[Footnote B: Dr. Birkbeck related the following instance of the power of recognition possessed by Bees to myself and Mr. Booth, which I cannot suffer to pass unnoticed. When a boy, he was accustomed to cover his hand with honey, and go to the front of one of the hives in his father's garden. His hand was soon covered by the Bees, banquetting on the proffered sweets, and the whole of it was speedily removed. The Bees appeared to recognize the learned Doctor ever afterwards when he appeared in the garden, his hand being always surrounded by them in expectation of there finding their accustomed boon.]
Some very important observations on honey, in a medical point of view, are those which were contained in a paper written by my very learned and valued friend, Dr. Hancock, and read before the Medico-Botanical Society at their sitting November 26th 1833.[C]
[Footnote C: For a copy of the first edition of this work, with specimens of honey, &c. the author received the thanks of the Society; and he has since been honoured with a diploma, which constitutes him a corresponding member thereof.]
An abstract of this important paper[D] I shall communicate for the information of my readers.
[Footnote D: An abstract of the paper was published in the Lancet and several other journals.]
"The great objects which recommend Mr. Nutt's plan, consist in the great improvement in quality and augmentation of honey produced, and that without destroying the Bees--a discovery equally creditable to Mr. Nutt, as a man of benevolent mind, and to his industry and indefatigable research.
"The cultivation of Honey-bees is of remote antiquity. The Bee was regarded as the emblem of royalty with the ancient Egyptians, and Bees have been held in the highest esteem by all nations, whether barbarous or civilized; yet the united experience of ancients and moderns has never hitherto led to the happy results, which, by a connected series of experiments, patient research, and logical induction, have in twelve years been achieved by Mr. Nutt. In the course of his observation he saw, not only that the destruction of the Bees was barbarous in the extreme, but that this cruelty was equally subversive of the crops of honey; his inquiries were hence directed to find how this destructive system could be exchanged for a conservative one. In this he has completely succeeded, and by preserving the Bees has been enabled to increase their produce many-fold, and that too, in a far more salutary and improved quality. It is equal even to the samples usually obtained from young hives called virgin honey, which is scarce, dear, and seldom to be had genuine.