270 DOCS.
282,
283
DECEMBER
1916
and
requested
that
I
also be asked.
Please send
me
your
Annalen
paper
so
that
I
can
consider it at home at
my
leisure.[6]
It
is
very
quiet
here. Even
the
Phys.
Society’s meeting
next
Friday
has been called
off
because
no one
is here to
give a
talk. The little bit
of
reason
has retired. One
speaks,
moves
about,
and eats
little,
and
sleeps
a
lot. Cordial
greetings
to
you
and
yours,
as
well
as
to
Nordstrom,
yours,
Einstein.
If
I
must
write
to
someone
quickly regarding Nordstrom,
send
a telegraph.
I
am
reluctant,
because
I
do not know
the
people.
The
opposite
can
too
easily
be
achieved.
It
would be
good
if
the
gentlemen
heard that
Planck
had
suggested
N.
as
second
choice.[7]
It
is
disadvantageous
that the
foreign
experts
appear
to
be
pure
technologists.-[8]
Carl Hirn has
not visited
me yet.[9]
283. From Michele Besso
Zurich, 5
December
1916
Dear
Albert,
Yesterday evening Zangger
gave me
another
account of
Mrs. Mileva.
The
condition has worsened
a
bit
again
since
two weeks.[1]
She has
to lie
still
again
and is understandably
discouraged by
the
return
of
the attacks after about
five
weeks
respite.[2]
It
seems
that
the
recent
deterioration coincides
temporally
with
a
letter
(from you?)
that little Albert had
supposedly
received and
that
he did
not
want
to
show her.
I
could
not
find out
anything
more
specific
about
it,
without
myself causing
damage.-
The
attending
physician
wants to
consult
the
neurologist
Veraguth,[3]
which
Zangger approves
of
and which should be
happening
in
the
next
few
days. Zangger
thinks
no
substantial
change
can
be
expected throughout
the winter and
hopes
to
be able to take her
to
Lugano
in
the
spring,
to her
benefit.-
Since
coming
home,
she
has,
as
Mrs.
Zürcher[4]
has
told
me, managed
the
household
calmly
and
dependably
from her
bed, despite physical weakness,
has
great pleasure
in
the
children,
and
the latter
in
their
mother;
she also directed
little
Albert’s music studies with
success,
for
example.
A week
ago
today
little
Albert
was
here
to
visit
us
for half
of
an
afternoon-we
talked
about
all sorts of
things,
such
as,
about the
natural
wonders in
the
travel book
on
Celebes
by
the
Sarasin
brothers;[5]
about
an
arithmetical
problem, whereby
it
was
revealed
that
algebra comes
quite easily
to
him already-clear and
alert in
everything,
which
makes
it
a
real
pleasure.-
Unfortunately,
our
meetings
cannot
be
repeated
as
often
as
I
would
like,
since
one never
knows how it affects
the
mother’s condition.