The Life of the Bee 



follows that the reciprocal compression 

 compels them all to become hexagonal. 

 Similarly each bee seeks to occupy the 

 utmost possible space within a given 

 space, with the necessary result that, its 

 body being cylindrical, the cells become 

 hexagonal for the same reason as before, 

 viz., the working of reciprocal obstacles," 



[58] 

 These reciprocal obstacles, it would 

 seem, are capable of marvellous achieve- 

 ment ; on the same principle, doubtless, 

 that the vices of man produce a general 

 virtue, whereby the human race, hateful 

 often in its individuals, ceases to be so in 

 the mass. We might reply, first of all, 

 with Brougham, Kirby and Spence, and 

 others, that experiments with peas and 

 soap-bubbles prove nothing ; for the rea- 

 son that in both cases the pressure pro- 

 duces only irregular forms, and in no 

 198 



