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| Tuesday, 20 May 2003 |
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Bee-honey - the panacea for longevity by Aryadasa Ratnasinghe Since the time of Hippocrates (460-367BC), renowned as the Father of Western Medicine, people believed in the efficacy of bee-honey for health and longevity, specially in the sunset of life. Bee-honey is a palatable sweet thick fluid elaborated by bees, from the nectar found in various blossoms mostly growing wild. Because of its relative rarity, it has always been highly priced as a medicinal substance. Bee-honey is never heated on fire, because it is supposed to become toxic or lose its natural potency. The colour and flavour of the honey, pollinated by bees, often vary in quality due to different kinds of flowers from which the bees collect nectar. Therefore, there is a change in the medicinal value of the honey, which may be high or low, but, in general, it is superior to the honey of wasps (Vespa vulgaris) and that of the hornets ('debaru') which belong to the same natural order. There is the old belief that garlic (Allium sativum), preserved in bee-honey and taken one capsule daily, promotes longevity. Garlic has a pungent taste and a very strong smell and the plant is native to Asia. It is supposed to cure ailments implicated as a cause of atherosclerosis leading to the rise in cholesterol level in the body.The hive-bee (Apis mellifera) belongs to the natural order Hymenoptera and to the insect family Apoidae. In a single family unit, there are the queen bee, several species of drones (males) and approximately 80,000 workers (infertile females). The only function of the drone is to reproduce by mating with their fertile females, but play no part in brood maintenance. More than 12,000 species of bees are known, but fewer than 5% are social in habit. Nectar and pollen are the stapel food of the bees. The nectar is regurgitated as honey before feeding the larvae. The larvae are fed, at first, on 'royal jelly' (a glandular product of the workers). The drones are considerably larger and stouter, with large eyes, while the queen can be recognised by her long abdomen, which reaches beyond the closed wings. She permits no rival to enter her chamber, so that in each hive there is only one queen bee. The honey comb is made of wax (secreted by glands between the segments of the abdomen in the worker), and composed of a large number of typically hexagonal cells, arranged in two series, and placed back to back. A large number of these are used for rearing the brood, and others for storing honey and pollen. The queen lays an egg in each brood cell and the incubation period is about 3 days. The complete development of the queen takes 16 days, a worker 3 weeks and a drone 24 days. Fertilised eggs develop into workers or queens, and the unfertilised eggs produce the drones. The eggs are bluish-white and about 1/12 of an inch long. The queen has no pollen baskets and wax pockets. despite her short wings, she is capable of flying to a great height, and when she is pursued by her suitors, numbering about 10,000, she rises into the air until all, but one, have failed to reach her. Once the objective of this nuptial flight is fulfilled, the male falls dead to the ground, and the queen returns to her hive to renew her race. New colonies are established by swarming, and this event follows the emergence of a daughter queen. Swarm The swarm consists of the original queen, accompanied by a host of workers, the new queen remaining in the hive. At the pupal stage, the queen, however, is shut up and fed until her piping voice indicates that she has matured sufficiently. When released, she immediately attempts to kill all rivals. The swam settles down in a thick cluster on some object nearly, specially on branches of proliferous trees, over-hanging rocks etc. Then they proceed to make a new hive, with workers constructing combs from wax secreted from their bodies. This is known as 'mee-iti'. The intelligence of the bee has, from the time of Aristotle (384-322 BC), the Greek philosopher and physician, has been recognised as surpassing that of any other insect. As regards it senses, the sight is highly developed as well as the power of smell. If anyone were to disturb a hive, the bees will follow him and attack him mercilessly. If anyone were to catch hold of the queen bee, he is free from attack. The solitary bees comprise males and females and do not live in communities, but pollinate fruit blossoms. The bumble bee (Bombidae) belongs to the super family Apoidae and has hairy bodies, dark brown in colour, and banded with yellow stripes. |
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