THEIR RELATION TO MAN 195 



pillar adds not a little to the wealth of the producing 

 countries, and to the support of those engaged in textile 

 industries. The elimination of the silk-worm and its 

 product, while it would not eventually cause mankind any 

 serious inconvenience, would deprive it, for all time, of 

 one of its most valued and widely employed fabrics. 



Next in order of value are the bees and bee-products 

 which seem to have been recognized and employed 

 almost or quite as long as we have any historic records. 

 Honey from wild bees is known to every savage nation 

 and has formed an important item of food. And not 

 of food alone, for away back in the dark ages it was 

 found that it made an excellent drink when fermented, 

 the "meth" of the ancient Saxons being the ancestor 

 of the "metheglin" of more recent times. The latter 

 drink is little known now-a-days, especially in cities and 

 towns where malted and distilled liquors are in use; 

 but it has still a vogue in a few sections of the country, 

 where those who first make its acquaintance gain a 

 wholesome respect for those ancestors of ours wliose 

 capacity for it was measured by "flagons," or "horns." 



Wax and honey as products of the bee are uni- 

 versally known and the organization of the beehive is so 

 well understood that it need only be referred to. Paraf- 

 fine has largely supplanted beeswax for many purposes, 

 while sugar and glucose have replaced honey; so, even 

 were the bee now completely eliminated from our fauna, 

 mankind would still worry along. Nevertheless, bee- 

 products are on the increase rather than otherwise and 

 there is no lessening in the demand for them. 



The products of the "lac" insects known as "stick 

 lac," "shell-lac," etc., are yet of considerable impor- 

 tance although the insect "lac" has now been largely 

 replaced by cheaper preparations from other sources, 

 for general use. The lac insect is really one of the "soft 



