[1] An interesting controversy has been carried on between the
members of the homoeopathic school as to the proper construction of
the Latin motto which constitutes its acknowledged basis. For many
years the verb at the conclusion of the sentence was used in the
indicative mood, _curantur_, thus making the sentence a positive one.
After extended research it has been discovered that Hahnemann himself
never employed the word _curantur_ as descriptive of his law of cure,
but always wrote _curentur_, which greatly modifies the meaning of
the phrase. If the subjunctive mood be used, the motto reads, "Let
similars be treated by similars," or "similars should be treated by
similars." The reading _similia similibus curentur_ was officially
adopted as the correct reading of the sentence by the American
Institute of Homoeopathy at its session held in Atlantic City, N.J.,
on the 20th of June 1899; and the words are so inscribed on the
monument erected to the memory of Hahnemann and unveiled in
Washington, D.C., on the 23rd of June 1900, and also are those carved
upon the tomb of Hahnemann in Pere-la-Chaise, Paris.
[2] Some points of Hahnemann's system were borrowed from previous
writers--as he himself, though imperfectly, admits. Not to mention
others, he was anticipated by Hippocrates, and especially by
Paracelsus (1495-1541). The identical words _similia similibus
curantur_ occur in the Geneva edition (1658) of the works of
Paracelsus, as a marginal heading of one of the paragraphs; and in
the "Fragmenta Medica," _Op. Omnia_, i. 168, 169, occurs the
following passage:
_Simile similis cura; non contrarium._
"Quisquis enim cum laude agere Medicum volet, is has nugas longe
valere jubeat. Nec enim ullus unquam morbus calidus per frigida
sanatus fuit, nec frigidus per calida. Simile autem suum simile
frequenter curavit, scilicet Mercurius sulphur, et sulphur Mercurium;
et sal ilia, velut et illa sal. Interdum quidem cum proprietate
junctum frigidum sanavit calidum; sed id non factum est ratione
frigidi, verum ratione naturae alterius, quam a primo illo omnino
diversam facimus."
It is very remarkable that in Hahnemann's enumeration of authors who
anticipated him in regard to the doctrine of _Similia_, he makes no
mention of the views of Paracelsus, though the very words seem to be
taken from the works of that physician. The other point in
Hahnemann's doctrine--that medicines should be tried first on healthy
persons--he admits to have been enunciated by Haller. Roughly it has
been acted on by physicians in all ages, but certainly more
systematically since Hahnemann's time. In the most characteristic
feature of Hahnemann's practice--"the potentizing," "dynamizing," of
medicinal substances--he appears to have been original.
[3] Two methods of preparing medicines are recognized, one on the
decimal, the other on the centesimal scale. The pure tinctures are
denominated "mother tinctures," and represented by the Greek [phi].
To make a first decimal dilution or first decimal trituration, 10
drops of the mother tincture, or 10 grains of a crude substance, are
mixed with 90 drops of alcohol, or 90 grains of _saccharum lactis_
(sugar of milk) respectively. The liquid is thoroughly shaken, or the
powder carefully triturated, and the bottles containing them marked 1
X, meaning first decimal dilution or trituration. To make the 2 X
potency, 10 drops or 10 grains of this first dilution or trituration
are mixed with 90 drops of pure alcohol, or 90 grains of milk sugar,
and are succussed or triturated as above described, and marked 2 X
dilution or trituration. This subdivision of particles may be
continued to an indefinite degree. On the Hahnemannian or centesimal
scale the medicines are prepared in the same manner, the difference
being that 1 drop or grain is mixed with 99 drops or grains, to make
the first centesimal, which is marked 1 c or 1 simply, and so on for
the second and higher dilutions.
HOMONYM (Gr. [Greek: homonomos], having the same name, from [Greek:
homos], same, alike, and [Greek: onoma], name), a term in philology for
those words which differ in sense but are alike either in sound or
spelling or both. Words alike only in spelling but not in sound, e.g.
"bow," are sometimes called _homographs_; and words alike only in sound
but not in spelling, e.g. "meat," "meet," _homophones_. Skeat (_Etymol.
Dict._) gives a list of English homonyms.
HOMS, or HUMS (anc. _Emesa_ or _Emessa_, near the Hittite _Kadesh_), a
town of Syria, on the right bank of the Orontes, and capital of a sanjak
in the vilayet of Syria (Damascus). Pop. 30,000 (20,000 Moslem, 10,000
Christian). The importance of the place arises from its command of the
great north road from Egypt, Palestine and Damascus by the Orontes
valley. Invading armies from the south have often been opposed near
Homs, from the time of Rameses II., who had to fight the battle of
Kadesh, to that of Ibrahim Pasha, who broke the first line of Ottoman
defence in 1831 by his victory there. Ancient Emesa, in the district of
Apamea, was a very old Syrian city, devoted to the worship of Baal, the
sun god, of whose great temple the emperor Heliogabalus was originally a
priest (A.D. 218). As a centre of native influences it was overawed by
the Seleucid foundation of Apamea; but it opposed the Roman advance.
There Aurelian crushed, in A.D. 272, the Syrian national movement led by
Zenobia. Caracalla made it a Roman colony, and later it became the
Capital of a small province, _Phoenicia Libanesia_ or _ad Libanum_.
About 630 it was captured by the Moslem leader, Khalid ibn Walid, who is
buried there. It now became the capital of a _jund_, or military
district, which under the Omayyad Caliphs extended from Palmyra to the
sea. Under the Arabs it was one of the largest cities in Syria, with
walls and a strong citadel, which stood on a hill, occupying perhaps the
site of the great sun temple. The ruins of this castle, blown up by
Ibrahim Pasha, are still the most conspicuous feature of Homs, and
contain many remains of ancient buildings. Its men were noted for their
courage in war, and its women for their beauty. The climate was
extolled for its excellence, and the land for its fertility. A
succession of gardens bordered the Orontes, and the vineyards were
remarkable for their abundant yield of grapes. When the place
capitulated the great church of St John was divided between the
Christians and Moslems, an arrangement which apparently lasted until the
arrival of the Turks. At the end of the 11th century it fell into
crusading hands, but was recovered by the Moslems under Saladin in 1187.
Its decay probably dates from the invasion of the Mongols (1260), who
fought two important battles with the Egyptians (1281 and 1299) in its
vicinity. The construction of a carriage road to Tripoli led to a
partial revival of prosperity and to an export of cereals and fruit, and
this growth has, in turn, been accentuated by the railway, which now
connects it with Aleppo and the Damascus-Beirut line. The district is
well planted with mulberries and produces much silk, most of which is
worked up on the spot. (D. G. H.)
HO-NAN, a central province of China, bounded N. partly by the Hwang-ho
(which it crosses to the west of Ho-nan Fu, forming an arm northwards
between the provinces of Shan-si and Chih-li), on the W. by Shen-si, on
the S. by Hu-peh, and on the E. by Ngan-hui. It occupies an area of
81,000 sq. m., with a population of about 22,100,000, and contains nine
prefectural cities. Its capital is K'ai-feng Fu. The prefecture of
Hwai-k'ing, north of the Hwang-ho, consists of a fertile plain,
"rendered park-like by numerous plantations of trees and shrubs, among
which thick bosquets of bamboo contrast with the gloomy groves of
cypress." All kinds of cereals grow luxuriantly, and the general
productiveness of the district is indicated by the extreme denseness of
the population. The most noticeable feature in that portion of the
province which is properly called Ho-nan is the Fu-niu Shan range, which
runs east and west across this part of the province. Coal is found on
the south of the Hwang-ho in the districts of Ho-nan Fu, the ancient
capital, Lushan and Ju Chow. The chief products of the province are,
however, agricultural, especially in the valley of the Tang-ho and
Pai-ho, which is an extensive and densely populated plain running north
and south from the Fu-niu Shan. Cotton is also grown extensively and
forms the principal article of export, and a considerable quantity of
wild silk is produced from the Fu-niu Shan. Three roads from the east
and south unite at Ho-nan Fu, and one from the west. The southern road
leads to Ju Chow, where it forks, one branch going to Shi-ki-chen,
connecting the trade from Fan-cheng, Han-kow, and the Han river
generally, and the other to Chow-kia-k'ow near the city of Ch'en-chow
Fu, at the confluence of the three rivers which unite to form the
Sha-ho; the second road runs parallel with the Hwang-ho to K'ai-feng Fu;
the third crosses the Hwang-ho at Mengching Hien, and passes thence in a
north-easterly direction to Hwai-k'ing Fu, Sew-wu Hien and Wei-hui Fu,
at which place it joins the high road from Peking to Fan-cheng; and the
western road follows the southern bank of the Hwang-ho for 250 m. to its
great bend at the fortified pass known as the Tung-kwan, where it joins
the great wagon road leading through Shan-si from Peking to Si-gan Fu.
Ho-nan is now traversed north to south by the Peking-Hankow railway
(completed 1905). The line crosses the Hwang-ho by Yung-tse and runs
east of the Fu-niu Shan. Branch lines serve Ho-nan Fu and K'ai-feng Fu.
HONAVAR, or ONORE, a seaport of British India, in the North Kanara
district of Bombay. Pop. (1901) 6929. It is mentioned as a place of
trade as early as the 16th century, and is associated with two
interesting incidents in Anglo-Indian history. In 1670, the English
factors here had a bull-dog which unfortunately killed a sacred bull, in
revenge for which they were all murdered, to the number of eighteen
persons, by an enraged mob. In 1784 it was bravely defended for three
months by Captain Torriano and a detachment of sepoys against the army
of Tippoo Sultan.
HONDA, or SAN BARTOLOMEO DE HONDA, a town of the department of Tolima,
Colombia, on the W. bank of the Magdalena river, 580 m. above its mouth.
In 1906 Mr F. Loraine Petre estimated the population at 7000. It is
about 650 ft. above sea-level and stands at the entrance to a narrow
valley formed by spurs of the Central Cordillera, through which a
picturesque little stream, called the Guali, flows into the Magdalena.
The town overlooks the rapids of the Magdalena, and is shut in closely
by spurs of the Eastern and Central Cordilleras. The climate is hot and
damp and the temperature frequently rises to 102 deg. F. in the shade.
Honda dates back to the beginning of the 17th century, and has been one
of the important centres of traffic in South America for three hundred
years. Within the city there is an iron bridge across the Guali, and
there is a suspension bridge across the Magdalena at the head of the
rapids. A railway 18 m. long connects with the landing place of La
Dorada, or Las Yeguas, where the steamers of the lower Magdalena
discharge and receive their cargoes (the old landing at Carocali nearer
the rapids having been abandoned), and with Arrancaplumas, 1(1/2) m.
above, where navigation of the upper river begins. Up to 1908 the
greater part of the traffic for Bogota crossed the river at this point,
and was carried on mule-back over the old _camino real_, which was at
best only a rough bridlepath over which transportation to Bogota (67 m.
distant) was laborious and highly expensive; now the transshipment is
made to smaller steamboats on the upper river for carriage to Girardot,
93 m. distant, from which place a railway runs to the Bogota plateau.
Honda was nearly destroyed by an earthquake in 1808.
HONDECOETER, MELCHIOR D' (c. 1636-1695), Dutch painter, was born at
Utrecht, it is said, about 1636, and died at Amsterdam on the 3rd of
April 1695. Old historians say that, being the grandson of Gillis and
son of Gisbert d'Hondecoeter, as well as nephew of J. B. Weenix, he was
brought up by the last two to the profession of painting. Of Weenix we
know that he married one Josina d'Hondecoeter in 1638. Melchior was,
therefore, related to Weenix, who certainly influenced his style. As to
Gillis and Gisbert some points still remain obscure, and it is difficult
to accept the statement that they stood towards each other in the
relation of father and son, since both were registered as painters at
Utrecht in 1637. Both it appears had practised art before coming to
Utrecht, but where they resided or what they painted is uncertain.
Unhappily pictures scarcely help us to clear up the mystery. In the
Furstenberg collection at Donaueschingen there is a "Concert of Birds"
dated 1620, and signed with the monogram G. D. H.; and we may presume
that G. D. H. is the man whose "Hen and Chickens in a Landscape" in the
gallery of Rotterdam is inscribed "G. D. Hondecoeter, 1652"; but is the
first letter of the monogram to stand for Gillis or Gisbert? In the
museums of Dresden and Cassel landscapes with sportsmen are catalogued
under the name of Gabriel de Heusch (?), one of them dated 1529, and
certified with the monogram G. D. H., challenging attention by
resemblance to a canvas of the same class inscribed G. D. Hond. in the
Berlin Museum. The question here is also whether G. means Gillis or
Gisbert. Obviously there are two artists to consider, one of whom paints
birds, the other landscapes and sportsmen. Perhaps the first is Gisbert,
whose son Melchior also chose birds as his peculiar subject. Weenix too
would naturally teach his nephew to study the feathered tribe. Melchior,
however, began his career with a different speciality from that by which
he is usually known. Mr de Stuers affirms that he produced sea-pieces.
One of his earliest works is a "Tub with Fish," dated 1655, in the
gallery of Brunswick. But Melchior soon abandoned fish or fowl. He
acquired celebrity as a painter of birds only, which he represented not
exclusively, like Fyt, as the gamekeeper's perquisite after a day's
shooting, or stock of a poulterer's shop, but as living beings with
passions, joys, fears and quarrels, to which naturalists will tell us
that birds are subject. Without the brilliant tone and high finish of
Fyt, his Dutch rival's birds are full of action; and, as Burger truly
says, Hondecoeter displays the maternity of the hen with as much
tenderness and feeling as Raphael the maternity of Madonnas. But Fyt was
at home in depicting the coat of deer and dogs us well as plumage.
Hondecoeter cultivates a narrower field, and seldom goes beyond a
cock-fight or a display of mere bird life. Very few of his pictures are
dated, though more are signed. Amongst the former we should note the
"Jackdaw deprived of his Borrowed Plumes" (1671), at the Hague, of which
Earl Cadogan has a variety; or "Game and Poultry" and "A Spaniel hunting
a Partridge" (1672), in the gallery of Brussels; or "A Park with
Poultry" (1686) at the Hermitage of St Petersburg. Hondecoeter, in great
favour with the magnates of the Netherlands, became a member of the
painters' academy at the Hague in 1659. William III. employed him to
paint his menagerie at Loo, and the picture, now at the Hague museum,
shows that he could at a pinch overcome the difficulty of representing
India's cattle, elephants and gazelles. But he is better in homelier
works, with which he adorned the royal chateaux of Bensberg and
Oranienstein at different periods of his life (Hague and Amsterdam). In
1688 Hondecoeter took the freedom of the city of Amsterdam, where he
resided till his death. His earliest works are more conscientious,
lighter and more transparent than his later ones. At all times he is
bold Of touch and sure of eye, giving the motion of birds with great
spirit and accuracy. His masterpieces are at the Hague and at Amsterdam.
But there are fine examples in private collections in England, and in
the public galleries of Berlin, Caen, Carlsruhe, Cassel, Cologne,
Copenhagen, Dresden, Dublin, Florence, Glasgow, Hanover, London, Lyons,
Montpellier, Munich, Paris, Rotterdam, Rouen, St Petersburg, Stuttgart
and Vienna.
HONDURAS, a republic of Central America, bounded on the N. by the
Caribbean Sea, E. by Nicaragua, S. by Nicaragua, the Pacific Ocean and
Salvador, and W. by Guatemala. (For map see CENTRAL AMERICA.) Pop.
(1905) 500,136; area, about 46,500 sq. m. Honduras is said to owe its
name, meaning in Spanish "depths," to the difficulty experienced by its
original Spanish explorers in finding anchorage off its shores; Cape
Gracias a Dios (Cape "Thanks to God") is the name bestowed, for
analogous reasons, on its easternmost headland, which shelters a small
harbour, now included in Nicaragua. Modern navigators are not confronted
by the same difficulty; for, although the north coast is unbroken by any
remarkable inlet except the Carataska Lagoon, a land-locked lake on the
east, with a narrow entrance from the sea, there are many small bays and
estuaries, such as those of Puerto Cortes, Omoa, Ulua, La Ceiba and
Trujillo, which serve as harbours. The broad basin of the Caribbean Sea,
bounded by Honduras, Guatemala and British Honduras, is known as the bay
or gulf of Honduras. Several islets and the important group of the Bay
Islands (q.v.) belong to the republic. On the Pacific the Hondurian
littoral is short but of great commercial value; for it consists of a
frontage of some 60 m. on the Bay of Fonseca (q.v.), one of the finest
natural harbours in the world. The islands of Tigre, Sacate Grande and
Gueguensi, in the bay, belong to Honduras.
The frontier which separates the republic from Nicaragua extends across
the continent from E.N.E to W.S.W. It is defined by the river Segovia,
Wanks or Coco, for about one-third of the distance; it then deflects
across the watershed on the east and south of the river Choluteca,
crosses the main Nicaraguan Cordillera (mountain chain) and follows the
river Negro to the Bay of Fonseca. The line of separation from Salvador
is irregularly drawn, first in a northerly and then in a westerly
direction; beginning at the mouth of the river Goascoran, in the Bay of
Fonseca, it ends 12 m. W. of San Francisco city. At this point begins
the Guatemalan frontier, the largest section of which is delimited along
the crests of the Sierra de Merendon. On the Caribbean seaboard the
estuary of the Motagua forms the boundary between Honduras and
Guatemala.
_Physical Features._--The general aspect of the country is
mountainous; its southern half is traversed by a continuation of the
main Nicaraguan Cordillera. The chain does not, in this republic,
approach within 50 or 60 m. of the Pacific; nor does it throughout
maintain its general character of an unbroken range, but sometimes
turns back on itself, forming interior basins or valleys, within which
are collected the headwaters of the streams that traverse the country
in the direction of the Atlantic Ocean. Nevertheless, viewed from the
Pacific, it presents the appearance of a great natural wall, with
many volcanic peaks towering above it and with a lower range of
mountains intervening between it and the sea. It would almost seem
that at one time the Pacific broke at the foot of the great mountain
barrier, and that the subordinate coast range was subsequently thrust
up by volcanic forces. At one point the main range is interrupted by a
great transverse valley or plain known as the plain of Comayagua,
which has an extreme length of about 40 m., with a width of from 5 to
15 m. From this plain the valley of the river Humuya extends north to
the Atlantic, and the valley of the Goascoran extends south to the
Pacific. These three depressions collectively constitute a great
transverse valley reaching from sea to sea, which was pointed out soon
after the conquest as an appropriate course for inter-oceanic
communication. The mountains of the northern half of Honduras are not
volcanic in character and are inferior in altitude to those of the
south, which sometimes exceed 10,000 ft. The relief of all the
highlands of the Atlantic watershed is extremely varied; its
culminating points are probably in the mountain mass about the sources
of the Choluteca, Sulaco and Roman, and in the Sierra de Pija, near
the coast. Farther eastward the different ranges are less clearly
marked and the surface of the country resembles a plateau intersected
by numerous watercourses.
The rivers of the Atlantic slope of Honduras are numerous and some of
them of large size and navigable. The largest is the Ulua, with its
tributary the Humuya. It rises in the plain of Comayagua and flows
north to the Atlantic; it drains a wide expanse of territory,
comprehending nearly one-third of the entire state, and probably
discharges a greater amount of water into the sea than any other river
of Central America, the Segovia excepted. It may be navigated by
steamers of light draught for the greater part of its course. The Rio
Roman or Aguan is a large stream falling into the Atlantic near
Trujillo, with a total length of about 120 m. Its largest tributary is
the Rio Mangualil, celebrated for its gold washings, and it may be
ascended by boats of light draft for 80 m. Rio Tinto, Negro or Black
River, called also Poyer or Poyas, is a considerable stream, navigable
by small vessels for about 60 m. Some English settlements were made on
its banks during the 18th century. The Patuca rises near the frontier
of Nicaragua, and enters the Atlantic east of the Brus or Brewer
lagoon. The Segovia is the longest river in Central America, rising
within 50 m. of the Bay of Fonseca, and flowing into the Caribbean Sea
at Cape Gracias a Dios (see NICARAGUA). Three considerable rivers flow
into the Pacific--the Goascoran, Nacaome and Choluteca, the last named
having a length of about 150 m. The Goascoran, which almost interlocks
with the Humuya, in the plain of Comayagua, has a length of about 80
m. The lake of Yojoa or Taulebe is the only large inland lake in
Honduras, and is about 25 m. in length, by 6 to 8 in breadth. Its
surface is 2050 ft. above the sea. It has two outlets on the south,
the rivers Jaitique and Sacapa, which unite about 15 m. from the lake;
and it is drained on the north by the Rio Blanco, a narrow, deep
stream falling into the Ulua. It has also a feeder on the north, in
the form of a subterranean stream of beautiful clear water, which here
comes to the surface. The Carataska or Caratasca lagoon is a shallow
salt-water lake connected by a narrow channel with the Atlantic, and
near the mouth of the Segovia. It contains several large sandy
islands.
Honduras resembles the neighbouring countries in the general character
of its geological formations, fauna and flora. Here, as in other
Central American states, there are but two seasons, the wet, from May
to November, and the dry, from November to May. On the moist lowlands
of the Atlantic coast the climate is oppressive, but on the highlands
of the interior it is delightful. At Tegucigalpa, on the uplands, a
year's observations showed the maximum temperature to be 90 deg. F. in
May, and the minimum to be 50 deg. F. in December, the range of
variation during the whole year being within 40 deg. F.
See also CENTRAL AMERICA: _Geology, Fauna, Flora, Climate_.
_Inhabitants._--The inhabitants of Honduras are in many cases of the
Indian or aboriginal type, and the European element is very small,
although it shares in the social, political and economic preponderance
of the Spanish-speaking half-castes (_Ladinos_ or _Mestizos_), who are
the most numerous section of the population. Throughout the country
there are many interesting relics of the native civilization which was
destroyed by the Spanish invaders in the 16th century. In the eastern
portion of the state, between the Rio Roman, Cape Gracias a Dios, and
the Segovia river, the country is almost exclusively occupied by native
Indian tribes, known under the general names of Xicaques and Poyas. In
many districts the Indians are known as Lencas, a generic name which
includes several tribes akin to the Mayans of Guatemala. Portions of all
of these tribes have accepted the Roman Catholic religion, and live in
peaceful neighbourhood and good understanding with the white
inhabitants. There are, however, considerable numbers, probably about
90,000 in all, who live among the mountains and still conform closely
to the aboriginal modes of life. They all cultivate the soil, and are
good and industrious labourers. A small portion of the coast, above Cape
Gracias, is occupied by the Sambos, a mixed race of Indians and negroes,
which, however, is fast disappearing. Spreading along the entire north
coast are the Caribs, a vigorous race, descendants of the Caribs of St
Vincent, one of the Windward Islands. These, to the number of 5000, were
deported in 1796 by the English and landed on the island of Roatan. They
still retain their native language, although it tends to disappear and
be replaced by Spanish and a bastard dialect of English; they are
active, industrious and provident, forming the chief reliance of the
mahogany cutters on the coast. A portion of them, who have a mixture of
negro blood, are called the Black Caribs. They profess the Roman
Catholic religion, but retain many of their native rites and
superstitions. In the departments of Gracias, Comayagua and Choluteca
are many purely Indian towns.
The aggregate population, according to an official estimate made in
1905, is 500,136, but a complete and satisfactory census cannot be taken
throughout the country, since the ignorant masses of the people, and
especially the Indians, avoid a census as in some way connected with
military conscription or taxation. The bulk of the Spanish population
exists on the Pacific slope of the continent, while on the Atlantic
declivity the country is uninhabited or but sparsely occupied by Indian
tribes, of which the number is wholly unknown. In 1905 there were fewer
than 11 inhabitants per sq. m., but all the available data tend to show
that the population increases rapidly, owing to the continuous excess of
births over deaths. The first census, taken in 1791, gave the total
population as only 95,500. There is little emigration or immigration.
_Chief Towns._--The capital is Tegucigalpa (pop. 1905, about 35,000);
other important towns are Jutigalpa (18,000), Comayagua (8000), and the
seaports of Amapala (4000), Trujillo (4000), and Puerto Cortes (2500).
These are described in separate articles. The towns of Nacaome, La
Esperanza, Choluteca and Santa Rosa have upwards of 10,000 inhabitants.
_Communications._--Means of communication are very defective. In 1905
the only railway in the country was that from Puerto Cortes to La
Pimienta, a distance of 57 m. This is a section of the proposed
inter-oceanic railway for which the external debt of the republic was
incurred. For the completion of the line concessions, one after
another, were granted, and expired or were revoked. Other railways are
projected, including one along the Atlantic coast, an extension from
La Pimienta to La Brea on the Pacific, and a line from Tegucigalpa to
the port of San Lorenzo. The capital is connected with other towns by
fairly well made roads, which, however, are not kept in good repair.
In the interior generally, all travelling and transport are by mules
and ox-carts over roads which defy description.
Honduras joined the Postal Union in 1879, The telegraph service is
conducted by the government and is inefficient. Telephones are in use
in Tegucigalpa and a few of the more important towns.
_Commerce and Industry._--Although grants of land for mining and
agricultural purposes are readily made by the state to companies and
individual capitalists, the economic development of Honduras has been
a very slow process, impeded as it has been by political disturbances
and in modern times by national bankruptcy, heavy import and export
duties, and the scarcity of both labour and capital. The natural
wealth of the country is great and consists especially in its
vegetable products. The mahogany and cedar of Honduras are
unsurpassed, but reckless destruction of these and of other valuable
cabinet-woods and dye-woods has much reduced the supply available for
export. Rubber-planting, a comparatively modern industry, has proved
successful, and tends to supplement the almost exhausted stock of wild
rubber. Of still greater importance are the plantations of bananas,
especially in the northern maritime province of Atlantida, where
coco-nuts are also grown. Coffee, tobacco, sugar, oranges, lemons,
maize and beans are produced in all parts, rice, cocoa, indigo and
wheat over more limited areas. Cattle and pigs are bred extensively;
cattle are exported to Cuba, and dairy-farming is carried on with
success. Sheep-farming is almost an unknown industry. Turtle and fish
are obtained in large quantities off the Atlantic seaboard. In its
mineral resources Honduras ranks first among the states of Central
America. Silver is worked by a British company, gold by an American
company. Gold-washing was practised in a primitive manner even before
the Spanish conquest, and in the 18th century immense quantities of
gold and silver were obtained by the Spaniards from mines near
Tegucigalpa. Opals, platinum, copper, lead, zinc, nickel, antimony,
iron, lignite and coal have been found but the causes already
enumerated have prevented the exploitation of any of these minerals
on a large scale, and the total value of the ores exported was only
L174,800 in 1904 and L239,426 in 1905. The total value of the exports
in a normal year ranges from about L500,000 to L600,000, and that of
the imports from L450,000 to L550,000. Apart from minerals the most
valuable commodity exported is bananas (L209,263 in 1905); coco-nuts,
timber, hides, deer-skins, feathers, coffee, sarsaparilla and rubber
are items of minor importance. Nearly 90% of the exports are shipped
to the United States, which also send to Honduras more than half of
its imports. These chiefly consist of cotton goods, hardware and
provisions. The manufacturing industries of Honduras include the
plaiting of straw hats, cigar-making, brick-making and the
distillation of spirits.
_Finance._--Owing to the greater variety of its products and the
possession of a metallic currency, Honduras is less affected by
fluctuations of exchange than the neighbouring republics, in which
little except paper money circulates. The monetary unit is the silver
_peso_ or dollar of 100 cents, which weighs 25 grammes, .900 fine, and
is worth about 1s. 8d.; the gold dollar is worth about 4s. The
principal coins in circulation arc the 1-cent copper piece, 5, 10, 20,
25 and 50 cents, and 1 peso silver pieces, and 1, 5, 10 and 20 dollar
gold pieces. The metric system of weights and measures, adopted
officially on the 1st of April 1897, has not supplanted the older
Spanish standards in general use. There is only one bank in the
republic, the _Banco de Honduras_, with its head office at
Tegucigalpa. Its bills are legal tender for all debts due to the
state.
In July 1909 the foreign debt of Honduras, with arrears of interest,
amounted to L22,470,510, of which more than L17,000,000 were for
arrears of interest. The principal was borrowed between 1867 and 1870,
chiefly for railway construction; but it was mainly devoted to other
purposes and no interest has been paid since 1872. The republic is
thus practically bankrupt. The revenue, derived chiefly from customs
and from the spirit, gunpowder and tobacco monopolies reached an
average of about L265,000 during the five years 1901-1905; the
expenditure in normal years is about L250,000. The principal spending
departments are those of war, finance, public works and education.
_Constitution and Government._--The constitution of Honduras,
promulgated in 1839 and frequently amended, was to a great extent recast
in 1880. It was again remodelled in 1894, when a new charter was
proclaimed. This instrument gives the legislative power to a congress of
deputies elected for four years by popular vote, in the ratio of one
member for every 10,000 inhabitants. Congress meets on the 1st of
January and sits for sixty consecutive days. The executive is entrusted
to the president, who is nominated and elected for four years by popular
vote, and is re-eligible for a second but not for a third consecutive
term. He is assisted by a council of ministers representing the
departments of the interior, war, finance, public works, education and
justice. For purposes of local administration the republic is divided
into sixteen departments. The highest judicial power is vested in the
Supreme Court, which consists of five popularly elected judges; there
are also four Courts of Appeal, besides subordinate departmental and
district tribunals. The active army consists of about 500 regular
soldiers and 20,000 militia, recruited by conscription from all
able-bodied males between the ages of twenty and thirty. Service in the
reserve is obligatory for a further period of ten years.
_Religion and Education._--Roman Catholicism is the creed of a very
large majority of the population; but the constitution grants complete
liberty to all religious communities, and no Church is supported by
public funds or receives any other special privilege. Education is
free, secular and compulsory for children between the ages of seven
and fifteen. There are primary schools in every convenient centre, but
the percentage of illiterates is high, especially among the Indians.
The state maintains a central institute and a university at
Tegucigalpa, a school of jurisprudence at Comayagua, and colleges for
secondary education, with special schools for teachers, in each
department. The annual cost of primary education is about L11,000.
_History._--It was at Cape Honduras that Columbus first landed on the
American continent in 1502, and took possession of the country on behalf
of Spain. The first settlement was made in 1524 by order of Hernando
Cortes, who had heard rumours of rich and populous empires in this
region, and sent his lieutenant Christobal de Olid to found a Spanish
colony. Olid endeavoured to establish an independent principality, and,
in order to resume control of the settlers, Cortes was compelled to
undertake the long and arduous march across the mountains of southern
Mexico and Guatemala. In the spring of 1525 he reached the colony and
founded the city which is now Puerto Cortes. He entrusted the
administration to a new governor, whose successors were to be nominated
by the king, and returned to Mexico in 1526. By 1539, when Honduras was
incorporated in the captaincy-general of Guatemala, the mines of the
province had proved to be the richest as yet discovered in the New World
and several large cities had come into existence. The system under which
Honduras was administered from 1539 to 1821, when it repudiated the
authority of the Spanish crown, the effects of that system, the part
subsequently played by Honduras in the protracted struggle for Central
American unity, and the invasion by William Walker and his
fellow-adventurers (1856-1860), are fully described under CENTRAL
AMERICA.
War and revolution had stunted the economic growth of the country and
retarded every attempt at social or political reform; its future was
mortgaged by the assumption of an enormous burden of debt in 1869 and
1870. A renewal of war with Guatemala in 1871, and a revolution three
years later in the interests of the ex-president Medina, brought about
the intervention of the neighbouring states and the provisional
appointment to the presidency of Marco Aurelio Soto, a nominee of
Guatemala. This appointment proved successful and was confirmed by
popular vote in 1877 and 1880, when a new constitution was issued and
the seat of government fixed at Tegucigalpa. Fresh outbreaks of civil
war occurred frequently between 1883 and 1903; the republic was bankrupt
and progress again at a standstill. In 1903 Manuel Bonilla, an able,
popular and experienced general, gained the presidency and seemed likely
to repeat the success of Soto in maintaining order. As his term of
office drew to a close, and his re-election appeared certain, the
supporters of rival candidates and some of his own dissatisfied
adherents intrigued to secure the co-operation of Nicaragua for his
overthrow. Bonilla welcomed the opportunity of consolidating his own
position which a successful war would offer; Jose Santos Zelaya, the
president of Nicaragua, was equally ambitious; and several alleged
violations of territory had embittered popular feeling on both sides.
The United States and Mexican governments endeavoured to secure a
peaceful settlement without intervention, but failed. At the outbreak of
hostilities in February 1907 the Hondurian forces were commanded by
Bonilla in person and by General Sotero Barahona his minister of war.
One of their chief subordinates was Lee Christmas, an adventurer from
Memphis, Tennessee, who had previously been a locomotive-driver.
Honduras received active support from his ally, Salvador, and was
favoured by public opinion throughout Central America. But from the
outset the Nicaraguans proved victorious, largely owing to their
remarkable mobility. Their superior naval force enabled them to capture
Puerto Cortes and La Ceiba, and to threaten other cities on the
Caribbean coast; on land they were aided by a body of Hondurian rebels,
who also established a provisional government. Zelaya captured
Tegucigalpa after severe fighting, and besieged Bonilla in Amapala. Lee
Christmas was killed. The surrender of Amapala on the 11th of April
practically ended the war. Bonilla took refuge on board the United
States cruiser "Chicago." A noteworthy feature of the war was the
attitude of the American naval officers, who landed marines, arranged
the surrender of Amapala, and prevented Nicaragua prolonging
hostilities. Honduras was now evacuated by the Nicaraguans and her
provisional government was recognized by Zelaya. Miguel R. Davila was
president in 1908 and 1909.
BIBLIOGRAPHY.--Official documents such as the annual presidential
message and the reports of the ministries are published in Spanish at
Tegucigalpa. Other periodical publications which throw much light on
the movement of trade and politics are the British Foreign Office
reports (London, annual), United States consular reports (Washington,
monthly), bulletins of the Bureau of American Republics (Washington),
and reports of the Council of the Corporation of Foreign Bondholders
(London, annual). For a more comprehensive account of the country and
its history, the works of K. Sapper, E. G. Squier, A. H. Keane and T.
Child, cited under CENTRAL AMERICA, are important. See also E.
Pelletier, _Honduras et ses ports: documents officiels sur le
chemin-de-fer interoceanique_ (Paris, 1869); E. G. Squier, _Honduras:
Descriptive, Historical and Statistical_ (London, 1870); C. Charles,
_Honduras_ (Chicago, 1890); _Handbook of Honduras_, published by the
Bureau of American Republics (1892); T. R. Lombard, _The New
Honduras_ (New York, 1887); H. Jalhay, _La Republique de Honduras_
(Antwerp, 1898); Perry, _Directorio nacional de Honduras_ (New York,
1899); H. G. Bourgeois, _Breve noticia sobre Honduras_ (Tegucigalpa,
1900).
HONE, NATHANIEL (1718-1784), British painter, was the son of a merchant
at Dublin, and without any regular training acquired in his youth much
skill as a portrait-painter. Early in his career he left Dublin for
England and worked first in various provincial towns, but ultimately
settled in London, where he soon made a considerable reputation. His
oil-paintings were decidedly popular, but he gained his chief success by
his miniatures and enamels, which he executed with masterly capacity. He
became a member of the Incorporated Society of Artists and afterwards a
foundation member of the Royal Academy; but he had several disagreements
with his fellow-members of that institution, and on one occasion they
rejected two of his pictures, one of which was regarded as a satire on
Reynolds and the other on Angelica Kauffman. Most of his contributions
to the Academy exhibitions were portraits. The quality of his work
varied greatly, but the merit of his miniatures and enamels entitles him
to a place among the ablest artists of the British school. He executed
also a few mezzotint plates of reasonable importance, and some etchings.
His portrait, painted by himself two years before his death, is in the
possession of the Royal Academy.
HONE, WILLIAM (1780-1842), English writer and bookseller, was born at
Bath on the 3rd of June 1780. His father brought up his children with
the sectarian narrowness that so frequently produces reaction. Hone
received no systematic education, and was taught to read from the Bible
only. His father having removed to London in 1783, he was in 1790 placed
in an attorney's office. After two and a half years spent in the office
of a solicitor at Chatham he returned to London to become clerk to a
solicitor in Gray's Inn. But he disliked the law, and had already
acquired a taste for free-thought and political agitation. Hone married
in 1800, and started a book and print shop with a circulating Library in
Lambeth Walk. He soon removed to St Martin's Churchyard, where he
brought out his first publication, Shaw's _Gardener_ (1806). It was at
this time that he and his friend, John Bone, tried to realize a plan for
the establishment of popular savings banks, and even had an interview on
the subject with the president of the Board of Trade. This scheme,
however, failed. Bone joined him next in a bookseller's business; but
Hone's habits were not those of a tradesman, and bankruptcy was the
result. He was in 1811 chosen by the booksellers as auctioneer to the
trade, and had an office in Ivy Lane. Independent investigations carried
on by him into the condition of lunatic asylums led again to business
difficulties and failure, but he took a small lodging in the Old Bailey,
keeping himself and his now large family by contributions to magazines
and reviews. He hired a small shop, or rather box, in Fleet Street but
this was on two separate nights broken into, and valuable books lent for
show were stolen. In 1815 he started the _Traveller_ newspaper, and
endeavoured vainly to exculpate Eliza Fenning, a poor girl, apparently
quite guiltless, who was executed on a charge of poisoning. From
February 1 to October 25, 1817, he published the _Reformer's Register_,
writing in it as the serious critic of the state abuses, which he soon
after attacked in the famous political squibs and parodies, illustrated
by George Cruikshank. In April 1817 three _ex-officio_ informations were
filed against him by the attorney-genera, Sir William Garrow. Three
separate trials took place in the Guildhall before special juries on the
18th, 19th and 20th of December 1817. The first, for publishing Wilkes's
_Catechism of a Ministerial Member_ (1817), was before Mr Justice Abbot
(afterwards Lord Tenterden); the second, for parodying the litany and
libelling the prince regent, and the third, for publishing the
_Sinecurist's Creed_ (1817), a parody on the Athanasian creed, were
before Lord Ellenborough (q.v.). The prosecution took the ground that
the prints were calculated to injure public morals, and to bring the
prayer-book and even religion itself into contempt. But there can be no
doubt that the real motives of the prosecution were political; Hone had
ridiculed the habits and exposed the corruption of the prince regent and
of other persons in power. He went to the root of the matter when he
wished the jury "to understand that, had he been a publisher of
ministerial parodies, he would not then have been defending himself on
the floor of that court." In spite of illness and exhaustion Hone
displayed great courage and ability, speaking on each of the three days
for about seven hours. Although his judges were biassed against him he
was acquitted on each count, and the result was received with
enthusiastic cheers by immense crowds within and without the court. Soon
after the trials a subscription was begun which enabled Hone to get over
the difficulties caused by his prosecution. Among Hone's most successful
political satires were _The Political House that Jack built_ (1819),
_The Queen's Matrimonial Ladder_ (1820), in favour of Queen Caroline,
_The Man in the Moon_ (1820), _The Political Showman_ (1821), all
illustrated by Cruikshank. Many of his squibs are directed against a
certain "Dr Slop," a nickname given by him to Dr (afterwards Sir John)
Stoddart, of _The Times_. In researches for his defence he had come upon
some curious and at that time little trodden literary ground, and the
results were shown by his publication in 1820 of his _Apocryphal New
Testament_, and in 1823 of his _Ancient Mysteries Explained_. In 1826 he
published the _Every-day Book_, in 1827-1828 the _Table-Book_, and in
1829 the _Year-Book_; all three were collections of curious information
on manners, antiquities and various other subjects. These are the works
by which Hone is best remembered. In preparing them he had the approval
of Southey and the assistance of Charles Lamb, but pecuniarily they were
not successful, and Hone was lodged in King's Bench prison for debt.
Friends, however, again came to his assistance, and he was established
in a coffee-house in Gracechurch Street; but this, like most of his
enterprises, ended in failure. Hone's attitude of mind had gradually
changed to that of extreme devoutness, and during the latter years of
his life he frequently preached in Weigh House Chapel, Eastcheap. In
1830 he edited Strutt's _Sports and Pastimes_, and he contributed to the
first number of the _Penny Magazine_. He was also for some years
sub-editor of the _Patriot_. He died at Tottenham on the 6th of November
1842.
HONE (in O. Eng. _han_, cognate with Swed. _hen_; the root appears in
Skt. _cana_, _co_ to sharpen), a variety of finely siliceous stone
employed for whetting or sharpening edge tools, and for abrading steel
and other hard surfaces. Synonyms are honestone, whetstone, oilstone and
sharpening stone. Hones are generally prepared in the form of flat slabs
or small pencils or rods, but some are made with the outline of the
special instrument they are designed to sharpen. Their abrading action
is due to the quartz or silica which is always present in predominating
proportion, some kinds consisting of almost pure quartz, while in others
the siliceous element is very intimately mixed with aluminous or
calcareous matter, forming a uniform compact stone, the extremely fine
siliceous particles of which impart a remarkably keen edge to the
instruments for the sharpening of which they are applied. In some cases
the presence of minute garnets or magnetite assists in the cutting
action. Hones are used either dry, with water, or with oil, and
generally the object to be sharpened is drawn with hand pressure
backward and forward over the surface of the hone; but sometimes the
stone is moved over the cutting edge.
The coarsest type of stone which can be included among hones is the bat
or scythe stone, a porous fine-grained sandstone used for sharpening
scythes and cutters of mowing machines, and for other like purposes.
Next come the ragstones, which consist of quartzose mica-schist, and
give a finer edge than any sandstone. Under the head of oilstones or
hones proper the most famous and best-known qualities are the German
razor hone, the Turkey oilstone, and the Arkansas stone. The German
razor hone, used, as its name implies, chiefly for razors, is obtained
from the slate mountains near Ratisbon, where it forms a yellow vein of
from 1 to 18 in. in the blue slate. It is sawn into thin slabs, and
these are cemented to slabs of slate which serve as a support. Turkey
oilstone is a close-grained bluish stone containing from 70 to 75% of
silica in a state of very fine division, intimately blended with about
20 to 25% of calcite. It is obtained only in small pieces, frequently
flawed and not tough, so that the slabs must have a backing of slate or
wood. It is one of the most valuable of all whetstones, abrading the
hardest steel, and possessing sufficient compactness to resist the
pressure required for sharpening gravers. The stone comes from the
interior of Asia Minor, whence it is carried to Smyrna. Of Arkansas
stones there are two varieties, both found in the same district, Garland
and Saline counties, Arkansas, United States. The finer kind, known as
Arkansas hone, is obtained in small pieces at the Hot Springs, and the
second quality, distinguished as Washita stone, comes from Washita or
Ouachita river. The hones yield on analysis 98% of silica, with small
proportions of alumina, potash and soda, and mere traces of iron, lime,
magnesia and fluorine. They are white in colour, extremely hard and keen
in grit, and not easily worn down or broken. Geologically the materials
are called novaculites, and are supposed to be metamorphosed sandstone
silt, chert or limestone resulting from the permeation through the mass
of heated alkaline siliceous waters. The finer kind is employed for fine
cutting instruments, and also for polishing steel pivots of watch-wheels
and similar minute work, the second and coarser quality being used for
common tools. Both varieties are largely exported from the United States
in the form of blocks, slips, pencils, rods and wheels. Other honestones
are obtained in the United States from New York, New Hampshire, Vermont,
Ohio (Deerlick stone) and Indiana (Hindostan or Orange stone). Among
hones of less importance in general use may be noted the Charley Forest
stone--or Whittle Hill honestone--a good substitute for Turkey oilstone;
Water of Ayr stone, Scotch stone, or snake stone, a pale grey
carboniferous shale hardened by igneous action, used for tools and for
polishing marble and copper-plates; Idwal or Welsh oilstone, used for
small articles; and cutlers' greenstone from Snowdon, very hard and
close in texture, used for giving the last edge to lancets.
HONEY (Chin. _me_; Sansk. _madhu_, mead, honey; cf. A.S. _medo_, _medu_,
mead; Gr. [Greek: meli], in which [theta] or [delta] is changed into
[lambda]; Lat. _mel_; Fr. _miel_; A.S. _hunig_; Ger. _Honig_),[1] a
sweet viscid liquid, obtained by bees (see BEE, _Bee-keeping_) chiefly
from the nectaries of flowers, i.e. those parts of flowers specially
constructed for the elaboration of honey, and, after transportation to
the hive in the proventriculus or crop of the insects, discharged by
them into the cells prepared for its reception. Whether the nectar
undergoes any alteration within the crop of the bee is a point on which
authors have differed. Some wasps, e.g. _Myrapetra scutellaris_[2] and
the genus _Nectarina_, collect honey. A honey-like fluid, which consists
of a nearly pure solution of uncrystallizable sugar having the formula
C6H14O7 after drying in vacuo, and which is used by the Mexicans in the
preparation of a beverage, is yielded by certain inactive individuals of
_Myrmecocystus mexicanus_, Wesmael, the honey-ants or pouched ants
(_hormigas mieleras_ or _mochileras_) of Mexico.[3] The abdomen in these
insects, owing to the distensibility of the membrane connecting its
segments, becomes converted into a globular thin-walled sac by the
accumulation within it of the nectar supplied to them by their working
comrades (Wesmael, _Bull. de l'Acad. Roy. de Brux._ v. 766, 1838). By
the Rev. H. C. M'Cook, who discovered the insect in the Garden of the
Gods, Colorado, the honey-bearers were found hanging by their feet, in
groups of about thirty, to the roofs of special chambers in their
underground nests, their large globular abdomens causing them to
resemble "bunches of small Delaware grapes" (_Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci.
Philad._, 1879, p. 197). A bladder-like formation on the metathorax of
another ant, _Crematogaster inflatus_ (F. Smith, _Cat. of Hymenoptera_,
pt. vi. pp. 136 and 200, pl. ix. fig. 1), which has a small circular
orifice at each posterior lateral angle, appears to possess a function
similar to that of the abdomen in the honey-ant.
It is a popular saying that where is the best honey there also is the
best wool; and a pastoral district, since it affords a greater profusion
of flowers, is superior for the production of honey to one under
tillage.[4] Dry warm weather is that most favourable to the secretion of
nectar by flowers. This they protect from rain by various internal
structures, such as papillae, cushions of hairs and spurs, or by virtue
of their position (in the raspberry, drooping), or the arrangement of
their constituent parts. Dr A. W. Bennett (_How Flowers are Fertilized_,
p. 31, 1873) has remarked that the perfume of flowers is generally
derived from their nectar; the blossoms of some plants, however, as ivy
and holly, though almost scentless, are highly nectariferous. The
exudation of a honey-like or saccharine fluid, as has frequently been
attested, is not a function exclusively of the flowers in all plants. A
sweet material, the manna of pharmacy, e.g. is produced by the leaves
and stems of a species of ash, _Fraxinus Ornus_; and honey-secreting
glands are to be met with on the leaves, petioles, phyllodes, stipules
(as in _Vicia sativa_), or bracteae (as in the _Maregraviaceae_) of a
considerable number of different vegetable forms. The origin of the
honey-yielding properties manifested specially by flowers among the
several parts of plants has been carefully considered by Darwin, who
regards the saccharine matter in nectar as a waste product of chemical
changes in the sap, which, when it happened to be excreted within the
envelopes of flowers, was utilized for the important object of
cross-fertilization, and subsequently was much increased in quantity,
and stored in various ways (see _Cross and Self Fertilization of
Plants_, pp. 402 sq., 1876). It has been noted with respect to the
nectar of the fuchsia that it is most abundant when the anthers are
about to dehisce, and absent in the unexpanded flower.
Pettigrew is of opinion that few bees go more than 2 m. from home in
search of honey. The number of blossoms visited in order to meet the
requirements of a single hive of bees must be very great; for it has
been found by A. S. Wilson ("On the Nectar of Flowers," _Brit. Assoc.
Rep._, 1878, p. 567) that 125 heads of common red clover, which is a
plant comparatively abundant in nectar, yield but one gramme (15.432
grains) of sugar; and as each head contains about 60 florets,
7,500,000 distinct flower-tubes must on this estimate be exhausted for
each kilogramme (2.204 lb.) of sugar collected. Among the richer
sources of honey are reckoned the apple, asparagus, asters, barberry,
basswood (_Tilia americana_), and the European lime or linden (_T.
europaea_), beans, bonesets (_Eupatorium_), borage, broom, buckwheat,
catnip, or catmint (_Nepeta Cataria_), cherry, cleome, clover, cotton,
crocus, currant, dandelion, eucalyptus, figwort (_Scrophularia_),
furze, golden-rod (_Solidago_), gooseberry, hawthorn, heather,
hepatica, horehound, hyacinth, lucerne, maple, mignonette, mint,
motherwort (_Leonurus_), mustard, onion, peach, pear, poplar, quince,
rape, raspberry, sage, silver maple, snapdragon, sour-wood
(_Oxydendron arboreum_, D.C.), strawberry, sycamore, teasel, thyme,
tulip-tree (more especially rich in pollen), turnip, violet and
willows, and the "honey-dew" of the leaves of the whitethorn (Bonner),
oak, linden, beech and some other trees.
Honey contains dextroglucose and laevoglucose (the former practically
insoluble, the latter soluble in 1/8 pt. of cold strong alcohol),
cane-sugar (according to some), mucilage, water, wax, essential oil,
colouring bodies, a minute quantity of mineral matter and pollen. By a
species of fermentation, the cane-sugar is said to be gradually
transformed into inverted sugar (laevoglucose with dextroglucose). The
pollen, as a source of nitrogen, is of importance to the bees feeding on
the honey. It may be obtained for examination as a sediment from a
mixture of honey and water. Other substances which have been discovered
in honey are mannite (Guibourt), a free acid which precipitates the
salts of silver and of lead, and is soluble in water and alcohol
(Calloux), and an uncrystallizable sugar, nearly related to inverted
sugar (Soubeiran, _Compt. Rend._ xxviii. 774-775, 1849). Brittany honey
contains couvain, a ferment which determines its active decomposition
(Wurtz, _Dict. de Chem._ ii. 430). In the honey of _Polybia
apicipennis_, a wasp of tropical America, cane-sugar occurs in crystals
of large size (Karsten, _Pogg. Ann._, C. 550). Dr J. Campbell Brown ("On
the Composition of Honey," _Analyst_ iii. 267, 1878) is doubtful as to
the presence of cane-sugar in any one of nine samples, from various
sources, examined by him. The following average percentage numbers are
afforded by his analyses: laevulose, 36.45; dextrose, 36.57; mineral
matter, .15; water expelled at 100 deg. C., 18.5, and at a much higher
temperature, with loss, 7.81: the wax, pollen and insoluble matter vary
from a trace to 2.1%. The specific gravity of honey is about 1.41. The
rotation of a polarized ray by a solution of 16.26 grammes of crude
honey in 100 c.c. of water is generally from -3.2 deg. to -5 deg. at 60
deg. F.; in the case of Greek honey it is nearly -5.5 deg. Almost all
pure honey, when exposed for some time to light and cold, becomes more
or less granular in consistency. Any liquid portion can be readily
separated by straining through linen. Honey sold out of the comb is
commonly clarified by heating and skimmimg; but according to Bonner it
is always best in its natural state. The _mel depuratum_ of British
pharmacy is prepared by heating honey in a water-bath, and straining
through flannel previously moistened with warm water.
The term "virgin-honey" (A.-S., _hunigtear_) is applied to the honey of
young bees which have never swarmed, or to that which flows
spontaneously from honeycomb with or without the application of heat.
The honey obtained from old hives, considered inferior to it in quality,
is ordinarily darker, thicker and less pleasant in taste and odour. The
yield of honey is less in proportion to weight in old than in young or
virgin combs. The far-famed honey of Narbonne is white, very granular
and highly aromatic; and still finer honey is that procured from the
Corbieres Mountains, 6 to 9 m. to the south-west. The honey of Gatinais
is usually white, and is less odorous and granulates less readily than
that of Narbonne. Honey from white clover has a greenish-white, and that
from heather a rich golden-yellow hue. What is made from honey-dew is
dark in colour, and disagreeable to the palate, and does not candy like
good honey. "We have seen aphide honey from sycamores," says F. Cheshire
(_Pract. Bee-keeping_, p. 74), "as deep in tone as walnut liquor, and
where much of it is stored the value of the whole crop is practically
nil." The honey of the stingless bees (_Meliponia_ and _Trigona_) of
Brazil varies greatly in quality according to the species of flowers
from which it is collected, some kinds being black and sour, and others
excellent (F. Smith, _Trans. Ent. Soc._, 3d ser., i. pt. vi., 1863).
That of _Apis Peronii_, of India and Timor, is yellow, and of very
agreeable flavour and is more liquid than the British sorts. _A.
unicolor_, a bee indigenous to Madagascar, and naturalized in Mauritius
and the island of Reunion, furnishes a thick and syrupy, peculiarly
scented green honey, highly esteemed in Western India. A rose-coloured
honey is stated (_Gard. Chron._, 1870, p. 1698) to have been procured by
artificial feeding. The fine aroma of Maltese honey is due to its
collection from orange blossoms. Narbonne honey being harvested chiefly
from Labiate plants, as rosemary, an imitation of it is sometimes
prepared by flavouring ordinary honey with infusion of rosemary flowers.
Adulterations of honey are starch, detectable by the microscope, and
by its blue reaction with iodine, also wheaten flour, gelatin, chalk,
gypsum, pipe-clay, added water, cane-sugar and common syrup, and the
different varieties of manufactured glucose. Honey sophisticated with
glucose containing copperas as an impurity is turned of an inky colour
by liquids containing tannin, as tea. Elm leaves have been used in
America for the flavouring of imitation honey. Stone jars should be
employed in preference to common earthenware for the storage of honey,
which acts upon the lead glaze of the latter.
Honey is mildly laxative in properties. Some few kinds are poisonous, as
frequently the reddish honey stored by the Brazilian wasp _Nectarina_
(_Polistes_, Latr.[5]) _Lecheguana_, Shuck., the effects of which have
been vividly described by Aug. de Saint-Hilaire,[6] the spring honey of
the wild bees of East Nepaul, said to be rendered noxious by collection
from rhododendron flowers (Hooker, _Himalayan Journals_, i. 190, ed.
1855), and the honey of Trebizond, which from its source, the blossoms,
it is stated, of _Azalea pontica_ and _Rhododendron ponticum_ (perhaps
to be identified with Pliny's _Aegolethron_), acquires the qualities of
an irritant and intoxicant narcotic, as described by Xenophon (_Anab._
iv. 8). Pliny (_Nat. Hist._ xxi. 45) describes as noxious a
livid-coloured honey found in Persia and Gaetulia. Honey obtained from
_Kalmia latifolia_, L., the calico bush, mountain laurel or spoon-wood
of the northern United States, and allied species, is reputed
deleterious; also that of the sour-wood is by some good authorities
considered to possess undeniable griping properties; and G. Bidie
(_Madras Quart. Journ. Med. Sci._, Oct, 1861, p. 399) mentions
urtication, headache, extreme prostration and nausea, and intense thirst
among the symptoms produced by a small quantity only of a honey from
Coorg jungle. A South African species of _Euphorbia_, as was experienced
by the missionary Moffat (_Miss. Lab._ p. 32, 1849), yields a poisonous
honey. The nectar of certain flowers is asserted to cause even in bees a
fatal kind of vertigo. As a demulcent and flavouring agent, honey is
employed in the _oxymel_, _oxymel scillae_, _mel boracis_, _confectio
piperis_, _conf. scammonii_ and _conf. terebinthinae_ of the _British
Pharmacopoeia_. To the ancients honey was of very great importance as an
article of diet, being almost their only available source of sugar. It
was valued by them also for its medicinal virtues; and in recipes of the
Saxon and later periods it is a common ingredient.[7] Of the eight kinds
of honey mentioned by the great Indian surgical writer Susruta, four are
not described by recent authors, viz. _argha_ or wild honey, collected
by a sort of yellow bee; _chhatra_, made by tawny or yellow wasps;
_audalaka_, a bitter and acrid honey-like substance found in the nest of
white ants; and _dala_ or unprepared honey occurring on flowers.
According to Hindu medical writers, honey when new is laxative, and when
more than a year old astringent (U. C. Dutt, _Mat. Med. of the Hindus_,
p. 277, 1877). Ceromel, formed by mixing at a gentle heat one part by
weight of yellow wax with four of clarified honey, and straining, is
used in India and other tropical countries as a mild stimulant for
ulcers in the place of animal fats, which there rapidly become rancid
and unfit for medicinal purposes. The _Koran_, in the chapter entitled
"The Bee," remarks with reference to bees and their honey: "There
proceedeth from their bellies a liquor of various colour, wherein is a
medicine for men" (Sale's _Koran_, chap. xvi.). Pills prepared with
honey as an excipient are said to remain unindurated, however long they
may be kept (_Med. Times_, 1857, i. 269). Mead, of yore a favourite
beverage in England (vol. iv. p. 264), is made by fermentation of the
liquor obtained by boiling in water combs from which the honey has been
drained. In the preparation of sack-mead, an ounce of hops is added to
each gallon of the liquor, and after the fermentation a small quantity
of brandy. Metheglin, or hydromel, is maufactured by fermenting with
yeast a solution of honey flavoured with boiled hops (see Cooley,
_Cyclop._). A kind of mead is largely consumed in Abyssinia (vol. i. p.
64), where it is carried on journeys in large horns (Stern,
_Wanderings_, p. 317, 1862). In Russia a drink termed _lipez_ is made
from the delicious honey of the linden. The _mulsum_ of the ancient
Romans consisted of honey, wine and water boiled together. The _clarre_,
or _piment_, of Chaucer's time was wine mixed with honey and spices, and
strained till clear; a similar drink was _bracket_, made with wort of
ale instead of wine. L. Maurial (_L'Insectologie Agricole_ for 1868, p.
206) reports unfavourably as to the use of honey for the production of
alcohol; he recommends it, however, as superior to sugar for the
thickening of liqueurs, and also as a means of sweetening imperfectly
ripened vintages. It is occasionally employed for giving strength and
flavour to ale. In ancient Egypt it was valued as an embalming material;
and in the East, for the preservation of fruit, and the making of cakes,
sweetmeats, and other articles of food, it is largely consumed. Grafts,
seeds and birds' eggs, for transmission to great distances, are
sometimes packed in honey. In India a mixture of honey and milk, or of
equal parts of curds, honey and clarified butter (Sansk.,
_madhu-parka_), is a respectful offering to a guest, or to a bridegroom
on his arrival at the door of the bride's father; and one of the
purificatory ceremonies of the Hindus (Sansk., _madhu-prasana_) is the
placing of a little honey in the mouth of a newborn male infant. Honey
is frequently alluded to by the writers of antiquity as food for
children; it is not to this, however, as already mentioned, that Isa.
vii. 15 refers. Cream or fresh butter together with honey, and with or
without bread, is a favourite dish with the Arabs.
Among the observances at the Fandroana or New Year's Festival, in
Madagascar, is the eating of mingled rice and honey by the queen and her
guests; in the same country honey is placed in the sacred water of
sprinkling used at the blessing of the children previous to circumcision
(Sibree, _The Great African Is._ pp. 219, 314, 1880). Honey was
frequently employed in the ancient religious ceremonies of the heathen,
but was forbidden as a sacrifice in the Jewish ritual (Lev. ii. 11).
With milk or water it was presented by the Greeks as a libation to the
dead (_Odyss._ xi. 27; Eurip. _Orest._ 115). A honey-cake was the
monthly food of the fabled serpent-guardian of the Acropolis (Herod,
viii. 41). By the aborigines of Peru honey was offered to the sun.
The Hebrew word translated "honey" in the authorized version of the
English Bible is _debash_, practically synonymous with which are
_ja'ar_ or _ja'arith had-debash_ (1 Sam. xix. 25-27; cf. Cant. v. 1)
and nopheth (Ps. xix. 10, &c.), rendered "honey-comb." _Debash_
denotes bee-honey (as in Deut. xxxii. 13 and Jud. xiv. 8); the manna
of trees, by some writers considered to have been the "wild honey"
eaten by John the Baptist (Matt. iii. 4); the syrup of dates or the
fruits themselves; and probably in some passages (as Gen. xliii. 11
and Ez. xxvii. 17) the syrupy boiled juice of the grape, resembling
thin molasses, in use in Palestine, especially at Hebron, under the
name of _dibs_ (see Kitto, _Cyclop._, and E. Robinson, _Bibl. Res._
ii. 81). Josephus (B.J., iv. 8, 3) speaks highly of a honey produced
at Jericho, consisting of the expressed juice of the fruit of palm
trees; and Herodotus (iv. 194) mentions a similar preparation made by
the Gyzantians in North Africa, where it is still in use. The honey
most esteemed by the ancients was that of Mount Hybla in Sicily, and
of Mount Hymettus in Attica (iii. 59). Mahaffy (_Rambles in Greece_,
p. 148, 2nd ed., 1878) describes the honey of Hymettus as by no means
so good as the produce of other parts of Greece--not to say of the
heather hills of Scotland and Ireland. That of Thebes, and more
especially that of Corinth, which is made in the thymy hills towards
Cleonae, he found much better (cf. xi. 88). Honey and wax, still
largely obtained in Corsica (vi. 440), were in olden times the chief
productions of the island. In England, in the 13th and 14th centuries,
honey sold at from about 7d. to 1s. 2d. a gallon, and occasionally was
disposed of by the swarm or hive, or _ruscha_ (Rogers, _Hist. of
Agric. and Prices in Eng._, 1. 418). At Wrexham, Denbigh, Wales, two
honey fairs are annually held, one on the Thursday next after the 1st
of September, and the other--the more recently instituted and by far
the larger--on the Thursday following the first Wednesday in October.
In Hungary the amounts of honey and of wax are in favourable years
respectively about 190,000 and 12,000 cwt., and in unfavourable years,
as, e.g. 1874, about 12,000 and 3000 cwt. The hives there in 1870
numbered 617,407 (or 40 per 1000 of the population, against 45 in
Austria). Of these 365,711 were in Hungary Proper, and 91,348 (87 per
1000 persons) in the Military Frontier (Keleti, _Ubersicht der Bevolk.
Ungarns_, 1871; Schwicker, _Statistik d. K. Ungarn_, 1877). In Poland
the system of bee-keeping introduced by Dolinowski has been found to
afford an average of 40 lb. of honey and wax and two new swarms per
hive, the common peasant's hive yielding, with two swarms, only 3 lb.
of honey and wax. In forests and places remote from villages in
Podolia and parts of Volhynia, as many as 1000 hives may be seen in
one apiary. In the district of Ostrolenka, in the government of Plock,
and in the woody region of Polesia, in Lithuania, a method is
practised of rearing bees in excavated trunks of trees (Stanton, "On
the Treatment of Bees in Poland," _Technologist_, vi. 45, 1866). When,
in August, in the loftier valleys of Bormio, Italy, flowering ceases,
the bees in their wooden hives are by means of spring-carts
transported at night to lower regions, where they obtain from the
buckwheat crops the inferior honey which serves them for winter
consumption (Ib. p. 38).
In Palestine, "the land flowing with milk and honey"[8] (Ex. iii. 17;
Numb. xiii. 27), wild bees are very numerous, especially in the
wilderness of Judaea, and the selling of their produce, obtained from
crevices in rocks, hollows in trees and elsewhere, is with many of the
inhabitants a means of subsistence. Commenting on 1 Sam. xiv. 26, J.
Roberts (_Oriental Illust._) remarks that in the East "the forests
literally flow with honey; large combs may be seen hanging on the
trees, as you pass along, full of honey." In Galilee, and at Bethlehem
and other places in Palestine, bee-keeping is extensively carried on.
The hives are sun-burnt tubes of mud, about 4 ft. in length and 8 in.
in diameter, and, with the exception of a small central aperture for
the passage of the bees, closed at each end with mud. These are laid
together in long rows, or piled pyramidally, and are protected from
the sun by a covering of mud and of boughs. The honey is extracted,
when the ends have been removed, by means of an iron hook. (See
Tristram, _Nat. Hist. of the Bible_, pp. 322 sqq., 2nd ed., 1868).
Apiculture in Turkey is in a very rude condition. The Bali-dagh, or
"Honey Mount," in the plain of Troy, is so called on account of the
numerous wild bees tenanting the caves in its precipitous rocks to the
south. In various regions of Africa, as on the west, near the Gambia,
bees abound. Cameron was informed by his guides that the large
quantities of honey at the cliffs by the river Makanyazi were under
the protection of an evil spirit, and not one of his men could be
persuaded to gather any (_Across Africa_, i. 266). On the precipitous
slopes of the Teesta valley, in India, the procuring of honey from the
pendulous bees'-nests, which are sometimes large enough to be
conspicuous features at a mile's distance, is the only means by which
the idle poor raise their annual rent (Hooker, _Him. Journ._ ii. 41).
To reach the large combs of _Apis dorsata_ and _A. testacea_, the
natives of Timor, by whom both the honey and young bees are esteemed
delicacies, ascend the trunks of lofty forest trees by the use of a
loop of creeper. Protected from the myriads of angry insects by a
small torch only, they detach the combs from the under surface of the
branches, and lower them by slender cords to the ground (Wallace,
_Journ. Linn. Soc., Zool._, vol. xi.). (F. H. B.)