244 
WHY  DO  BEES  WORK  IN  THE  DARK. 
Honey  has  been  regarded  by  chemists  as  a  solution,  more  or 
less  concentrated  and  aromatized,  of  a  concrete  in  a  liquid  sugar; 
but  that  the  climate,  the  season,  the  temperature,  the  kinds  of 
plants  on  which  the  bees  pasture,  give  rise  to  the  great  differ- 
ences noticed  in  the  honey  of  different  localities.  Some  kinds 
contain  only  a  small  proportion  of  the  concrete  sugar ;  others  so 
much  as  to  be  nearly  solid.  The  color  and  aroma  are  said  to  de- 
pend on  the  plants,  but  in  wet  years  or  in  moist  climates  and  in 
marshy  places,  the  honey  is  more  liquid,  and  remains  so  for  a 
longer  time. 
Honey  is  nearly  always  acid,  and  the  presence  of  acids  tends 
to  keep  it  fluid,  of  alkalies  to  turn  it  brown.  The  honey  from 
marshy  districts  is  said  to  be  brown,  and  the  taste  not  pleasant. 
The  liquid  sugar  of  honey  is  said  to  consist  of  C12H909  -f  3HO, 
and  the  solid  portion  or  glucose  of  C12H909  +  5HO ;  so  that  the 
change  from  the  liquid  to  the  concrete  form  arises  from  the  com- 
bination of  two  atoms  of  water.  In  such  cases  the  2HO  must 
be  taken  from  another  portion  of  the  same  honey — that  is,  the 
elements  are  simply  re-arranged ;  for  if  the  change  were,  as 
stated  in  some  books  on  chemistry,  due  to  time  and  the  appro- 
priation of  two  atoms  of  water  from  the  air,  we  should  have 
C12H12012  =  72  +  12  +  96  =  180  lbs.  of  fluid  honey,  becoming 
C12Hu014,  or  72  +  14  +  112  ==  198  lbs.  of  solid  honey— an  in- 
crease of  10  per  cent,  in  weight,  which  cannot  take  place  when 
liquid  honey  in  sealed  bottles  becomes  candied.  My  experi- 
ments tend  to  show  that  the  absorption  of  water  by  exposure 
renders  the  honey  more  liquid,  not  more  solid.  The  change  in 
the  honey  may  be  a  molecular  one,  resembling  in  some  respects 
that  which  takes  place  in  barley  sugar  when  kept  some  time 
either  in  the  light  or  in  the  dark. 
The  proportions  of  the  two  sugars  in  honey  vary  so  much  as 
probably  to  account  for  most  of  the  differences  observable  in  dif- 
ferent specimens.  It  is  said  the  concrete  glucose  is  more  abun- 
dant in  spring  than  in  autumn,  if  the  year  be  dry,  than  if  wet, 
and  in  countries  abounding  in  labiated  and  aromatic  plants  than 
in  others.  The  liquid  portion  is  more  soluble  in  concentrated 
alcohol  than  the  solid,  and  in  this  way  the  two  can  be  separated. 
Any  experiments  on  this  subject  must  be  with  virgin  honey, 
