MEMOIR OF HUBER. 
25 
To him, whose life had been almost exclusively de- 
voted to the study and admiration of these insects, 
we may conceive how great a source of enjoyment 
this gift must have proved. His feeling towards his 
bees was not a feeling of fondness in an ordinary 
degree; it was a passion, as it almost invariably be- 
comes with every one who makes them his study. 
“ Beaucoup de gens aiment les abeilles,” says the 
enthusiastic Gelieu, “je n’ai vu personne qui les 
aima mediocrement ; on se passionne pour elles.” 
The days of Huber were now drawing to a close. 
In the full possession of his mental faculties, he was 
able to converse with his friends with his accustomed 
ease and tranquillity, and even to correspond by let- 
ter with those at a distance, within two days of his 
death. He died in the arms of his daughter on the 
22d of December 1831, in the 81st year of his age. 
