Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Supplement, Volume 2.djvu/764

 W. A X

received in a lump, without ever going on the tody at all. This is very happily obferved in the flowers of the apple and pear-tree in the fpring-feafon.

it is but of a very late time that men have found out that the little buttons on the fummits of the filaments of the flowers of plants contained this powder or farina faecun- dans; but the bees feem to have known it from all time; and before thefe little buttons or cafes of the farina burft open, is the time when the bee can furnifh herfclf the moft completely with the farina from them. If the blofloras of an apple-rree be obferved when juft opened, and the apices or buttons of the ftamina ripe, but not yet burft, a bee that comes into fuch a flower, tries one of thefe apices with her teeth ; if fhe finds it is not ripe, fhe goes to another; but if it be, fhe burfts it open with her teeth, and wiping all the duft clean out of it with her fore-leg on this fide, ihe panes the powder, thus received, to the (ecohd leg, and thence to the third, where it is immediately lodged in a lump in the proper receptacle on the triangular piece, which makes the third joint of that leg. This being at a feafon of the year when the weather is°cold, and the bees not very brifk, their operations are feen better than at other times ; but even here it is but imperfectly that they are traced, the motion of the legs, in delivering the treafure from one to another, is too quick to be feen.

There is, however, another occafion in which thefe motions are to be feen much more diftinctly than in any other of thefe opera- tions ; this is when the bees are employed, as they fometimes are, in collecting a reddiih glutinous matter inftead of Wax ; This matter is of the confidence of a refin while foft ; it is pliable, and flicks to whatever it touches, fo that the creature

' is troubled enough to deliver it from part to part, and the motions by which it performs this are confequently much flower than thofe by which it manages its (fax. The me thod of this procefs is thus : the bee bites off a fmall piece of the refmous matter from the vegetable, with its teeth ; it then holds this piece between the teeth, till it has fafhiond it into a fmall round globule ; as foon as this is done, the laft joint of the anterior leg, which may be called the foot, receives it from the teeth ; this foot is compofed of five joints, and has a

' power of bending and clofing in the manner of our fingers ; this feizes upon the little globule while it is held between the teeth, and with fome difficulty difengages it. It then delivers it to the foot of the fecond leg of the fame fide, which feizes jt, and flowly delivers it from its adherences to the foot of the firft leg ; when perfectly freed, this places it on the triangular joint of the third leg, and then beats it down into the cavity by repeated ftrokes, at once working it into a proper confift- ence, and driving it into the mould, as the labourers ufe the foft clay of which they make bricks. This is doubtlefs the procefs in the depoftting and working the common Wax into form ; but that being a lefs vifcid and tenacious fubftance, the whole motion is performed too quick to be obferved diftinctly ; whereas in this, the tenacity of the fubftance making the parts flick to it, the motions are flower, and confequently are more cafily feen. Reaumur's Hift. Inf. vol. 9. p. 378. All the bees do not return loaded in the fame degree with Wax to the hive ; fome perhaps are better workers than others, and probably fome have the happinefs to meet with flowers that yield more honey than others. When the lump is fmall, it is contained within the verge of the palette, or flat part of the leg; but when it is larger, it hangs over the fides, and en- tangling among the hairs, forces them outward ; but thefe hairs are at the fame time greatly afliftant in retaining it in its place. -When the bee meets with a flower whofe apices are not fo ripe as to burft open on the touch, fhe is obliged to bite every one of them with her teeth, and then collects the matter of the Wax, as in the inftance of the apple-bloffoms ; but when the apices are fo perfectly ripe as to burft of themfelves on be- ing touched, file has nothing to do but to introduce herfelf among them, and then fhaking them thoroughly about, their powder is di (charged all over her body, and is to be brufhed eft", and collected into lumps by a more tedious procefs, every particle of it being probably obliged to come into the reach of the feet of the anterior legs, and when worked into lumps in them, to be delivered to the feet of the next pair, and by them depofited on and prefled down into the palette or third joint of the laft pair of legs.

If the bees arc obferved when returning to the hive loaded with their lumps of Wax on their thighs, thefe lumps on fome will be found to be white, on others yellow, on others red, and on fome greenifh ; This is owing to the different colours of the farina, yielded by the different plants they have been at work upon. The manufacture of the bee in moulding this into a lump, has not yet been able to alter the colour of the farina, nor even its figure; for if the lumps be examined by the microfcope, they will all be found to confift of globules of a rounded or oval figure, or of whatever other fhape they had when on the plant. The bees returning to their hives after their morning excurfions in the fpring, are always found to contain in the cells of their palettes large lumps of Wax ; but thofe which go out in the heat of the day, return with little or none ; the reafon of this is, that the humidity of the farina, by means of the dew, makes it eafily formed into a 4

W E A •

Iumpormafs, its particles naturally flicking together; whereas in the heat of the day this powder is too dry to be formed thus into a compact mafs, and therefore cannot be carried home by the bee. Reaumur, Hift. Inf. vol. 9. p. 382.

Chemical Analyjis of Wax. Tho' bees- Wax be of fo firm and folid a fubftance as we fee, yet it is very remarkable that it contains no earth, but rifes wholly in the fire in the common way of diftillation by the retort, without leaving a rcfiduum. Another Angular obfervation in this procefs, is, that the more fluid matter there comes over into the receiver, the thinner the remaining matter in the retort becomes, not as might na- turally be expected the thicker.

When the fpirit of Wax (which is a phlegm with fome acid particles fufpended in it) is all driven over by the fire, the refi- duum is a foft fatty fubftance, commonly called the butter of Wax; and if this butter be rectified, that is, if more acid and more phlegm be driven from it by the force of fire, the refi- duum of this procefs is yet thinner than before, remaining in form of a clear liquor like oil, It appears therefore, on this analyfis, that Wax is compofed of two parts, an aqueous fub- ftance, with fome acid particles blended in it, and an oil; thefe two liquors have, by their union, formed this concrete, and acquired a hardhefs j but in the feparating them from one another, they become fluid again.

The proportion of the ingredients in this fubftance is alfo a very lingular thing, for all the care in the world cannot fepa- rate quite one fourth part of the weight of the Wax in form of oil, the remainder then is all phlegm and acid. Mr. Horn- berg advanced, that oils only became inflammable by means of the acid they contained, and this feems a proof of it; but when we confider that Wax all burns away, it is an odd ob- fervation, though a very certain one, that three fourths of what is burning is water. Mem. Acad. Par. 1708.

To imitate Fruit in Wax. Take the fruit, and bury it half-way in clay; oil its edges, and the extant half of the fruit, then nimbly throw on it tempered alabafter, or plafter of Paris, to aconfi- derable thicknefs. When this is concreted, it makes the half mould, the fecond half of which may be obtained in the fame way. The two parts of the mould being joined together, a little coloured Wax, melted, and brought to a due heat, be- ing poured through a hole made in any convenient part of the mould, and prefently fhook every way therein, will reprefent the original fruit. Boyle's Works abr. vol. 1. p. 136.

WAY (Cycl.) — Way aftward on t or foreword on, in a fhip, is the fame with her run or rake. See the article Rake and Run.

WAYED Horfe, in the manege, is one that is already backed^ fuppled and broken, and fliews a difpofition to the manege.

WEACHIN, in botany, the name given by the Indians of America to the rnaiz, or Indian corn, which they cultivated for bread before we knew them.

WEAK (Cycl.) — Weak, or eafy branch, in the manege. See the articles Banquet and Banquet-Z/w.

WEALD (Cycl.) — Weald, orWALD, in the bcginning"of names of places, fignrfies a fituation near woods ; and the woody parts of the counties of Kent and Suflex are called the Wealds, though mifprinted ivildes, in the ftatute 14 Car. 2. c. 6. The word Weald in Saxon fignifying a wood.

WEALREAF, in our old writers, fignifies the robbing of a dead man in his grave. Leg. Ethelred. c. 21. Blount. The word comes from the Saxon Weal, ftrages, and reaf, fpoliatio.

WEASEL, in zoology. See the article Mustela.

WEATHER (^/.)-We have feveral fchemes for keeping journals or diaries of the weather, extant in the Philofophical Tranfactions, the medical EfTays of Edinburgh, and in other books. The Ephcmerides Ultrajeclines may alfo be confulted. The inftruments requifite for fuch a journal, are a barometer, thermometer, hygrometer, ariemofcope, and ombrometer, which foe in their proper places in the Cyclopaedia or Supple- ment.

Weather-6W, is an hygrometer of a very antient inven- tion, and, if properly conftrued, may be ufed with good fuc- cefs, to fhew the alterations of the atmofphere, with refpect to moifture and drinefs ; but as commonly made, a it never rifes or falls fufficiently to point out fuch changes as the curious would be defirous to know. But thefe rifings and fallings may be made very fenfible, by means of a long index, moveable round a center, and pointing to a divided arch. We have a conftruction and figure of an improved Weather-curd in the Philofophical Tranfactions. N°. 479. p. 170. fig- 5.

Weather-J^W/, or Coile, in the fea language, is the turn- ing the fhip's head about, 10 as to lie that way which her ftern did before, without looting any fail, but only by bearing up the helm.

WEAVER'* Alarm. This contrivance is only a weight fa- ttened to a packthread, which is placed horizontally, fo that in a certain time a candle may burn down to it. Then the flame of the candle fetting fire to the thread, the weight falls, and awakens the flceping perfon. See Phil. Tranf. N°. 477. Sect. 14. where we have a figure to explain the invention, which got its name from being in frequent ufe among the Weavers.

WEEDS