Medical Use of Honey in the 17th & 18th centuries. Documentation.

18th Century Medicinal Uses for Honey.

 ‘A poultis for a Swelling by My Aunt Dorothy Pates’, for example, used honey as a binding agent. Another recipe, said to be ‘approved by the best doctars [sic]’ used a clove of garlic saturated in fine English honey and put in the ear for eight days to cure pain and restore hearing.   

 Abigail Smith and others, ‘Collection of medical and cookery receipts’ (c. 1700).  Wellcome Library, London, MS 4631, f. 7r.

 Ibid., f. 23 v

https://recipes.hypotheses.org/tag/honey

“Cut the white heels from some red rose buds, and lay them to dry in a place where there is a draught of air; when they are dried, put half a pound of them into a stone jar, and pour on them three pints of boiling water; stir them well, and let them stand twelve hours; then press off the liquor (liquid) and when it has settled, add to it five pounds of honey; boil it well, and when it is of the consistence of thick syrup, put it by for use. It is good against mouth sores, and on many other occasions.”

‘Honey of Roses’ and The Family Herbal by Sir John Hill 1759.

The leaves being applied with honey to running sores or ulcers, do cleanse them.

SYRUPS MADE WITH VINEGAR AND HONEY.

The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Complete Herbal, by Nicholas Culpeper

17th Century.

http://www.survivorlibrary.com/library/culpepers_complete_herbal_1880.pdf

For Your Medical Kit. A Natural Antibiotic & More.

www.myspicer.com/history-turmeric/

Hannah Glasse’s 1747 cookbook, The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy. 

http://www.pbs.org/food/the-history-kitchen/turmeric-history/

Trekking Finds. Foraging. Fire, Food & Drink.

We left early this morning on a scout, it was overcast but I saw no immediate threat of rain. We travelled up over Dragon's Tol & went as far as Hazard Valley, the latter named for a close family friend who went under before he could get his cabin built in that valley. These attached images are from this scout.

This is a Polypore Bracket Fungus, likely a Lietiporus Portentosus or Ryvardenia Cretacea, they can be difficult to tell apart, but both make excellent tinder & are worth collecting if you are getting low on tinder.

This is another Polypore Bracket Fungus that grows in the North, America & England I believe. This is Piptoporus Betulinus or Birch Polypore.

An Australian Native Bee hive in a dead tree (New England NSW). Honey is a good food, can be added to water & keeps for years, & it has antiseptic properties & can be used on open wounds.

These native bees have no sting.

Goonagurra/Grass Tree, Kangaroo Tail, or Yacca. There is a similar plant that grows in America known as Yucca. This Yacca plant cant be used for making spear shafts, you can suck on the nectar or put the flowers in water to make a tasty drink. Natives have been known to let this ferment to make an alcoholic drink. The ends of the leaves once pulled can be eaten & the sap can be used as a glue. When the flower stems have dried, the inner core makes good tinder. Dried leaves makes excellent light kindling.

Food For Trekking & Wilderness Living. Native Bee Honey.

Honey is a good food & it has antiseptic properties which make it useful for using on open wounds, & Australian native bees don't sting!

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-11-16/native-bees-popularity-in-sydney-booming/6943344;

Trail Food. Honey.

We arrived at Hawk's fort about ten o'clock, where we were kindly entertained. As before observed, many of the men had their feet badly frosted early on the march, and some before we set out; one in particular, Ichabod Dexter, who was one of my messmates, and whose pack I carried with my own through the whole march, and yet I was among the foremost in the march, and, although I was hungry, I never failed in vigor and activity, and this, I have always thought, was owing, in a measure, to the following circumstance: We had in my mess perhaps a pound of honey, in a wooden bottle, and after our provisions failed we dipped the end of a rod, not into a honey-comb, like Jonathan, but into the bottle, and put it to our mouths.

Rufus Putnam's Journal. February 10th. 1757.

Bee Hunting.

Michel-Guillaume-Jean de Crevecoeur. 1735-1813.

Life on the Frontier. 18th century. Bee Hunting.
I take with me my dog,
as a companion, for he is useless as to this game; my gun, for no
man you know ought to enter the woods without one; my blanket, some
provisions, some wax, vermilion, honey, and a small pocket compass.


With these implements I proceed to such woods as are at a
considerable distance from any settlements. I carefully examine
whether they abound with large trees, if so, I make a small fire on
some flat stones, in a convenient place; on the fire I put some wax;
close by this fire, on another stone, I drop honey in distinct
drops, which I surround with small quantities of vermilion, laid on
the stone; and then I retire carefully to watch whether any bees
appear. If there are any in that neighbourhood, I rest assured that
the smell of the burnt wax will unavoidably attract them; they will
soon find out the honey, for they are fond of preying on that which
is not their own; and in their approach they will necessarily tinge
themselves with some particles of vermilion, which will adhere long
to their bodies. I next fix my compass, to find out their course,
which they keep invariably straight, when they are returning home
loaded. By the assistance of my watch, I observe how long those are
returning which are marked with vermilion. Thus possessed of the
course, and, in some measure, of the distance, which I can easily
guess at, I follow the first, and seldom fail of coming to the tree
where those republics are lodged. I then mark it; and thus, with
patience, I have found out sometimes eleven swarms in a season; and
it is inconceivable what a quantity of honey these trees will
sometimes afford. It entirely depends on the size of the hollow, as
the bees never rest nor swarm till it is all replenished; for like
men, it is only the want of room that induces them to quit the
maternal hive. Next I proceed to some of the nearest settlements,
where I procure proper assistance to cut down the trees, get all my
prey secured, and then return home with my prize. The first bees I
ever procured were thus found in the woods, by mere accident; for at
that time I had no kind of skill in this method of tracing them. The
body of the tree being perfectly sound, they had lodged themselves
in the hollow of one of its principal limbs, which I carefully sawed
off and with a good deal of labour and industry brought it home,
where I fixed it up again in the same position in which I found it
growing. This was in April; I had five swarms that year, and they
have been ever since very prosperous. This business generally takes
up a week of my time every fall, and to me it is a week of solitary
ease and relaxation.

Bee Hunting.

I take with me my dog, as a companion, for he is useless as to this game; my gun, for no man you know ought to enter the woods without one; my blanket, some provisions, some wax, vermilion, honey, and a small pocket compass.

With these implements I proceed to such woods as are at a considerable distance from any settlements. I carefully examine whether they abound with large trees, if so, I make a small fire on some flat stones, in a convenient place; on the fire I put some wax; close by this fire, on another stone, I drop honey in distinct drops, which I surround with small quantities of vermilion, laid on the stone; and then I retire carefully to watch whether any bees appear. If there are any in that neighbourhood, I rest assured that the smell of the burnt wax will unavoidably attract them; they will soon find out the honey, for they are fond of preying on that which is not their own; and in their approach they will necessarily tinge themselves with some particles of vermilion, which will adhere long to their bodies.

Brass pocket sundial compass.

Bee boxes were also used to catch bees. Once in the box they were tagged with a down feather from a small bird and then set free. The feather could be easily seen and so the bee traced to its hive.

 I next fix my compass, to find out their course,
which they keep invariably straight, when they are returning home loaded. By the assistance of my watch, I observe how long those are returning which are marked with vermilion. Thus possessed of the course, and, in some measure, of the distance, which I can easily guess at, I follow the first, and seldom fail of coming to the tree where those republics are lodged. I then mark it; and thus, with patience, I have found out sometimes eleven swarms in a season; and it is inconceivable what a quantity of honey these trees will sometimes afford. It entirely depends on the size of the hollow, as the bees never rest nor swarm till it is all replenished; for like men, it is only the want of room that induces them to quit the maternal hive. Next I proceed to some of the nearest settlements, where I procure proper assistance to cut down the trees, get all my prey secured, and then return home with my prize. The first bees I ever procured were thus found in the woods, by mere accident; for at that time I had no kind of skill in this method of tracing them. The body of the tree being perfectly sound, they had lodged themselves in the hollow of one of its principal limbs, which I carefully sawed off and with a good deal of labour and industry brought it home, where I fixed it up again in the same position in which I found it growing. This was in April; I had five swarms that year, and they have been ever since very prosperous. This business generally takes up a week of my time every fall, and to me it is a week of solitary
ease and relaxation.
Michel-Guillaume-Jean de Crevecoeur.1735-1813.

13,000 BC image of hunting for honey.

Australian natives bee hunting. Note the bags of honey they are carrying.

Diderot Encyclopedia, 18th century.