WAX. 
127 
be their wants, implanted in the censorium of the first 
bee, all things pertaining to their welfare ; the impress 
then given, is yet retained unimpaired ! They need 
no lectures on domestic economy to tell them, by using 
the base of one set of cells on one side of their combs, 
for the base of those on the opposite, will save both 
labor and wax ; no mathematician that a pyramidal 
base, just three angles, with just such an inclination, 
will be the exact shape needed, and consume much 
less wax than round or square — that the base of one 
cell of three angles, would form a part of the base of 
three other cells on the opposite side of the comb — 
that each of the six sides of one cell forms one side of 
six others around it — that these angles and these only 
would answer their ends. 
“ The bees appear,” says Reaumer, “ to have a 
problem to solve, which would puzzle many a mathe- 
matician. A quantity of matter being given, it is re- 
quired to form out of it cells, which shall be equal, 
and similar, and of a determinate size, but the largest 
possible with relation to the quantity of matter em- 
ployed, while they shall occupy the least possible 
space !” 
IIow little does the epicure heed, when feasting on 
the fruits of their industry, that each morsel tasted 
must destroy the most perfect specimens of workman- 
ship ! that in a moment he can demolish what it has 
taken hours, yes days, perhaps weeks, of assiduous toil 
and labor, for the bees to accomplish ! 
