314 AUSTRALASIAN 



is also used in the preparation of honey soap, and probably in 

 some other branches of manufactures. 



HONE? AS MEDICINE. 



Gibbon, the historian, remarks of the ancient Greeks, and 

 especially the Athenians, " They taught that health might be 

 preserved, and life prolonged, by the external use of oil, and 

 internal use of honey." Physicians have continued to use 

 honey, more or less, in all ages up to the present time, both as 

 a medicine and as a medium for administering some drugs. 

 Mr. Newman, who has collected much information with regard 

 to the uses of honey in his work, " Bees and Honey," gives the 

 following quotation from a pamphlet by Herr Karl Gatter, a 

 German teacher, and editor of the Bienenvater, at Vienna, who 

 considers that his own life was saved by the use of honey for 

 the cure of diseased throat and lungs : — 



"In medicine, and especially in the healing of wounds, was honey, 

 already in early times, used as a universal remedy ; it yet constitutes 

 the principal ingredient of several medical preparations, is used with 

 the best results in many internal and external diseases, serves as a 

 means for taking powders, for the preparation of salves, and the 

 sweetening of medicine. 



"Honey mollifies; promotes festering; causes gentle purging, 

 divides and dissolves, warms, nourishes, stops pains, strengthens the 

 tone of the stomach, carries away all superfluous moisture, aids diges- 

 tion, thins and purifies the blood, and animates and strengthens the 

 breast, nerves and lungs. Honey is therefore to be used when suffering 

 from cough, hoarseness, stoppage of the lungs, shortness of breath, and 

 especially with the best results in all affections of the chest. 



" Many persons afflicted with various species of consumption, thank 

 the use of good honey, either for their entire restoration to health, or 

 for the mitigation of their often painful condition of body and mind. 



" Honey is also an excellent remedy for the occasional inactivity of 

 the abdominal organs, and a means of strengthening weak nerves. For 

 severe coughing, barley-water mixed with honey and the juice of 

 lemons, drank warm, is a pleasant relief. It appeases and mitigates 

 fevers, and owing to its taste and its soothing qualities, it is used as 

 a gargle. 



" Honey can also be used with advantage in asthma, in constipation, 

 in sore throat ; promotes perspiration, lessens phlegm, and is very 

 healing to the chest, sore from coughing. 



" With old persons the use of honey is very useful, since it produces 

 warmth and a certain activity of the skin. For persons leading a 

 sedentary life, and suffering from costiveness, and especially from piles, 

 pure unadulterated honey, either mixed in their drink, used alone, or 

 on bread, is the best and healthiest means of relief. 



