The Life of the Bee 
desire is merely to contrive round cells 
in the wax; only, that as their neighbours, 
and those at work on the opposite side of 
the comb, are digging at the same mo- 
ment and with the same intentions, the 
points where the cells meet must of neces- 
sity become hexagonal. Besides, it is 
said, this is precisely what happens to 
crystals, the scales of certain kinds of fish, 
soap-bubbles, etc., as it happens in the 
following experiment that Buffon sug- 
gested. “If,” he said, “you fill a dish 
with peas or any other cylindrical bean, 
pour as much water into it as the space 
between the beans will allow, close it care- 
fully and then boil the water, you will 
find that all these cylinders have become 
six-sided columns. And the reason is 
evident, being indeed purely mechanical ; 
each of the cylindrical beans tends, as it 
swells, to occupy the utmost possible 
space within a given space; wherefore it 
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