ge 
Having treated of the manner in which bees collect ho 
ney and pollen, and of the nature of these two balsamic 
substances, it behooves me to show the best manner of pro- 
ceeding to derive the greatest advantages from them. The — 
combs must be taken out of the boxes, and placed so as t 
drip into large vases. Care should be taken to separate th 
combs of the same box into two lots: the whitest yields 
the most beautiful honey; that is to say, the virgin honey, : 
nay 
or mother drop. ; wy 
‘When the combs have dripped sufficiently, they must be 
passed to the press, to force out the remaining honey. 
‘These two qualities of honey should not be mixed in th 
same cask. The virgin honey is infinitely better than tha 
which is obtained by expression. ’ Pen a allah 
Rosier says, that the ancients, who knew nothing about 
sugar, used a great deal of honey in their cookery. ‘The 
mixed it, also, if we may believe Virgil, with rough an 
hard wine, to correct its bad quality. Zhat custom is stil 
preserved in many countries. Some regard it as a univer 
sal remedy, or panacea, and believe it a preserver from cor 
ruption, and a prolonger of life. Pythagoras and Democri 
tus took no other aliment than bread and honey, in the per 
suasion that this nourishment would prolong their days 
_Pollio, having arrived at an extreme and happy old age. 
being asked by Augustus, by what secret he had attained 
to such an age, without infirmities, answered, that his se-— 
cret was honey, on which he had subsisted. tae 
This substance was in such great veneration at that time, — 
that it was regarded as a sacred food. The ancients also 
called it the gift of the gods,—a heavenly dew,—an emana- 
tion from the stars. At present we do not hold its origin 
in so high respect; and the use of sugar, which has suc- 
ceeded it, has banished honey from pharmacy and the 
apothecaries’ shops. The poor country people still use and — 
make delicious refections of it, and also salutary and 
agreeable beverages. aad 
French physicians pretend that honey warms and desic- 
cates in whatever form it is used; whether as aliment or 
Seasonings. Phlegmatic temperaments, and those who by 
sickness or otherwise abound in gross or viscous humours, — 
cannot safely use it; and physicians do not prescribe it, ex 
cept in diet drink, gargles, and injections. But, in surge 
it is used with success in lotions, to wash and deterge 1 
cers. Honey is the surest and most efficacious of all rem 
dies against the sting of bees. | 
