loo The Honey-Makers 



slight burning sensation, quickly followed by an agonizing, 

 acrid, metallic taste and a sharp stinging impression. 



Curiosity may tempt many to taste bee-poison once, but 

 few will voluntarily repeat the experiment. It can be 

 quickly washed from the tongue with cold water and should 

 not be swallowed as it may give rise, even in this small 

 quantity, to very grievous sensations ! 



Bees show a diabolical aptitude for selecting sensitive 

 parts, and Butler says : — 



" When they are angry, their aim is most commonly at 

 the head, and chiefly about the eyes, as knowing that there 

 they may do most harm, for that part swelleth most and 

 longest ; and yet I never heard that any ever stung the very 

 eye : as if they were forbidden to touch that tender part." 



Bee-keepers occasionally get a jet of poison in the eye, 

 however, it being thrown out by an angry bee ; the feel- 

 ings of the victim upon such occasions may be left to the 

 imagination. 



When one is stung, the part swells and burns, and if the 

 sting is about the face the head aches considerably for awhile. 



But on the whole it is soon over with most people, 

 though some are so sensitive to this particular poison that 

 even one sting is dangerous to them. 



Cicero considers inabihty to endure a bee-sting a mark 

 of very great effeminacy, as he tells us in " The Tusculan 

 Questions " : — 



" We, if the toe pain us, or the tooth, if a stitch is felt 

 in the body, are unable to bear it ; for there is a certain 

 effeminate and light opinion in currency, not more in 

 regard to pain than to pleasure, which, when it has melted 

 us, and we flow with softness, we cannot withstand the 

 sting of a bee without exclamation." 



Bee-poison seems to be derived, by some strange alchem- 

 ical process, from the nectar and pollen of flowers, and 



