I N T R O D U C T I O N T O V O L U M E 1 4 l x x x i to his presence, Einstein was counting the days till his departure: “[…] irresistible desire for quiet away from the many unfamiliar people.” Another tour by car in the surroundings of Rio ensued and included the funicular ride up to Corcovado. He visited two rival Jewish institutions: the Zionist Center and the Scholem Aleichem Library and was named honorary president of the Jewish community (Doc. 486). The German ambassadors in the three countries Einstein visited sent highly fa- vorable reports back to Berlin. The German ambassador in Argentina reported that the visit was “successful in every way. The guest was given the warmest of recep- tion and a plethora of honors from all quarters unlike that bestowed on any scholar to date.” He believed that Einstein had “done more to advance interest in our culture and thereby also German prestige” than “any other scholar […]. One could not have found a better man to counter the inimical propaganda of lies and to demolish the fairy tale of German barbarianism.”[62] From Uruguay, the ambassador reported that Einstein’s reception “by the government, the academic authorities, the popu- lace, and the press […] has hardly been given to a scholar here previously.”[63] And the Brazilian ambassador stated that Einstein’s visit “without doubt benefited the German cause.”[64] The impact of Einstein’s tour on his host countries was multifaceted. In the clash among Argentinian philosophers between the positivists led by José Ingenieros and the anti-positivists headed by Coriolano Alberini, Einstein’s lecture on 4 April at the University of Buenos Aires (Appendix G) was viewed as supporting the anti- positivist stance.[65] His visit also stimulated the younger generation of Argentinian scientists.[66] In Uruguay too, Einstein’s visit was seen as a boost for the anti-pos- itivists. In the press, there were “critical references and refutations of the Theory of Relativity,” but also speculation on the degree to which his audiences actually com- prehended the contents of his lectures.[67] According to mechanics professor Amadeo Geille Castro, who took notes at Einstein’s lectures in Buenos Aires and served as his personal secretary in Montevideo, Einstein “was ignored by Argen- tine and Uruguay high society.” This has been attributed to the influence of the Catholic Church and the anti-Jewish sentiment that prevailed among both coun- tries’ elites.[68] In Brazil, Einstein’s visit “drew attention to a deep division in the ranks of Brazilian mathematicians between Comtean positivists […] and a younger generation […] which had mastered the new mathematical physics of Poincaré.” Soon after Einstein’s departure, a “fierce debate” on relativity and positivism broke out in the Academy of Sciences that “marked the end of positivism as a force in Brazilian science.”[69] On the day prior to his departure for Europe, Einstein visited the National Hospital for the Insane and the Brazilian Press Association, and viewed a film on General Cândido Rondon and his work with indigenous tribes. Following a fare- well dinner hosted by the German ambassador, Einstein wrote the final entry in his