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Darwin Correspondence Project

To G. M. Asher   28 October 1879

Down, | Beckenham, Kent. | Railway Station | Orpington. S.E.R.

Oct 28. 79

Dear Sir,

I have resolved owing to my advanced age not to write again on such difficult subjects as the origin of Instinct, Sociology &c, & therefore cannot comply with your request.1 The subject is a very interesting one. Formerly I made many observations on the manner in which bees make their cells, & I have given an abstract of the conclusions at which I arrived in my ‘Origin of Species’.2 There can, I think, be no doubt that each bee continually regards the work of its fellow bees. I have also treated in my ‘Descent of Man’ on the origin of the conscience as being derived from the Social instinct.3

Believe me my dear Sir | Yours faithfully | Charles Darwin

Footnotes

Asher had asked CD to comment on a note by him on bee cells and send it to Macmillan’s Magazine for publication (see letter from G. M. Asher, 26 October 1879).
CD had worked extensively on the social instincts of bees and the geometry of bee cells (see especially Correspondence vols. 7 and 9). In Origin, pp. 224–35, he explained the hexagonal shape of bee cells as a by-product of the spacing of circular cells.
See Descent 1: 70–106.

Summary

Cannot answer questions on origin of instinct, sociology, etc. Suggests references in Origin and Descent.

Please cite as

Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 12273,” accessed on 28 March 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-12273.xml

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