glucose, or grape sugar), pollen-granules of
various forms, often so perfect that they may be referred to the
particular plants from which the nectar has been gathered.

As good Honey contains sugar in a form suitable for such quick
assimilation, it should be taken generally in some combination less
easily absorbed, otherwise the digestion may be upset by too speedy
a glut of heat production, and of energy. Therefore the bread and
Honey of time-honoured memory is a sound form of sustenance, as
likewise, the proverbial milk and Honey of the Old Testament. This
may be prepared by taking a bowl of new milk, and breaking into it
some light wheaten bread, together with some fresh white
Honeycomb. The mixture will be found both pleasant and easy of
digestion.

Our forefathers concocted from Honey boiled with water and
exposed to the sun (after adding chopped raisins, lemon peel, and
other matters) a famous fermented drink, called mead, and this was
termed metheglin (_methu_, wine, and _aglaion_, splendid) when
the finer [261] Honey was used, and certain herbs were added so as
to confer special flavours.

"Who drank very hard the whole night through
Cups of strong mead, made from honey when new,
Metheglin they called it, a mighty strong brew,
Their whistles to wet for the morrow."

Likewise, the old Teutons prepared a Honey wine, (hydromel), and
made it the practice to drink this for the first thirty days after
marriage; from which custom has been derived the familiar
Honeymoon, or the month after a wedding.

Queen Elizabeth was particularly fond of mead, and had it made
every year according to a special recipe of her own, which included
the leaves of sweet briar, with rosemary, cloves, and mace.

Honey derived from cruciferous plants, such as rape, ladies' smock,
and the wallflower, crystallizes quickly, often, indeed, within the
comb before it is removed from the hive; whilst Honey from labiate
plants, and from fruit trees in general, remains unchanged for
several months after being extracted from the comb.

As a heat producer, if taken by way of food, one pound of Honey is
equal to two pounds of butter; and when cod liver oil is indicated,
but cannot be tolerated by the patient, Honey may sometimes be
most beneficially substituted.

In former times it was employed largely as a medicine, and applied
externally for the healing of wounds. When mixed with flour, and
spread on linen, or leather, it ha