l x x x I N T R O D U C T I O N T O V O L U M E 1 4 General Hindenburg as German president. He noted that this turn of events led the Uruguayans to poke fun at the Germans: “The nation that has had cleverness beaten out of it with a stick” (Doc. 455, entry of 3 May 1925). Einstein delivered three lectures on various contemporary topics in theoretical physics at the overcrowded Public Assembly Hall of the University of the Repub- lic, attended by thousands of people. Rector Elías Regules gave a festive reception in his honor, as did the College of Engineering and the Polytechnic Association. A banquet, hosted by the university at Hotel del Prado, was attended by the president of the Republic, Uruguayan ministers, high-ranking politicians, court officials, ac- ademics, and the German ambassador. By the day of his departure on 1 May, his nerves were “washed out.” He dreaded “mounting the trapeze” again like a circus monkey in Rio, where he arrived three days later. He was greeted by the rabbi and president of the Jewish community, Isa- iah Raffalovich and Isidoro Kohn, and a scientific welcoming committee. Einstein stayed at the upscale Hotel Glória (Doc. 455). By now, he felt like “a traveler in relativity” (Doc. 482) among people who “made a tropically sodden im- pression” (Doc. 455, entry of 4 May 1925). He toured Rio by automobile and took the cable car to Sugarloaf Mountain. A large reception was organized by the local Jewish associations, and he had audiences with Brazilian president Artur Ber- nardes, the education minister, and the city’s mayor, Alaor Prata Soares. His first public lecture on relativity was given at the Engineering Club and was attended by ambassadors, high-ranking military officers, ministers, the mayor, prominent engineers, and physicians (Appendix L). Apparently, the windows were left open and the street noise was deafening. Therefore, the lecture made “little sci- entific sense.” Einstein noted that he saw himself “as a kind of white elephant to others and they were monkeys to me.” He toured the National Museum of Brazil and attended a luncheon with physicians, scientists, and writers hosted by the En- gineering Club. Einstein was appointed a corresponding member at a special session of the Bra- zilian Academy of Sciences, where he delivered a lecture on the theory of light (Einstein 1926a [Doc. 485]). He complained about the long speeches, “such silli- ness and irrelevance,” attributing the volubility to the climate. He also visited the Oswaldo Cruz Institute of Tropical Diseases. He delivered a second public lecture at the Polytechnic School to a more select academic audience (Appendix N). A “cozy dinner” was held at the Club Germania and hosted by German ambassador Hubert Knipping. Einstein toured the National Observatory, where he met with as- tronomers who had participated in the Sobral eclipse expedition of 1919. In a speech at a reception hosted by the Jewish community at the Automobile Club, attended by over 2,000 people, Einstein stressed the importance of Jewish solidarity and of settlement in Palestine. But despite this overwhelming response