404 LINING AND SOLDERING OF THE CELLS. 



be lined and soldered with the threads of the propolis, as 

 described by Huber, their transparency would be wholly 

 destroyed. The capacity of the cell would be so contracted, 

 that it would not be fit for the general purposes to which it 

 is applied; and instead of a light gossamer transparent sub- 

 stance, the combs would present a dense and opaque appear- 

 ance, wholly dissimilar to that which a comb always exhibits, 

 previously to the honey being deposited in it. There is, 

 however, one difficulty attending this lining and soldering of 

 the cell with propolis, from which the partizans of Mr. Huber 

 will find it difficult to emancipate themselves. We have the 

 authority of Huber for the affirmation, that propolis is not 

 wax ; the latter, according to his experience, being a fabri- 

 cated substance from honey; the former being a natural 

 one, we are not even to suppose that the slightest affinity 

 exists between them, but that they are in their constituent 

 principles wholly dissimilar and hetereogeneous. In what 

 manner, however, will the advocates of Huber account for 

 the circumstance, that if a comb be taken and subjected 

 to the process of ebullition, the result is a mass of wax 

 corresponding very nearly to the weight of the comb, ex- 

 cepting where the combs have abounded with bee-bread, 

 which at once declares itself, with perhaps some abortive 

 brood intermingled, in the residuum ? If, however, the cells 

 be lined and soldered with propolis, according to the state- 

 ment of Huber, what becomes of this substance when the 

 comb is subject to ebullition ? It is not the mere process of 

 boiling which can convert that substance into wax, which 

 was not wax previously to its being subjected to the action 

 of heat, nor must it be pretended that an amalgamation of 

 the two substances can take place, and that by such incor- 

 poration, the propolis acquires the properties of wax, or 

 that it becomes virtually and intrinsically wax itself. The 

 unctuous nature of wax prevents its incorporation with the 

 water in which it is boiled, and therefore the bee-bread, 



