BEES AS MEANS OF DEFENSE. 205 
of the bee, and usually becomes proof against it, is no 
more to be doubted than the fact that vaccination is a 
preservative against small-pox. The recent discoveries of 
Pasteur, for the cure of hydrophobia, are another evidence 
of the efficiency of inoculation. 
Bees as Means oF: DEFENSE. 
405. “A small corsair, equipped with forty or fifty men, and 
having on board some bees, purposely taken from a neighboring 
island, and confined in earthen hives (2735), was pursued by a 
Turkish galley. As the latter boarded her, the sailors threw the 
hives from the masts down into the galley. The earthen hives 
broke into fragments and the bees dispersed all over the boat. 
The Turks who had looked on the small corsair with contempt, 
as an easy prey, did not expect so singular an attack. Finding 
themselves defenseless against the stings, they were so fright- 
ened, that the men of the corsair, who had provided themselves 
with masks and gloves, took possession of the galley, almost 
without resistance.’ 
“Amurat, Emperor of Turkey, having besieged Alba, and 
made a breach in the walls, found the breach defended by bees, 
whose hives had been brought on the ruins. The Janissaries, 
the bravest militia of the Ottoman empire, refused to clear the 
obstacle.””—(Della Rocca, 1790,) 
