ON THE THRESHOLD OF THE HIVE 7 



ascribed all things to the glory of the Creator ; and embodied 

 his observations and studies in his great work, Bybel der Natuure, 

 which the doctor Boerhave, a century later, caused to be trans- 

 lated from the Dutch into Latin under the title of Biblia 

 Natures (Leyden, ijt^j). 



Then came Reaumur, who, pursviing similar methods, 

 made a vast number of curious experiments and researches in 

 his gardens at Charenton, and devoted to the bees an entire 

 volume of his " Notes to serve for a History of Insects." 

 One may read it with profit to-day, and without fatigue. It 

 is clear, direct, and sincere, and possessed of a certain hard, 

 arid charm of its own. He sought especially the destruction 

 of ancient errors ; he himself was responsible for several new 

 ones ; he partially understood the formation of swarms and 

 the political establishment of queens ; in a word, he discovered 

 many difficult truths and paved the way for the discovery of 

 more. He fully appreciated the marvellous architecture of 

 the hive ; and what he said on the subject has never been 

 better said. It is to him, too, that we owe the idea of the 

 glass hive, which, having since been perfected, enables us to 

 follow the entire private life of these fierce insects, whose 

 work, begun in the dazzling sunshine, receives its crown in 

 the darkness. To be comprehensive, one should mention also 

 the somewhat subsequent works and investigations of Charles 

 Bonnet and Schirach (who solved the enigma of the royal 

 egg) ; but I will keep to the broad lines, and pass at once 

 to Francois Huber, the master and classic of contemporary 

 apiarian science. 



Huber was born in Geneva in 1750, and fell blind in 

 his earliest youth. The experiments of Reaumur interested 



