DOCS.
252,
253
AUGUST
1916 245
252. To
Heinrich
Zangger
[Berlin,
24 August
1916]
Dear
Zangger,
Please let
me
know
briefly
whether
you
received
my reply
to
your
last letter
along
with the
papers.- Besso,
who
is
in Berne
right
now,
informs
me
that
my
wife
is
feeling
a
bit better. But in
combination with
your diagnosis,
this
is
cold
comfort.[1]
In
any case,
I
am glad
that the
woman
is
receiving
the best
care
possible.
Aside from
this
worry,
I
am living
peacefully
and
contentedly
in
my
quiet
cell,
into which
no
newspapers
penetrate. I
have
the
feeling
as
if
people
had
all
gone
into
hibernation;
because whatever
is
active does
not
suggest
human
feeling.
How is
Huguenin
doing?[2]
Send
him
my regards.
I
wish
you happy holidays, yours,
A.
Einstein.
Document
description:
“Please
forward!"
253.
To Paul Ehrenfest
[Berlin,]
Friday.
[25
August
1916]
Dear
Ehrenfest,
Today
I
was
at
the
foreign
office
about the
trip.
Any official
invitation,
which
you
can
easily engineer
in
some
form
or
other,
would facilitate
the
trip
immensely.
Once
I
have
it,
it
takes
about
one more
week
to obtain
permission
for
the
trip.
I
shall
come
then,
if
nothing very
unexpectedly
arises.[1] I
hope
Nordstrom will
also be
there
then.[2]
I
also considered
the
energy
tensor matter[3]
once
but
have since abandoned it
completely.
If
all
positive energy
of matter
is
compensated by
the
negative energy
of
gravitation,
then the
energy concept
loses
all
meaning. Moreover,
then
it
is
not
understandable
why
the
energy
law
is
satisfied
to
such
a
close approximation
for matter alone. More
on
this
orally.
Cordial
greetings
to all of
you,
yours,
Einstein.