BEES AS MEANS OV 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 eflfielency 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 (iTS), was pursued by a 

 Turlvish 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 tliemselves 

 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."— (Delia Eocca, 1790,) 



