134 THE EBB keeper's MANUAL. 



aa rational beings. It haSjjtoBe sure, no ability to make an 

 elaborate ansilysis of the chemical constituents of the atmos- 

 phere, and to decide how large a proportion of oxygen is 

 essential to the support of life, and how rapidly the process of 

 breathing converts this important element into a deadly poi- 

 son. It has not, like Leibig; been able to demonstrate that 

 God has set the animal and vegetable world, the one over 

 against the other ; so that the carbonic acid produced by the 

 breathing of the 'one, furnishes the aliment of the other ; 

 which, in turn, gives out its oxygen for the support of ani- 

 mal life ; and that, in this wonderful manner,. God has 

 provided that the atmosphere shall, through all ages, be as 

 pure as when it first came from His creating hand. But 

 shame upon us ! that with all our intelligence, the most of 

 us live as though pure air was of little or no importance ; 

 while the bee ventilates with a scientific precision and thor- 

 oughness, that puts to the blush our criminal neglect. 



To this it may be replied that ventilation in our case, 

 cannot be had, without considerable expense. Can it be 

 had for nothing, by the industrious bees ? Those busy insects, 

 which are so indefatigably plying their wings, are not en- 

 gaged in idle amusement ; nor might they, as some would- 

 be utilitarian may imagine, be better employed in gather- 

 ing honey, or in superintending some other department in 

 the economy of the hive. They are at great expense of 

 time and labor, supplying the rest of the colony with pure 

 air, so conducive in every way, to their health and prosper- 

 ity. 



I trust that I shall be permitted to digress, for a short 

 time, from bees to men, and that the remarks which I shall 

 offer on the subject of ventilation in human dwellings, may 

 make a deeper , impression, in connection with the wise ar- 

 rangements of the bee, than they would, if presented in the 



