7 0 V O L U M E 8 , D O C U M E N T S 3 6 9 b , 3 7 0 a
Vol. 8, 369b. To Elsa Einstein
[Lucerne,] Tuesday. [7 August
1917][1]
Dear Else,
So, no express delivery, after all. That does not befit Asia’s sons and
daughters.[2]
Have no qualms about the apartment. I am not going to have to camp
on the street, never
fear.[3]
Rather, think about where we should
meet.[4]
Maybe
Thuringia would be suitable in September. Michele has
left.[5]
No one is ill-dis-
posed toward you, not even the
“friends.”[6]
Health good; I hope all of yours as
well.[7]
Kisses also to Margot from your
Albert.
Vol. 8, 370a. To Heinrich Zangger
Lucerne, Wednesday. [8 August
1917][1]
Dear friend Zangger,
Today I received your inquiry. Saturday to Monday I had a quite hefty attack.
First, discomfort with a barely localizable sensation of too much volume, then
gradually rising painful pressure, also difficult to localize but roughly in the area
you determined, accompanied by acidic belching. Then quite rapid but certainly
not sudden recovery. Now certainly not more sensitivity toward pressure than be-
fore the affair. Stool regular. Fever none. Mood always good, mind clear. As the
source I regard quite definitely a large amount of quite tart stewed apples, which I
ate around Friday and
Saturday.[2]
Who knows, Nicolai may well have been right, after all, to regard the gastric acid
as the primary
cause.[3]
It is possible, isn’t it, that this caused this mess, if more gets
into the intestine than it is able to neutralize. Would you consider this out of the
question?
Michele happened to be here during those
days.[4]
We were enjoying ourselves
very much together. The fact that it mostly rained and that on Sunday I couldn’t
leave my bed altered nothing. He is an eminently fine and good-willed person who
would be happy if he were capable of regarding his introspective, scarcely active
disposition as a kind of gift of nature instead of reproaching himself, and if he
weren’t harassed by his
wife.[5]
By upbringing she is a good person but she
completely lost her equanimity through an overdose of kindness and consideration,
perhaps also weakness, on his part. She ought to be separated from him at least for