State Bee-Keepers' Association. 53 



is now in press) as an acknowledgement of the importance of bee-keeping in 

 the State of Illinois . We will see from this report that the honey product of 

 the State runs up into the millions of pounds annually, and could be muhi- 

 plied many times if all out resources were improved." 



We take the following from the Honey Almanac, published by Thomas 

 G. Newman, of the American Bee Journal, of Chicago: 



EFFECT OF HONEY ON THE HUMAN SYSTEM. 



"The masses do not realize th6 value of honey from a hygienic stand- point 

 else it would have more than kept pace with sugar as an article of human 

 consumption . 



"Dr. Vance makes such very excellent remarks on this subject that we 

 can do no better than to give them entire: 'Honey is a physiological sweet; 

 in other words, its constituents are such that it is absorbed into the blood 

 without undergoing chemical change. Such is not the fact with regard to 

 sugar. Sugar is indigestable, or rather not as susceptible of absorption and 

 assimilation as honey, but it requires the action of the gastric juice to split or 

 invert its elements, the muriatic acid element of the gastric juice being the 

 chief agent in this chemical transportation. This change produces what is 

 termed in chemistry dextrose and laevulous. I presume this explanation 

 does not convey a very clear or definite idea of the nature of these products, 

 for the names applied only indicate how they affect polarized light. After 

 this change occurs absorption takes place. If in any way it is hindered, or, 

 on account of an excess of sugar above the capacity of the gastric juice to 

 transform, there remains a residue, the result is decomposition into elements 

 that irritate and inflame the mucus membrane of the intestinal canal, pro- 

 ducing a list of ailments too numerous to mention here. Think of the 

 legions of little ones who have been the victims of their universal fondness 

 for sweets, and who so frequently suffer from the gastric troubles which are, 

 in a large degree, the result of sugar indigestion. How many, many children 

 have perished from eating candy ? 



, "The importance of sugar as an element of food may be inferred 

 from the large proportion of the elements of our food which is transformed 

 by the action of the digestive organs, into the constituents of sugar. Consider 

 the proportion of bread, potatoes and vegetables that we consume daily, all 

 of which must undergo this saccharine change before they are suitable to be 

 appropriated to the human system; it may give an approximate idea of the 

 amount of these elements that are required to nourish our bodies. 



"If, therefore, the saccharine comprises so large a part of the elements 

 of our food, does it not become an important question as to what form of 

 sweet is the most appropriate and healthful for the nutrition of the human 

 body ? For the reason I shall hereafter enumerate, it seems to me that you 

 will agree with me that honey is the most important and the most healthful 



zs^ 



