were some oases in the desert of schematic teaching: they served as refreshing halts for the spirit of the eager young searcher after knowledge. We must go back one or two years to note a weighty experience, which occurred when he made his first acquaintance with elementary mathematics; this subject presented itself to him with the intensity of a revelation. It did not happen in the ordinary course of school-work, but was due to a sort of wizard-like inquiring inner spirit that plied him with questions and that gave him inward thrills of joy when he found a sharp-witted solution. From the very beginning Albert proved himself to be a good solver of problems, even before he achieved an arithmetical virtuosity, and before he knew the technique of equations. He helped himself by means of little tricks, experimented roundabout inventions, and was happily excited when they led to the goal. One day he asked his uncle, Jacob Einstein, an engineer who lived in Munich, a certain question. He had heard the word "algebra" and surmised that his uncle would be able to explain the term to him. Uncle Jacob answered: "Algebra is the calculus of indolence. If you do not know a certain quantity, you call it _x_ and treat it as if you do know it, then you put down the relationship given, and determine this _x_ later." That was quite sufficient. The boy received a book containing algebraic problems that he solved all alone in accordance with this not exhaustive but expedient direction. On another occasion Uncle Jacob told him the enunciation of Pythagoras' theorem without giving him a proof. His nephew understood the relationship involved, and felt that it had to be founded on some reasoning. Again he set about all alone to furnish what was wanting. This was, however, not a case for the "calculus of indolence" with an _x_ that was to be determined. Here it was a question of developing a facility for geometric argument, such as very few possess at such an early stage of development. The boy plunged himself for three weeks into the task of solving the theorem, using all his power of thought. He came to consider similarity of triangles (by dropping a perpendicular from one vertex of the right-angled triangle on to the hypotenuse), and was thus led to a proof for which he had so ardently longed! And although it concerned only a very old well-known theorem, he experienced the first joy of the discoverer. The proof that he had found proved that the ingenuity of the worrying young mind was awakening.