AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



757 



of which our finite powers cannot take 

 cognizance. A finite mind can only 

 have a finite conception. We know 

 nothing of the infinite, because we can 

 only measure the infinite by our finite 

 measure, which is no measure at all. 



Now please note that life has never 

 been submitted to the senses. We do 

 not know what it is. We cannot tell 

 from whence it came, or whither it goes. 

 This is a matter of faith, and not of 

 knowledge. We believe many things we 

 cannot know. We believe that life 

 comes from God. We believe in God, 

 also. We think that life is but a beam 

 of his inconceivable self, aminating 

 matters, as we call it, but we know 

 nothing about it whatever. What we 

 call life germs, sperms or spermatozoa, 

 are but animals possessing the life we 

 are considering, not life itself, which so 

 far in science remains the uncondition, 

 the unknown quantity, in our algebraic 

 equation. 



Let me give you a bit of physiological 

 knowledge, which I have acquired 

 through my senses — the only avenues to 

 knowledge. Under the field of a good 

 microscope of sufficient power, sperms 

 are of different shapes and sizes. In the 

 lomalia of a certain ^species they are 

 shaped like the " wriggle-tail," as seen 

 in stagnant water, like the embryo mos- 

 quito. Their motions are just like 

 these embryo mosquitoes. They possess 

 positive electric affinity for the ova of • 

 their kind and class. Placed within a 

 certain distance of the ovum, a sperm 

 heads about towards the ovum ; pushed 

 a little nearer, and it makes to the em- 

 brace of the ovum with an inherent 

 force of its own. Some might suppose 

 that they were dealing with life itself ; 

 but not so. As well move the elephant 

 as a sperm. 1 Life is hidden. It is one 

 of the uncondition things which mind 

 cannot grasp. It belongs to the infinite, 

 and the infinite is unthinkable. 



Now, dear friends, I hope this is mat- 

 ter for thought ; anyway it must be 

 matter for thought, though you may 

 have thought it all over many times. 



And now I come to your questions 

 direct. I give you what I believe, and 

 as all belief rests upon testimony of some 

 kind and character, I will also add the 

 ground work of my belief. 



I believe that these sperms multiply 

 and transmit their kind. Half is hidden. 

 They are probably oviporous in a special 

 sense. The cow and horse are as much 

 oviporous as the hen. Only the cow 

 hatches her eggs within her own body, 

 while the hen does it outside. I believe 

 the organizer of matter is their tangible 



life force — the so-called " soul " in man 

 —the gift of God, and that it has an ex- 

 pansive growth, too. We grow in spirit 

 — this is a literal truth as well as a 

 special one. 



Now I believe these sperm ova pass to 

 the mother and are retained by her (or 

 by the queen, if you choose) for special 

 use under an unknown law of the life 

 force. I will illustrate by the known 

 facts. Take, for instance, the corn 

 aphis. There are seven generations in 

 one summer. The first, second, third, 

 fourth, fifth and sixth are all females. 

 The seventh generation are male and 

 female. The males have wings; the 

 females have no wings. Now you see 

 the influence of the male passes through 

 seven generations. But how? Through 

 sperm ova, transmitted from mother to 

 mother, etc. 



Can I strengthen this dogma ? Yes, I 

 believe I can give you a stool to sit upon 

 while you take your breath. The bac- 

 teriologist takes a rabbit, dog, cat, etc., 

 and introduces under the skin the spores 

 of some of the bacteria known as con- 

 sumption germs, etc. The animal sick- 

 ens and ultimately dies, but often not 

 until several broods of yonng rabbits 

 come forth. Now these young rabbits 

 transmit these obnoxious germs from 

 generation to generation. 



Again the human frame, or person, is 

 made up of millons of cells, each one of 

 which has the vital power of renewal, 

 and that from day to day, and from year 

 to year, through life. Now if a cell can 

 beget a new cell for 70 or 80 years, and 

 always under an established law of 

 heredity, like producing like, then we 

 must claim in this case some inherent 

 right to life-giving powers. And why 

 not one of our queens ? That now is a 

 nut for us all to crack. 



Now, dear friends, please let me off, 

 and if I had not disliked to have stolen 

 Dr. Miller's short answer, I should have 

 said to them, " I don't know." If any 

 of you dear readers have any better 

 way of answering this (to me) puzzling 

 question, by all means let us have it, 

 and I will be very thankful. 



Our old readers will please excuse us 

 for going over these old subjects, and 

 take into consideration that we have a 

 new crop of readers, and new bee-keep- 

 ers that have never seen these matters 

 talked upon. We will from time to time 

 give all we know of bee-keeping, for the 

 benefit of our beginners ; and that is 

 not much, for I am satisfied that none of 

 us know it all, and probably never will. 

 But all we can do in this line is to live 

 and learn. 



