> Someone on the podcast mentioned Huber and all these things that he discovered, and then said something to the tune of "Well, except he didn't really discover it all, since he was blind, it was actually his servant, and Huber just took all the credit and never mentioned him, which is really quite unfair".
People hear something and never check it out to see if it's true. Huber gives a lot of credit to a lot of people especially in the second volume, including Francis Burnens (his servant); Pierre Huber (his son); Maria Aim?e Lullin Huber (his wife); Jean Senebier (chemist); Charles Bonnet (naturalist); Christine Jurine (naturlist, microscopist, expert at dissection, expert at making plates of what she sees in the dissections); John Hunter (naturalist). Not to mention all the mentions of Remuer, Swammerdam, Shirrach etc.
Quote from Huber's New Observations on Bees, Preface to Volume II:
"Twenty years have elapsed since the publication of the first volume of this work; however, I have not remained idle. But before bringing to light new observations, I wanted time to verify the truths which I believe I established. I had hoped that better trained naturalists would desire to ascertain for themselves the correctness of the results obtained by me, and I thought that, by repeating my experiments, they might ascertain facts which escaped my notice. But no other attempt has since then been made to penetrate further into the history of those insects, and yet it is far from exhausted.
Although I was deceived in this expectation, I flatter myself with having obtained the confidence of my readers, my observations appear to have given light on several phenomena that had not yet been explained; the authors of several works upon the economy of bees have commented upon them; most of the cultivators have adopted entirely, as the basis of their practice, the principles which I discovered; and the naturalists themselves have taken interest in my efforts to pierce the double veil which shrouds for me, the natural sciences. (Huber here alludes evidently to the fact that he was blind?Translator) Their assent should have emboldened me sooner to edit the facts contained in this second volume, had not the loss of several persons dear to me disturbed the quietude which such occupations require.
The profound, indulgent and amiable philosopher, whose benevolence encouraged me to come forward, in spite of the disadvantages of my position, Mr. Charles Bonnet, died, and discouragement took possession of me. Sciences lost, in losing him, one of the genii sent from heaven to make science lovable; who, by linking them with the most natural sentiments of man, and by giving to each the rank and degree of interest due to it, bound the heart as well as the mind, and charmed our imagination without misleading it through delusions.
"I found in the friendship and enlightenment of Mr. Senebier, some relief for the privations imposed upon me. A continued correspondence with this great physiologist, while enlightening me upon the course to follow, revived my exist-ence in some manner; but his death surrendered me to fresh sorrows. Lastly, I was also to be deprived of the use of those eyes which had taken the place of my own, of the skill and devotedness which I had had at my bidding during 15 years. Burnens, the faithful observer, whose services I will always gladly recall, was called back into the bosom of his own people and, being appreciated as he deserved to be, he become one of the first magistrates of a considerable district.
"This last separation which was not the least painful one, since it deprived me of the means of diverting my mind from those which I had already suffered, was nevertheless softened by the satisfaction which I found in observing nature through the organs of the being who is the dearest to me, and with whom I could enter into more elevated considerations. (Huber?s wife?Translator)
"But that which most especially connected me again with natural history, was the taste my son manifested for this study. I communicated my observations to him: he expressed sorrow in leaving, buried in a notebook, work that would seem likely to interest naturalists: he noticed the concealed reluctance which I felt in classifying the materials gathered, and offered to edit them himself. I accepted his offer; the reader will not be astonished therefore, if this work is found to differ in its two component parts. The first volume contains my correspondence with Mr. Bonnet; the second presents a set of memoirs: in the one, we had limited ourselves to the simple expos? of facts; in the other the point was to describe difficult matters, and in order to diminish the dullness, we have sometimes freely made such comments as the subject suggested. Moreover, when giving my notes to my son, I also transmitted my ideas to him; we have blended our thoughts and our opinions; I felt the need of giving him possession of a subject in which I had acquired some experience."
Later in Volume II Chapter 10:
"Miss Jurine
"There was but one way to discover whether there was any ground for my suspicions, it was to dissect these bees with particular care. I had no one near me nor in my family with enough experience in the difficult art of dissection to fulfill my views; such researches required extensive knowledge and great dexterity: but I remembered with gratitude what I already owed to the friendship and complaisance of a young lady who was alike distinguished by the combination of rare qualities, of striking virtue, of superior talent, who directing her ability in a manner corresponding with the tastes of a beloved father (Louis Jurine) to whom several sciences are indebted, had devoted to natural history her leisure and all the gifts which she had received from nature; she was an expert in painting the picture of insects and of their most delicate parts, as to discover the secrets of their organs; being at the same time a rival of Lyonnet and of M?rian: such was the one whom we were to lose so soon, such was she whose loss natural history was to regret for so many reasons, and who, shortly before that fatal time displayed her talent through discoveries that had escaped Swammerdam and R?aumur. It was to Miss Jurine (Christine Jurine) that I entrusted the important research in which so many anatomists had failed, the finding of organs that were to furnish evidence of a still unknown truth.
"The first point was to discover whether the defective bees exhibited in their structure any differences from the common workers; Miss Jurine proceeded upon this research with her peculiar sagacity."
Obviously the words of someone hogging all the credit. These are but a few examples...