Honey Comb Cells Noticed a weird thing. Makers of Foundation slowly took over the publication of bee books and magazines in the beginning...
Honey Comb Cells
Noticed a weird thing. Makers of Foundation slowly took over the publication of bee books and magazines in the beginning of the Twentieth Century. They published new editions of Langstroth, Dadant Snr.'s books and also the ABC and XYZ. Any mention of natural comb is slowly removed and large sections about foundation appear. The 1918 edition has nothing at all about how comb is made and just about how wax is produced and foundation is drawn. 1910 retains some mention but it is the 1908 that goes into detail.
Noticed a weird thing. Makers of Foundation slowly took over the publication of bee books and magazines in the beginning of the Twentieth Century. They published new editions of Langstroth, Dadant Snr.'s books and also the ABC and XYZ. Any mention of natural comb is slowly removed and large sections about foundation appear. The 1918 edition has nothing at all about how comb is made and just about how wax is produced and foundation is drawn. 1910 retains some mention but it is the 1908 that goes into detail.
1910 Edition
Much has been written about the mathematically exact angles of honey-comb. Some philosophers have stoutly maintained the bees have solved difficult problems, and that their work is an example of the wonderful perfection of nature or natural instinct. Many of these claims make interesting reading. Abstruse theories and complex formulae have been contributed to sustain these claims. But they lack one essential feature, and in this they do not stand alone, even in the productions of writers on natural history — they are not true. Actual measurements of the angles show that they greatly vary. But, notwithstanding the fact that the cells vary in size and form, comb is none the less a wonderful structure, with all its parts arranged for the greatest strength, the largest storing capacity, and most perfect adaptation to circumstances."
"All three forms of cells are primarily cylindrical. The queen cells, isolated from the others, always remain cylindrical. All solitary bees (not honeybees) make such cells. The hexagonal form is due largely to mutual pressure, and partly to optical illusion. Cells near the edge of the comb, where it is attached to some support, are either circular or elongated circular.
A soap-bubble floating in air is circular in every direction—that bubble is a sphere. Let it fall on a table and it becomes flattened on one side. Let there be pressure on every part, and the outlines are no longer circles but polygons. Let a mass of soap bubbles be confined, one layer between two sheets
of glass, and they become short polygonal tubes. If sizes are equal and pressure from every direction is the same the outlines will be regular hexagons, the same as those of worker-comb cells. If these conditions vary, the outlines will be irregular polygons but mostly six-sided."
From the 1908 Edition but removed from the 1910...
"All three forms of cells are primarily cylindrical. The queen cells, isolated from the others, always remain cylindrical. All solitary bees (not honeybees) make such cells. The hexagonal form is due largely to mutual pressure, and partly to optical illusion. Cells near the edge of the comb, where it is attached to some support, are either circular or elongated circular.
A soap-bubble floating in air is circular in every direction—that bubble is a sphere. Let it fall on a table and it becomes flattened on one side. Let there be pressure on every part, and the outlines are no longer circles but polygons. Let a mass of soap bubbles be confined, one layer between two sheets
of glass, and they become short polygonal tubes. If sizes are equal and pressure from every direction is the same the outlines will be regular hexagons, the same as those of worker-comb cells. If these conditions vary, the outlines will be irregular polygons but mostly six-sided."
Later editions contain no reference to honey comb not being initially hexagonal. I can only imagine this did not fit the marketing strategy for foundation,
Round things when stacked touch at 6 points
If those round things are flexible and adhere to each other the result will be hexagonal
