STRUCTURE OF CELLS. 81 



smallest quantity of wax. It is obvious that 

 these angles might vary infinitely ; but by a very 



METHOD OF JOINING CELLS. 



accurate measurement Maraldi found that the 

 great angles were in general 109 28', the smaller 

 ones 70 32'. Reaumur, suspecting that the ob- 

 ject of choosing these angles was to spare wax, 

 proposed to M. Konig, a skilful geometrician, to 

 determine by calculation what ought to be the 

 angle of a hexagonal cell with a pyramidal bottom, 

 formed of three similar and equal rhomboid plates, 

 so that the least possible matter might enter into 

 its construction. After an elaborate calculation, 

 the geometrician found that the great angles of 

 the rhombs should be 109 26', and of the small 

 angles, 70 34', a surprising agreement between 

 the solution of the problem, and the actual mea- 

 surement. 



