GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



dude that honey ought to be consumed in 

 )nueh greater quantity than has been done 

 heretofore. 



Besides the sugar in the form in which it 

 is assimilated without any work from our 

 digestive apparatv;s (and this constitutes 

 the bulk of honey) there is also some albu- 

 men in it. in soluble form, readily assimi- 

 lated. The amount of albumen varies great- 

 ly, accor<ling' to Dr. Fehlmann, whose anal- 

 ysis showed honey from buckwheat and 

 heather is rich in albumen. 



Dr. Langer Graz has shown that the 

 albumen in honey reacted as of animal ori- 

 gin. Further investigations will show 

 whether there is any albumen present in 

 nectar; and, if present, whether it is for 

 the same blossoms a somewhat constant 

 quantitj'; also whether the albumen in hon- 

 ey has only undergone a change, a trans- 

 formation, or whether the bees add it to 

 the honey during the process of inversion. 



MINKRAL MATTER IN HONEY. 



Besides sugar and albumen in a form to 

 be assimilated, honey contains inorganic 

 elements. The amounts are small, but, not- 

 Avithstanding this, are very important. Some 

 might think it doubtful that mineral matter 

 could be present in honey, since it is per- 

 fectly soluble in water. If honey is burned 

 (oxydized), a residue of a dirty-green color 

 remains that cannot be further destroyed. 

 It represents the inorganic elements con- 

 tained in the honey. The greenish color is 

 due to the manganese. 



TATPORTANCE OF MINERAL MATTER IN OUR 

 FOOD. 



The following experiment may be accept- 

 ed as proof of the necessity of mineral 

 matter for our bodies. If an animal is fed 

 on albumen, fat, and carbohydrates, from 

 which all inorganic elements have been re- 

 moved, the animal will soon become uneasy, 

 lose appetite, and finally it will get cramps, 

 grow weaker and weaker, and, if the exper- 

 iment is continued, will die. This above 

 plainly enough that inorganic elements are 

 for the animal body a necessity. Other ex- 

 periments seem to show that the body en- 

 dures complete abstinence of food better 

 than the lack of inorganic constituents in 

 the food. The inorganic elements are an 

 important constituent part in the organs 

 and fluids of the body, and for its well 

 being must be present in sufficient quantity. 

 A superabundajice seems to do no harm. 



INORGANIC ELEMENTS PRESENT IN HONEV. 



The animal body requires for its well 

 being the following inorganic elements: 

 Phosphorus, P.; iron. Fe. ; calcium. Ca. ; 

 inagnesium,Mg. ; chlorine, Ch, ; sodium. Ma. ; 



potassium, K. ; sulphur, S. ; manganese, 

 Mn. ; and silicon, Si. As to the impoiiance 

 of manganese and silicon, opinions differ; 

 but both of these elements are present in 

 the ash of the honey. Until recently the 

 inorganic parts in honey had received but 

 little attention. Some are of the opinion 

 that the ground on which the plant grows 

 would influence the amount of inorganic 

 elements in the nectar; for instance, that 

 land with much iron would produce nectar 

 or honey with much iron content. Others 

 hold that certain plants have a special af- 

 finity for some of the inorganic elements, 

 and will take these up while they partly or 

 entirely neglect others. We know that the 

 ash of the tobacco-plant contains lithium, 

 Li.: and the ash of the grapevine boron, B. 

 The above enumerated inorganic elements 

 lliat the animal body i-equires are all found 

 in the ashes of honey of various origin. 

 The only exception is silicon. Dr. Fehl- 

 mann explains that he could with the micro- 

 scope prove the presence of silicon particles 

 in some of the honey, so it may be that 

 silicon may be present as a mechanical im- 

 purity, not an integral part. 



THE INORGANIC ELEMENTS PRESENT IN ALL 

 HONEY. 



Qualitatively the honey from various 

 parts and various plants showed no dift'er- 

 once regarding the mineral constituents; 

 but quantitatively they showed considerable 

 varation. Honey from the Alps showed 

 five times as much ash as honey from buck- 

 wheat, while honey from the Black Forest 

 from the fir called Waldhonig, a honey-dew 

 honey of vegetable origin, showed even ten 

 times as rtuich ash as buckwheat honey. 



It is not known how much of the inor- 

 ganic elements the human body needs; but 

 a part at least may be supplied by eating 

 honey, which contains these elements in a 

 readil'ii assimilable form, and this is verj' 

 important since only the assimilable forms 

 of the inorganic substances may benefit the 

 body. 



IRON. 



It is generally known that iron is very 

 important to the human body. It is an 

 important constituent of the red blood cor- 

 puscles. Chlorosis is a sign that the body is 

 suffering from a lack of iron. For such 

 persons honey is a very valuable medicine. 

 Why not in such cases eat honey regularly, 

 which supplies the iron in the most assimi- 

 lable form, instead of artificial iron prepar- 

 ations? Besides iron, manganese seems al- 

 so to influencL' favorably the building of 

 blood. 



PHOSPHORUS. 



Phosphoric acid with calcium is the prin- 



