The king of the place having offered a reward for
the solution of two very difficult problems, they were solved upon the
spot- the one by the bees, and the other by the birds; but the king
keeping their solution a secret, it was only after the most profound
researches and labor, and the writing of an infinity of big books,
during a long series of years, that the men-mathematicians at length
arrived at the identical solutions which had been given upon the
spot by the bees and by the birds.'"*
* The bees- ever since bees were- have been constructing their cells
with just such sides, in just such number, and at just such
inclinations, as it has been demonstrated (in a problem involving
the profoundest mathematical principles) are the very sides, in the
very number, and at the very angles, which will afford the creatures
the most room that is compatible with the greatest stability of
structure.
During the latter part of the last century, the question arose among
mathematicians- "to determine the best form that can be given to the
sails of a windmill, according to their varying distances from the
revolving vanes, and likewise from the centres of the revolution.
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