234 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Of course it was very singular tliat 

 he should have slain a lion in the 

 prime of his vigor, and yet more 

 strange that a swarm of hees should 

 have taken possession of the carcass. 



This remarkable story of ancient 

 times is full of enigmas. In explana- 

 tion of some of these, Oedman re- 

 marks as follows : 



" The lion which he slew had been 

 dead some little time before the bees 

 took up their abode in the carcase, 

 for it is expressly stated that ' after 

 a time ' he returned and saw the bees 

 and the honey in the lion's carcase ; 

 so that if any one here represents to 

 himself a corrupt and putrid carcase, 

 the occurrence ceases to have any true 

 similitude, tor it is well known that in 

 those countries, at certain seasons of 

 the year, the heat will, in the course 

 of 24 liours, so completely dry up the 

 moisture of the dead camels, that 

 without undergoing deconposition, 

 their bodies will long remain like 

 mummies, unaltered, and entirely 

 free from offensive odor." 



In that country, it is said, that with 

 wild beasts, birds and insects, coupled 

 with the dry heat, a dead body is soon 

 cleansed from all corruption, and the 

 bones are clean and white, and a 

 swarm of bees may readily have used 

 such a carcass for a hive. We do not 

 propose to attempt to clear the story 

 of all difficulties, but will draw some 

 lessons from Samson's very singular 

 adventure. 



In those days, among the Hebrews, 

 Eomans, and Greeks, honey appears 

 to have been about the only sweet, 

 and was used in place of sugar, then 

 unknown. Honey was then consid- 

 ered among the necessaries of life. It 

 is true that Pliny, Galen, and some 

 other authors allude to saccanon as a 

 white chrystallizedgum obtained from 

 an Indian reed, which was some- 

 times used as a medicine, and was 

 " brought from Rome, in pieces about 

 the size of a nut." The Arabians 

 were first to bring sugar to notice, 

 after they had pushed their victorious 

 arms into the Western regions. 



The first writers by whom sugar, as 

 such, is mentioned, says an author, 

 lived in the 12th century, in the time 

 of the crusades. Albert of Aix states 

 that the soldiery, when near Tripoli, 

 in Syria, pulled up the sweet stalks of 

 a reed grown there abundantly in the 

 fields, and called zucra. Its whole- 

 some juice refreshed them, and was 

 so grateful to their taste that they 

 were incessantly sucking it. This 

 valuable plant was diligently culti- 

 vated every year. When ripe for 

 harvest, the natives crushed the reeds 

 in a mortar, pressed out the juice. 



and preserved it in vessels till it be- 

 came thick and granulated, and re- 

 sembled snow or salt in its whiteness. 



In the year 1306, when Sanudo com- 

 piled his Mysteries of the Crusaders, 

 the sugar cane was not yet cultivated 

 in Sicily, though it was then already 

 grown extensively in the Morea, in 

 Cyprus, and Rhodes. A century later 

 it had become so common in the is- 

 land of Sicily, that the infant Don 

 Henry, of Portugal, readily obtained 

 therea supply of plants for its intro- 

 duction in Madeira. From here and 

 from the Canaries it was carried to 

 America, where it has been so exten- 

 tively cultivated that the European 

 plantations were speedily adandoned, 

 and America now supplies with sugar 

 not only nearly all Europe, but a large 

 portion of Asia also. The sugar cane 

 was first brought to the VVestern 

 Hemisphere by the Spaniards. 



Another writer remarks as follows 

 on the consumption of honey : 



The consumption of honey and wax, 

 and consequently the demand for 

 them, was so great among the Rom- 

 ans, that the production thereof was 

 an object of the highest importance 

 in rural economy ; and no one was 

 deemed qualified to manage a farm 

 who did not thoroughly understand 

 bee-culture as then practised. This 

 was to be made an essential source of 

 revenue to the proprietor, for the 

 Romans were a practical people, who, 

 according to Columella, looked to an 

 increase of annual income in their 

 pursuits more than to a mere gratifi- 

 cation of taste. But the natural sup- 

 ply of honey in Italy was insufficient 

 for the home demand, and large 

 quantities were imported from Africa, 

 Crete and Sicily, the superior quality 

 of which induced the Italian bee- 

 keepers to send the finest and most 

 aromatic of their own to market un- 

 der the name of Sicilian and Cretan 

 honey, as we are informed by Varro. 

 That of inferior quality, as we learn 

 from Pliny, they were m the habit of 

 coloring and sweetening by an ad- 

 mixture of other substances, and 

 strengthening by the addition of va- 

 rious kinds of wine. An annual 

 tribute of honey and wax was im- 

 posed on conquered provinces and 

 territory, as on Pontus and Corsica, 

 and the hope of obtaining additional 

 supplies, it is supposed, was among 

 the inducements for their invasions 

 of Germany. 



A large amount of honey was re- 

 quired by the religious ceremonies 

 and worship of the people. " Noth- 

 ing is sweeter than honey," says 

 Varro, "grateful to Gods and men. 

 It is used on the altars." It was par- 

 ticularly prominent among the sacri- 

 fices of the peasantry. The numerous 

 rural deities, whose favor and protec- 

 tion they invoked, and to whose ser- 

 vice they were attached, claimed a 

 portion not only of the products of 

 their gardens, orchards and fields, but 

 of their flocks and herds, and of their 

 apiaries. Also at the feasts of the 

 Gods, described by Ovid, which re- 

 quired costly aliments and precious 

 wines, the delicious honey-cake was 



never wanting. These were composed 

 of meal, honey and oil, and had to be 

 equal in number to the years attained 

 by the offerer. For the domestic 

 worship also of their household deities 

 — the Pe«a(es— honey " the gift of the 

 Gods," was indispensable ; and it con- 

 stituted a large item at the vernal 

 consecration — ambarvalia — of their 

 fields in Aprilj as well as at the an- 

 nual thanksgiving in October, and 

 likewise at the special worship of 

 Ceres iu November, who was regarded 

 as the " flock iiicreaser," and the 

 " honey dispenser," and who, by her 

 union with the rain-god Zeus, caused 

 fruitful seasons. Her priestesses were 

 called "bees," because honey was the 

 first food of tlie infant Dionysus, the 

 son of Bacchus, whom Ceres bore in 

 her arms, as Isis carried Horns ; and 

 she was the instructor of AristiEus in 

 bee-culture. Bacchus, too, demanded 

 a share, as the " discoverer of honey," 

 the " admirer of all sweetness," and 

 the " decorator of the blooming mead- 

 ows." 



Every sacrificial victim offered to 

 the higher Gods was sprinkled with 

 milk, wine and honey, and large 

 quantities of the latter were required 

 in the solemn celebration of their 

 mysteries, and in the obsequies of the 

 dead. The later Romans poured 

 honey in the grave of the deceased. It 

 was with them a symbol of death. It 

 will hence readily be inferred that 

 their religious ceremonies involved a 

 large consumption of honey, and that 

 this must have induced increased at- 

 tention to bee-culture. But the quan- 

 ity used in domestic economy was still 

 greater, as they were unacquainted 

 with the sugar now in common use. 

 What they called saccharum was a very 

 differentarticle, obtained from Arabia 

 and India. It was, as we learn from 

 Pliny, used only medicinally. Honey 

 was thus the only sweetening em- 

 ployed by them for meat and drink, 

 and was as indispensable in their 

 households as sugar is now in our 

 families. 



In view of the death-dealing adul- 

 teration of sweets in our day, is it not 

 our duty to imitate Samson, who, 

 when he had found the God-given 

 pure sweet — honey — sought out his 

 relatives and took some of it to them to 

 eat ? 



Thousands and tens of thousands of 

 children are dying all around us, who, 

 because their ever-developing nature 

 demands sweetness, crave and eagerly 

 demolish the adulterated "candies" 

 and " syrups " of modern times. If 

 these could be fed on honey, instead, 

 they would develop and grow up into 

 healthy men and women. 



Children would rather eat bread and 

 honey than bread and butter ; one 

 pound of honey will reach as far as 

 two pounds of butter, and has, besides, 

 the advantage that it is far more 

 healthy and pleasant-tasted, and al- 

 ways remains good, while butter soon 

 becomes rancid, and often produces 



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