96
DOCS. 132-134 DECEMBER 1908-JANUARY
1909
To
my
great regret
I
was
also
unable
to
come
to
Cologne.[3]
It
was
imperative
for
me
to
use
my
short vacation
for
rest
and
recuperation.
Respectfully
yours,
A.
Einstein
133.
From Arthur
Schoenflies[1]
Königsberg i.
Pr. IX Haarbrückerstr.
12,
15
January 1909
Esteemed Dr. Einstein:
I
thank
my
friend,
Prof. R. Lorenz
from Zurich, for
having
drawn
my
attention
quite
some
time
ago
to
your
fundamental
new physical
ideas and
papers.[2]
I have
studied
them
recently
and
would like to tell
you
that
it's
been
a
long
time since
anything
made
such
a
great
impression
on me as your
ideas
have.
I
already
felt
compelled
to
give a
lecture about them before
our
local
Physical-Economic
Society.[3]
At the
very
least,
it
succeeded
in
demonstrating
to
our Gymnasium
teachers
that
they
must
take
an
interest
in
your
principle
of
relativity
and
your
concept
of
time.
I have
a
particular
wish to have
my
own
copies
of
your
papers,
especially
the
paper
from 1907 in
the
Zeitschrift
für Radioaktivität.[4]
May
I
be
so
bold
as
to
ask
you
to be
so
kind and send
me a copy
of
it,
as
well
as copies
of the
others,
if
you
have
some
left.
In
return, I
grant
myself
the
pleasure
of
sending you
a
paper
of
mine;
it
is
the
only
one
that
deals with
physics
to
some
extent
and
for which
I
still have
reprints
available.[5]
Very respectfully yours,
A. Schoenflies
134.
From
Paul Habicht
Basel
18 January
1909
Dear
A. E.
My
sketch
of the
Masch.
goes
to
Conrad[1]
tomorrow it
is
a
rotary
Masch. with
4
levels
having
2 elements
each,
and
partition
walls
between the
levels. I
don't
see
any
risk.
In the
worst
case,
the
transformation ratio
will be
somewhat smaller because
of the
narrow
spaces.
I
asked
you
some
time
ago
whether
experiments elucidating
the
effect
of
pressure
on electrolysis
have
ever
been
done.
It
seems
that
you
don't consider this
question
worthy
of
an answer.
And
yet,
the
more
I
think about
it,
the
more
it
creeps up
on me.
It
seems
to
me
that there
is
really
a
way
to
elucidate
simple
connections between
chemical and
mechanical
processes.
The
matter is also not
without
practical
significance.
Accumula-
tors,
electrolysis.
Once
the matter
is
clear, applications
are
sure
to
follow.