London, 11 November 1884 

Dear Hermann, 

The sad news of Emil’s illness brought to me by your letter of 25 
September did not come as a complete surprise. He himself had writ- 
ten to me from time to time about the state of his health and about 
the necessity he was in of spending the winter in the south; moreover 
your earlier letters also contained a number of allusions that 
gave me cause for anxiety. If tubercles have now finally ap- 
peared — not exactly common at our age—it is certainly a very 
bad sign, but I trust he will still be able to remain among us 
for a time and in a condition that does not make life too much 
of a burden to him. Nevertheless one pleasure he has still been able 
to experience, as I saw not long ago in the paper, is the opening of 
the Aggertal railway to which he devoted so many years of incessant 
toil. Even though this little branch line may be far from what he 
had in mind, it is nevertheless better than nothing and will bring 
quite a different kind of life into the valley and Engelskirchen than 
has been the case hitherto. 

I should have written to you sooner had not Hermann’s wedding 
intervened, at which time I wasn’t absolutely sure where you were; 
since then there have been numerous interruptions and, on top of 
that, I have been up to my eyes in work. Moreover, for the past 18 
months I, in my own person, have been sharply reminded of the 
frailty of the human body. What was actually wrong I shall probably 
never discover, but suffice it to say that the thing now seems to be 
righting itself and developing into some kind of hernial trouble (what 
is involved is not the prolapse of a piece of gut, but water in the abdo- 
men). Besides, I have found a very efficient bandage-maker who has 
treated many cases of this kind, which are pretty rare as a rule, and 
has constructed a highly practical but in no way uncomfortable ap- 
pliance for it. After lengthy experiments I can now manage it pretty 
well and am at last able to move about again and, what had hitherto 
proved a virtual impossibility, work at my desk. If things carry on like 
this, I shall be content; apart from relaxed muscles and ligaments, 
which is only natural after one has lain motionless on a sofa for so 
long, I no longer feel anything and am gradually becoming my old 
self again. 

I trust you are all keeping well otherwise. Rudolf would also seem 
to be on the mend again. He seems to have inherited father’s constitu- 
tion in many respects, for he too had constant trouble with his sto- 
mach until his forties but was then perfectly all right and would 
doubtless still be alive had not typhoid reft him away. 
Please let me know soon how Emil and the rest of you are getting 
on and what Hedwig is doing. No doubt Hermann will soon be re- 
turning from his honeymoon. 

Fondest regards to all of you, brothers, sisters, Emma, your child- 
ren and you yourself. 

Your 
Friedrich