42 PHYSIOLOGY OE THE HONEY-BEE. 
over its surface, as if in search of some lost treasure. A 
small piece of brood-comb was then given to them, contain- 
ing worker-eggs and worms. The effect produced by its 
introduction took place much quicker than can be described. 
Those which first touched it raised a peculiar note, and in a 
moment, the comb was covered with a dense mass of bees; 
as they recognized, in this small piece of comb, the means 
of deliverance, despair gave place to hope, their restless 
motions and mournful voices ceased, and a cheerful hum 
proclaimed their delight. If some one should enter a build- 
ing filled with thousands of persons tearing their hair, beat- 
ing their breasts, and by piteous cries, as well as frantic 
gestures, giving vent to their despair, and could by a single 
word cause all these demonstrations of agony to give place 
to smiles and congratulations, the change would not be more 
instantaneous than that produced when the bees received 
the brood-comb! 
The Orientals called the honey-bee ‘‘ Deborah; She that 
speaketh.’? Would that this little insect might speak, in 
words more eloquent than those of man’s device, to those 
who reject any of the doctrines of revealed religion, with the 
assertion that they are so improbable, as to labor under a 
fatal a priort objection. Do not all the steps in the devel- 
opment of a queen from the worker-egg, labor under the 
very same objection? and have they not, for this reason been 
formerly regarded, by many bee-keepers, as unworthy of 
belief? If the favorite argument of infidels will not stand 
the test, when applied to the wonders of the bee-hive, is it 
entitled to serious weight, when, by objecting to religious 
truths, they arrogantly take to task the Infinite Jehovah for 
what He has been pleased to do or to teach? With no 
more latitude than is claimed by such objectors, it were 
easy to prove that a man is under no obligation to believe 
any of the wonders of the bee-hive, even although he is him- 
