THE PHYSICIAN IN THE HIVE 83 
suffering from rheumatism. And if every one kept 
bees, and got stung occasionally, the doctors would 
soon have one ailment the less to trouble about.” 
““ But,” he went on, “ there is something much 
pleasanter and more valuable to humanity, ill or 
well, to be got from the hives. And that is the 
honey itself. Honey is good for old and young. 
If mothers were wise they would never give 
their children any other sweet food. Pure 
ripe honey is sugar with the most difficult and 
most important part of digestion already accom- 
plished by the bees. Moreover, it is a safe and 
very gentle laxative. And probably, before each 
comb-cell is sealed up, the bee injects a drop of acid 
from her sting. Anyway, honey has a distinct 
aseptic property. That is why it is so good for sore 
throats or chafed skins.” 
We had got back to the extracting house, where 
the great caldron of metheglin was still bubbling 
over the fire. The old bee-keeper relieved himself 
of his stiff Sunday coat, donned his white linen over- 
alls, and fell to skimming the pot. 
‘There is another use,’’ said he, after a 
ruminative pause, “‘ to which honey might be put, 
if only doctors could be induced to seek curative 
power in ancient homely things, as they do with the 
latest new poisons from Germany. That is in the 
treatment of obesity. Fat people, who are ordered 
to give up sugar, ought to use honey instead. In 
my time I have persuaded many a one to try it, and 
the result has always been the same—a steady 
reduction in weight, and better health all round. 
Then, again, dyspeptic folk would find most of their 
troubles vanish if they substituted the already half- 
