1910 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



323 



necessary to interchange the two divisions 

 of the brood-chamber, causing the bees to 

 move honey. This scientific operation, 

 practiced at the time of giving surpkis re- 

 ceptacles, will compel the bees to begin su- 

 per work immediately. 



In shaking, as in our other operations, let 

 us apply knowledge and scientific principles 

 instead of viewing it in the light of some 

 intangible and mysterious force or freak of 

 nature. 



Sebastian Co., Ark. 



[We doubt if all of our readers will agree 

 with our correspondent in saying that the 

 extra energy of a new swarm is due to a 

 change of external conditions rather than 

 to any psychological effect. Possibly he is 

 right. In any event, the subject will merit 

 some discussion. — Ed.] 



RHEUMATISM AND BEE-STINGS. 



An Interesting and Instructive Article. 



BY A MICHIGAN COUNTRY DOCTOR. 



I have been instructed, amused, and de- 

 pressed as my mind has been played upon 

 by the various references I have seen in pro- 

 fessional, miscellaneous, news, and special 

 journals upon bee-sting poison and rheuma- 

 tism. I have experienced these different 

 mental modalities as sense, nonsense, and 

 ignorance are exposed by the various writers. 

 I note in Gleanings occasional discussions 

 of this subject. I am not an expert in the 

 ways of bees nor in the production of honey. 

 I am only a country doctor who studies, 

 among other subjects of routine, "rheuma- 

 tism." Any one who is looking for a cure 

 for rheumatism is searching for what he 

 will never find. One who is looking for a 

 relief for his own rheumatism may find it. 



The old-fashioned notion that there is a 

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

 rate and apart from its peculiar manifesta- 

 tions in the person who has it, has a medicine 

 that will operate curatively, 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 ap- 

 pear to be in the tendons and sheaths of 

 muscles. In some it hurts all the time; in 

 others pain is periodical, or aggravated by 

 particular conditions. Some have fever 

 with rheumatism, and are sick abed. Some 

 have heart-valves and heart muscle involv- 

 ed. Some can not move; others are so rest- 

 less they can not keep still. Now, to relieve 

 the particular manifestations of the rheu- 

 matic affection a remedy must be selected 

 that corresponds to the individual's case. 



Every person has his own individual rheu- 

 matism. 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 differ- 

 ent "rheumatic," just as he may be a child, 

 a grown-up person, one with good habits, is 

 afflicted with other taints, is rugged or weak, 

 plethoric or anemic, exposed or well housed, 

 confined to bed, or impelled to move about 

 for relief, etc. 



Physicians no longer prescribe medicines 

 for diseases. They prescribe for the sufferer 

 who has the disease, and dispense the rem- 

 edy as indicated by the signs and manifes- 

 tations 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 pre- 

 vails among scientific jihysicians that rheu- 

 matism is a germ disease, althovigh the ex- 

 citing microbe or microbes have not been 

 satisfactorily identified (see Med. Record, 

 Dec. 11, 1909, p. 970). Some rheumatics are 

 relieved by salicylic acid, some by colchu- 

 cum, 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 expression that rheumatism may 

 take, it is foolish to exjiect it to relieve all, 

 any more than salicylate of soda will relieve 

 all. 



There is a type of rheumatism, or rheu- 

 matic-like ache and pain, that will be re- 

 lieved by apiuni virum. — the poison of bee- 

 stings. The kind of joint and muscle aches 

 and pains that will react to the bee-poison 

 is that accompanied by local dropsical swell- 

 ings about the parts affected. The skin 

 around the sore spot is waxy and pale in ap- 

 pearance. The urine is usually scanty. 

 The pulse is quick, hard, and small in se- 

 vere cases. 



Many cases of heart involvement with 

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

 synovial (or joint) membranes are particu- 

 larly frequent seats of the swelling that will 

 respond to this treatment. 



The cases of rheumatic-like states that 

 will be relieved by the bee-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 treat- 

 ment. Those cases that have been reported 

 as cured or ameliorated 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 commodity 

 in the drug market, and is to be had from 

 pharmacists for dispensing. It has its in- 

 dications in the therai)eutic field, and is in 

 the armamentarium of hundreds of physi- 

 cians. 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 believe that there 

 are dealers in and producers of bee products 

 who can tell something about "orders" 



