London, 19 December 1893 
122 Regent’s Park Road, N. W. 

My dear Schorlemmer, 

If I have not written before now to thank you for your good wishes on my 
seventy-third birthday, you can blame it on Volume II I of Capital. This must 
now be finished once and for all and consequently I have had to put the 
whole of my correspondence on one side without compunction or remorse. I 
have now one section left to be done and shall be able to use the few days 
remaining before the festive season to catch up. 

I only passed through Darmstadt '*’—Mrs Kautsky, Bebel and wife, a 
Viennese doctor | resident over here and I were unable to ascertain the train 
in advance, which in any case only stopped for ten minutes or so, otherwise I 
should have telegraphed you. Otherwise the trip was very pleasant—apart 
from the tub-thumping I had to do, having once let my- 

*“ Ludwig Freyberger 

self in for it in Zurich. I travelled with Bebel to Salzburg, Vienna, Prague 
and Berlin and was away from home for a full two months, which did me a 
power of good. To observe the progress made in Germany both by industry 
and by the labour movement was in itself worthwhile, and to see our 
Viennese at work was also a pleasure. 

As regards Carl’s estate, '” I have heard very little from Siebold and 
absolutely nothing about what has happened to the manuscripts and what 
contracts have been concluded with the publishers. Three matters are 
involved here: 

1. The big work by Roscoe and Schorlemmer in an English and a German 
edition. *'! 

2. Carl’s own Manual of the Chemistry of the Carbon Compounds* new 
edition of which was in course of preparation. 

3. His manuscripts on the early history of chemistry “~~ (according to what 
Spiegel says in the obituary, Siebold intends to publish this himself). 

The English edition of Carl’s Ursprung und Entwicklung der organischen 
Chemie’ *’ will be handled in London by one of his pupils, now a professor 
there.° 

But with regard to the above three points Siebold says little or nothing, 
Before I write to him again, I should like to ask you whether he has told you 
anything about the matter and if so what, and whether it is agreeable to you if 
I ask him for further information. For I have no right whatever, legally 
speaking, to intervene and would not like Siebold to refer to or even so much 
as hint at this. If, however, I go and ask him for information for which you 
have appealed to me, that is rather a different matter and puts me in an 
altogether different position. 

Siebold is an absolutely sterling chap but by nature not over-energetic and 
in recent years he has been weakened by illness. In which case a little bit of 
extra help can do no harm. 

I hope you are safely rid of your influenza and your wife of the after-ef- 
fects of pneumonia and are in a condition to face up to the coming festive 
season with strength, fortitude and cheerfulness. 

With kindest regards. 

312 

Yours, 
F. Engels