Stinging Insects 39 



results are usually from a number of stings but, rarely, death has 

 been known to follow a single sting, entering a blood vessel of a 

 particularly susceptible individual. 



It is clearly established that partial immunity from the effects 

 of the poison may be acquired. By repeated injections of the venom, 

 mice have been rendered capable of bearing doses that certainly 

 would have killed them at first. It is a well-known fact that most 

 bee-keepers become gradually hardened to the stings, so that the 

 irritation and the swelling become less and less. Some individuals 



Effect of bee stings. After Root. 



have found this immunity a temporary one, to be reacquired each 

 season. A striking case of acquired immunity is related by the 

 Roots in their "A B C and X Y Z of Bee Culture." The evidence 

 in the case is so clear that it should be made more widely available 

 and hence we quote it here. 



A young man who was determined to become a bee-keeper, was so 

 susceptible to the poison that he was most seriously affected by a 

 single sting, his body breaking out with red blotches, breathing grow- 

 ing difficult, and his heart action being painfully accelerated. "We 

 finally suggested taking a live bee and pressing it on the back of his 

 hand until it merely pierced his skin with the sting, then immediately 

 brushing off both bee and sting. This was done and since no serious 

 effect followed, it was repeated inside of four or five days. This 

 was continued for some three or four weeks, when the patient began to 

 have a sort of itching sensation all over his body. The hypodermic 



