1 1 0 D O C . 1 2 8 O C T O B E R 1 9 1 9 the best possible health. On the other hand, I must not be presumptuous you will, of course, discuss everything thoroughly with your doctor. And it is certain that when you come here, you will be heartily welcomed by us all. I understand very well that you do not wish to leave Germany under present cir- cumstances and want to remain loyal to your friends and colleagues in Berlin (as long as your staying there over the longer term does not become an impossibil- ity) [7] I had expected that of you. Nevertheless, I do regret from the bottom of my heart that besides the general misery, of which you will have your share to bear, you also have such grievous worries. There is your mother’s illness and the problems you are encountering in your disclosure attempts.[8] I very much hope that your working energy is not being taxed too much by these latter efforts. With warm regards, also from my wife, yours truly, H. A. Lorentz. 128. From Robert Forsch[1] Berlin W.50, 36 Schaper St., 8 October 1919 Highly esteemed Professor, Please forgive a layman for the following direct request. From short essays in the dailies and elsewhere I cannot, with the best of inten- tions, gain a clear picture of your doctrine of relativity [2] bookshops just offer a se- lection from which it is impossible for me to pick one that gives an introduction to the unfamiliar world of the new conceptual approach. Since it is important to me, despite my profession—I am an actor—to have the most complete view possible of the world, as far as it is accessible to the modern human mind, the arts giving only the blossom of the tree whose roots disappear down into the depths of the earth, I seek to find in science what satisfies my desire for knowledge and is accessible to my faculties. I therefore ask you most respectfully please to refer me to the guide that will point out the beginning of the path, which I can then, once I am on it, follow further down more easily than if I had to find the start without a signpost, arduously and by chance. I do not want to wander off down the wrong path and into a thicket with my very first few steps. I thank you most obligingly for your kind effort and beg you to forgive this direct disturbance and intrusion on your time but he who by nature has been given in his soul a thirst for truth has—this is my belief—the duty to let this part of his being also live to the fullest. With reverential admiration, I am devotedly, Robert Forsch.