DOCS.
36,
37
APRIL-JUNE
1906 25
A few
days ago a
local
patent attorney,
to whom
I
mentioned
you
in
the
past,
presented
me
with
a
document that
had to be
translated into
impeccable
French. Of
course,
I
did
not
take
on
the
task,
since
the
matter
was
urgent.
But I
wish to ask
you
all the
same
whether
you
have found
some more or
less
satisfactory
means
of
livelihood.
If
not,
then there
still
is
some possibility
that
you might
find
work,
and in due
course
even a
permanent appointment,
here
in
a
patent
office.
Do
write
me soon
what
you
think
of
that.
The
3
of
us
are
fine,
as always.
The
little
sprout
has
grown
into
quite
an
imposing,
impertinent
fellow.
As for
my
science, I
am
not all
that
successful at
present.
Soon
I
will
reach the
age
of
stagnation
and
sterility
when
one
laments the
revolutionary
spirit
of
the
young. My
papers
are
much
appreciated
and
are
giving
rise to
further
investigations.
Professor Planck
(Berlin)
has
recently
written
to
me
about
that.[2]
I have moved
again,
this time back
to
Kirchenfeld
(Aegertenstr.
53).[3]
As
for
my
social
life,
I have
not
been
meeting
with
anyone
since
you
left. Even
the conversations
on
the
way
home
with Besso have
now come
to
an end;[4]
I
haven't heard
anything
whatever
from
Habicht.[5]
I
was very
pleased
to
hear
from Mr. Besso
about
your
successful
exam.[6]
I
hope
it
will
earn
you
a
comfortable
living.
Best
wishes,
and
write
soon
to
your
A.
Einstein
My
wife and Mr. Besso send
you
their
best
regards.
37.
From
Max
Laue
Berlin W.
15
Pariserstr.
47, 2
June
1906
Very
esteemed
Mr.
Einstein:
Many
thanks
for
your
postcard.
Please
keep
the
proofs[1]
both
on
this occasion
and
on
any
occasion
that
may
arise in
the future. At the
same
time,
let
me
also
thank
you
very
much for the
proofs
of
your
paper,
which in the
meantime
appeared
in
the
Annalen;[2]
I have
read
it with
great
interest
and,
as
I shall
now
explain,
I
fully concur
with
it.
But first
I
must ask
you
not to
give
too much
weight
to
every
remark
in
what
follows.
The rush
to
edit
Volume
4
of Helmholtz's
lectures,[3]
8
weeks of
military
exercise,
and
business connected
with
the
Habilitation[4]
are
keeping me
somewhat
disconnected
from
theoretical
physics
for the
rest
of
the
year,
so
that
I
am
doing
everything
here
as a
bit
of
a
dilettante.
But at least
you
should
see my
good
intentions.
When,
at
the
beginning
of
your
last
paper,
you
formulate
your
heuristic
standpoint
to the effect
that radiant
energy
can
be
absorbed and emitted
only
in
specific
finite
quanta,
I have
no objections
to
make;
all of
your
applications
also
agree
with
this