3^4 ELABORATION OF HONEY. 



could not appear only on certain vegetables, and even on 

 some of those parts to the exclusion of the remainder." 



The circumstance however which is most in favour of the 

 presumed fall of the honey dew from the upper regions of 

 the air, is, that it is only the upper part of the leaves which 

 is moistened with it. It is also conformable to experience, 

 that the viscous matter appears only on certain leaves, that 

 is, on the new ones, and those which are the least exposed, 

 and this attraction or attachment is not the effect of chance. 

 It is further ascertained, that it is on the side of the leaf, 

 where the pores are most open and distinguished, that the 

 greatest exudation of the plants takes place. It is there 

 that the excretory vessels unite, by which the humour of 

 the plants" escapes in the same manner as the absorbents, 

 which serve for their nutrition in attracting the water of 

 the rain, and the vapours, which are diffused in the air. 



The question has been long disputed amongst naturalists, 

 regarding the elaboration which honey undergoes in the 

 stomach of the bee ; and whilst some maintain that it under- 

 goes a decided alteration, others affirm that it is deposited by 

 them in the cells in the same state as it is extracted from the 

 flowers. The latter hypothesis is, however, in a great de- 

 gree invalidated by the circumstance, that the flavour and 

 taste of the saccharine juice in the nectarium of the flowers 

 are decidedly different, as may be ascertained by sucking 

 the pips of a cowslip, and those of the white or red clover ; 

 whereas when these same juices are deposited in the cells of 

 the bee, they have acquired one uniform taste and fragrance, 

 which they did not possess in their natural state, as well as a 

 viscidity and consistency which could only have been obtained 

 by some unknown elaboratory process. Were the honey, 

 when deposited in the cell, to be of that thin and fluid na- 

 ture in which it appears in the nectarium of the flower, it 

 would flow out of the cells ; at the same time, it must be 

 admitted, that the elaboratory powers of the stomach of the 



