256 DOC.
269
OCTOBER
1916
269. To
Paul
Ehrenfest
[Berlin,]
24
October
1916
Dear
Ehrenfest,
You
are
lucky
to be able
to
play
Bach and
not
have to wait
until
someone
plays
it
to
you.[1]
But
I
am
also
lucky,
because
I
can
travel
to
Leyden
where
not
only
Bach
but
also all the
other
choice
pleasures
are
bestowed
upon
me.
Recently,
while
sitting
innocently
together
with Planck and
Rubens,
I planted
Lorentz’s
ideas
into their
heads,
at which
their
previously
normal faces
fell
noticeably.
We
shall
see
whether it
will
be of
any help.
In
any case,
Planck did receive
the
letter
at
the
time.[2] I
shall
speak
with
Waldeyer
and Diels
as
well.[3]
I’m
not
going
to visit
them
specifically,
if
possible,
but
shall
try
to
speak
to them at
the
Academy
so
that
they
do
not
gain
the
impression
that
a
systematic
assault
is
being
made. When
matters such
as
these
are
involved,
these otherwise
truly
highly
respectable
men
are
inhibited,
roughly
like
someone
who had been
given
a
command in
a
hypnotic
state. In
our
case,
this
hypnosis
happens
during
childhood. Tell Lorentz
about
it;
I
don’t
want to
write
to
him
myself
before
I
have carried
out
his instructions
completely.
I
have
presented
the
principal
parts
of
the
general
theory of relativity
in
a
Hamiltonian
manner now, as well,
in order
to show
the
link between
relativity
and
the
energy principle.
I
am
submitting
it
Thursday.[4]
Soon
you
will
receive
the
correction
proofs.
Then
show them to Lorentz and
the other X-brothers
over
there.
I wrote
a
reply
to
Kottler
(Annalen
paper).[5]
Hume made
a
really
powerful impression
on me.
Against him,
Kant
seems
quite
weak
to
me,
but
to
save
time
I
have
given
up
maintaining
this
thesis.[6] I
inquired
about
Gomperz
at
the
bookshop.[7]
It
is
a
two-tome unfinished work of
over 1,000 pages already,
which would
thus
definitely require
more
energy
than
I
have available
to
read
it. Or
were
you
perhaps
mistaken
about the title?
Do
think about
it
again.
What
you
said
about the
matter
made
very
much
sense
to
me.
Your observation
about the
semipermeable
membrane
is
correct,
of
course;
but
I
do not recall
the
conversation
to which it
relates,
so
I
do
not
understand with what
objective
you are
advancing your arguments.
The
trip
to Holland did
me an
indescribable
amount of
good, physically
and
mentally;
I
am
much
more
refreshed and cheerful.
Solitude
can
be
tolerated
only up
to
a
certain
limit, you
know.
Cordial
greetings
to
all
of
your family, yours,
Einstein.
Best
regards
to
Nordstrom,
de
Sitter,
and Fokker.