THE CHEMISTRY OF THE HIVE. 
587 
much wind often rendering the honey cloudy from 
the excessive quantity of pollen it then contains. If 
the specimen be only diluted with the syrup, pollen 
in small amount will be found, and the microscope is 
then incompetent to pronounce upon the fraud. 
That the chemist and microscopist are able to 
expose so completely the miserable dishonesty which, 
to gain an unfair advantage, would strive to pass off a 
sophistication as a genuine article is highly satisfactory; 
but it is even more consoling to note that adulteration 
is on the wane — the first fact, undoubtedly, being the 
main cause of the second — and Mr. Otto Hehner has, 
by the able attention he has given to this subject, 
earned the good wishes of all honey-producers. 
The acid quality of honey has already more than 
once been referred to. The contained acid is cer- 
tainly partially formic, but in what association the 
chemist is not at present able fully to determine. 
Herr K. Miillenhoff* and the Rev. Wm. F. Clarke have 
pointed out that formic acid is provided by the bees by 
depositing droplets from their stings, which they touch 
on the face of the honey ; Herr K. Miillenhoff adding 
that thus the presence of formic acid, absent in 
nectar, is accounted for. The acid, doubtless, exerts 
an antiseptic influence, and without it fermentation is 
likely. The expediency of removing honey while yet 
unsealed, and so economising the time and energy 
of the bees, is suggested, as the crop could be readily 
and cheaply preserved by the addition of per 
cent, formic acid. 
The poetical conceits of the ancients touching honey 
* “ Archiv fiir Anatomic Physiologic,” 1886, pp. 382-6. 
