EDITORIAL NOTE.
This same theory has been suggested many times by our most advanced American bee-keepers. It has been hinted that this same formic acid was what made honey a poison to many people, and that the sharp sting of some honey, notably that from bass wood or linden, originated in this acid from the poison sac. If this is the correct explanation, it seems strange that the same kind of honey is always peculiar for greater or less acidity as the case may be. We often see bees with sting extended and tipped with a tiny drop of poison; but how do we know that this poison is certainly mingled with the honey? Is this any more than a guess?—A.J. Cook, in Psyche.
Translated from an article entitled "Ueber eine doppelrolle des stachels der honigbienen" in Deutschamerikanische Apotheker Zeitung, 15 Jan., 1885, Jahrg. 5, p. 664; there reprinted from Ind. Blatter.