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Honey is a saccharine substance, generally collected by the honey bee, Apis mellifera, from the nectariferous glands of flowers and deposited in the comb by the insect when it reaches its hive. It is familiar to all civilized peoples as well as to the natives of many sections of the world. In some parts of the tropics wild honey is an article of importance. Crude honey comb was observed by us as one of the articles of export from Aden, Arabia, coming there by caravan from the interior of Arabia, as well as being brought from Somali Land, Africa. The domestic record of honey is lost in antiquity, it being mentioned in many early works, including the Bible, both New and Old Testaments, and such Oriental works as the "Arabian Nights" (88). In the making of confectionery and in domestic empirical medicine, honey has of course been a constant and a natural sweetener. Certain kinds of honey, such as the honey made from the opium poppy ("mad honey," 388c), or from the flowers of the wild jasmine, possess more or less narcotic action, which quality has never yet been intentionally utilized in medicine. Such compounds as honey of rose, honey of borax, and the like, came from the domestic use of honey; such confections preceded its use by licensed or orthodox physicians. "Zar-dah (yellow rice) is a word still used in Turkey, and refers to a dish of rice dressed in honey and saffron." Burton.

The History of the Vegetable Drugs of the U.S.P., 1911, was written by John Uri Lloyd.