The Findlay Jeffersonian. [volume] (Findlay, Hancock County, Ohio) 1870-1881, 1873-10-17
g6uule anI farm.
Rees as Architects.

Rees as Architects.
Now We exercise patient obseIva
,iop on Nature, anaiy zing, investigat
ing. calculating, and cuubiIing ou
facts. and Fay coo'ly with Protesso
Haughton, "bees construct the large
amount of cell with the Emalles
amount Of material ;" Or viii QaatTe
fag- e, "their instinct Is ceItainy IL
mort developed OF al living creature
with the exception OF ants" "Ib
hexagoBs and Ihomboids Of bee arch
lecture show the proper proportions
between the length and breadth Of IL
cell, which viii save most wax, as
found by tie closest mathematical in
vestigatIOn, says another great au
tbority. Man Is obliged 90 use al
sUr,s OF engines Tor measurement
angles, rules, plumb lines-to produc'
his buildings, and guide his hand ; th
bee executes Ter work immediatell
from her mind, without instrument
or tools of any kind. "She has sue
cessiuIly solved a problem in higher
mathematics, which the discovery O
the differen,ial calculus, a century and
q half ago, alone enables US to solve
at all without the greatest difficulty
"The inclination Of the planes OF the
cell is always just, so that, if the sur
faces on which she works are unequal,
still the axis running through its inc
qualities is III the true direction, and
the junction of the two axis forms the
angle Of GO deg. as accurately as Il
there were noDe.' The manner IN
which she adsp,s her work TO the re-
duIrements OF the moment and the
place is marvellous. A center comb
burdened with honey was seen by
Huber and others TO have broken
away from It's place, and to be ieauing
against the next SO as TO prevent the
passage OF the bees. As it was Oc-
tober, and the bees could get no fresh
material, they Immediately gnawed
away wax from the older structure,
with which they made two horizantal
bridges to keep the comb in its place,
and then fastened il above and at the
rides, with all sorts of irregular pillars,
Jists, and buttIesses alter which
they removed so much of the lower
cells and honey, which blocked the
way, a. TO leave the necessary thor
oughfares to different paris Of the
hive, showing design, sagacity, and
resource. Huber mentions how they
will find out q mistake in their work
and remedy it. Certain pieces Of
wood had been fastened by him inside
a glass hive, to receive the foundation
OF combs These had been placed
too close to allow OF the customary
passages. The bees at first built on,
not perceiving the defect, but soon
changed their lines so as to give the
proper distance, though they were
obliged 10 curve the combs out of all
usual form. Huber then tried the ex
pertinent another way. He glazed
the floor as well as the roof of the
hive. The bees carnot make their
work adhere TO glass, and they began
to build horizontally from side TO side
he interposed other plates Of glass in
different directions, and they curved
their combs into the stranges' shapes,
in order 10 make them reach the
wooden support lie says that this
proceeding denoted more than in
stinct, as glass was not q substance
against which bees could be warned
by Nature, and that they changed the
of the work before reaching
The glass, at the distance precisely
for making the necessary
turns-enlarging the cells On the outer
side greatly, and on the inner side
them proportionately. As ,
different insects were wo: king on the
different sides, there must have been
some means of communicating the
to be observed while the
bottom being common to both sets OF
cells, the difficulty of thus regularly
VIrying their dimensions must have
been great indeed. The diameter OF the
cells also varies according to the grubs
TO be in them. Those for males have
the same six sides, with three lOzenges
at the bottom, as tbosefor workers, and
the angles are the same; but the di
ameter of the first is 81 lines-that
tor the workers only 2-5. When
changing from one slze, 10 another,
they will make several rows of cells
in size, gradually increas
ing or diminishing, as required. When !
there is a great abundance of honey,
they will increase both the diameter
end the depth of their cells, which
are found sometimes as much as an
inch and a half in depth.-GOOd
Words.