344 



A Modem Bcf-fnnii 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

 HONEY; 



ITS USE IN HEALTH AND DISEASE : AND NOTES 

 ON GENERAL HEALTH- 



BONEY is a truly wonderful gift of nature, and stands 

 almost alone as a pure natural sweet, perfect in 

 itself. There are very many who have the impres- 

 sion that bees make honey ; but this is far from b^ing the 

 «^se. Flowers secrete nectar under the chemical action of 

 the, atmosphere upon the juices of the plant, and this 

 process is continued daily during favourable weather until 

 the bee while gathering such production is the means of 

 mixing the pollen of different flowers, almost invariably of 

 the same kind, and thus being fertilised and the plant 

 made capable of reproduction by seeding, the object of 

 the sweet attraction is accomplished ; the flower fades, 

 and the nectaries are dried up. 



.Some writers consider that nectar as gathered, is next 

 digested by the bees and so converted into honey ; but it 

 is more reasonable to conclude that the ripening of the 

 fibres of plants, is the actual basis of honey, whereby 

 starchy substances are converted into sugar under a 

 naturally maturing process, just as we know the same 



