BEES. 



53 



duct the poison is conducted into the canal of the sting*. 

 As Paley has justly observed, " the machinery would 

 have been ineffective without the rankling* poison; the 

 poison could not have been used unless some opening* 

 were made for it : a striking* example, indeed, of the union 

 of chemistry and mechanism." The pain of the bee's sting" 

 may be considerably lessened by a few very simple precau- 

 tions. If the pigmy but formidable assailant be permitted 

 cpiietly to withdraw its sting, the smart will be much relieved, 

 and will wholly disappear if a little hartshorn be applied to 

 the wound. If, however, the bee has inserted its sting* and 

 left it behind, in a part that can be moved about, as in the 

 hand, if it is so held that the poison-bag* of the sting* hangs 

 downwards, very little poison will enter the wound. I was 

 once attacked by a bee which settled on my thumb, aud then 

 Hew off, leaving* its sting* inserted in the skin. I was not 

 aware that the bee had used its sting* at all, until convinced 

 by actual inspection. The base of the sting* was then hang- 

 ing* downwards and caused no pain, but when in the course 

 of inspection the point of the sting* became lower than its 

 base, the smart very soon showed that the poison had begun 

 to pour into the wound. Upon again inverting* it, and im- 

 mediately taking* out the sting*, very little inconvenience was 

 felt. After extracting* a sting it is useful to press the barrel 

 of a key firmly round the part. This precaution will prevent 

 the poison from spreading, and also bring* it more surely in 

 contact with the hartshorn which has been placed upon it, or 

 will g*uard it until the hartshorn can be applied. In the 

 absence of hartshorn, any alkaline substance will alleviate 

 the smart, as the poison is of an acid nature, and is neutra- 

 lized by the alkali. Common soda will ansv/er tolerably 

 well, but hartshorn is the best remedy, and a supply should 

 always be carried about the person in a small bottle, when 

 any operations against bees, wasps, or hornets, are in progress, 

 as even the armour of a bee-dress does sometimes suffer 

 damages which permit the entrance of an infuriated bee, 

 who will be certain to employ its sting* in a most uncom- 

 fortable manner. Soap has been tried with some success, 

 and the leaf of the common dock, which is so useful as a 

 remedy against the stings of the vegetable wasp, the nettle^ 

 is no ineffectual remedy. 



