DOCS.
121-123
OCTOBER
1908 87
you
have it
for the
lowest
possible price,
that
the
payment
was
understood
to
be
net,
payable
in cash.
Especially
since it will
take
quite
some
time for
the
rest to arrive, &
I
am making
out
an
invoice for this
alone
because
it
is
not
on
sale.
Respectfully,
for Rud.
Wyss
R. Bürki
122.
From Paul Habicht
Basel, 12
October
1908
Dear
A.
E.,
I
spent
this week in bed.
Coughing, nose, lungs,
rundown.
The
back
better.
Now
I'm
all
right again.
Your
Maschinchen
is
finished,
but
I
get no sparks
when
I switch
to
self-excitation.[1]
So, something is not
right.
I have
no
way
of
knowing what,
because
I have
no
measuring
instrument.
I
intend
to
bring
the
thing
with
me
to
Bern
next
Sunday.
If it's
nothing,
then
the
damage
is
not
great.
Perhaps
the
sealing
wax
doesn't insulate
or
is
coated
by
a
conducting layer.
We shall
see
then.
My
brother-in-law
and
my
sister
leave
tomorrow
from
Schaffhausen and
will
board
a ship
for
Argentina
in
Bremen
on Saturday.[2]
So,
unless
you
write
to
me
to
the
contrary,
I'll
show
up
next
Saturday
at
the usual
time.
Cordially yours,
P. H.
123.
From
Adolf
Gasser
[Winterthur,
second
half
of
October
1908][1]
Dear
Mr. Einstein,
It's been
14
days
now
since
we
have
once
again happily
ensconced ourselves
in
our
4 shells,
and
we are
glad
to
be home. All
of
us are
in
good
health
and
remember
fondly
the
cheerful hours
which
we
were
able to
spend
in
your company,
and wish to
thank
you
very
much
again
for
your gracious hospitality.
Work
in the
factory
has
started
again,[3]
and
everything
is
going on
in its usual
way.
Our
custodian
has
built
me a
nice
electroscope
with
paraffin
insulation,
and
it works in
the
same
excellent
fashion
as
yours.[3]
I have
already
carried
out experiments
with
it,
but without
success.
I
could not
detect
a
quicker
discharge
in
a
strong alternating field;
in
contrast,
the deflection
subsides
rather
quickly
when I turn the
direct
current
on
and off.
I
established that
this