"In South America and amongst the Spaniards, honey is considered as one of the best detergents for sloughing sores and foul ulcerations; so it was formerly in Europe. Its uses in a surgical point of view have in this country long been lost sight of. Its detergent power is such, that it was formerly denominated a _vegetable soap_, as we may see in the older writers. It is still made the basis of _cosmetics_, and this empirical practice goes to prove its efficacy--to those at least who have experienced its effects in cleansing and healing sinuous ulcers, its stimulating property producing withal the sanitary adhesive inflammation. A species of wine made from honey, called metheglin and mead--the _mulsum_ of the ancients--was formerly much in use in this country, and most deservedly so from its pleasant taste and salutary properties. By the perfection of honey, this may now be obtained no doubt of equal excellence here, and a rich mellifluous species of wine of the most wholesome kind will be acquired, and open a new source of national industry.
"It has been said, that where the air is clear and hot, honey is better than where it is variable and cold, and this seems to have served as an apology for the inferiority of much of the honey contained in this country. It is a position, which I am persuaded is not well founded; for the honey in hot climates, notwithstanding the fragrance of the flowers, is mostly inferior to the commonest samples produced here. This inferiority, however, may be entirely owing to the difference in the Bees--for I speak here of the wild or native honey--and it is probable that the _apis mellifica_ might, in South America, on Mr. Nutt's plan, produce the best of honey, and in very great abundance, because it would there work all the year, and the product therefore would be greatly increased.
"I have seen honey taken in the forests of South America from several different species of Bees; they were always destitute of a sting, although entomologists consider it as one of the generic characters of _apis_. It is also singular that their wax is always _black_, or dark brown, although the pollen of the flowers, which is said to give colour, is equally yellow as in this country. Bees obtain honey from most kinds of flowers, but appear in general to prefer the labiati or lip flowers, as those of sage, marjoram, mint, thyme, lavender, &c.