260 
LEEDS CHEMISTS’ ASSOCIATION. 
“ I have since repeated the experiments with solutions of egg-albumen and gelatine, 
and I find that these substances do pass through the dialyser. 
“ The particulars I will be glad to explain to you at any convenient time.—I am, 
yours very respectfully, 
“ George Hamilton. 
“ H. Sugden Evans, Esq., Secretary, Chemists’ Association.” 
The thanks of the meeting were accorded to the donors to the Library, and to Professor 
Hamilton for his valuable communication. 
Mr H. Sugden Evans then read a short paper “ on some of the recent additions to the 
Museum.” 
Mr. Banner explained by the aid of a model, Holt and Banner’s method of storing 
petroleum in wells of water. This led to an animated discussion, in which Messrs. Mer¬ 
cer, Shaw, Murphy, Bird, and Abraham took part. 
After the usual votes of thanks, the meeting separated. 
LEEDS CHEMISTS’ ASSOCIATION. 
The Second Ordinary Meeting of the Association for the session, was held at the 
Town Hall, on Wednesday Evening, Nov. 11, 1863 ; the President, Mr. Harvey, in the 
chair. 
Mr. Reynolds, F.C.S., read a paper upon “Bees’-Wax and its Adulterations,” of 
which the following is a report. 
The animal kingdom now contributes but few products to the lists of our Materia 
Medica. . The. class Insecta is represented by three of its members, viz. the Spanish fly, 
the cochineal insect, and the honey-bee, Apis mellijica , the source of the substance to be 
considered. Before speaking of the chemical properties of bees’-wax, it was right to 
allude briefly to the natural history of the subject. The study of Materia Medica owes 
its chief charm to the student, in thus bringing him into contact with the natural history 
sciences.. In the investigation of these, he finds a more elevating and unselfish intel¬ 
lectual influence than in the acquisition of a knowledge of the applications of science. 
I he late Dr. Pereira, when lecturing, would constantly diverge from the practical and 
technical treatment of his subject, to follow up minutely some apparently trifling point 
in natural history. The time which he devoted to such subjects as the structure of a 
hen’s egg, or to the microscopic structure of chalk, are illustrations which will be re¬ 
called by his old students. 
Bees’-wax was long supposed to be merely the pollen of plants, elaborated and con¬ 
densed by the bee,—an error which is refuted by the fact that wax is produced freely 
when the insect is fed upon honey or sugar only. Of the three classes found in a colony 
of bees, the secretion, etc., of wax and honey devolves upon the working bees, which are 
females having the ovaries imperfectly developed. These workers have eight scales or 
pouches.on the abdomen, which secrete the wax. After being elaborated by the action 
of the jaws and feet, a fine ribbon of wax is produced, and used for building up the 
honeycomb. The structure of this has excited the interest of the most profound philo¬ 
sophers, who have made it a subject for elaborate investigations. It is only needful to 
name Lord Brougham’s essay in his “Dissertations on Subjects connected with Natural 
Iheology. ’ The form of a honeycomb is, as is w&ll known, that of a double series of 
hexagonal cells, placed as it were back to back. It is this hexagonal form that has 
attracted the especial notice of mathematicians, who have demonstrated that this shape 
requires the least amount of material in order to yield a given strength: and further, 
that a larger number of cells can be put into a given space than if any other form were 
adopted. That, circular cells would have wasted far more space is manifest. Many and 
ingenious theories have been set up to explain why the bee should make hexagonal cells, 
the peculiar nature of the insect’s eye, an impression made upon its antennae, etc. etc., 
being some of the latest “ guesses at truth.” However, though the subject well deserves 
and will undoubtedly repay a continued inquiry, we may regard the following as the 
most probable statement of the case. The bees construct a series of thin cylindrical 
tubes, but the crowding of a maximum number into any given space makes their walls 
