THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



249 



The old-fashioned notion that there is 

 a cure for a disease — i. e., that a disease 

 separate and apart from its peculiar 

 manifestations in the person who has it, 

 has a medicine that will operate cura- 

 tively. is no longer held by any one who 

 has a comprehension of the nature of 

 diseases and the action of remedies. 

 Diseases manifest themselves differently 

 in different people. In one. so-called 

 rheumatism manifests itself in one way; 

 in another person its manifestations are 

 as different as if due to another cause. 

 Some have the pain located in the back, 

 others in the trunk, some in the small 

 joints, others in the large ones. In some 

 the pains are muscular; in others they 

 appear to be in the tendons and sheaths 

 of muscles. In some it hurts all the 

 time; in others pain is periodical, or ag- 

 gravated by particular conditions. Some 

 have fever with rheumatism, and are 

 sick abed. Some have heart-valves and 

 heart-muscle involved. Some can not 

 move; others are so restless they cannot 

 keep still. Now, to relieve the particular 

 manifestations of the rheumatic affection 

 a remedy must be selected that corres- 

 ponds to the individual's case. Every 

 person has his own individual rheuma- 

 tism. Be the aggravation in his heart, 

 general muscular system, tendons, 

 sheaths of muscles, joints, or where it 

 may be, it is affecting him differently, 

 and he is a different "rheumatic," just as 

 he may be a child, or a grown-up person, 

 one with good habits, is afflicted with 

 other taints, is rugged or weak, plethoric 

 or anemic, exposed or well housed, con- 

 fined to bed, or impelled to move about 

 for relief, etc. 



Physicians no longer prescribe medi- 

 cines for diseases. They prescribe for 

 the sufferer who has the disease, and 

 dispense the remedy as indicated by the 

 signs and manifestations in his particular 

 case. 



The actual cause of rheumatism is not 

 known; but it is known not to be uric 

 acid. Uric acid may be the cause of 

 gout, but not of rheumatism. The 

 opinion generally prevails among scien- 

 tific physicians that rheumatism is a 

 germ disease, although the exciting 

 microbe or microbes have not been satis- 

 factorily identified (see Med. Record. 

 Dec. 11. 1909, p. 976.) Some rheu- 

 matics are relieved by salicylic acid, 

 some by colchucum, some by aconite, 

 some by one remedy, some by another. 

 There is no specific for it. Consequently, 

 if bee-poison will relieve a form of ex- 

 pression that rheumatism may take, it is 

 foolish to expect it to relieve all, any 



more than salicylate of soda will relieve 

 all. 



There is a type of rheumatism, or 

 rheumatic-like ache and p^in, that will 

 be relieved by apium virum— the poison 

 of bee stings. The kind of joint and 

 muscle aches and pains that will react to 

 the bee-Doison is that accompanied by 

 local dropsical swellings about the parts 

 affected. The skin around the sore spot 

 is waxy and pale in appearance. The 

 urine is usually scanty. The pulse is 

 quick, hard and small in severe cases. 



Many cases of heart involvment with 

 fluid in the '"heart-sack" yield to it. The 

 synovial (or joint) membranes are par- 

 ticularly frequent seats of the swelling 

 that will respond to this treatment. 



The cases of rheumatic-like states that 

 will be relieved by the bea-poison are 

 not the most common kind by any means. 

 That is the reason that all who are 

 afflicted with the ailment are not relieved 

 by the treatment. Those cases that 

 have been reported as cured or ameli- 

 orated have been the ones to which the 

 poison is remedial; those that have not 

 reacted needed some other kind of 

 remedy, which may or may not have 

 been one of a dozen. 



The virus of honey bees is a commodi- 

 ty in the drug market, and is to be had 

 from pharmacists for dispensing. It has 

 its indications in the therapeutic field, 

 and is in the armamentarium of hundreds 

 of physicians. Those who know how to 

 use it, and who understand its clinical 

 indications, rely upon it with as much 

 confidence as is to be reposed in any 

 drug. I be'ieve that there are dealers 

 in and producers of bee products who 

 can tell something about "orders" from 

 pharmacists for the "raw" material from 

 which the remedy is produced. 



The editor of Gleanings comments as 

 follows: 



While our correspondent modestly 

 signs himself "A Country Doctor," one of 

 our staff happens to know something of 

 him. Dr. — is connected with a great 

 institution where his opportunity for 

 observation and treatment of rheumatism 

 is much greater than most doctors have. 

 We know, too, that he had under his 

 care one of the most severe cases of 

 rheumatic affection that is often seen, 

 and this case came from a bee keeper's 

 family. We can only add that our confi- 

 dence in his judgment, as shown in the 

 case mentioned, is unbounded, and we 

 know his article is inspired by a desire 

 to be helpful, and to set our readers 

 right on this matter. 



