recreation proved happily effectual, and Huber ever after not only retained confirmed health, but a tender recollection and decided taste for rural life.

But Venzel, his oculist, was not so successful. The cataracts which had been forming on Huber's eyes were then considered irremovable; it was, therefore, announced to him that he must be doomed to utter blindness. but before his departure, he found a congenial spirit in the person of Maria Aimée Lullin, a daughter of one of the syndics of the Swiss republic; and such a mutual love was cherished by them as the age of seventeen is apt to produce. But fearing that the loss of sight might unfavorably affect the dearest object of his affections, he resorted to dissim ulation. While he could discern a ray of light, he acted and spoke as if he could see perfectly, and often beguiled his own misfortune by such pretences. But M. Lullin, possessing the true heart of woman, and being inspired by that love not based upon mere policy or expediency, remained constant to the favorite companion of her youth, notwithstanding the determined opposition of her father. As soon as she had attained her majority, she presented herself at the altar with him who had been her choice, and to the amelioration of whose sad misfortune she now determined to devote her life.

Madame Huber proved, by her attachment to his interest, herself worthy of so true and ardent a lover. During the forty years of their union, she never ceased to bestow upon her husband the kindest atten

tion. She was his reader, his secretary, his observer and she removed, as far as possible, all those embarrassments which would naturally arise from his deprivation. Her husband, in alluding to her small stature. aid say of her, "mens magna in corpore parvo." As long as she lived, said he, I was not sensible of my misfortune.

We have known the blind to surmount obstacles in the pursuit of knowledge, that made them the wonder of their age; but it was reserved for Huber to give a luster to his class, in the sciences of observation, and upon objects so minute that the most clear-sighted investigator can scarcely observe them. The reading of the works of Reaumer and Bonnet, and the conversation of the latter, directed his curiosity to the history of bees. His habitual residence in the country inspired him with the desire, first, of verifying some facts, then of filling some blanks in their history; but this kind of observation required not only the finest optical instruments, but an intelligent assistant. For this latter purpose he instructed his servant, named Francis Burnens, (remarkable for his sagacity and devotion to his master,) whom he directed in his researches, and by questions adroitly combined, aided by his wife and friends, he rectified the assertions of his assistant, and became enabled tc form, in his own mind, a perfect image of the minutest facts. "I am much more certain of what I declare to the world than you are," said he to his friend one day smiling; "for you publish what your own

eyes only have seen, while I take the mean among many witnesses."

The publication of his first observations appeared in 1792, in the form of letters to Ch. Bonnet, under the title of " Nouvelles Observation sue les Abeilles." This work made a strong impression upon many naturalists, not only from the novelty of its facts, but from their rigorous exactness, and the amazing difficulty which the author overcame with so much ability. But his investigations were neither relaxed by the flattering reception of his first publication, (which might have been sufficient to gratify his self-love,) nor even by his separation from his faithful Burnens.

The origin of the wax was, at that time, a point in the history of bees much disputed by naturalists. By some it was asserted, though without sufficient proof, that it was fabricated by the bee from the honey. Huber, who had already happily cleared up the origin of the propolis, confirmed this opinion with respect to the wax, by numerous observations; and showed very particularly (what baffled the skill of all naturalists before him) how it escaped in a laminated form from between the rings of the abdomen.

During the course of his observations with Burnens, his wife and son for assistants, he instituted laborious researches to discover how the bees prepare it for their edifices. He followed step by step the whole construction of those wonderful hives, which seem, by their perfection, to resolve the most delicate problems of geometry; he assigned to each class of

bees the part it takes in this construction, and traced their labors from the rudiments of the first cell to the completed perfection of the comb. He made known the ravages which the sphinx atropos produces in the hives; he made ingenious inquiries respecting the locality and history of the bee's senses; he discovered that they consume oxygen gas like other animals, and how by a particular motion of their wings, they renovate the atmosphere in the hive.

Since the days and brilliant achievements of Huber, naturalists have not been able to add any considerable discovery to the history of bees. The second volume of his observations was published in 1814, and was edited in part by his son. Huber was considered by his cotemporaries worthy of a place in the class of special observers. Most of the academies of Europe (and especially those of Paris) admitted Huber, from time to time, among their associates.

But his valuable contributions to science were not the only tributaries to his fame. As a writer, he possessed more than ordinary merit.

The elegance of his style, the height of imagination, and correctness of his imagery, lead us to infer that he might have been a poet as well as naturalist. In the various relations of life, he displayed such sweetness of temper as made him beloved by all his large circle of friends. He spent the evening of his life at Lausanne, under the care of his daughter, Madame de Molin.

Huber retained his faculties to the last. At the age of eighty-one, in a letter to one of his friends, he

writes thus: "There is a time when it is impossible to remain neglectful; it is when separating gradually from each other, we may reveal to those we love all that esteem, tenderness, and gratitude have inspired us with towards them." He farther adds: 66 Resignation and serenity are blessings which have not been refused." He wrote these lines on the 20th of December, 1831, and on the 22d he was no more. His life became extinct, without pain or agony, while in the arms of his daughter.

None of his writings previous to this have been published in the United States. We favor our readers with several extracts, from a copy of his work on bees, imported by ourselves for this purpose. A few ingenious experiments, elucidating portions in their history, dark to naturalists prior to his researches, must, however, suffice.

EXPERIMENTS RELATIVE TO THE FORMATION OF SWARMS

I now proceed to experiments proving that an old queen always conducts the first swarm:

One of my glass hives consisted of three parallel combs, placed in frames opening like the leaves of a book. It was well peopled, and abundantly provided with honey and wax, and with brood of every differ ent age. On the 5th of May, 1787, I removed its queen, and, on the 6th, transferred all the bees from another hive into it, with a fertile queen at least a