580 DOCS.
558,
559
JUNE
1918
558. To
Paul Ehrenfest
[Berlin, 5
June
1918]
Dear
Ehrenfest,
Now
poor you
are
sick
as
well;[1]
maybe
the
thing
has
a
purely psychological
cause.
It
would
be
no
wonder!
I
am
curious
what
you
are doing
in
political
economics.[2] I
always
have
the
feeling
that,
owing
to
a
lack of
simple
and
rigorous
chains of
reasoning, everything
in
this
field is
too
long-winded.
But
I
find it
tremendously
interesting
and understand
how these
problems
can
fascinate
you.
I
have
already argued
with
many
about the
question:
Does
money
necessarily
need
backing
(or some
other
fixing
of its
exchange value)
or
does it maintain
itself?
I’ve not
been able to arrive at
a
firm conviction
but tend
toward
the
first
view.
What
is
your opinion?
I
am
doing reasonably
well;
but
I’m still
unable to
get along
without
constant
care,
since
my
stomach revolts at
the
slightest cause.[3]
Why
should
it
have
less
rights
than
my
brain? From
22
June
on
I’m
going away
for two
months
to
the
Baltic Sea
(Ahrenshoop near Stralsund).[4]
I’m
looking
forward to
sailing, my
favorite amusement. You also should
exchange
wisdom for
some
harmless
vegetating
in nature for
a
while!
Warm
regards
to all
5
of
you,[5]
yours,
Einstein.
559.
From
Anschütz and Company
Neumühlen
near
Kiel,
6
June
1918
To Professor
Albert
Einstein, Wilmersdorf,
Berlin
Esteemed
Professor,
We permit
ourselves herewith
to inquire
whether
you
are
inclined
to
provide
us
with
a
private
evaluation
of
a
patent
matter.[1]
It
concerns a
patent
for
a gyrocompass
which in
our
view
1)
relies
on an
older
patent
of
ours;
2)
offers
no
inventive
advantage over
this
older
patent
that
could
justify
the
issuance of
an
improvement
or
contingency patent.[2]
The
case
is
relatively simple
and burdened
sparingly
with
documentation,
so
it
would
presumably
take
up only
a
little
of
your time,
in
spite
of
the fact
that
three
members of
the
Complaints
Department
at
the Patent
Office
did not succeed in
penetrating
to
the
core
of
the
matter.