HONEY. A sweet viscid liquor extracted by bees from the nec taries of flowers, and deposited by them, apparently without under going chemical change, in the waxen cells of their comIx3.
Honey is of two kinds, viz., virgin honey, and common honey. The former is that which flows spontaneously with a very gentle heat from the comb,—the latter that which is obtained by submitting the comb to pressure. The former is the purest, and is nearly colour less ; the latter is thicker, darker coloured, and not so agreeable to the taste.
Virgin honey should be used in photography, and not the common kind, which is frequently adulterated.
Honey contains two distinct kind.s of sugar ; viz, grape sugar, and an uncrystallizable species of syrup. The former possesses consider able reducing properties, hence its use as a reducing agent in photo graphy. The syrup only possesses these properties to a limited ex tent, and its value in photography chiefly consists in its not drying or crystallizing, but retaining its moisture for a long time when ex posed to the air. Honey has therefore been employed as a means of
preserving the moist condition of a sensitive collodion film ; but it is evident that a simple syrup which does not contain a strong reduc ing agent, such as grape sugar, would be preferable to honey ; golden syrup, for instanc,e, which Ls a pure form of treacle, and free from grape sugar, is far better than honey ; and perhaps glycerine may be found still better than any form of syrup. But this question is discussed under the head of " Preservative Processes ;" q. v.
If inspissated honey be treatedwith absolute alcohol, the thin portion contains principally the uncrystallizable syrup, and the grape sugar remains for the most part undissolved, bemg less soluble in alcohol.
Honey is soon decomposed in contact with nitrate of silver.