844 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Dkc. 1. 



in the most harmoiiioiis way. and tlie upijer 

 story be madi- tlif i-cccplacle for all siirplus. 



By this plan it was optional whether to leave 

 the old queen in the lower story or do away 

 with her and let her duties be tal<en up by a 

 young one coming forward alone; but as I was 

 satisfied with most of the (jueens already there, 

 I carried on my rearing of such young queens 

 as I wanted, elsewhere. 



By following tliese methods I avoided unde- 

 sirable increase, and assured good strong colo- 

 nies for the fall How. and for winter quarters, 

 and had no call to resoit to the inhuman prac- 

 tice of bi-imstoning. Next year 1 purpose to 

 use a lioney-board to conline the queen below. 



Gait, Ont., Can.. Nov. 7. R. W. McDonnell. 



The first method of preventing increase — that 

 of placing the swarm in a hive at an angle to 

 the old one is essentially the one advocated by 

 Mr. Heddon several years ago. It does not al- 

 ways work. The two otlier plans are modilica- 

 tions of Mr. Heddon's plan of transferring. It is 

 pretty generally conceded, that, if tlie queen is 

 given unlimited breeding room above and be- 

 low, in extracting, the bees are not apt to 

 swarm. 



A PLEA FOR OUR BRETHREN OF THE MEDI- 

 CAL PROFESSION. 



BY N. A. HUNT. AUTIIOK OF TOBACCO MANIAI.. 

 ETC. 



I>c(tr Friend Root: — I was rather sorry to see 

 the article headed "Medical Facts," in Geean- 

 iN(is for Nov. 1. Its influence, I fear, must be bad 

 on many. We all know, of course, that not a 

 few who practice nu'dicinc even some who 

 graduated at oui' liest medical schools, for vari- 

 ous reasons are not fitted to jjractice medicine. 



Up to the time of the late war. and for some 

 years after it, great numbers, especially in the 

 West, took up the practice witliout any sjjecial 

 prei)arati(iii. Some I knew. who. having failed 

 in other business, got a. pair of saddle-bags and 

 started out, thinking to make themselves phy- 

 sicians by practice. Happily that state "of 

 things has well nigh conu' to an end. Wlien I 

 went to Southei'ii Illinois, in 1844. having my- 

 self had a medical education. I naturally took 

 much interest in the success of physicians, and 

 observed their modes of treatment. My minis- 

 terial duties gave me a good opportunity to do 

 so. On the south of nie liie only regularly edu- 

 cated physician lived at (!olconda. 50 miles dis- 

 tant; on tlie north I could r(>ach a regularly 

 educated physician by going 30 miles. But 

 physicians weie plentilul. n(-verthel<'ss. 



I have, for more than M years, been familiar- 

 ly acquainted with physicians — Allopathies. 

 Tompsimians. Eclectics, Homeopathics. and I 

 have also, in an especial manner, tried to ac- 

 quaint m}iMlf with Ihe cold, tepid, and hot 

 water system. As in religion (as you know. 

 Bro. Root), experience is worth more than the- 

 ory; so with me. Experience and observation 

 in medicine have vastly more weight than 

 mere theories. 



Now for experience and oliservation. as it has 

 come under my eye. in medicine. "When I was 

 about a dozen years old. one afternoon I went 

 chestnuting and ate too freely of the nuts. 

 Early in the night I began to vomit and puige. 

 The doctor was sent foi-. but it was.dayliglit be- 

 fore he reached me — ])uls(! scarcely discernible. 

 and nearly all sensibility gone. By remedies in 

 his possession he restored me. 



I have eight children living. Nearlv allot 



them, at some time in their livi-s. have been- in 

 critical conditions — something must be done, 

 and done immediately. JNIy youngest son, a 

 few years ago, in spite of all my remedies and 

 all the skill that I possessed, was fast- sinking. 

 I sent for another physician. He came, and 

 took a coui'se that I had not thought of — in- 

 deed, was ignorant of. It turned the scale, and 

 my son recovered. During the last few months 

 one of my daughters was thought to be lying 

 at death's door. She was first taken with the 

 gripjje, then suffered a long run of typhoid fe- 

 ver, and, lastly, tumors formed internally. We 

 had three physicians, of note, in tlie last ex- 

 tremity. Five surgical operations were iier- 

 formed on tln^ tumors, and for two \\eeks noth- 

 ing was taken by the mouth but ice-water; all 

 nourishment and nu'dicines were administered 

 by enema. She is now well. 



One fact I wisli here to relate, not that it has 

 any thing to do with the question I am discuss- 

 ing, but it should have weight in the discussion 

 of the liquor and tobacco questions. After my 

 daughter was fairly convalescent, we felt that 

 the opiates, that had been used to a large ex- 

 tent, must be stopped. In tlie night I heard 

 her in great distress, as it seemed. My wife 

 got uj), w^ent to the sick-room, and stood by the 

 bedside, where stood the trained nurse and one 

 of my sons. She was crying and pleading bit- 

 terly for tlie morphinf — an examiile of the 

 drunkard, toliacco-user, and opium-eater. My 

 son was resolute, and, in spite of the cries of 

 his sister, whom he loved dearly, and the 

 wishes of the nurse, he said. "' Nol it's lime to 

 stop the anodynes." 



Some years ago a next-door neighbor was 

 taken down with pneumonia, and wanted me 

 to treat him. As I had caiTied him through a 

 similar attack a year or two before. I consented. 

 By the third or fourth day I saw that my reme- 

 dies did not reach the case. I advised the fam- 

 ily to send to the county-seat, where lived an 

 (eminent iihysician. He came, and, in kind, ad- 

 ministered the same reiiKidies that I had, but in 

 much larger doses. The man recoveicd. It re- 

 quires an accuiate estimate of remaining vital 

 forces to know wiien it is best to give double 

 doses. I am sure I have witnessed wonderful 

 success, in many instances, by increasing the 

 dose double and treble the ordinary prescribed 

 amount. But great skill is required in doing it. 



About twenty years ago, on a visit to the Fast. 

 I called to see a brotlier in Keene. N. H. ^Vhen 

 I got there he was unwell, and continued to ge 

 worse. On the third day after my arrival, and 

 when I had calculated to start on. I felt that 

 something more ouglit to be done than the 

 young physician who was attending him was 

 doing, and asked permission of the family to 

 try to find an older physician in the city, and 

 one of more experifnce. Such a one] lound. 

 and on the following day I felt it sale to lairsue 

 my journey. When I returned, two weeks later, 

 my brother \\ as u)), and able to attend to busi- 

 ness. For nioic tlian fifty years I have r( (cg- 

 nizod not only the diflerence between the dilier- 

 ent schools of ijhysicians, but tlie c'i Cerent treat- 

 ment of physiciansof the same scliool. Instances 

 lie lieforeme, in my mind, almost as thick' as tbe 

 mannadid. six daysout of se^•{■n. foi' the cliiklren 

 of Israel to jiick up astheiV daily food. The only 

 i|uestioii is. which to select from the common 

 mass, to give a correct idea of what the i)rac- 

 tice of medicine should be. such as can be un- 

 derstood by the common reader. Leaving 

 s])ecitic cases, we \^ill turn to specific diseases. 



Dis( ases change in foim as they occur at dif- 

 fei-ent tinu'S. and under different circumstances. 

 Scarlatina passes about, sometimes proving fa- 

 tal in very many instances: at other times it is 

 no more fatal than the measles ordinarily is 



