along
a
gay,
light
little heart and
a
fresh head. You
never
had such
a
marvelous trip, this I
already
can
promise
you,
even
if it rains
cats
and dogs. As
soon as
I
get
a
definitive report
from
Winterthur,
I'll write
you
immediately,
so
that
you
can
determine
the
day and
hour
when I
may
wait for
you.
At
present
I
am
again
studying
Boltzmann's
theory
of
gases.
Everything
is
very
nice,
but there is too little stress
on
the
comparison with
reality.
I
think,
however, that O. E. Meyer has
enough empirical material for
our
investigation. If
you
once
go
to
the
library,
you may
check it. But
this
can
wait until
my
return to
Switzerland. In
general,
I
think that
the
book
deserves to be studied
more
carefully.
It occurred to
me
recently that when
light
is generated, direct
conversion of motional
energy
to
light
may
take
place
because
of the
parallelism
kinetic
energy
of the molecules
-
absolute
temperature
-
spectrum
(radiating
space
energy
in the state of
equilibrium).
Who
knows when
a
tunnel will be dug
through
these hard mountains!
I
am
very
curious whether
our
conservative molecular forces will hold good
for
gases
as
well. If here
too
the mathematically
so
unclear concept
of molecular size does not manifest itself in the
formation
of the
trajectories
of molecules coming close
to each
other,
but the molecule
can
be conceived
as
center of force.
We
shall
get
quite
a
precise
test of
our
view.
Hearty
kisses
from
your
Johonzel
103.
FROM
MILEVA MARIC
[Zurich,
2 May
1901]
My
dear
Johannzel!
Yesterday
I sent
you
the assent to
our
trip,
and
I
was
looking
forward to
it
so
much,
but don't be
angry
with
me
if I cancel it
today. I got
a
letter from home today that robs
me
of all desire, not
only for
having
a
good
time
but for life itself. But don't let that
disturb
you,
and take the
trip alone, since
you
have looked forward to
it for
so
long,
we
will
perhaps
do
something
together
later
on.
I
will lock
myself
in and work hard, because it
seems
that I cannot have
anything else without
punishment;
but I also don't need
anything
and
will get
as
used to this
as
the Gypsy [to] his horse. It doesn't
matter,
now
good-bye, sweetheart,
be cheerful and
if
you
find
lovely
flowers,
bring
me a
few.
--
Greetings
and kisses from
your
Dockerl
104.
TO
ALFRED STERN
Milan,
3
May
1901
Highly
Esteemed Herr Professor!
If
you
by
chance
ever
happened
to think of
me, you
surely
considered
me
very
ungrateful
because I had left Zurich without
even
168