Pastorius’s Alphabetical Hive contains entries organized by concept. These concepts can be a single word but sometimes also encompass larger ideas. The Alphabetical Section is the first part of a large collection of commonplaced material, referred to by Pastorius as the Alvearium. Pastorius’s Alvearium takes up the end of Volume 1 and the vast majority of Volume 2. Each entry in the Alvearium collects commonplaced material related to the topic. The Digital Beehive presents annotated versions of these entries which highlight the links to other entries.
Pastorius draws explicit connections between the entries in the alphabetical section. These are indicated by Pastorius through the word “Add.” or less often “Adde.” These cross references intend to link specific sections of the Alphabetical Section. The Digital Beehive presents these cross references not only as metadata but also as hyperlinks. Clicking on the cross reference will direct the user to the linked entry.
Pastorius also draws connections between the Alphabetical Section and the Numerical Section. The Numerical Section is a continuation of the Alphabetical Section, both of which together make up Pastorius’s Alvearium, but organized through arbitrary numbers assigned to the concept rather than alphabetical order. The Digital Beehive team hopes to annotate these numerical entries at some point in the future, but for now, the numerical cross references are presented as metadata. The hyperlink will take the user to the page in the Beehive where the numerical entry is located.
Pastorius also created a separate Octavo Index which helped him find concepts in his manuscript. Where applicable, the corresponding index entry is presented as metadata with a hyperlink to the entry.
Occasionally, metadata will not link. Unlinked metadata is due to uncertainty in Pastorius’s system of cross-referencing. Either the cross reference does not unambiguously match the entry, or the entry is not in the Beehive. In this event, the search function can be used to find relevant information.
Certain cross references are problematic. The following tags are used to indicate problematic entries: