Dr. A. VonPlanta (_B. B.?ournal_, p. 41o) throws some light on the value of bee-poison as a preventive of fermentation when mixed with honey : on this subject I have nothing to add to my remarks made in a recent paper on the medicinal properties of honey. It is generally understood that the _active_ principle of the bees' sting is formic acid, and that a hypodromic injection of this acid is poisonous to the bee and other animals ; this is not the case, the result of this act is only a local irritation and inflammation. Now formic acid corresponds to methylic alcohol, just as acetic acid corresponds to ethylic alcohol (wood spirit or spirits of wine ;) these are the two simplest acids, and are most nearly related. Acetic acid (dil) is prescribed as a subcutaneous injection for cancer, so there cannot, after all, be much danger from formic alone ; indeed I have expertmented on myself with it and find little harm in it. This acid alone produces upon wax, on the skin, or in the blood --(1) effects quite different from those made by bee-poison ; (2) it is very volatile, giving off an odor much resembling that from acetic acid, not leaving a crystalized or gummy residue as does bee-poison ; (3) its color is different; (4) it is not poisonous ; (5) it does not mix with, soften, or varnish wax, as in the case with bee-poison. Now, although the bee requires formic acid it does not gather either it or the oxalic acid from which it may be derived, it is a secretion of its body from (in all probability) some other more complex acid which it may gather (I refer to uric acid, from the very mention of which some hypersensitive natures seem to recoil.) From this acid oxidising agents may give the bee compounds containing oxalic (or, oxalic may be secreted from nectar, honey, or other carbon compounds acted upon by nitrogenous substances.) For the matter of that, the decomposition of the liquids said to be much sought after by bees will give them their formic acid : I prefer, however, to lean to the pleasanter formula :--the oxidation of hydro-carbons into the simplest of the fatty acids, say for instance, a hydro-carbon C H, is oxidised into C H, O, and, finally, into C H, O, the formula of formic acid (at least this is a process of the laboratory,) how much more simple or intricate in the alenbolic of the bee we may never know--the conversion of floral perfume into what we find it--we know this, however, it is secreted copiously and used plentifully in various ways, least of all as a venom or poison. I have come to the conclusion that the truly toxical (or poisonous) principle of the bee-sting is an animal alkaloid, a virulent poison secreted in its body from the volatile and essential oils found in nectar,* that this alkaloid is collected by glands and stored in the poison-sac mixed with a gummy, non-saccharine substance, and heavily diluted with formic acid. What is this gummy substance, this residue left by a dried-up drop of poison? Taking the temperature of the bees' body at something near our own (goo being required in the hive for wax-secretion) I find Canada balsam and formic acid soon give us a suitable gum ; fir-wool oil, terepine, and preparations of turpentine do this also, but in my experiments with formic acid.and sugars I fail altogether. Now, if the bees gather turpentine (a resinous substance ending from trees of the pine tribe, which we call propolis,) oxidation of a small quantity of this taken into its system converts it into various acids, or, having undergone a slight change, it may be stored in the poison-bag for use in wax softening ; thus giving our bee its furniture-poils, varnish-pot, and gumpot, in one. We are often told about bees mixing propolis and wax together, doing this, that, and the other, but we are not told whether the tools are at the tail or the head of the insect ; neither have we been informed where the flux or mixing medicine is found. I think we know now. Triturating wax with formic acid produces no perceptible result so far as softening it is concerned, but, on the other hand, treating wax with an alkaline gives us a soft, plastic mass, which, in turn, by the addition of a little acid becomes a similar fothlike substance, such as we find in the bees' first process of preparing wax-scales for cell-building.
* It has recently been proved that alkaloids are the products of organic decomposition, that they can be artificially induced by the decomposition of vegetable matter, that alkaloids of the most toxic kinds exist even in the human economy during life, existing in the kidneys, viscera, muscles and brain matter, in the sweat, blood, and saliva, and interesting study may then be made of diseased conditions of the body ending fatally from a bees' sting-_Life Lore_, p. 60a. GoodleWhile agreeing with Mr. Cheshire that the offices of Nos. 2 and 4 glands are of a digestive nature, secreting brood-food from honey and pollen, I am inclined to the belief that the system No. 1 (or No. 3) gives an alkaline salivary secretion, converting cane into grape sugar, and dissolving gluten, oil, etc., while starch-granules may be converted into dextrine by dilute acids secreted by the glands of the other system--ferments and yeast.