Letters

   Ever since people could write, they have been communicating with one another through letters. Indeed, letters got that name because the communication is through written symbols and not through sounds or signals. A letter is often a vivid source of information, because it is such a personal form of expression.
   Sometimes, a special occasion inspires a letter that is particularly revealing. In 1936 the founder of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud, celebrated his eightieth birthday. To his surprise, he received a letter of con-gratulations from a famous scientist whom he had never met. This letter, from the physicist Albert Einstein, suggests how broad scientists' interests are. In his letter to Freud, Einstein indicated how he reached conclusions about the truth of scientific work. He also described an aspect of science that is not normally appreciated—that there is a beauty to scientific discovery.

Dear Mr. Freud,
I am happy this generation has the opportunity to express its gratitude to you as one of its great teachers. You have undoubtedly not made it easy for a skeptical ordinary person to judge your work. Until recently I could appreciate only the power of your thought, and its enormous influence on our era. I could not form a definite opinion about the amount of truth it contains. Not long ago, however, I heard a few examples which in my view cannot be interpreted except by your theories. I was delighted to come across these exam­ples, because it is always delightful when a great and beautiful idea turns out to fit reality.

Your

.........A. Einstein