AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



633 



thousands of years. In fact, it is a 

 truth "as old as the hills," and as indis- 

 putable as the universe itself. We point 

 with pride to the vast stores of facts 

 concerning the medical virtues of honey, 

 furnished by Aristotle, Hippocrates, 

 Galen, Pliny, and many other old medi- 

 cal authors. 



Schuckard, in his work on "British 

 Bees," says : "The earliest manuscript 

 extant, which is the medical papyrus, 

 now in the Royal Collection at Berlin, 

 and of which Brugsch has given a fac- 

 simile and a translation, dates from the" 

 nineteenth or twentieth Egyptian dy- 

 nasty, accordingly from the reign of 

 Ramses II., and goes back to the four- 

 teenth century before our era. But a 

 portion of this papyrus indicates a much 

 higher antiquity, extending as far back 

 as the period of the sovereigns whj) built 

 the pryamids, consequently to the very 

 earliest period of the history of the 

 world. 



"It was one of the medical treatises 

 contained within the temple of Ptah, at 

 Memphis, and which the Egyptian 

 physicians were required to use in the 

 practice of their profession, and if they 

 neglect such use, they became responsi- 

 ble for the death of such patients who 

 saccumbed under their treatment, it 

 being attributed to their contravening 

 the sacred prescriptions. This pharma- 

 copoeia enumerates amongst its many 

 ingredients, honey, wine, and milk ; we 

 have thus extremely early positive evi- 

 dence of the cultivation of bees. That 

 they had been domesticated for use in 

 those remote times is further showu by 

 the fact mentioned by Sir Gardiner 

 Wilkinson, of a hive being represented 

 upon an ancient tomb at Thebes. 



"It may have been 1n consequence of 

 some traditional Ivnowledge of the an- 

 cient medical practice of the Egyptians, 

 that Mahomet, in bis Koran, prescribes 

 honey as a medicine. One of the Suras, 

 or chapters, of that work, is entitled 

 'The Bee,' and in which Mahomet says : 

 The Lord spake by inspiration unto the 



Bee, saying : 'Provide thee houses in 

 the mountains and in the trees [clearly 

 signifying the cavities in the rocks and 

 hollows of trees, wherein the bees con- 

 structed their combs], and of those 

 materials wherewith men build hives for 

 thee; then eat of every kind of fruit, 

 aud walk in the beaten paths of the 

 Lord.' There proceedeth from their 

 bellies a liquor, wherein is a medicine 

 for men. Verily, herein is a sign unto 

 people who consider. 



" It is remarkable that the bee is the 

 only creature that Mahomet assumes 

 the Almighty to have directly addressed. 

 Al-Beidawi, the Arabian commentator 

 upon the Koran, whose authority ranks 

 very high, in notes upon passages of the 

 preceding extract, says, ' The houses 

 alluded to are the combs, whose beauti- 

 ful workmanship and admirable con- 

 trivance no geometrician can excel.' 



"The ' beaten paths of thy Lord,' he 

 says, 'are the ways through which, by 

 God's power, the bitter flowers passing 

 the bee's stomach, become honey ; or, 

 the methods of making honey he has 

 taught her by instinct, or else the ready 

 way home from the distant places to 

 which that insect flies.' 



"The liquor proceeding from their 

 bellies, Al-Beidawi says, ' is the honey, 

 the color of which is very different, 

 occasioned by the different plants on 

 which the bees feed; .some being white, 

 some yellow, some red, and some black.' 



" He appends a note to where Ma- 

 homet says, ' therein is a medicine for 

 man,' which contains a curious anec- 

 dote. The note says, 'The same being 

 not only good for food, but a useful 

 remedy in several distempers.' 



" There is a story that a man once 

 came to Mahomet, and told him his 

 brother was afflicted with a violent pain 

 in his belly ; upon which the prophet 

 bade him give hive him some honey. 

 The fellow took his advice ; but soon 

 after, coming again, told him that the 

 medicine had done his brother no man- 

 ner of service. Mahomet says : ' 6?f% 



