74
DOCS. 102-104 MAY-JUNE
1908
that the
experiment
with,
say,
iron
solutions
is unpromising.-
There
was an
epistolary
polemic
with Mr. Marx
regarding
the
ß-rays
in the
case
of
aluminum.[4]
He
has also
written
to
Wien
and
declared
my
measurements wrong.-[5]
Just
now
I
was
told
by
Wien
that
Marx has
retracted
all his
assertions
and
declared that
his
experiment, according to
which aluminum
yields
no
ß-rays
upon
radiation
with
X-rays,
is
wrong.
So,
my
experiments
are
correct.
With
cordial
greetings, your
J.
Laub
103.
From
Jakob
Laub
[Würzburg,
30
May 1908]
Dear
Friend,
I would like
to
tell
you
about
an
objection
that
Wien
just
made
to
me
concerning
the
assumption
[i
Q]
and not
[i
33][1]
He
says
that
our
reasoning
looked
plausible
to him at
first,
but
now
he does
not
think
so
for
the
following reasons:
Imagine
a
current-carrying
wire in
a
medium
whose
\x
shall be
equal
=
to
the
fx
of
the
material of the
wire
(in
other
words,
everything homogen.
(or
jjl
should
go continuously
through
the
boundary).
Then
no
magnetic coatings
can
appear at
the
ends,
i
+ +
+i the known
force,
which
was
neglected prior
to
our
paper,
does
not
come
into consideration, and it
is
[i 331].
Thus,
our
starting
hypothesis
cannot
be valid for
homogeneous
media.
Even
in
the
case
when
the
wire
is
immersed
in,
say,
petroleum,
one can
always imagine
that
fi goes continuously
through
the
boundary,
and
then there
are no coatings
at
the ends
of the
wire. Please
write
me
what
you
think about that.
Wish
best
regards,
your
J.
Laub
104.
From Paul Habicht
Basel, Friday,
June
1908
Dear
A. E.
It's
not
that
I
don't hear
your
sweet-talk from
afar,
but
I lost all
desire for
making
a
patent
drawing.
I
can't
possibly
look
at
yet
another
drawing
pen
in
the
evening,
for
this
may
make
me
dream of
crawling
through conduits,
and
that
must be
prevented.[1]
The
designation "infernally
lazy"
is
therefore
wrong,
it
must
be
"infernally
cautious." It
is
true, unfortunately,
that
this business
is
such
a
pain
in the neck
that
I must rest
in the
evening.[2]
I
tried
to draw two
or
three
times,
but then
I
just
stare
at
the
drawing
as