CLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Oct. 



ill mecliaiiics as well as that which Is impos- 

 ,sil)]e. Xow. do not think me vain when I 

 say it is only once in a ^leat while that I 

 meet those who are capable of conversing in 

 regard to the possibilities and impossibilities 

 in the line of perpetual motion. If there 

 are any among our readers who are now 

 thinking or working on this foolish fancy, 

 let me say to them, you can no more create 

 a perpetual motion by cog-wheels and mag- 

 nets than you can ciieat the great Creator of 

 tiie universe. You can make wind and 

 water turn wheels, etc., and you can make 

 natural gas run steam-engines, which ought 

 to satisfy anyliody; but Ave can not run any 

 machine without motive ]>ower. People who 

 talked about the Keely motor-power which 

 made siicli a stir a few years ago. need a lit- 

 tle rebuking in this line. At one time al- 

 most all the papers were against the Scien- 

 lific Atiii riran because that journal would 

 not admit the claims made for the Keely 

 motor. Tiic Scvniifti' ^ linerican was at liome; 

 the matter came right on their own ground, 

 and its editors knew Avhereof tliey spoke 

 and wrote. The papers that pul)]ished the 

 accounts of its success ought to have known 

 better. 



Well, after talking a little on perpetual 

 motion, friend C. said, with a bright start, 

 '■ Oh I 1 have got a perpetual motion among 

 the things I brought to show you." 



He said it in an indifferent way that im- 

 jilied lie did not expect it to run" sawmills, 

 thrasliing-machines, etc.; but I was quite 

 anxious to see it, nevertheless. Now, what 

 do you suppose it was V It was in a micro- 

 scope-slide that was prepared from an ex- 

 ceedingly thin bit of meteoric stone that fell 

 to our earth in 1879, if 1 am correct. Pieces 

 of the stone are ground so thin as to be 

 transparent. This transparent tilm of me- 

 teoric stone is then subjected to the enor- 

 mous magnifying power of something like 

 oOOO diameters. I presume that earnest 

 seekers for what God has given us to hunt 

 out, placed this stone under the microscope 

 to see if they could tell about where it came 

 from, or what there was curious in regard to 

 it. In this thin tilm of rock they found cav- 

 ities. These cavities are full of liquid. Now, 

 mind you, the stone, when it fell to the 

 earth, was red-hot. How can the liquid be 

 found there now ? No one can tell. Well, 

 in this liquid is a little bubble resembling an 

 air-bubble in microscopic work: and this 

 minute bubble, almost as small as anything 

 in the shape of insect-life can exist, is con- 

 tinually bounding and rebounding from one 

 side of the cavity to the other. It seems as 

 if it were almost alive, for it is never still. 

 >yow, an ordinary obspiver who has not 

 studied the problem of perpetual motion, 

 probably would not see any tiling curious or 

 wonderful|about it ; but it was to me at once 

 one of the greatest curiosities of my life. 

 Why should this bubble keep moving? It 

 does not take any power to move it ; in fact, 

 the breath that 'stirs the wing of an insect 

 would be a hurricane, almost, compared 

 with the small amount of force needed to 

 keep this tiny speck biimj)ing around. The 

 question is, What force keeps up this mo- 

 lion ? It is at present one of the curiosities 



of the scientific world, because there is ab- 

 solutely no force known to man that will 

 account for the motipns of this uneasy little 

 atom. Does it run all the time V Friend C. 

 said it had always been rnnning since it had 

 belonged to him, and that he had watched it 

 for hours together, to see if he c(juld discov- 

 er any thing that might give any possible 

 clew to the ]»ropelling power. Tliere is only 

 a limited nnmber of these microscropic cu- 

 riosities in the M'orld. and thex arc sold at a 

 very high price. 



Friend (^owan took a stroll in our grounds, 

 lie named the plants of America — that is. 

 giving them their botanical name — about as 

 easily as you would name the plants in your 

 own garden. I presume many of the plants 

 he had never seen before at all. We occa- 

 sionally meet men who are deeply versed in 

 regard to botany, entomology, astronomy, 

 mechanics, or thie tine arts ; Imt it is very 

 seldom indeed that we meet an individual 

 who is sharp and keen on all these things. 

 Friend Cowan seems to liave cared to ex- 

 plore all Nature's laliyrinths and resoiu'ces; 

 and, mind you, these explorations have not 

 Ijeen made principally to satisfy his own no- 

 tions : the end and aim of his work is for 

 the benefit of his fellow-men. In our issue 

 for May 1. p. ot)6, we made mention of a coii- 

 ple of pamphlets. One of these tells how to 

 make an extractor and a bellows smoker ; 

 the other is in regard to securing extracted 

 and comb honey, and the prevention of 

 swarxning. 



Home one asked whether he should call 

 friend C. "■ doctor " or "■ professor." He re- 

 plied quietly, '• Neither, if you please." But 

 I see on the Guide-Book Pamphlets the fol- 

 lowing letters: V. G. 8.. which means, I 

 presume, Fellow of the Geological Society ; 

 and F. K. M. 8., which I also presume stands 

 for Fellow of the Royal Microscopic Society. 

 And last, but not least, he is editor of the 

 British Bc( Journal; and it seems to me it is 

 not only the people of England who are to 

 be congratulated upon their having such an 

 able rnan, but 1 feel sure that the whole 

 world will be better for his labors and re- 

 searches. 



Friend Cowan is a member of the (,'hurcli 

 of England : and it was not until I hunted 

 up some of his old letters that I discovered 

 what a very earnest, pure-minded, and high- 

 toned Christian he is. Since 1 have seen 

 the man, and talked witli him face to face, 

 the letters he has written to me in years 

 past have a new meaning : and I presume, 

 dear friends, such might be the case with 

 many more, if it were ]iossible for me to 

 meet you all face to face ; and while this is 

 not possible in this wiorld, who knows of the 

 possibilities in that life over and beyond 

 this V For we are sure that '' eye hath not 

 seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered 

 into the heart of man, the things that God 

 hath pi-epared for those who love him." 



Now, dear friends, do not think that I 

 mean to forget his good wife, who has been 

 all these years by his side, a faithful student 

 and patient helper. What friend Cowan 

 lacks in the way of volubility, his wife 

 makes iqj by her good - natured vivacity. 

 Mrs. Root was great I,\ worried, as a matter 



