Hoping to quell her anxieties about her appearance and to avert a too-common adolescent obsession with image and attractiveness, Megan's caring, protective parents had moved her from her former middle school to a local Catholic school mandating uniforms and modesty. She flourished there. Long insecure about her weight, she joined the volleyball team and lost 20 pounds. If the scholastic switch had meant she had grown away from any old neighborhood friends, she was making new friends and looking forward to inviting them all to a big birthday party.

Map of Missouri with Dardenne Prairie locator

Tina Meier

One friendly neighborhood family was the Drews. Megan and their daughter had been acquaintances, with an off-and-on-again friendship. The Drews even asked the Meiers to hide the kids' Christmas presents in their garage.

On October 16, 2006, just shy of that eagerly anticipated birthday, things went irrevocably wrong as a simmering feud came fatally to a boil. Josh and Megan were fighting on MySpace. He accused her of treating her friends poorly and saying horrible things about them. As she pressed for details, the squabble spread and drew in other teenagers on MySpace. Feeling attacked on all sides, Megan lashed out at her parents and stomped upstairs.

Twenty minutes later, sensing something may have happened, Tina Meier went upstairs to check on her daughter.

She found Megan in the closet. She had hanged herself with a cloth Old Navy belt—over a boy who in fact did not exist.

The bulk of the scientific evidence for the evolution of the domestic dog stems from archaeological findings and mitochondrial DNA studies. The divergence date of roughly 15000 years ago is based in part on archaeological evidence that demonstrates that the domestication of dogs occurred more than 15,000 years ago,^[3][17] and some genetic evidence indicates that the domestication of dogs from their wolf ancestors began in the late Upper Paleolithic close to the Pleistocene/Holocene boundary, between 17,000 and 14,000 years ago.^[21] But there is a wide range of other, contradictory findings that make this issue controversial.

Archaeological evidence plays a large role in this debate. In 2008, a team of international scientists released findings from an excavation at Goyet Cave in Belgium declaring that a large, toothy canine existed 31,700 years ago and ate a diet of horse, musk ox and reindeer.^[22] Prior to this Belgium discovery, the earliest dog fossils were two large skulls from Russia and a mandible from Germany, that dated from roughly 14,000 years ago.^[3][20] Remains of smaller dogs from Natufian cave deposits in the Middle East have been dated to around 10,000 to 12,000 years ago.^[20] There is a great deal of archaeological evidence for dogs throughout Europe and Asia around this period and through the next two thousand years (roughly 8,000 to 10,000 years ago), with fossils uncovered in Germany, the French Alps, and Iraq, and cave paintings in Turkey.^[3]

This ancient mosaic, likely Roman, shows a large dog with a collar hunting a lion.

Thus, the archaeological evidence suggests that the latest dogs could have diverged from wolves was roughly 15000 years ago, although it is possible that they diverged much earlier.^[3]

DNA studies have provided a wider range of possible divergence dates, from 15,000 to 40,000 years ago,^[20] to as much as 100,000 to 140,000 years ago.^[23] This evidence depends on a number of assumptions that may be violated.^[3] Genetic studies are based on comparisons of genetic diversity between species, and depend on a calibration date. Many estimates of divergence dates from DNA evidence use an estimated wolf-coyote divergence date (roughly 1 million years ago) as a calibration. If this estimate is incorrect, and the actual wolf-coyote divergence is closer to 750,000 or 2 million years ago, then the DNA evidence that supports specific dog-wolf divergence dates would be interpreted very differently. Furthermore, it is believed that the genetic diversity of wolves has been in decline for the last 200 years, and that the genetic diversity of dogs has been reduced by selective breeding. This could significantly bias DNA analyses to support an earlier divergence date. The genetic evidence for the domestication event occurring in East Asia is also subject to violations of assumptions. These conclusions are based on the location of maximal genetic divergence, and assume that hybridization does not occur, and that breeds remain geographically localized. Although these assumptions hold for many species, there is good reason to believe that they do not hold for canines.^[3]

Genetic analyses indicate all dogs are likely descended from a handful of domestication events with a small number of founding females,^[3][21] although there is evidence that domesticated dogs interbred with local populations of wild wolves on several occasions.^[20] Data suggests that dogs first diverged from wolves in East Asia, and that these domesticated dogs then quickly migrated throughout the world, reaching the North American continent around 8000 B.C.^[20] The oldest groups of dogs, which show the greatest genetic variability and are the most similar to their wolf ancestors, are primarily Asian and African breeds, including the Basenji, Lhasa Apso, and Siberian Husky.^[24] Some breeds that were thought to be very old, such as the Pharaoh Hound, Ibizan Hound, and Norwegian Elkhound, are now known to have been created more recently.^[24]

There is a great deal of controversy surrounding the evolutionary framework for the domestication of dogs.^[3] Although it is widely claimed that "man domesticated the wolf,"^[25] man may not have taken such a proactive role in the process.^[3] The nature of the interaction between man and wolf that led to domestication is unknown and controversial. At least three early species of the Homo genus began spreading out of Africa roughly 400,000 years ago, and thus lived for a considerable period in contact with canine species. Despite this, there is no evidence of any adaptation of canine species to the presence of the close relatives of modern man. If dogs were domesticated, as believed, roughly 15,000 years ago, Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire   the event (or events) would have coincided with a large expansion in human territory and the development of agriculture. This has led some biologists to suggest that one of the forces that led to the domestication of dogs was a shift in human lifestyle in the form of established human settlements. Permanent settlements would have coincided with a greater amount of disposable food and would have created a barrier between wild and anthropogenic canine populations.^[3]

Roles with humans

Early roles

This section requires expansion.

As pets

This section requires expansion.

Work

Dogs have lived and worked with humans in so many roles that they have earned the unique nickname, "man's best friend",^[26] a phrase which is used in other languages as well. They have been bred for herding livestock,^[27] hunting (e.g. pointers and hounds),^[28] rodent control,^[2] guarding, helping fishermen with nets, and pulling loads, in addition to their roles as companions.^[2]

Service dogs such as guide dogs, utility dogs, assistance dogs, hearing dogs, and psychological therapy dogs provide assistance to individuals with physical or mental disabilities.^[29][30] Some dogs owned by epileptics have been shown to alert their handler when the handler shows signs of an impending seizure, sometimes well in advance of onset, allowing the owner to seek safety, medication, or medical care.^[31]

Sports and shows

Owners of dogs often enter them in competitions^[32] such as breed conformation shows or sports, including racing and sledding.

In conformation shows, also referred to as breed shows, a judge familiar with the specific dog breed evaluates individual purebred dogs for conformity with their established breed type as described in the breed standard. As the breed standard only deals with the externally observable qualities of the dog (such as appearance, movement, and temperament), separately tested qualities (such as ability or health) are not part of the judging in conformation shows.

As a food source

A dish made with dog meat in South Korea

Dog meat is consumed in some East Asian countries, including China, Korea, and Vietnam, a practice that dates back to antiquity.^[33] It is estimated that 13–16 million dogs are killed and consumed in Asia every year.^[34] The BBC claims that, in 1999, more than 6,000 restaurants served soups made from dog meat in South Korea.^[35] In Korea, the primary dog breed raised for meat, the nureongi (누렁이), differs from those breeds raised for pets which Koreans may keep in their homes.^[36] The most popular Korean dog dish is gaejang-guk (also called bosintang), a spicy stew meant to balance the body's heat during the summer months; followers of the custom claim this is done to ensure good health by balancing one's gi, or vital energy of the body. A 19th century version of gaejang-guk explains that the dish is prepared by boiling dog meat with scallions and chili powder. Variations of the dish contain chicken and bamboo shoots. While the dishes are still popular in Korea with a segment of the population, dog is not as widely consumed as beef, chicken, and pork.^[37]

Other cultures, such as Polynesia and Pre-Columbian Mexico, also consumed dog meat in their history. However, Western cultures generally regard dog meat as taboo. In some places, however, such as in rural areas of Poland, dog fat is believed to have medicinal properties - being good for the lungs for instance. ^[38]

Health risks to humans

In the USA, dogs cause 88% of the 86,000 falls caused by pets.^{[citation needed]}

Dog feces can cause a number of human diseases, including toxocariasis, which can cause blindness, and can also cause human hookworm.^{[39][40][41][42]}. In the United States, about 10,000 cases of Toxocara infection are reported in humans each year. Almost 14% of the US population is infected with Toxocara, a parasite of dogs and cats that can be passed from animals to humans.^[43]

The incidence of dog bites, and especially fatal dog bites, is extremely rare in America considering the number of pet dogs in the country.^[44] Fatalities from dog bites occur in America at the rate of one per four million dogs.^[44] A Colorado study found that bites in children were less severe than bites in adults.^[45] The incidence of dog bites in the US is 12.9 per 10,000 inhabitants, but for boys aged 5 to 9 the incidence rate is 60.7 per 10,000. Moreover, children have a much higher chance to be bitten in the face or neck.^[46] Sharp claws with powerful muscles behind them can lacerate flesh in a scratch that can lead to serious infections.^[47]

In the UK between 2003 and 2004, there were 5,868 dog attacks on humans resulting in 5,770 working days lost in sick leave.^[48]

Shelters

Every year, between 6 and 8 million dogs and cats enter US animal shelters.^[49] The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) estimates that approximately 3 to 4 million dogs and cats are euthanized yearly in shelters across the United States.^[50]

Biology

Domestic dogs have been selectively bred for millennia for various behaviors, sensory capabilities, and physical attributes.^[2] Modern dog breeds show more variation in size, appearance, and behavior than any other domestic animal. Nevertheless, their morphology is based on that of their wild ancestors, gray wolves.^[2] Dogs are predators and scavengers, and like many other predatory mammals, the dog has powerful muscles, fused wrist bones, a cardiovascular system that supports both sprinting and endurance, and teeth for catching and tearing. Dogs are highly variable in height and weight. The smallest known adult dog was a Yorkshire Terrier, that stood only 6.3 centimetres (2.5 in) at the shoulder, 9.5 cm (3.7 in) in length along the head-and-body, and weighed only 113 grams (4.0 oz). The largest known dog was an English Mastiff which weighed 155.6 kilograms (343 lb) and was 250 cm (98 in) from the snout to the tail.^[51] The tallest dog is a Great Dane that stands 106.7 cm (42.0 in) at the shoulder.^[52]

Senses

Sight

A Greyhound, one of many breeds of sighthound.

Like most mammals, dogs are dichromats and have color vision equivalent to red-green color blindness in humans (deuteranopia).^{[53][54][55][56]}

The dog's visual system has evolved to aid proficient hunting.^[53] While a dog's visual acuity is poor (that of a poodle's has been estimated to translate to a Snellen rating of 20/75^[53]), their visual discrimination for moving objects is very high; dogs have been shown to be able to discriminate between humans (e;g. identifying their owner) from distances up to a mile.^[53] As crepuscular hunters, dogs often rely on their vision in low light situations: they have very large pupils, a high density of rods in the fovea, an increased flicker rate, and a tapetum lucidum.^[53] The tapetum is a reflective surface behind the retina that reflects light back to give the photoreceptors a second chance to catch the photons.

The eyes of different breeds of dogs have different shapes, dimensions, and retina configurations.^[57] Many long-nosed breeds have a "visual streak" – a wide foveal region that runs across the width of the retina and gives them a very wide field of excellent vision. Some long-muzzled breeds, particularly the sighthounds, have a field of vision up to 270° (compared to 180° for humans). Short-nosed breeds, on the other hand, have an "area centralis": a central patch with up to three times the density of nerve endings as the visual streak, giving them detailed sight much more like a human's. Some broad-headed breeds with short noses have a field of vision similar to that of humans.^[54][55] Most breeds have good vision, but some show a genetic predisposition for myopia – such as Rottweilers, where one out of every two has been found to be myopic.^[53]

Hearing

The frequency range of dog hearing is approximately 40 Hz to 60,000 Hz,^[58] which means that dogs can detect sounds far beyond the upper limit of the human auditory spectrum.^[55][58][59] Additionally, dogs have ear mobility which allows them to rapidly pinpoint the exact location of a sound.^[60] Eighteen or more muscles can tilt, rotate, raise, or lower a dog's ear. A dog can identify a sound's location much faster than a human can, as well as hear sounds at four times the distance.^[60]

Smell

The highly sensitive nose of a dog.

While the human brain is dominated by a large visual cortex, the dog brain is dominated by an olfactory cortex.^[53] The olfactory bulb in dogs is roughly forty times bigger than the olfactory bulb in humans, relative to total brain size, with 125 to 220 million smell-sensitive receptors.^[53] The bloodhound exceeds this standard with nearly 300 million receptors.^[53] Dogs can discriminate odors at concentrations nearly 100 million times lower than humans can.^[61] The wet nose is essential for determining the direction of the air current containing the smell. Cold receptors in the skin are sensitive to the cooling of the skin by evaporation of the moisture by air currents.^[62]

Physical characteristics

Coat

A heavy winter coat with countershading in a mixed breed

The coats of domestic dogs are either "double", made up of a coarse guard hair and a soft down hair, like a wolf, or "single", with the topcoat only. Dogs with double coats tend to originate in colder climates.

Domestic dogs often display the remnants of countershading, a common natural camouflage pattern. The general theory of countershading is that an animal that is lit from above will appear lighter on its upper half and darker on its lower half, where it will usually be in its own shade.^[63][64] This is a pattern that prey can learn to watch for. A countershaded animal will have dark coloring on its upper surfaces and light coloring below,^[63] which reduces its general visibility. Thus many breeds will have an occasional "blaze", stripe, or "star" of white fur on their chest or underside.^[64]

Tail

There are many different shapes for dog tails: straight, straight up, sickle, curled, or cork-screw. In some breeds, the tail is traditionally docked to avoid injuries (especially for hunting dogs).^[65] In some breeds, puppies can be born with a short tail or no tail at all.^[66] This occurs more frequently in those breeds that are frequently docked and thus have no breed standard regarding the tail.  Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire

Bernays, too, had invented the Tolstoy affair, Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire  or rather had been led by Börnstein to believe it, for Börnstein can make him believe anything he chooses. All the various items of news contained in Bernays’ earlier letters to us come from the same source and, having on a number of occasions witnessed the air of infallibility assumed by Börnstein when spouting his suppositions, his tittle-tattle and his own fabrications to Bernays, who takes everything at its face value, I no longer believe a single word of all those important news items ‘from the best of sources’ which he has conveyed to us in the past.

I saw with my own eyes how Börnstein, merely by affecting omniscience, made Bernays believe (and you know with what enthusiasm Bernays believes once he does believe) that the National had been sold lock, stock and barrel, body and soul, to Thiers, argent+-comptant. [cash more or less down] The little man [Bernays] would have been willing to stake his life on it. He’s as incorrigible in this respect as in his highly exalted mortally melancholy disposition. Pendant le cours de la dernière quinzaine il a été seize fois au bord du désespoir. [in the course of the past fortnight he has been sixteen times on the brink of despair]

Cela entre nous. [between ourselves] I shall ask Börnstein again what he thinks about your coming here; Heine, as already mentioned, maintains that you can come in all confidence. Or would you prefer to go to the French Ambassador and demand a passport on the strength of your Prussian emigration certificate?

It was very good of you to let me know about Moses’ advent. The worthy man came to see me, didn’t find me in, I wrote and told him to arrange a rendezvous. This took place yesterday. The man has changed a great deal. His head is adorned with youthful locks, a dainty little beard lends some grace to his angular jaw, a virginal blush hovered about his cheeks, but la grandeur déchue se peignait dans ses beaux yeux [fallen greatness was reflected in his fine eyes] and a strange modesty had come over him. Here in Paris I have come to adopt a very insolent manner, for bluster is all in the day’s work, and it works well with the female sex. But the ravished exterior of that erstwhile world-shaking high-flyer, Hess, all but disarmed me. However, the heroic deeds of the true socialists, his disciples (of whom more anon), and his own, unchanged inner self, restored my courage. ^[140] Suffice it to say that my treatment of him was so cold and scornful that he will have no desire to return. All I did for him was to give him some good advice about the clap he had brought with him from Germany. He was also a complete fiasco with a number of German painters, some of whom he had known before. Only Gustav Adolf Köttgen has remained faithful to him.

The man in Bremen [Kühtmann, publisher who could possibly print The German Ideology] is at any rate preferable to the one in Switzerland [J. M. Schläpfer]. I cannot write to the Swiss, 1. because I have forgotten his address, 2. because I don’t want to propose to the fellow a lower fee per sheet than you are proposing to the Bremen man. So [let me know] your proposals for the Bremen man, and at the same time send me the fellow’s address. He paid Bernays well for his bad Rothschild pamphlet [K. L. Bernays, Rothschild. Ein Urtheilsspruch vom menschlichen Standpunkte aus], but he cheated Püttmann, printing his stuff [Püttmann’s Prometheus], but indefinitely postponing payment of the fee on the pretext that his capital was tied up.

Splendid that you should be attacking Proudhon in French. I hope the pamphlet will be finished by the time this reaches you. That you can anticipate as much as you wish of our publication goes without saying so far as I am concerned. I too believe that Proudhon’s association amounts to the same thing as Bray’s plan.^[141] I had quite forgotten about the good Bray.

You may have read in the Trier’sche Zeitung about the new Leipzig socialist periodical called Veilchen [Violets], a sheet for inoffensive modern criticism!! [Report from Leipzig of 6 January 1847 in Trier’sche Zeitung, 12 January 1847] wherein Mr Semmig, as Sarastro, bellows:

“We know no thought of vengeance within these temple walls, where love leads back to duty who'er from duty falls, by frie-ie-ie-iendship’s kindly hand held fast, he finds the land of light at last.” [Mozart’s opera The Magic Flute]

But unfortunately, unlike the late Reichel, he hasn’t got a bass voice to match. Here Sarastro-Semmig is sacrificing to the 3 deities: 1) Hess — 2) Stirner — 3) Ruge — all in one breath. The two former have [plumbed]. the depths of knowledge. This humble sheet, or humble violet is the craziest thing I have ever read. Such unobtrusive and at the same time insolent insanity is possible only in Saxony.  Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire

If only we could rewrite the chapter on ‘true socialists’ now that they've spread in every direction, now that the Westphalian school, the Saxon school, the Berlin school, etc., etc., have set themselves up separately, alongside the lonely stars of Püttmann, etc.^[142] They could be classified according to the celestial constellations. Püttmann the Great Bear, and Semmig the Little Bear, or Püttmann Taurus, and the Pleiades his 8 children. Anyway, he deserves horns if he hasn’t already got them. Grün Aquarius and so on.

A propos Grün, I intend to revise the article on Grün’s Goethe [Grün, Über Goethe vom menschlichen Standpunkte], reducing it to a 1/2 or 3/4 sheet and adapting it for our publication [The German Ideology], if you are agreeable; write to me soon about this.^[143] The book is too characteristic; Grün extols all Goethe’s philistinisms as human, making out that Goethe, the citizen of Frankfurt and the official ^[144], is the ‘true human being’, while passing over if not reviling all that is colossal and of genius. To such an extent that this book provides the most splendid proof of the fact that human being = German petty bourgeois. This I had no more than touched on, but I could elaborate it and more or less cut out the remainder of the article, since it isn’t suitable for our thing. What do you think?

The reasons for the brief letter I recently sent Gigot are the following. During the investigation into the disturbances in the Faubourg St. Antoine in October, a multitude of Germans were arrested and questioned, the whole of the second batch Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire consisting of Straubingers. ^[127] Some of these numskulls, who have now been sent across the border, must have talked a great deal of nonsense about Ewerbeck and myself; in fact, in view of their paltriness, nothing else could have been expected of the Straubingers than that they should have been scared to death and have given away all that they knew and more. On top of that, such Straubingers as I was acquainted with, secretive though they were concerning their own miserable affairs, shamefully sounded the alarm about my meetings with them. That’s how these lads are.

At the Barrière, as I have already written and told you, the noble Eisermann delivered himself of a further, detailed avis aux mouchards [notification to the informers] in which he attacked me. Junge was also guilty of some gross indiscretions; the fellow is a trifle swollen-headed, he wishes to be sent to Calais and London at the expense of the French government. In short, M. Delessert set one spy after another at the heels of myself and Ewerbeck, who has long been under suspicion and has an expulsion order hanging over his head. These spies succeeded in following us to the marchand de vins, where we sometimes forgathered with the Faubourg stalwarts. This was proof enough that we were the leaders of a dangerous clique, and not long afterwards I learned that M. Delessert had requested M. Tanneguy Duchâtel to issue an expulsion order against me and Ewerbeck, and that there was a splendid pile of documents relating to the case in the Prefecture, almost next door to the place where the whores are medically examined. Needless to say, I had no desire to let myself be banished on the Straubingers’ account. I had already anticipated something of the kind when I noticed the nonchalance with which the Straubingers were holding forth for all to hear and arguing all over the place about who was right, Grün or I. I was sick and tired of the whole business, there was no putting the lads to rights; even in discussion they wouldn’t speak their minds frankly just like the people in London, and I had achieved my main object, the triumph over Grün. It was an excellent opportunity of honourably ridding myself of the Straubingers, vexing as the whole affair was in other respects. I therefore let it be known to them that I could no longer remain their tutor and that, furthermore, they should watch their step. Ewerbeck at once decided to go on a journey and appears, indeed, to have departed forthwith ^[128] — at any rate, I haven’t seen him since. Where he has gone, I do not know. The police had also been looking for the little man (Bernays) who, however, had withdrawn to his old place because of a variety of escapades (it’s remarkable what mad scrapes he gets into as soon as he sets foot in the civilised world). When he will return to Paris, I don’t know, but in no circumstances will he move into lodgings where he had intended to, hence the address that was given you is useless. He has safely received his manuscript. Meanwhile I can thank the noble police for having reft me from the arms of the Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire Straubingers and reminded me of the pleasures life has to offer. If the suspicious individuals who have been following me for the past fortnight are really informers, as I am convinced some of them are, the Prefecture must of late have given out a great many entrance tickets to the bals Montesquieu, Valentino, Prado, etc., etc. I am indebted to Mr Delessert for some delicious encounters with grisettes and for a great deal of pleasure, car j'ai voulu profiter des journées et des nuits qui pouvaient être mes dernières 4 Paris. Enfin [since I wanted to take advantage of the days and nights which might well be my last in Paris. Anyway], since in other respects I've been left in peace up till now, everything would appear to have quietened down. But in future address all letters to Monsieur A. F. Körner, artiste-peintre, 29, rue neuve Bréda, Paris, with an envelope inside bearing my initials, taking care that nothing shows through.

You will understand that, in the circumstances, I have had to leave W. Weitling entirely to his own devices. Having seen none of our people, I have no idea whether he has been or still is here. Nor does it matter. I don’t know the Weitlingians at all and, he'd get a fine welcome amongst those I know; because of their eternal clashes with his tailor friends, they feel the most frightful animosity towards him. .

The affair with the London people ^[129] is annoying precisely because of Harney and because they, of all the Straubingers, were the only ones with whom one could attempt to make contact frankly and without arrière-pensée. But if the fellows are unwilling, eh bien, let them go. In any case one can never know if they won’t produce another address as miserable as the one to Mr Ronge or to the Schleswig-Holsteiners.^[130] On top of that, there’s their perpetual envy of us as ‘scholars’. By the way, we have two methods by which we can rid ourselves of them should they rebel: either make a clean break with them, or simply allow the correspondence to lapse. I would be for the latter, if their last letter admits of an answer which, without giving undue offence, is lukewarm enough to rob them of any desire to reply quickly. Then another long delay before answering — and two or three letters will be enough to consign this drowsy correspondence to its last sleep. For how and why should we ridicule these fellows? We have no press organ and even if we had one, they are no writers but confine themselves to an occasional proclamation which no one ever sees, still less cares about. If we are to ridicule the Straubingers at all, we can always avail ourselves of their fine documents; if the correspondence finally does lapse, well and good; the rupture will be gradual and attract no great attention. In the meantime we shall quietly make the necessary arrangements with Harney, taking care that they owe us the final letter (which they will in fact do, once they have been made to wait 6-10 weeks for an answer), and then leave them to clamour. An immediate rupture with the fellows would bring us neither gain nor gloire. Theoretical disagreements are hardly possible with the fellows since they have no theory and, sauf for their possible unspoken misgivings, they wish to learn from us: nor are they able to formulate their misgivings, so that all discussion with them is impossible except, perhaps, face to face. In the case of an open rupture they would bring up against us all that generalised communist thirst-for-learning stuff: we'd have been glad to learn from the learned gentlemen, if they'd had something decent, etc. Practical party differences would — since there are only a few of them on the committee and a few of us too — soon degenerate into mere personalities and ill-natured exchanges, at least on the face of it. As a party we can enter the lists against literary men, but not against Straubingers. They are, after all, a couple of 100 strong, vouched for among the English by Harney, proclaimed in Germany by the Rheinischer Beobachter, etc., etc., a rabid and by no means impotent communist society; they are, furthermore, the most tolerable of the Straubingers, and can certainly not be bettered so long as there is no change in Germany. We have learnt from this business that, in the absence of a proper movement in Germany, nothing can be done with the Straubingers, even the best of them. It is better after all to let them quietly go their own way, attacking them only as a whole, en bloc, than to provoke a dispute which might only serve to sully our reputations. Vis-à-vis ourselves, these lads declare themselves to be ‘the people’, ‘the proletarians’, and we can only appeal to a communist proletariat which has yet to take shape in Germany. In addition, the Prussian Constitution is in the offing, and we might then be able to make use of the fellows’ signatures, etc., etc. — Anyway, my words of wisdom will doubtless arrive too late and you will already have passed and acted on a resolution in this matter. I would, by the way, have written earlier, but I was waiting to see what turn the affair with the police would take.

I have just received a reply from the Swiss publisher [Johann Michael Schläpfer]. The letter, enclosed herewith, only confirms my belief that the fellow’s a scoundrel. No ordinary publisher would accept so amiably after keeping one waiting x weeks. Now we shall have to see what the Bremen man [Kühtmann] says, and then we can always do as we think fit. Then again. there’s the. fellow at Belle-Vue near Constance; perhaps something might be arranged with him ^[131]; I could try him again if the Bremen man’s not agreeable. Meanwhile I'll make some more enquiries in Herisau — if only we had a decent fellow in Switzerland to whom one could send the manuscript [The German Ideology] with instructions to hand it over only against payment in cash. But the only one there is that thirsty paterfamilias Püttmann!

During the recent bad spell, one of my innocent, incidental pastimes, besides girls, has been to concern myself to some extent with Denmark and the other northern countries.^[132] What an abomination! Rather the smallest German than the biggest Dane! Nowhere else is the misère of morality, guilds and estates still carried to such a pitch. The Dane regards Germany as a country which one visits in order to ‘keep mistresses and squander one’s fortune on them’ (while travelling in Germany, he had a mistress who ran through the better part of his fortune, we read in a Danish school book). He calls the German a tydsk [German] windbag, and regards himself as the true representative of the Teutonic soul — the Swede in turn despises the Dane as ‘Germanised’ and degenerate, garrulous and effete — the Norwegian looks down on the Gallicised Swede and his aristocracy and rejoices in the fact that at home in Norge [Norway] exactly the same stupid, peasant economy is dominant as at the time of the noble Canute, and he, for his part, is treated en canaille [scornfully] by the Icelander, who still continues to speak exactly the same language as the unwashed Vikings of anno 900, swills whale oil, lives in a mud hut and goes to pieces in any atmosphere that does not reek of rotten fish. I have several times felt tempted to be proud of the fact that I am at least no Dane, nor yet an Icelander, but merely a German. The editor of the most advanced Swedish newspaper, the Aftonbladet, has twice been here in Paris to seek enlightenment on the organisation of labour, has for years taken the Bon Sens and the Démocratie pacifique; he solemnly conferred with Louis Blanc and Considérant, but found himself out of his depth, and returned home none the wiser. Now as before he loudly advocates free competition or, as the Swedes have it, freedom of nourishment or else själfförsörjningsfrihet, freedom of self-supply (which sounds even better than freedom to pursue a trade). Of course, they're still up to their necks in the guild nonsense and, in the parliaments, it’s precisely the bourgeois who are the most rabid conservatives. Throughout the whole country there are only two proper towns, à 80,000 and 40,000 inhabitants respectively, the third, Norrköpping, having only 12,000 and all the rest perhaps 1,000, 2,000, 3,000. At every post station there’s one inhabitant. In Denmark things are scarcely better, since they have only one solitary city there, in which the guilds indulge in the most ludicrous proceedings, madder even than in Basle or Bremen, and where you aren’t allowed on the promenade without an entrance ticket. The only thing these countries are good for is to show what the Germans would do if they had freedom of the press, viz., what the Danes have actually done, immediately found a ‘society for the proper use of the free press’, and print almanacs full of Christian good intentions. Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire The Swedish Aftonbladet is as tame as the Kölner Zeitung, but considers itself ‘democratic in the true sense of the word’. On the other hand the Swedes have the novels of Fröken Bremer and the Danes of Councillor of State (Eta traad) Oehienschläger, Commander of the Order of the Dannebrog.^[133] There’s also a terrific number of Hegelians there and the language, every third word of which is filched from the German, is admirably suited to speculation.

A report was begun long ago and will follow within the next few days.^[134] Write and tell me if you have Proudhon’s book. [Proudhon, Système des contradictions économiques, ou Philosophie de la misère]

If you wish to make use of Proudhon’s book, which is bad, for your own book, I will send you the very extensive excerpts I have made. It’s not worth the 15 francs it costs.

Herewith a belated letter. All manner of things have intervened. I had already intended to write to you from Liège^[55] as arranged. But because of money problems I was averse to doing so. I readily put off such problems from one day to the next. But eventually, of course, one has to take the plunge.

You will shortly be getting an official letter from here. ^[56] The manuscripts will be with you shortly. [The German Ideology and other works intended for publication in the planned quarterly] The second volume is almost ready. As soon as the manuscripts for the first volume arrive (better to send them in two consignments) it would be most desirable that printing should begin.^[57]

As to your idea about Limburg, it may be all right for pamphlets; books of more than 20 sheets are best printed in Germany proper. I think I've found a way of doing this which 1. will nominally leave Meyer out of it altogether, 2. will make things very difficult for the governments and 3. strongly commends itself insofar as the dispatch arrangements would be placed in very efficient hands.

Vogler, who resides here and has a commission agent in Leipzig, a man chiefly engaged in the dissemination of books liable to confiscation, would, you see, take over the whole book-selling side. The books themselves would be printed in Germany. In each case the editor would appear as publisher, i.e. ‘Published by the Author’. Vogler has offered his services on the following terms which I quote word for word from one of his letters to me:

‘In return for 10 per cent of the receipts at the Fair I undertake responsibility for all charges such as dispatch, carriage, delivery, cash collection, commission and the like, provided the books are delivered to me carriage paid Leipzig.'

Thus Vogler would make out the invoices here, and the books would be sent from the place of publication direct to his commission agent in Leipzig. The place of publication should not, of course, be in Prussia. Vogler’s account would be settled at each Easter Fair.

It seems to me that for the time being this would be the best course for books of more than 20 sheets. For pamphlets, your suggestion is certainly a good one. As regards a joint-stock bookseller I shall see what I can do. At all events it will create difficulties.

If Meyer agrees to Vogler’s proposal we could start at once — it would only be necessary to find some place of publication outside Prussia.

I had got thus far when your next letter arrived, the one addressed to Ph. Gigot as well as to me personally. Engels is sitting beside me at this moment to reply to the part concerning us all.^[58] I frankly admit that the news it contains has affected me rather disagreeably.

I am, as you know, in a serious financial predicament. In order to make ends meet for the time being here, I recently pawned the last of the gold and silver as well as a large part of the linen. Moreover, so as to economise, I have given up our own establishment for the present and moved to the Bois Sauvage here. Otherwise I should have had to hire a new maid as the youngest child is now being weaned.

I have vainly cast around in Trier (chez my mother) and in Cologne chez one of her business acquaintances with a view to borrowing the 1200 fr. I need to set my affairs in order again. Hence the news about the booksellers is all the more unwelcome since I had hoped to get this money as an advance on the Political Economy.^[59]

No doubt there are sundry bourgeois in Cologne who would probably advance me the money for a definite period.^[60] But some time ago these people adopted a line that in principle is diametrically opposed to my own, and hence I should not care to be beholden to them in any way.  Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire

As to the fee for the publication, only the half for volume 1 is due to me, as you know.

As though one’s own misfortunes were not enough, I, as editor of the publication, am also getting a stream of urgent letters, etc., from every quarter. There is, in particular, the unpleasant matter of Bernays. As you know, he had already received 104 fr. on account through you. Bernays had given a bill of exchange due 12 May (to his baker), he couldn’t pay, so it had to be protested, which gave rise to further expenses, etc., etc. Now the baker wants to have him locked up. He wrote to me; I, of course, couldn’t help him, but to put the matter off temporarily, took the only possible course:

1. wrote a fruitless letter to Herwegh^[61] in Paris, asking him to forward the amount to Bernays pending the appearance of his essay ^[54];

2. wrote a letter in French to Bernays to keep his creditor at bay if need be, in which I informed him that, on publication, he would receive a fee amounting to so and so much. Whereupon the citizen granted him an extension until 2 June. Bernays is liable for the expenses of the protest, etc., 120 fr. (I can’t remember the exact sum).

As you can see, misère on all sides! At this moment I'm at a loss what to do.

Some other time I shall write you a more substantial letter. You must excuse my silence on the grounds that all this financial stress has come on top of much work, domestic duties, etc.