74 HUMBLE CREATURES. 



Prance, and is brought over to England in consider- 

 able quantities j but it is hardly needful to add that 

 good honey may be found in every quarter of the 

 globe. 



Although largely employed in medicinej its chief 

 use is as a condiment, and in some countries, espe- 

 cially in the North of Europe, it constitutes the chief 

 element in a fermented beverage, being itself suscep- 

 tible of alcoholic fermentation. 



Who does not recollect the ambrosial mead of 

 olden times, that was quaffed at the feasts of the 

 heroes of Scandinavia, by our British forefathers, and, 

 later on, in the so-called good old days of Queen 

 Bess ? Mead, metheglin, and hydromel (the modem 

 name stOl employed), were manufactured from honey, 

 water, herbs, and beer; the first three being fer- 

 mented, and then added to the last. 



Honey has sometimes been known to produce a 

 very deleterious influence upon those who have par- 

 taken of it ; and this is supposed to have arisen in 

 consequence of its having been collected by the Bee 

 from noxious plants. Many stories are narrated of 

 its injurious effects, and we read in history that the 

 whole army of Cyrus the Great was almost poisoned 

 by some honey of which they partook in large 

 quantities. The most authentic anecdote, however, 

 because the most recent, is that of M. Aug. de 

 St.-HUaire, who, whilst on an exploring expedition 

 in Brazil, ate a quantity of honey supposed to have 

 been collected by a Bee called by the narrator Apis 



