120 Mr. J. W. L. Glaisher on the Form of the Cells of Bees. 



did say will see at a glance how much is and how much is not 

 correct. I pass over also one or two minor slips. Of course 

 Lhuillier deserves Lord Brougham's censure for having failed to 

 notice that Maclaurin's and Boscovich' s proofs were geometrical. 



T have not hesitated to state plainly the value of Lord 

 Brougham's arguments in my opinion, as the frankness with 

 which he has expressed his sentiments with regard to the 

 writings of those with whom he did not agree renders any par- 

 ticular display of courtesy towards his own views unnecessary. 

 Even Leslie Ellis writes, " Either the habit of an advocate's 

 mind — for Lord Brougham may be regarded as counsel for the 

 bees — or his not having read Maraldi' s paper must have been 

 the cause of this omission " [viz. of Maraldi' s statement that the 

 angles measured were 110° and 70° : this is partly supplied, as 

 has been noticed, in the French memoir] ; and I must say 

 that the quiet dignity of the mathematical writings on the sub- 

 ject contrasts most favourably with his violent advocacy. The 

 impression any one would receive from reading Lord Brougham's 

 remarks on Lhuillier and Castillon would be that they had treated 

 the matter ignorantlyand unfairly; whereas their memoir seems to 

 me (and I believe it would to any one else) an impartial (though 

 not very brilliant) attempt to add to our knowledge and advance 

 truth. As the result of a tolerably careful examination of the 

 whole question, I may be permitted to say that I agree with 

 Lhuillier in believing that the economy of wax has played a very 

 subordinate part in the determination of the form of the cell ; 

 in fact I should not be surprised if it were acknowledged here- 

 after that the form of the cell had been determined by other 

 considerations, into which the saving of wax did not enter (that 

 is to say, did not enter sensibly ; of course I do not mean that 

 the amount of wax required was a matter of absolute indifference 

 to the bees). The fact of all the dihedral angles being 120° is, 

 it is not unlikely, the cause that determined the form of the cell. 



Whenever a prediction is subsequently verified by experiment, 

 there is always a strong tendency to believe in the truth of the 

 theory whereby the prediction was obtained, even if the course 

 of subsequent research lends no additional support to it, but 

 rather the reverse. And the equality of the angles of the rhombs 

 and trapeziums is no doubt the solution of so many different 



vich's remarks imputed dishonesty to Maraldi ; and although he had not 

 seen them, he feels no doubt that what Boscovich really did say was merely 

 a reproduction of what Maraldi had himself said. This is so, and Ellis 

 was right; but, curiously enough, although Lord Brougham did not know 

 it and had no ground for supposing it, Boscovich does, as noticed supra, 

 suggest that perhaps Maraldi was helped by theory. 



