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AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



May 23, 1901. 



I Contributed Articles. | 



Medicinal and Nourisliins Properties of Honey. 



BY DR. JAS. M'LEAN. 



A PERUSAL of Prof. Cook's able review of Thomas 

 W. Cowan's book, The Honey-Bee, which appeared in 

 the Bee Journal for Dec. 20, 1900, sugfgested the follow- 

 ing' points on the medicinal properties of honey, etc : 



The physiological effects of honey are singular, though 

 mild and passive in their character. Honey occupies a 

 broad line between alimentation and therapeutics, being 

 both food and medicine ; therefore it belongs to that class 

 of medicinal remedies that cure indirectly — that is, by put- 

 ting the vital forces in such a condition as to enable them 

 to overcome diseased action. Mineral water, cod-liver oil, 

 malt, etc., all belong to this class of remedies. 



Before speaking of the curative properties of honey 

 we will note its physical properties. 



In the first place, where does honey come from ? Some 

 assert that it is a secretion of the bees, others that it is a 

 natural product in plants. If it is a natural vegetable 

 product the laboratory would have furnished us long ago 

 with genuine honey. It must be remembered that the 

 sugar and glucose that bees resort to in flowers and fruits, 

 is never honey until it has passed through the stomach of 

 the bees ; and please do not call this organ a " bladder," as 

 some do, for it is virtually a stomach and performs the 

 functions of that organ. The bee gathers into it a saccha- 

 rine material. After its reception a gastric element is mixed 

 with it for two purposes — one to give it the character of 

 honey, and the other to make it assimilative for the forma- 

 tion of an oil, that is perfect wax. 



It is generally supposed that after a bee returns to its 

 hive with its treasure it hurriedly dumps it into a cell and 

 goes out for another, but this is not the case. When the 

 bee returns, because of fatigue and under the stupefying 

 influence of digestion, it has to abide for a time, both to 

 recuperate and to get rid of its burden of honey and wax. 

 We have reason to believe that even after the honey is 

 deposited in the cells it has yet to receive the finishing 

 touch of perfection, which in all probability is given by 

 the 3'ounger bees of the colony. They live on the honey 

 imported, and this rich, concentrated food demands an 

 excess of gastric secretion ; when coming to a certain 

 point it creates a regurgitation something akin to vomiting. 

 This the young bee economically puts back into the cells, 

 thus completing the process of honey-making. 



Another point as to the character of the bee's stomach. 

 As soon as it is unloaded an insatiable sense of hunger and 

 restlessness ensues, which at once forces the old bee to 

 work abroad and the young one at home. We all know how 

 to respect the buzz of the hungry bee, and admire the sweet 

 disposition of the one that has just finished a sumptuous 

 repast. Ah, how rare are family jars when the pantry is 

 ever full 1 It is Nature's law, all the same. 



We go more especially into these details to point out 

 the medical properties of honey. It has two physical ele- 

 ments that make it particularly a medicine, namely : 

 First, an aromatic irritant imparted to it by the stomach of 

 the bee. Second, its ready transformation into fat without 

 those complicated physiological operations necessary to 

 transfer other saccharine elements into this material. 

 These make it at once both a local and a constitutional 

 remedy. Locally it is an irritant, sedative, emollient, deter- 

 gent, antiseptic, resolvent, rubefacient, and a parasiticide. 

 Constitutionally it is nutrient, demulcent, laxative, deob- 

 struent, alterative, restorative, tonic, expectorant, febri- 

 fuge, and antaphrodisiac, as well as containing poisonous 

 properties manifested under peculiar circumstances. 



When we say that honey is both an irritant and a seda- 

 tive we mean that its first effects may irritate, and be fol- 

 lowed with a sedative effect. All liniments work benefi- 

 cially on this principle ; the same with the most of eye- 

 waters, etc. The solution of honey as an eye-water proves 

 particularly beneficial on account of its antiseptic, absor- 

 bent, or resolvent properties. It cures inflammation of the 

 eyes in the way a solution of boracic acid does, that is, 

 mainly by reason of its antiseptic and sedative properties. 

 The irritant properties of honey are, in a great meas- 

 ure, destroyed by dilution. Therefore, as a topical irritant 



where we wish to favor resolution by counteraction it is 

 used in a pure state, or in conjunction with more active 

 irritants. It is its irritant or rubefacient effect, joined with 

 its emollient nature, that precipitates local inflammation 

 into suppuration, and is, therefore, a suitable remedy for 

 abscesses, boils, whitlows, carbuncles, etc. Therefore, woe 

 to one who applies a honey plaster over an inflamed eye in 

 place of the solution. Asa rubefacient and absorbent it 

 makes an excellent local application in glandular swelling, 

 and chronic tumefaction, particularly when joined with 

 iodine, iodoform, or mercury. 



On account of the temperature of the body it is diffi- 

 cult to keep pure, undiluted honey on the surface. This 

 can be remedied to a certain extent, by saturating layers of 

 canton flannel, and applying them, changing frequently. 



I speak of it as a parasiticide not only in connection 

 with the theory of the pathogenesis of diseases as advo- 

 cated by Pasteur. Cohn, Koch, Klebs, and others, who have 

 investigated the bacteria, but even those who created sev- 

 eral skin diseases, well known to almost every one. Take 

 honey for the destruction of the bacteria, because of its 

 antiseptic, tonic and laxative effects. Its daily use would 

 disarm every dire and malignant disease of its destructive 

 force. Cholera, yellow fever, smallpox, scarlatina, and 

 diphtheria, may run their course as before, but compara- 

 tively in such a mild form as to afford but little, if any, 

 anxiety. I speak of honey only as a preventive of 

 malignancy in these diseases, and not as a curative agent. 



The constitutional effects of honey can not be fully 

 understood and appreciated, except it be studied from its 

 medical properties, as represented above. All scientific 

 investigation of remedies are made in like manner. It is 

 the text to a long and complicated sermon. Every physi- 

 cian will read in it such a multiplicity of applications as 

 would astonish the uninitiated. 



As a nutrient I will not speak of it as a food, but in 

 connection with its properties which' serve to arrest certain 

 diseases, particularly consumption. The important fea- 

 tures of the medical properties of honey lie in the nutrient, 

 expectorant, deobstruent, and restorative effects in the 

 management of consumption, and its allied diseases. 



Now, let us go back to a fact that exists in the process 

 of making honey. No honey could be had if it were not 

 for its ready metamorphosis into oil, or, in other words, in 

 the making of wax, as stated. The great object in the 

 treatment of consumption is to arrest waste. Therefore 

 we resort to the use of oils, or remedies that will readily 

 make fat in the system. But the great difliculty in the way 

 is to get the system to accept these remedies and effect 

 their assimilation. Under Liebig's authority we give sugar 

 freely to make fat, but the system often refuses it. This 

 alone gives us a great advantage in giving honey to stay 

 the waste caused by disease, //la/ we have in no other remedy. 



In beingassimilated honey is disposed of in three ways. 

 What is not deposited in the cellular tissue as fat is con- 

 sumed by the liver, and its volatile principle is eliminated 

 by the lungs. This elimination is a matter of the greatest 

 importance as a remedy in all pulmonary disorders. But 

 the most remarkable feature of honey as a sedative is in 

 administration by atomization and inhalation. The spray 

 arising in extracting has been proven to exert a very bene- 

 ficial effect upon cough and dyspnoea, thus revealing its 

 curative tendency. 



The most effective and enjoyable way to benefit from 

 the general use of pure honey is to have in every home a 

 ready supply, diluted with, say one pound to a quart of 

 water, placed in a suitable glass or porcelain vessel — metal 

 must not be used — from which about one tablespoonful put 

 into a cupful of warm or cold water and taken at each 

 meal, would benefit one a thousandfold more than the stu- 

 pidly conventional decoctions with which we daily clog and 

 seriously disarrange our physical and mental machinery. 

 Let any one who suffers from kidney and bladder trouble 

 try this simple and pleasant substitute for one week, and 

 then faithfully report the wonderful results. Blind, indeed, 

 must mankind be to reject one of Nature's very best dis- 

 ease-preventing remedies, in order to temporarily relieve 

 their perverted appetites ! 



O, that we would learn seriously to feel and honestly to 

 say, with the Psalmist of old : " How manifold are Thy 

 works Lord, God, Almighty, in wisdom Thou hast made 

 them all " — including the divinely inspired honey-manufac- 

 turing bee. 



Let me conclude by suggesting a trial of one table- 

 spoonful of pure honey, dissolved in about half a glass of 

 cold water, and one teaspoonful of tincture of myrrh, for 

 the cure of indigestion. San Francisco Co., Calif. 



