The character of Huber and the circumstances under which he pursued his observations are so remarkable that we need scarcely apologise for stating a few particulars respecting him here. He was born at Geneva, in July 1750, his family being in honourable station and noted for talent. Just as he attained to manhood he lost his sight, and remained blind to the end of his days. This apparently insuperable obstacle in the way of scientific observation was overcome by the remarkable fidelity with which Burnens, his assistant, watched the bees and reported their movements to Huber. Madame Huber also, who, betrothed to him before his calamity, had remained constant in her affection, assisted in the investigations with great assiduity during their long and happy wedded life. Huber, fortunately for science, was in a position to devote both means and leisure to these observations; and Burnens, though only a peasant, was a superior man, and rose by his worth to become chief magistrate of his native village. In later years Huber's son Pierre rendered important aid. We quote the following from "Memoirs of Huber" by Professor de Candolle:-- "We have seen the blind shine as poets, and distinguish themselves as philosophers, musicians, and calculators; but it was reserved for Huber to give a lustre to his class in the sciences of observation, and on objects so minute that the most clear-sighted observer can scarcely perceive them. The reading of the works of Réaumur 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 use of such an instrument as the optician must furnish, but an intelligent assistant, who alone could adjust it to its use. He had then a servant named Francis Burnens, remarkable for his sagacity and for the devotion he bore his master. Huber practised him in the art of observation, directed him to his researches by questions adroitly combined, and, aided by the recollections of his youth and by the testimonies of his wife and friends, he rectified the assertions of his assistant, and became enabled to form in his own mind a true and perfect image of the manifest facts. 'I am much more certain,' said he, smiling, to a scientific friend, 'of what I state than you are, for you publish what your own eyes only have seen, while I take the mean among many witnesses.' This is doubtless very plausible reasoning, but very few persons will by it be rendered distrustful of their own eyesight."