To Francis Galton [6–12 January 1877]1
2 Bryanston St
My dear G.
I have just bethought me, that I received a French essay a few months ago on the effects of the conscription on the height of the men of France & on their liability to various diseases which rendered them unfit for the army, due to the weaker men left at home propagating the race.2
He shows, I think rightly that no one hitherto had considered the problem in the proper light.— I forget author’s name,—& where published.
Do you know this essay? & shd. you care to see it.— I suppose that I could find it, but I think I have not yet catalogued it. It seemed to me a striking essay.3
Ever yours sincerely | Ch. Darwin
Footnotes
Bibliography
Russkii biograficheskii slovar’. Edited by A. A. Polovtsov. St Petersburg: Izdanie Imperatorskogo Russkogo istoricheskogo obshchestva. 1896–1918.
Tschouriloff, Michel (Mikhail Petrovich Churilov). 1876. Étude sur la dégénérescence physiologique des peuples civilisés (causes de dégénérescence des peuples civilisés). Revue d’anthropologie 5: 605–64.
Summary
Has received French essay on effects of conscription on [decreasing] height of men, due to unfit left at home to propagate race. Would FG care to see it?
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-10774
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- Francis Galton
- Sent from
- London, Bryanston St, 2
- Source of text
- UCL Library Services, Special Collections (GALTON/1/1/9/5/7/23)
- Physical description
- ALS 3pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 10774,” accessed on 19 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-10774.xml
