Ɛpsilon

From K. M. Giuntsburg1   20 August 1872

Monsieur

Votre admirable synthèse, qui a repandu tant de lumière sur l’origine des éspèces, tend aussi à eclaircir le domaine jusqu’ici obscur de la destruction inégale des individus par la mort.2

Dans le travail, que j’ai l’honneur de Vous soumettre j’ai, le premier, essayé d’appliquer la théorie de l’éléction naturelle à l’explication de la Mortalité si grande des enfants nouvaux-nés.3 Les principes de la variabilité individuelle et de l’hérédité m’ont servi de point de départ, pour en déduire les variations de la Mortalité, en coençant du premier jour après la naissance jusqu’à la fin de la première semaine, puis jusqu’à la fin du premier mois et de là jusqu’à la fin de la première année.

Je n’ai pas besoin de Vous dire, Monsieur, combien je me sentirais heureux, si mon travail méritait assez vos suffrages pour que Vous daigniez m’honorer d’une réponse.

Veuillez bien, Monsieur, agréer l’expression de ma haute estime et de mon plus profond respect. | Charles Gunzbourg Dr. | Moscau, le 20 Août 1872.

Mon Adresse | Dr. Charles Gunzbourg, | Conservateur du Musée Galitzin à Moscau.

1
For a translation of this letter, see Correspondence vol. 20, Appendix I.
2
CD had included information on infant mortality and on the comparative mortality of males and females in Descent 1: 264–5, 320.
3
An annotated copy of Giuntsburg’s article, ‘Die Kindersterblichkeit im Allgemeinen und die in den Findelhäusern insbesondere im Lichte der Darwin’schen Theorie betrachtet’ (Child mortality in general and in orphanages, especially considered in light of Darwinian theory; Giuntsburg 1872), is in the Darwin Pamphlet Collection–CUL.

From K. M. Giuntsburg1   20 August 1872

Sir,

Your admirable synthesis, which has shed so much light on the origin of species, also tends to illuminate the hitherto obscure domain of the unequal destruction of individuals by death.2

In the work that I have the honour of submitting to you, I have been the first to attempt to apply the theory of natural selection to the explanation of the very great Mortality of newborn infants.3 The principles of individual variation and heredity have served me as a point of departure from which I have deduced variations in Mortality, beginning with the first day after birth up to the end of the first week, then up to the end of the first month, and from there up to the end of the first year.

I do not need to tell you, Sir, how happy I should feel, if my work deserved your approval to the extent that you might deign to honour me with a reply.

Please accept, Sir, the expression of my great esteem and most deep respect. | Charles Gunzbourg Dr. | Moscow, 20 August 1872.

My Address | Dr. Charles Gunzbourg, | Curator of the Galitzin Museum, Moscow.

1
For a transcription of this letter in its original French, see p. 362.
2
CD had included information on infant mortality and on the comparative mortality of males and females in Descent 1: 264–5, 320.
3
An annotated copy of Giuntsburg’s article, ‘Die Kindersterblichkeit im Allgemeinen und die in den Findelhäusern insbesondere im Lichte der Darwin’schen Theorie betrachtet’ (Child mortality in general and in orphanages, especially considered in light of Darwinian theory; Giuntsburg 1872), is in the Darwin Pamphlet Collection–CUL.

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-8478,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-8478