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actual operative procedure—and certainly he had had an operation! But Johnny’s torture left us blanched. O n successive days he thought he was going to lose his eyesight, his memory, and his mind.
    But nothing whatever had gone wrong with his faculties. One evening, within a week of the operation, he listened to the Quiz Kids on the radio, and was quicker answering one mathematical and one historical question than the children on the program. He read in Bertrand Russell’s ABC of the Atom and once he asked Frances to make clear to him the distinction between the words unmoral, immoral, nonmoral, and amoral. He worked out equations of a sort far too abstruse for me, and kept asking for more and bigger textbooks.
    Later he became depressed and excitable and worried about the schoolwork he was missing. He wanted to demonstrate that he was far beyond the simple mathematics he was taking. We, on the other hand, told him that routine cramming was part of every education and that he might as well face this now as later. Suddenly he announced on May 10 — twelve days after as serious an operation as a human being can undergo—that he wanted to write a letter. Frances thought it might be to Mr. Boyden or to one of the Deerfield boys. But it was to Dr. Einstein. Frances had to persuade him to dictate it to her, and she took it down word for word, comma for comma, exactly as he said it; then he was surprised and impressed at the way it came out:
     
    D EAR P ROFESSOR E INSTEIN ,
    For some time during free periods at school, I have been struggling, I am afraid rather unsuccessfully, with Eddington’s Space, Time and Gravitation, and the rather fantastic idea occurred to me—here comes the presumptuous part—whether it would not be reasonable to assume that the number and curvature of dimensions of the universe be considered, if not variable, at least “relative.” The properties of an event would then be determined by the number and curvature of the dimensions which govern it. Electric and magnetic attraction would then be considered merely a type of gravitation through electric and magnetic “dimensions.” This attraction would then continue to follow your law of gravitation. Of course this theory would have to be tested by determining whether it checks mathematically with the equations of Clark Maxwell, and your law of gravitation. But unfortunately I do not yet have the mathematical training to compute this problem.
    If by some wildly and impossibly fantastic coincidence, this weird idea should coincide with any ideas you may have had or will have, please do not think of giving me any credit for suggesting it, as I would not deserve it any more than would Newton’s apple for catching the great scientist’s eye.
    Thank you for reading this.
    Sincerely yours,
    J OHN G UNTHER , J R .
     
    I sent this letter to Einstein with a brief covering note and, making us very happy, Einstein replied to Johnny promptiy as follows:
     
    D EAR M R . G UNTHER:
    I have read with interest the remarks contained in your letter of May 10th. They were, however, too brief to give me a clear understanding of your ideas. I hope to see you when you have recovered so that we may have a conversation about it.
    With my best wishes for your speedy recovery, I am,
    Yours very sincerely,
    A LBERT E INSTEIN
     
    When we gave way to the temptation to boast about this correspondence, Johnny begged us not to. His subsequent acknowledgment was, we thought, a model of grace and gentlemanliness:
     
    D EAR P ROFESSOR E INSTEIN,
    Thank you so much for your very kind letter. I am afraid that in my letter I must have implied that I know a great deal more about this whole subject than I actually do.
    I left the hospital over a month ago, and have been trying to gain some understanding of some of the technical terms which I used so freely in my letter.
    I shall continue to study, and one day I hope to have the great honor and privilege of meeting you and having the