London, 5 June 1892 

Dear Mr Schorlemmer, 

I arrived back from Manchester yesterday evening and am 
sorry to say that I cannot give you any better news of Carl.* He is in 
bed and very apathetic, wants peace and quiet, but otherwise suffers 
no pain at all; he is not quite clear in the head and his memory often 
fails him, besides which he frequently misunderstands what is being 
said to him. I visited him six times, never for longer than five or ten 
minutes which is about as much as he can stand. 

* Carl Schorlemmer 

I can now tell you something I have withheld from you hitherto, 
namely that in the past week or so he has been found beyond doubt to 
have developed a carcinogenic tumour of the right lung extending 
pretty much over the whole of the upper third of the organ. In conse- 
quence of the pressure of this tumour on the nerve ends and the larger 
blood vessels, the activity of the brain is impaired and the right arm 
paralysed and swollen. The existence of this tumour explains the ear- 
lier symptoms the intense debility following his influenza and the 
failure to overcome that debility. But unhappily the discovery of the 
cause deprives us of all hope that he may recover and now all we can 
wish is that the painless condition he is now in persists until the end. 
Gumpert says this could come at any moment, though again Carl 
might, in the absence of any complications, continue in his present 
state but growing steadily weaker for several more weeks and possibly 
even longer. 

I have made sure that he is well looked after. The hospital nurse 
obtained for him by Gumpert appears to know her business properly 
and to be taking great care of him, quite unlike the London nurses, 
my experience of whom has not been exactly happy. Also the owners 
of the house where he has been living for the past fourteen years are 
doing everything that lies within their power. The landlord showed 
me his fairly voluminous mss and promised me faithfully that he 
would hand them over to Carl’s executors“ and to no one else. I spoke 
to one of these two executors, a chemist and an old friend of ours,” 
and told him what I thought should be done first—at the very out- 
set to safeguard the manuscripts and the interests of the heirs 
thereto; he was in full accord with me, so that in that respect my mind 
is at rest. Since there are people about who would not be averse to 
pluming themselves with Carl’s feathers and have, indeed, already 
made some attempt in that direction, I thought I ought to do all 
I could to frustrate them. More about this anon. 

Should you or any other member of your family wish to set your 
minds at rest by coming over here and seeing with your own eyes how 
Carl is faring, Dr Gumpert would gladly do anything to make mat- 
ters easier for you in Manchester, as I would here. 

We have discovered that a niece of yours from Bordeaux is here in 
London, but have been unable to get her address out of Carl; would 

* Philipp Klepsch and Ludwig Sicbold-? Ludwig Sicbold 

you be so good as to let us have it? We might be able to be of some use 
to the young lady. 

I would also ask you to be so kind as to write at once (in German) 
to Dr Gumpert, whose address I give below, to say whether a tele- 
gram addressed to Ludwig Schorlemmer, Darmstadt, would reach 
you or whether a more detailed address is necessary and, ifso, what it 
is. 

With kind regards to your mother and to your whole family, I re- 
main, 

Yours very sincerely, 
F. Engels 

Dr Gumpert, 
203 High Street, Oxford Road, 
Manchester, England 

Bebel and Singer went back to Germany on Wednesday.* 
Mrs Kautsky likewise sends her most cordial regards.