222 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



[April, 



tieuts who sncciinibed under theii- treatment, it being 

 attributed to their contraveniuii' tlie sacred prescrip- 

 tions. This pharmacopceia enumerates amongst its 

 many ingredients, lioney, wine, and milk ; we have 

 thus extremely early ])ositive evidence of tlie cultiva- 

 tion of bees. That they had bi'cn domesticated for 

 use in those remote times is fnrtlier shown by the fact 

 mentioned by Sir Gardiner Wilkinson, of a hive being 

 represented upon an ancient toml) at Thebes. 



''It may have been in consequence of some tradi- 

 tional knowlediie of the ancient medical practice of 

 the Egyptians, that Mahomet, in his Koran, pre- 

 scribes honey as a medicine. One of tiie Suras, or 

 chapters, of that work, is ei titled 'the Bee,' and in 

 which Mahomet says: — The Lord spake by inspira- 

 tion 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, wlierein 

 ti/e bees construct their combs], and of those male- 

 rials wherewitli men build hives for tliee ; then eat of 

 every kind of fruit, and waik in the beaten paths of 

 tliy Lord.' There proceedelh 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 anthority 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 contrivance no ge- 

 ometrician can excel.' The ' beaten ])aths of thy 

 Lord,' he says, ' are the ways throimh which. Ity 

 God's power, the bitter flowers passinij the bee's 

 stomach, become honey ; or, the methods of makinsr 

 honey he has taught lier by instinct, or else the ready 

 way home from the distant places to which that insect 

 flies,' The liquor proceeding from their liellics, Al- 

 Beidawi says, • is the honey, the color of which is 

 very diffei-ent, occasioned by the diftercnt ]ilants on 

 which the bees feed ; some being white, S"me yellow, 

 some red, and some black.' He appends a note to 

 where Mahomet says, 'therein is a medicine for 

 man,' which contains a curious anecdote. The note 

 says, ' The same being not only good for food, but a 

 useful reiuedy in several distempers.' Tiiere is a story 

 that a man once came to Mahomet, and told him his 

 brother was afflicted with a violent pain in his bellv ; 

 upon which the prophet bade liim give him some 

 lioney. The fellow took his advice ; but soon after, 

 coming again, told him that the medicine had done 

 his brother no manner of service. Mahomet an- 

 swers: '' Go and give him more honey, for (ii>d speaks 

 truth, and thy brother's belly lies.' And tlie dose 

 being repeated, the man, liy God's mercy, was im- 

 mediately cured." 



Butler, in his " Feminine Monakchy," speaks as 

 follows : 



" Honey is hot and dry in the second degree; it is 

 of subtle parts, and therefore (U)n't pierce as oil, and 

 easily passes into the body. It has a power to cleanse, 

 and some sliarpness withal, and therefore it openeth 

 obstructions: it cleareth the breast and lights of 

 those humors which fall from the liead to those parts : 

 looselh the belly, and purgeth the foulness of the 

 body, and provoketh urine : it cutteth and casteth up 

 l)hlegmatic matter, and iheref'ore sharpeneth the 

 stomachs of them, which by reason thereof have little 

 appetite: it purgeth tliose things which hurt the 

 clearness of the eyes : it nourisheth very much : it 

 breedeth good blood : it stirreth up and preserveth 

 natural heat, and prolongeth old age : it keepeth all 

 thiniTB uncorrupt, which are put into it, and therefore 

 physicians do temjier therewith such medicines as 

 they mean to keep Ion;; ; yea, the bodies of the dead 

 being embalmed with honey, have been thereby pre- 



served from putrefaction. It is a sovereign medica- 

 ment for outward and inward maladies. It helpetii 

 the griefs of the jaws, the kernels iirowing within the 

 month, and the squinanci or inflammation of the 

 muscle of the inner gargil, for which purpose it is 

 gar^rarized and the month washed with it. It is drunk 



against the biting of a serpent All \vhich 



premises being considered, no marvel though the 



wise king said My sun. cat honey, for it is (jood 



Yea, honey, if it be pure and flue, is so good in i'self, 

 that it must needs be good even for them whose queasy 

 stomachs are against it." 



Butler refers to Aristotle. Galen, Pliny, and a num- 

 ber of old wr.ters. Having no time now, to examine 

 what all these old and modern writers iiavesaidon the 

 virtues of honey, and to show in how many instances 

 the effects produced by its use ui)on the htnnan sys- 

 tem, must have been owing to the presence of the 

 bee poison,* a few quotations from the elder Pliny 

 (born Anno Domini 23) on the virtues of honey, will 

 be of peculiar interest. I extract from Holland's 

 iranslatiim, published in London, in 1601. 



''Hi'uey combs given in a gruel made of furmitie 

 first parched and dried at the fire, is singular for the 

 bloody flux and exulcation of the bowels." Vol. 2, 

 page 137. "In the throat the kernels of each side 

 tlKTeof called the tonsils, for tlie squinanci (quinsy), 

 and all the otlier evils befalling to the mouth, as alsD 

 for the. dryness of the tongue through extieinity of 

 heat in fi vers, it is the most sovereign thing in the 

 world," page 135. "Honey boiled is singular for the 

 inflammatidU of the lungs and for the pleurisy ; also, 

 it cureth the wounds inflicted by the sling or teeth of 

 serpents. . . . Honey, together with the oyle of roses, 

 dropped into the ears, cureth their stinging and pain. 

 . . . being used simply alone, and not comiiounded 

 with oilier things, it is hurtful to the eyes, and yet 

 others give counsel to touch and anoint the corners 

 of the eyes tlierewith, when they are exulerate." 

 "It is an excellent t'ling for them that be stung, <o 

 take the very bees in drink, for it is an approved cure." 

 ..." As touching divers sorts of venomous honey, 

 I have written already ; but for to repress the poison 

 thereof, it is good to use other honey wherein a 7inm- 

 ber of bees hove been forced to die ; and such honey so 

 prepared and taken in time, is a sovereign remedy for 

 all the accidents which may come by eating or sur- 

 feiting upon flsli." Page 3ii3. The italics are mine. 



I will close by relating a conversation I had two 

 weeks ago with Mr. Eli Whitney, of New Haven, 

 ( onn.,) son of the celebrated Eli Whitney, inventor 

 of the cotton-gin. Knowing the interest I took in 

 bees and lumey, he told me that for years he had 

 suffered from acute chronic catarrh, and that on one 

 occasion he o' tained relief from severe pain, his 

 nostrils feeling almost closed. He rubbed his little 

 finger in some honey before him, which was exuding 

 from the comb, and applied it to the inner nostrils as 

 an emollient or lubricator. Experiencing almost in- 

 stantaneous relief, he continued to us" honey freely for 

 this purpose, until now he is almost entirely cured. 

 Had he used lioiled honey, he would probably have 

 been but little, if any, benefited thereby; and had he 

 used sugar syrup with bee-poison addeu, I presume 

 it would have jiroved equally curative with the honey. 

 The use of honey lor catarrh is clearly suggested by 

 the above extracts from Plinv and Butler. 

 Oxford, Ohio, March 10, 1871. L. L. Langstroth. 

 * t imicli pi-eter this ifood old AugKi Sixou term to Apix 

 mfllifica, tlie name s,'iveii to it by the hoinoeopathists. but 

 wh.ch i-s the proper scieutific name of the houey bee itself. 



A process has been invented by wbicli castor 

 oil is made palatable, and can be eaten on bread 

 like so much honey. 



