DIFFERENT KINDS OF HONEY. 369 



processions, and at their great feasts, there was always a 

 number of slaves carrying vases on their shoulders filled 

 with honey, of which they made their libations. 



The most remarkable longevities have been ascribed to the 

 use of honey ; and history has on record, that Pollius Romu- 

 lus, who reached an extraordinary old age, on being in- 

 terrogated respecting the regimen which he adopted, 

 answered, Intus mulso, /oris oleo. 



The modern Greeks consume large quantities of honey, 

 as they consider it particularly useful to aged persons, or to 

 those suffering with consumption, or whose strength has 

 been reduced by sickness. 



Honey is a gummy, saccharine, fermentative juice, one of 

 the immediate principles of vegetables, and which has re- 

 ceived a particular elaboration in the stomach of the bees. 

 It is in this laboratory that it assumes that viscidity and 

 consistency, which it did not possess in its natural state, and 

 also that peculiarity of fragrance and taste by which it is so 

 essentially distinguished. 



There are several kinds of honey, such as virgin honey, 

 pure honey, and coarse or heath honey, which may be called 

 the honey of commerce. In France it is distinguished by 

 the name of the country in which it is produced. That of 

 Narbonne, Provence, and Languedoc, being considered the 

 best. Then come the honeys of Champagne, Touraine, 

 Picardy, Brittany, and Normandy, the latter being con- 

 sidered of the worst quality. 



Virgin honey is the produce of the swarm of a swarm, 

 but it is by no means superior to that of the parent swarm. 



Pure honey is that which has dripped from the combs 

 without any pressure, and consequently uncontaminated by 

 any of the crude substances in the hive, such as bee bread, 

 abortive brood, &c. 



Common, or heath honey, is that which has undergone 



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