BEESWAX AND HONEY. 
How Beeswax 1s Mave by the Bees, is described thus: “It is no 
mere extraneous substance which needs only to be collected for use ; 
it is a bit of individual organic home stineittanture, If you examine 
the under surface of a cell-building worker-bee, you will find beneath 
the abdomen four pairs of white plates projecting from as many 
pockets in the incasing rings of this part oe the body, These are the 
wax plates, made from the life-blood of the worker. Examine now 
with a lens one of the hinder legs. You will find that the stoutest 
joints are very square-shouldered at the hings, and that the hinge is 
well over to one side, so that the shoulders form a pair of jaws, 
which open when the limb is bent, and close when it is straightened. 
The “REEL jaw has a row of spines which bite on a plate on the lower 
jaw. ith this apparatus, piercing in with these spines, the worker- 
bee withdraws a wax plate from its pocket, transfers it to the front 
legs, and thence to the mouth, where it is laboriously masticated 
with a salivary secretion. Unless it undergoes this process it lacks 
the ductility requisite for cell-making.”’ 
Honey aNnpD wk of one part of 
GuiucosE.—The 7 dextrose and 
former is very three parts of 
different from _ dextrine — a 
the glucose of = gummy sub- 
commerce. ‘stance used in 
Honey is a stiffening cali- 
mixture very 
nearly in equal 
parts of dex- 
trose and lacu- 
lose. The dex- 
trose is what 
granulates—is 
the same kind 
of sugar as is 
found dried in 
raisins, and is 
about 1 as 
sweet as cane 
sugar. Thelac- 
ulose will not 
candy, and is 
sweeter than 
coes and gum- 
ming postage 
stamps. Dex- 
trine is never 
found in pure 
honey. A test 
of dextrine is 
the solution of 
sub-acetate of 
lead, or Gou- 
lard’s water, 
found at any 
drug store.— 
This precipi. 
mr 6tates the dex- 
i trine in any 
mixture as a 
cane sugar. & thick white 
Glucose from a is eurd, which 
starchisamix- . ANAS ~*~ floats in the 
ture generally #80 VZAWING SVR liquid. 
_The same solution put into honey does not change itscolor. This 
simple test is very striking, and always reliable. 
To Detect BEESwAX ADULTERATION.—When beeswax is chewed, 
says an expert, it should have no disagreeable taste, and must not 
stick to the teeth. In the adulterated wax, the nature of the foreign 
material can generally be detected by the taste; the addition of fat 
can generally be readily detected. If it sticks to the teeth,'the 
presence of resin may be assumed. A simple method of detecting 
the presence of fat in wax consists in melting it, and placing a drop 
on a piece of woolen cloth. After it is Parircwal cold and solidified, 
pour ona few dropsof 90 per cent. of alcohol, and rub the cloth 
between the hands. The wax willbe converted into dust, and will 
easily separate from the cloth if it contains no fat, and will leave no 
stain; when it contains fat, it will leave grease-spots. 
