324 DOC.
334 MAY 1917
334. From
Michele
Besso
Zurich,
5 May
1917
Dear
Albert,
You do not
need
to
extol
our
wisdom in
the
ways
of
man
in
the
least;[1]
it
embarrasses
me
very much,
because
I
appear
to
myself
like
a
wanderer with
an
inpenetrable
wall
of
fog
before him
who,
at
most,
can see
thinned
spots
upon
looking back,
which reveal
to
him-how
much this also
is
an
illusion,
who
can
say?-what he
ought
to have done and what
abysses
he
had
shuffled
past
in his
sleep.
Thus
now
it
is
clear to
me
how
I
ought
to
have dealt
with the
Phys.
Soc.
affair.
But
I
just
did
it
as
best
I
could.
A
stormy evening
was
its
price,
and
we
shall have to wait and
see
what
else will
come
of
it.[2]
As
regards
Mach’s
little
steed,
let
us
not
berate
it
so
much;
did it not
serve
trustily
in
the
hellish ride
through
the
relativities?[3] And who knows
whether it
does not
carry
its
rider,
Don
Quixote
de la
Einsta, through
the
nasty quanta
as
well!
Well: We
are
all
very
much
looking
forward to
your
arrival
here,
Zangger,
Dällenbach,
Besso
the
elder,
and Besso
the
younger:[4]
Vero
took the
school–
leaving
examination this
spring
but
is
remaining
in
Glarisegg
for
another
half-year
and
is
going
to
try
to
give
his
former
classmate
extra
help
in
studying
optics.
I
am
curious
how he
will
make out! If
the
Lord
means
fairly
well
by us,
an
agreeable
hiking
tour, at
least
by
the
two
of
us,
but
if
possible
also with
our
two
boys
and
with
Dällenbach,
should
not
be denied
us.
Zangger
is
much
troubled
in
the
first
place by
his
book,[5]
in
the
second
by
a
referee
report,
malicious
among many
others
(I
mean,
one
of
the
most malicious
imaginable);[6]
added
to
this,
he also had
physical complaints (extensive
periostitis
of
the
lower
jaw, probably
from his
experimental
examinations of commercial
poisons)
and
is
also
being
tormented
by
his dear
colleagues.-
I, on
the other
hand,
am
tormented neither
by colleagues nor by pupils:
I
had
to persuade
our
former
colleague
at
the
Office
Furrer[7] to
attend the
“lecture” in order to be able
to
hold
it
at
all.[8]
On
the other
hand,
I
also
am
riding up
against
my
modest
little
windmills
with
some
forensic
expert
opinions, among these,
two
which
Zangger
just
referred
me
to, precisely
that
nasty
one,
which also has
a
technical
aspect,
and
a
simple question regarding
elevator
design
but which
regularly
claims accident
victims in Zurich
without
anyone being
able
to
bring
himself to take
any
official
measures
until
now.
Come
soon,
we are
all
waiting eagerly!
Yours,
Michele
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