168 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS 
[August 2G, 1371' 
At the present day all the civilized countries of the globe 
produce honey, and give more or less attention to api¬ 
culture, according as the climate and vegetation are 
suited to the bees. The most recent statistics available 
give the following estimate of the number of hives, with 
the authority:— 
Number of hives. 
France (Clock’s Statistics) . . 2,200,000 
Austria. 2,733,000 
Prussia Proper (M. Wicbahn) . 761,284 
Bavaria (Block). 202,923 
Hanover (M. Wiebahn) . . . 230,6S9 
Electoral Hesse (M. Wiebahn) . 40,000 
Duchy of Nassau (Block) . . . 15,097 
„ Baden „ . . . 75,111 
Wiirtemberg. 100,000 
Oldenburg (Block). 45,000 
Spain. 758,788 
The latest official statistics for France gave the total 
value of hives at 16^ million francs, or about 6 s. per hive 
and its contents, but half of this may be set down for the 
hive and its protective supports, etc. The mean quan¬ 
tity of the honey produced yearly was stated at 6,670,000 
kilogrammes, worth a little more than 5| million francs. 
This would give about 61b. of honey for each hive. In 
1863 the import of honey into Franco amounted to 
185,797 kilogrammes, and the exports to 420,568 kilo¬ 
grammes ; in 1866 the imports were 259,500 kilogrammes, 
valued at 389,400 francs, and the exports 785,900 kilo¬ 
grammes. 
If a piece of fresh honeycomb, with its cells full of 
honey, be inverted on a dish, the pure honey will flow 
out, constituting virgin honey. If this bo allowed to 
rest for some time, it will divide itself into two parts, 
the one consisting of a number of sphericles of a pale 
yellowish or almost whitish colour, and formed of a 
number of crystals radiating from the centre, and the 
other a white syrup. The crystalline sphericles are a 
true sugar, and in every sense identical with grape or 
fruit sugar, whilst the syrup contains the same sugar 
with a certain portion of wax, and very often, and in¬ 
deed always, a quantity of sugar having the same com¬ 
position as cane sugar, but in an uncrystallizable form. 
Gum and mannite, or manna sugar, have also been ob¬ 
tained, especially in the turpentine-like honey; but it is 
probable that they are products of decomposition, for 
they are not present in good honey ; moreover, we know 
that under certain circumstances cane sugar is decom¬ 
posed into mannite, gum and lactic acid, which is also 
usually present in honey whenever mannite has been no¬ 
ticed in it. The tendency of some honeys to a turpentine 
consistency appears to be intimately connected with the 
system of management of the bees, with the plants upon 
which they feed, and upon many other little understood 
causes. 
Honey was used instead of sugar until the means of 
extracting that substance in quantity from the sugar¬ 
cane was found, and more recently its extensive fabrica¬ 
tion from the beetroot. Honey is employed for food, 
for drink and for medicine; by mixing it with water 
and allowing it to ferment, hydromel is obtained, and 
honey wine, metheglin or mead, was long a poptdar 
beverage. By distillation alcohol is obtained. Honey 
is also employed in confectionery and pastry, for making- 
gingerbread. In the fabrication of liquors it is used in 
sweetening Dantzic spirit, maraschino, rosoglio, etc. 
Real mead or metheglin is a fermented wine, but many 
drinks made from honey are little else than honey water 
or hydromel. Such is the sbitene of Russia, which con¬ 
sists of honey mixed with boiling water and boiling- 
milk, and seasoned with pepper. 
Raw honey varies in its properties according to the 
nature of the vegetation from which the bees have 
gathered their food; according as the honey is obtained 
from cultivated or wild bees: according to the method 
and attention used in separating it from the wax, as 
well as according to the age of the honey and the man¬ 
ner of preserving it. The preservation of honey is best 
effected in small wooden tubs with well-closed lids, 
so that such a vessel, when once opened, may be emptied 
in three or four months. The honey, after having run 
and been pressed out of the comb at a temperature of 
from 8S° 2 o' to 90° Fahrenheit, should be immediately 
poured into these vessels, which ought to be put away 
in a dry, cool spot. The honeys of different parts even 
of the same country will differ. Thus the honeys of 
Narbonne, England and Minorca can be distinguished 
by their flavours. 
In France a good swarm of bees in two years will 
yield nearly 30 lb. of honey, and they are still more pro¬ 
fitable in countries that are covered with flowers the- 
greatest part of the year. 
Honey is separated from the comb by dripping and 
by expression, and a still inferior kind is obtained by 
heating the comb before it is pressed. Virgin honey is 
that obtained from the young hives which have not 
swarmed. The two kinds of honey usually met with) 
are the white and the yellow. The white trickles out 
spontaneously from the comb. The combs are broken 
soon after they are made, and laid upon hu'rdlcs or mats 
of osier, or on linen cloth, fastened at the four corners- 
to as many posts, and then an excellent pure honey is 
obtained, which hardens in a short time. This is put 
into glazed earthen pots. The best French honey is 
that from the province of Languedoc, known in com¬ 
merce as Narbonne honey. It should be new, thick, 
granulated, of a clear, transparent white colour. If it is 
very pure, it is almost as hard as sugar candy. The 
honey made in mountainous countries is more highly 
flavoured than that of low grounds; and that made in 
the spring is more highly esteemed than that gathered 
in the summer or autumn. 
Yellow honey is obtained by pressure from all sorts- 
of honeycombs, and even from those whence the virgin 
honey has been extracted. The combs are broken and 
heated with a little water in basins or pots, kept con¬ 
tinually stirred. They are then put into bags of thin 
linen cloth, and placed in a press to squeeze out the 
honey. The wax remains in the bag, but some small 
portions will generally escape through the bag with the 
honey. 
The colour of honey varies very considerably, accord¬ 
ing probably to the difference of the vegetation on which 
the insects feed. Sometimes it is of a green hue, some¬ 
times it is black, blood red, and at others it offers various- 
shades of orange or yellow, and there are instances on 
record of dysentery and death occasioned by the noxious- 
qualities it contains. The island of Bourbon yields a 
delicate kind of green honey, which is exported to India 
and bears there a very high price. The same coloured 
honey occurs also in Southern Africa, and it is not im¬ 
probable that in both localities the same species of bee- 
will eventually be discovered to exist. At the island of 
Bulama,, and in other places, there is a fly called the 
honey fly, which deposits its sweets in the hollows of 
trees, but the quantity is so trifling as scarcely to deserve 
notice. In the island of Madagascar, also, other species 
of flics are reported to produce honey. Honey is produced, 
very abundantly in the island of Candia, and more so in 
the greater part of the islands of the Archipelago than, 
almost anywhere else. The Sicilian honey is particu¬ 
larly high-flavoured, and in some parts of the island it is- 
said even to surpass that of Minorca, which is no doubt 
attributable to the large quantity of aromatic plants- 
which overspread the country. There the honey is gathered 
three times in the year; in July, August and October- 
; It is found by the peasants in the hollows of trees and 
! rocks. The country of the Upper Hybla is still, as for¬ 
merly, the part of the island that is most celebrated for 
tliis article. 
(To be continued.) 
