October, 1907. 



American IBae Journal 



ists and druggists. This work, which is 

 a standard book of science, behind 

 which are such names as Dr. George 

 B. Wood and Dr. Franklin Bache, is 

 now in its eighteenth edition, and I re- 

 gret to say that it is not up to date, not 

 abreast with scientific research in regard 

 to honey. On one of its pages it states 

 that naturalists have not yet determined 

 whether it is a secretion of the bee (apis 

 mehfica,) or exists already formed in 

 plants. This work further says that 

 honey probably undergoes a change in 

 the organs of the bee, as the saccharine 

 matter of the nectaries, so far as it is 

 possible to examine them, lacks some of 

 the characteristic properties of honey. 



Now, let me explain to you just how 

 honey is manufactured, or compounded, 

 if you prefer that word. Let us see 

 just what part the bee performs in its 

 work and what part the flower per- 

 forms. Modern science has determined 

 that honey is the result of fermentation, 

 and that it is not secreted as honey 

 by the flowers. The first bee that visits 

 a flower and enters its petal does not 

 obtain any honey. 1 he bee simply makes 

 a scratch at the base of the petal so as 

 to set at liberty the sap of the flower. 

 After the bee has lanced the flower, it 

 begins to "bleed," or to emit the sap. 

 This emitted sap contains traces of 

 starch. This sap thus exudated under- 

 goes fermentation. When this takes 

 place the compound honey is the re- 

 sult. Now, the fermenting element was 

 contributed by the bee when it first 

 visited the flower, but when it did not 

 obtain any honey. After a little time the 

 first bee, that contributed the ferment- 

 ing element, was succeeded by another, 

 which obtained the honey. Thus it will 

 be seen that the honey does not all 

 come from the flower, although nearly 

 the whole volume of its substance does 

 proceed from the flower, but that a 

 leaven, which leaveneth the whole lump, 

 is contributed from the life organization 

 of the bee itself. Thus the force t)r 

 principal in the honey is the product of 

 the bee, and this sub-store of honey, like 

 the yeast in the bread, and like spirit 

 in life, is the active, life-giving element 

 of the compound, which renders it unlike 

 any other compound in the universe, 

 and as such the most potent and the 

 highest contributor to a human life or- 

 ganization. 



It is indeed gratifying to observe the 

 inauguration of a campaign to educate 

 the public of the great merits of honey, 

 as a food product, and it is to be hoped 

 that the praiseworthy efforts of the 

 agricultural press with the exhibit of 

 the bee - keepers' associations of the 

 Western and Northwestern States, at 

 the Portland exhibition, will result in 

 bringing this product into greater promi- 

 nence and daily use in every household. 



A good deal has been said about 

 honey pro and con, and it cannot bn 

 denied that, to a great extent, the pub- 

 lic mind has been influenced — unjustly 

 influenced — against the use of this 

 wholesome and nourishing food prod- 

 uct, by constant cries of adulteration, 

 and again by the publication of arti- 

 cles of alleged cases of poisoning by 

 honey. 



Let me call your attention to a well 

 known handbook for pharmacists and 



physicians, written by Prof. Joseph 

 Remington, one of the prominent phar- 

 macists of the country and a professor 

 of a pharmaceutical college. We find 

 under the head of "Mel" (honey) the 

 following: 



"Large quantities of honey are ob- 

 tained from California, the southern 

 States and the West Indies. A still 

 larger amount, however, is manufac- 

 tured by flavoring and coloring artificial 

 glucose." Further on he states: "Ow- 

 ing to the difficulty of obtaining pure 

 honey in large cities and towns, its place 

 in many medicinal preparations has been 

 filled by substituting syrups or glyce- 

 rine." 



'Can there be anything more aston- 

 ishg than such a statement? Think of it 

 for a moment. Honey substituted by 

 syrup or glycerine in drug stores, where 

 the term substitution should not be 

 known, and should certainly never be 

 practiced. 



If some unscrupulous persons have in 

 the past made, or even continue to make, 

 or practice adulteration of honey, it 

 would be far more satisfactory and just 

 to all parties to locate and prosecute 

 the offenders instead of disocuraging the 

 use of this splendid food product, by 

 the circulation of such literature. _ 



Regarding some cases of poisoning by 

 honey, which occurred in New Jersey 

 and other States, it can be said that no 

 case of poisoning by honey would be on 

 record if some care were exercised in 

 not placing an apiary in a locality where 

 many of the Ericaceae abound, even 

 though it appears to be an ideal spot 

 otherwise, as it is well k-nown that 

 honey produced by bees having access 

 to certain Ericaceae, acts as a narcoti- 

 ca-irritant. 



However, such a poisonous product 

 can generally be distinguished readily, 

 because it never thickens; the color is 

 redder than usual, and the honey emits 

 a peculiar smell which immediately pro- 

 duces sneezing. 



There is absolutely no reason why the 

 public should hesitate to cast aside their 

 suspicion with regard to honey, because 

 no honey can be adulterated in such a 

 way as to correspond to the genuine 

 article in every detail. The chemical 

 analysis may fail to detect the adultera- 

 tion, but the spectroscope cannot . be 

 cheated. 



We will now direct our attention to 

 the fuel value of honey as compared 

 with meat and some agricultural and 

 horticultural products. 



By fuel value is meant the number 

 of calories of heat equivalent to the 

 energy w^hich it is assumed the body 

 would be able to obtain from one pound 

 of a given food material, provided the 

 nutrients of the latter were completely 

 digested : 



FUEL VALUE. 



Calories 



Honey, average 152c 



Green Butter Beans, average 370 



Green Lima Beans, average 255 



Dried Lima Beans, average 162S 



String Beans, (cooked) average... 95 



Beets (fresh) average 215 



Cabbage, average 145 



Cauliflower, average 140 



Corn (green) average 470 



Cucumbers, average 80 



Kohl-rabi, average 145 



Mushrooms, average 210 



Peas (green) average 465 



Peas (dried) average 1655 



Potatoes (raw) average 385 



Potatoes (boiled) average 440 



Sweet Potatoes (cooked) average.. 925 



Pumpkins, average 120 



Saurkraut, average 125 



Spinach, average 260 



Butter (market product) 3605 



Sugar (market product) i860 



Sugar (maple) 1330 



The fuel value of fresh fruits is al- 

 most the same as of vegetables and 

 I will state but a few of them for the 

 sake of comparison : 



C.'iLORIES 



Apples, average 290 



.A.pricots, average 270 



Bananas, average 460 



Cherries, average 365 



Figs, average 380 



Grapes, average 450 



Oranges, average 240 



Pears, average 295 



Plums, average 395 



Watermelons, average 140 



ANIMAL FOOD. 



Roast Beef, average 1620 



Round Steak, average 840 



Sirloin Steak, average 875 



Corned Beef, average 1271 



Now, it can readily be seen that the 

 fuel value of honey exceeds some ani- 

 mal foods and a great many vegetables 

 and fruits, and has the advantage of 

 being more readily digested and assimi- 

 lated than the majority of the articles 

 mentioned. 



Speaking from a medical point of 

 view, it is a well known fact that honey 

 has been used with great advantage for 

 the cure of coughs and colds. It has 

 been a favored remedy of the old-time 

 practitioners, who no doubt would have 

 strenuously objected to a substitution by 

 syrups or any other substance. 



In justice to the up-to-date druggist, 

 it may be stated, that but few adopt such 

 practices, as set forth in the handbook 

 named, and only on very rare occasions 

 are such substitutions practised. It is 

 safe to say that at least in this State, 

 there will not be found a single druggist 

 who does not keep a quantity of strictly 

 pure honey in stock for dispensing pur- 

 poses. 



In this connection permit me again 

 to say, that the science of physics does 

 not exercise a complete mastery over 

 the substance of food stuffs. Science in 

 this respect can reach, to determine their 

 qualities, only the coarser physical ele- 

 ments. We must ascertain the nature 

 of the elements contained in any food 

 compound, not only from the standpoint 

 of natural history science, but from the 

 viewpoint of natural philosophy. The 

 higher elements in a food compound may 

 be the most potent life giving and life- 

 extending factors in that compound. 

 Thus it is that honey, as we have al- 

 ready seen, in all of the elements of its 

 finer and higher substances can not be 

 brought to vision, even by the science 

 of optics. We must arrive at the fact 

 of their e.xistence in another way. 



However, enough has been said to 

 demonstrate clearly that honey ranks 



I 

 I 



