October, 1907. 



American Hae Journal 



itt- 



689 



ring every few minutes, the increase in 

 numbers, under favorable circumstances, 

 is quite astonisliing. lliis process con- 

 tinues as long as there is something to 

 eat, but wlien there is nothing left they 

 change completely. They become al- 

 most round instead of rod-shaped, and 

 then stop growing. They become what 

 is called "spores." These spores arc to 

 the adult bacilli what the seeds are to 

 the ordinary plants. They are far more 

 resistant to extremes of temperature or 

 chemical agents than the bacilli. The 

 majority of them, however, dry out and 

 die in the sunlight and the open air. 

 Some, however, resist quite a long time. 

 But we know how beneficial the open 

 air and the sunlight are in all the hu- 

 man diseases, and how dampness and 

 obscurity favor the development of all 

 disease germs, molds, putrefactive bac- 

 teria, etc. 



The experiments made a few years 

 ago by Dr. Howard show that the 

 spores of the foul-brood bacilli do not 

 resist the sunlight and open air more 

 than a day or two. That explains why 

 the hives contaminated do not need dis- 

 infecting, the spores that they contain 

 are soon destroyed by being exposed to 

 the open air. 



On the other hand, these spores will 

 keep indefinitely in honey, but without 

 developing. The honey protects them 

 against the open, dry air, but on the 

 other hand, its acidity, while not suffi- 

 cient to destroy them, nevertheless pre- 

 vents them from developing. 



And that is where he danger exists. 

 The spores do not propagate themselves 

 as such. When they are placed where 

 they can develop they turn back hito 

 rod-like bacilli which immediately grow 

 and divide as before described. 



If the bacilli could propagate in honey 

 they would soon destroy it as effectively 

 as they destroy the brood in the dis- 

 eased colonies, or the cultures in which 

 they are placed. But they don't. Their 

 spores remain there without any change, 

 and then, as soon as they are brought 

 in contact with the brood, they begin to 

 develop at once. 



Kno.xville, Tenn. 



Food Value of Honey as Com- 

 pared With Other Food 

 Stuffs 



BY PROF. G. L. TANZER^ PH.G. 



No question affecting the human race 

 is of so much importance as that of 

 food stuffs. Evolutionists are well 

 aware of the fact that the two great 

 forces — the two great agencies — by 

 which animal species were evolved, the 

 one from the other, and the human race 

 from them all,- are food and climate. 

 With the latter we have nothing to do 

 at this time, and with the former we 

 are only to consider briefly one of the 

 many food compounds which is offered 

 for the appropriation of men and wom- 

 en, to-wit, that of honey. 



It is evident to my understanding that 

 the whole question of food stuffs is to 

 engage the attention of scientific men 

 in the near future, not only from the 

 old standpoints of pure physics, but from 



the newer view-point of the psycholog- 

 ical welfare of our race. 



Up to llio present time whatever re- 

 search scicMlilic men have made regard- 

 ing the value or adaptability of foods 

 has resulted exclusively in determining 

 their utility in assimilation by the bodily 

 organs of digestion and assimilation as 

 to purely physical results. 



It is fair to say that we are progres- 

 sing as a race, and rising to higher 

 summits of knowledge and experience. 

 The time is rapidly approaching when 

 the value of food stuffs to be appro- 

 priated by human beings will be deter- 

 mined not only with reference to their 

 purely physical results, but also with 

 reference to that assimilation of foods, 

 which reaches out to the building up of 

 the higher faculties. 



Science is already disclosing to our 

 vision that there is a wonderful in- 

 terdependence of the life foods appro- 

 priated by a life organization. We know 

 there is not a square inch, so to speak, 

 of any surface of the exterior of the 

 human body that does not contain scores 

 of hungry mouths that are constantly 

 devouring foods, and these foods com- 

 prehend all substance from magnetism 

 to heat, harmony and light, or colors. 

 Hence we see that the assimilation of 

 food in a life organization, such as a hu- 

 man being, reaches to all of the quali- 

 ties of substances of our universe. 



Holding our subject in thought from 

 this standpoint, we see at once tfiat sci- 

 ence has a mighty work on hand in de- 

 termining what so-called bodily foods, 

 or foods appropriated through the stom- 

 ach, will best assimilate through the 

 bodily organs, in conjunction with the 

 other foods I have named, so as not only 

 to produce the best physical results in 

 and for the physical bodily organs, but 

 the best contributions to the upbuild- 

 ing of the psychological organization of 

 the man or woman. 



It is within our knowledge that many 

 of the so-called bodily foods work out 

 in their assimilation injury to the men- 

 tal and psychological welfare. I am of 

 the opinion that nearly one-half of the 

 volume of so-called bodily foods and 

 drinks now appropriated bring about 

 these regretful results, and that they 

 should be discontinued by people gen- 

 erally as rapidly as possible. I will fur- 

 ther state that it is my opinion that the 

 next quarter of a century will witness 

 the abandonment of a great many of 

 the foods now appropriated and will 

 demonstrate that the people generally, 

 especially those who enjoy the higher 

 plan-es of civilization, are devouring or 

 appropriating, so far as volume, Ijulk, 

 and variety are concerned, more than 

 double that which they should appro- 

 priate. 



Men and women are eating too much, 

 speaking from the standpoint of quan- 

 tity, and are overloading the physical 

 machinery and thereby chaining their 

 lives to the physical, whereas by a bet- 

 ter selection of food stuffs, thev will 

 more rapidly rise in the scale of our 

 destined life qualities. 



There are three classes of food stuffs 

 to which I desire to direct your atten- 

 tion. These are honey, eggs and milk. 



It is remarkable that these foods are 



compoundeil for the consumption of the 

 human race by the three great divisions 

 of the animal kingdom, to-wit, by the 

 insect, the bird arjd the mammal tribe. 

 The bee provides the honey, the bird 

 produces the egg, and the mammal 

 yields to us the milk. 



It is scarcely necessary to point out 

 to you the fact that with the exception 

 of certain vegetables, these three food 

 stuffs rank higher than any others 

 known to scientific research. We find 

 from statistics that the relative value 

 of these three foods, that is to say, the 

 relative fuel value of them per pound 

 in calories, is as follows: 



1. Honey 1520 calories 



2. Hens' eggs uncooked, 



average 720 calories 



Hens' eggs boiled, avcr- 

 •ige 765 calories 



3. Milk average of mar- 



ket product 325 calorics 



I should observe in this connection 

 that the yolk of the egg when boiled 

 has an average of 1705 calories and has 

 an exceedingly high fuel value It will 

 be seen, however, that honey stands pre- 

 eminently at the head of this list as a 

 fuel or energj'-giving value. But let me 

 say in addition to this, honev stands 

 transcendently higher than the other two 

 as a life-giving food from the standpoint 

 of its power of assimilation in support- 

 ing and developing the higher faculties 

 of a human life organization. This part- 

 ly arises from the fact that, while milk 

 and eggs contain a considerable per- 

 centage of animal substance, honey is 

 composed almost entirely of vegetable 

 substance of a high quality, including 

 only such exceedingly small traces of 

 mineral substance, and that of such a 

 quality as to contribute to its tonic 

 value. We do not appropriate as food 

 the flesh of the insect, from the labora- 

 tory of whose body the honey is com- 

 pounded, but we do appropriate as food 

 the flesh of the fowl, in the laboratory 

 of whose body the egg is compounded. 

 We also appropriate as food the flesh 

 of the mammal, in the laboratory of 

 whose body the milk is compounded. 

 Better by far for the human race, if 

 men and women generally would es- 

 chew completely the two latter classes 

 of food stuffs. 



Pure honey is a syrupy liquid of a 

 light yellowish, to pale yellowish-brown 

 color. It is translucent when fresh, but 

 gradually becomes opaque and crystal- 

 line, having a characteristic aromatic 

 odor and a sweet, faintly acrid taste. 



.Analyses of honey vary somew-hat in 

 their composition, due to climatic condi- 

 tions and the sources of supply. 



The average composition is as fol- 

 lows: 



Dextrose 34.4 



Levulose 39.2 



Dextrine 4.0 



Mineral substance 0.2 



Formic acid 0.2 



Water 22.0 



1 00.0 



Let rne call your attention to some 

 observations concerning honey contained 

 in the United States Dispensatory, a 

 large volume well known to all cliem- 



