Page:Jardine Naturalist's library Bees.djvu/26

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MEMOIR OF HUBER.

together, who have turned their attention to the same pursuits; and that therefore nothing short of the direct evidence of our senses, the most rigid scrutiny, and the most minute correctness of detail in experiment, can justify our denouncing his accuracy, or drawing different conclusions. His experiments were admirably fitted to elicit the truth, and his inferences so strictly logical, as to afford all reasonable security against any very important error.

Huber's "Nouvelles observations sur les Abeilles", addressed in the form of letters to his friend Bonnet, appeared in 1792 in one volume. In 1814, a second edition was published at Paris in two volumes, comprehending the result of additional researches on the same subject, edited in part by his son. An English version appeared in 1806, and was very favourably noticed by the Edinburgh Review. A third edition of this translation was published in Edinburgh in 1821, embracing not only the original work of 1792, but also the several additions contained in that of 1814, and which had originally made their appearance in the Bibliothèque Britannique. These additional observations were, On the Origin of Wax, On the use of Farina or Pollen, On the Architecture of Bees, and On the precautions adopted by these insects against the ravages of the Sphinx Atropos.

To enlarge on the personal character and domestic circumstances of Huber, falls not strictly within our province, which embraces only, or chiefly, his character and writings as a naturalist. There are however some features in his disposition, and some cir-