The Life of the Bee 
the mind; but unless it be watched by a 
lofty disquiet ever ready to remind it, 
when occasion demand, of the infinity of 
its ignorance, it dwindles into the mere 
routine of the baser side of our intellect. 
But the bees have themselves answered 
the objection Messrs. Kirby and Spence 
advanced. Scarcely had it been formu- 
lated when another naturalist, Andrew 
Knight, having covered the bark of some 
diseased trees with a kind of cement made 
of turpentine and wax, discovered that his 
bees were entirely renouncing the collec- 
tion of propolis, and exclusively using 
this unknown matter, which they had 
quickly tested and adopted, and found in 
abundant quantities, ready prepared, in 
the vicinity of their dwelling. 
And indeed, one-half of the science 
and practice of apiculture consists in 
giving free rein to the spirit of initiative 
possessed by the bees, and in providing 
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