On his book about relativity, and his new theory of the cosmological constant: 'I have laid a marvellous egg...'.

Einstein's book about special and general relativity (Über die spezielle und die allgemeine Relativitätstheorie) will be out soon, and he will send them a copy: 'It is rather wooden, but easy to understand. I am not working much. But about a month ago I laid a marvellous egg, which is still bumping up against the scepticism of my colleagues' [this was his paper read to the Prussian Academy of Sciences on 6 February, in which he introduced one of his most famous concepts, the cosmological constant]. He is living comfortably enough, without bothering himself about anything, although the complications of his diet (after a health crisis earlier that year) are a nuisance, and scientific life in Berlin has considerably decreased because of the war.

The letter opens with thanks for a 'pressing invitation' to visit the Wintelers in Lucerne, but he will not come before the summer, 'as it is much more beautiful in Switzerland then'. He mock-scolds them for showing off about the freedom from any wartime restrictions in Switzerland 'Ihr ahnunglslosen Schlemmer [you oblivious gourmets]!': there was a great fuss recently in his own household, as they lost their rationing cards for artificial honey, and he is 'walking on shoe-soles which one could depict as leather-mosaics...'. He is curious to know what their cousin Robert has to say: 'He didn't have the same foresight as I did in his choice of fatherland'. The political situation continues to develop: 'But about the conclusion I no longer harbour any doubts'.

News of his estranged wife and children in Zurich goes from bad to worse: 'Mize [i.e. Mileva] is still unwell and my little one [Eduard] is tubercular like her. It is even possible that the household will have to be broken up', although his friend Michele Besso is opposed to this for the moment. 'But if it comes down to that, I will either bring [Hans] Albert to stay with me, or give him to you, if you want him. I do not much like to think about the future; we all have enough already in the present'. He concludes with apologies for being such a lazy correspondent, and with a joke in the Berlin dialect.
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