London, 11 June 1892 

Dear Baron, 

I would have written to you about Schorlemmer before now had 
I not wished to go and see for myself first. This I did only last 
week 48°, after August and Paul had left for home on Wednesday,‘ 
I went down to Manchester that same day. I had already heard from 
Gumpert, who is treating him, that he was confined to bed, was quite 
apathetic and was probably suffering from a carcinogenic tumour of 

* Poverty of Philosophy- Paul Lafargue-‘ 1 June 

Engels to Kautsky. 1! June 1892 437 

the right* lung. And so I found him, unresponsive, totally incurious, 
but entirely free from pain; at the same time his faculties were cloud- 
ed and he often supposed himself to be somewhere else. More than 
5 to 10 minutes’ conversation (when for the most part he mechani- 
cally repeated what the other person said) was too much for him and 
rest was what he needed most. The tumour of the lung continuing to 
develop, there was a marked dullness on percussion, while pressure 
on the large blood vessels and on the plexus also produced, on the one 
hand, impaired activity of the brain and, on the other, paralysis and 
oedema of the right arm. While there is no oedema of the legs, they 
are exceedingly weak, the muscles being relaxed and wasted. He 
might last out for a few weeks in this condition, but again might be 
carried off any day by some complication or other. There is, of course, 
no hope. I have told his family as much as they need to know, and 
have made provisions for the safeguarding of his fairly extensive mss; 
this may give rise to some interesting arguments. Gumpert got him to 
make his will before it was too late. 

So that’s another of our best chaps on the way out. He had not 
been his old self for four years or more, and had increasingly lost 
interest in anything not immediately connected with his work, the 
mere pursuit of which cost him considerable labour. Moreover, he 
was often testy because of increasing deafness and a susceptibility to 
the draughts and chills by which that deafness was instantly aggravat- 
ed. Last year I made one more attempt to induce him to take a sea 
trip to Scotland and Ireland, but before twenty-four hours were out 
he was laid low by relatively minor adversities and we had to aban- 
don the project. The tumour of the lung, now plainly distinguishable, 
explains much of this, and likewise his debility after the bout of in- 
fluenza last March, which marked the beginning of his final illness. 

My translation of the introduction to the English version of Social. 
ism: Utopian and Scientific is now finished; as soon as the book comes out 
(and why it isn’t already out I cannot think), I shall send you the in- 
troduction for the Neue <eit.4°*? In the meantime I am sending you 
the Italian translation of the same book in the second edition pub- 
lished in Milan. 

This country is swarming with congresses. On Thursday” Tussy 
and Aveling returned from the Gasworkers’ Congress in Ply- 
mouth #89 where they couldn’t have set a better example to the TRape 

‘eft in the ms.-? 9 June 

438 Engels to Kautsky. 1] June 1892 

unionists of the old stamp. A Liberal candidate, having given £10 to- 
wards a gasworkers’ strike, or rather towards that of one of their fac- 
tory workers’ sections, asked to be admitted to the congress as an un- 
official guest, a request ordinarily granted as a matter of course. The 
gasworkers, however, said guod non,* they wanted no truck with mid- 
dle-class candidates, and the man had no Jocus standi? at their con- 
ress. 

We've also got the miners over here.*9? The day before yesterday 
the Germans, including a éesky towarys,° came to call on me. It was 
particularly unfortunate that Tussy shouldn’t have been here to 
interpret and advise; I need tell you no more than that the chaps had 
fallen into the clutches of Julius,*, who failed to understand anything 
that went on either in English or in French and, though unacquaint- 
ed with conditions and people over here, had to pretend he under- 
stood everything and was acquainted with everyone, thus isolating 
the chaps almost completely. On top of that, they had with them an 
Anglicised German who cannot speak either language and is hand in 
glove with the old trapes unions. Fortunately the Avelings were pre- 
sent on the last and most important day. The ignominy of the English 
is plain for all to see: The Continentals are demanding 8 hours for 
everyone employed in the mines, the English ask it only for those work- 
ing underground! That has now been established and the vainglory of 
the English about their superior TRADES UNION ORGANISATION has been 
punctured by themselves. 

Kindest regards from 

Your 
General