DOC.
604
AUGUST
1918 629
604. To Michele Besso
Ahrenshoop,
20 August
[1918][1]
from 23
August
back in
Berlin, 5
Haberland
St.
Dear
Michele,
Unless
you
put
the
wrong
date
on
it, your
letter
was en
route for
a
full
13
days;
I
received it
only yesterday. Unfortunately,
I
am
not
going
to be able
to
come
to Switzerland
so
soon,
so we are
unfortunately
probably
not
going
to be
able to
see
each
other
this time. The
following
has
happened
and
puts
me
in
an
awkward
predicament. Zangger
and
Edg[ar]
Meyer
offered
me a teaching position
at
the
Univ. &
Poly[technic]
in
Zurich,[2]
and
I
really
cannot
split
myself
in two.
In
Berlin, everything
conceivable
is
being layed
at
my
feet
...
I
want
to
sink
into the
ground
with
shame.
(How
happy
I
would have been
18
years ago
with
a
measly
assistantship.[3] But
it’s how Heine
put
it
in
verse:
If
you
have
plenty,
[then by
and
by]
Much
more
shall
you
receive
besides
Look
up
this
exquisite
little
poem;
it’s
one
of
the
later
ones.)[4]
What
to do?
Days
of
dark
brooding
lie behind
me.
Proof:
I
dreamed
I
had cut
my
throat
with
a
razor.
Well,
I
made
the
following
offer
to
Zangger
and
Meyer.
I
would
keep my
Berlin
position
but
would
come
to Zurich twice
a
year
for
4-6
weeks
each
time
and
give a
lecture
cycle
of
about
12
lectures.[5] As
compensation
for
it, I
would
just
take
my expenses
incurred
by
this
traveling.
With this
kind
of
offering
on
the
altar
of
my
hometown, I
am
relieved of
my oppressive feeling
and
may
perhaps
still be of
some
use,
without
having
to act
despicably
toward
my
Berlin friends
and
benefactors.
I’ll
endure
it
healthwise,
because
the
matter has
improved very
much,
thanks
to
the
great
amount of
care.
I
haven’t
had
any
more
attacks
for
over a
quarter
year.
But
I
absolutely
must
avoid
longer
stretches
by
foot
and
rapid
movements
and
generally
only
eat
according
to
a
diet.
I
have confidence
that
Weyl
not
only
is outstanding
but
also
is
a
very
de-
lightful
fellow
personally
as
well. I’ll
not
forgo any
opportunity
to meet him.
He will
come
out of
the
relativistic dead end
again,
all
right.
His
theoretical
endeavor does not
agree
with
the
fact
that
two
originally congruent rigid
bodies
also
remain
congruent,
regardless
of what destinies
they follow.[6]
In
particular,
it is
inconsequential
what
value
is
attributable
to
the
integral
ƒ
-pvdxv
of
their
world
lines.[7]
Otherwise,
sodium atoms and electrons would have to exist in all
sizes.
But
if
the
relative
size
of
rigid
bodies
is
independent
of
their
prehistories,
then there
is
a
measurable distance between two
(neighboring) space-time
points.
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