
in
the
two-dimensional
case
is likewise
immediately
clear.-This,
as
it
seems
to
me,
is
evidently
the
crux
of
the
matter. Am I not
right
with
this consideration?-
By
the
way,
in
a
wonderful book
on
general relativity,
which
is appearing
in
the
near
future,[3] Weyl
arrives at
the
result
that
the
elliptic
type
must
apply,
because
the static
solutions to
the
equations automatically
reveal
that
spherical
[zentrische]
symmetry.
I
find, though,
that
he
is mistaken.[4]
It
seems
the
question
must remain
open.
In
great
respect, yours truly,
A.
Einstein.
524. From David Hilbert
[Göttingen,
27 April
1918]
Dear
Colleague,
Your earlier kind
letter[1]
pleased
me
very much;
I wanted to
reply
to
you
more
completely
and
thus
did
not
get
to
it
at
all until
now.
Ehrenfest’s
negative
response
did arrive
properly
and
was
read
immediately
by my
wife
while
I
was
still in Bucharest. Neither she
nor
I
took
E’s
honesty badly,
though.[2]
I
shall
answer
your
last
letter,
which
I just
received,
in the
next
day or so,
because
I
would
like to
discuss
the
matter with
some
of
my
friends here beforehand.
It
goes
without
saying
that
the
ideas
in
your
letter
are a
most
appealing
stimulus
to
me.-[3]
The
most welcome
news
is
that
your
health
is
so
much
better.
Even
I,
many years your
senior,[4]
still wish
or
hope
to
live
to
see
sensible
times,
and
for
this health
above all
is
necessary,
of
course;
one
must
therefore
think
of
guarding
it
more
than
before.
With best
regards, yours,
Hilbert.
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