954 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



God that a periodical of such authority and 

 such wide circulation as the Ladies' Home 

 Journal is giving us some " hot shot " along 

 this line. Here is a eli2:»ping from their 

 October issue: 



THE PASSING OF TI[E MEDICINE BOTTLE. 



We are certainly making long strides forward 

 when we read such words a sthese, and they con- 

 cern us all because tuey concern our health. And 

 it must he well borne in mind that the writer, Sir 

 William Osier, M.D., is unquestionably the foremost 

 living American physician, and tne highest authority 

 on drugs in the medical world. He says what fol- 

 lows, in the Encyclopedia Americana : 



" Tlie new school does not feel itself under obliga- 

 tion to give any medicine whatever, while a genera- 

 tion ago not only could few physicians have held 

 their practice unless they did, but few would have 

 thought it safe or scientific. 



" Of course there are still many cases where the 

 patient or the patient's friends must be humored by 

 administering medicine, or alleged medicine, where 

 it is not really needed, and indeed often where the 

 buoyancy of mind, which is the real curative agent, 

 can be created only by making him wait hopefully 

 for the expected action of medicine; and some 

 physicians still cannot unlearn their old training. 



" But the change is great. The modern treatment 

 of disease relies very greatly on the so-called natural 

 methods, diet and exercise, bathing and massage; in 

 other words, giving the natural forces the fullest 

 scope by easy and thorough nutrition, increased 

 ,1jw of blood, and removal of obstructions to the 

 excretory systems or to circulation in the tissues. 



" One notable example is typhoid fever. At the 

 outset of the nineteenth century it was treated with 

 ' remedies ' of the extremest violence — bleeding and 

 blistering, vomiting and purging, antimony aud 

 calomel, and other heroic remedies. Now the patient 

 is bathed and nursed and carefully tended, but 

 rarely given medicine. 



" This is the result of the remarkable experiments 

 of the Paris and Vienna schools into the action of 

 drugs, which have shaken fhe stoutest faiths ; and 

 partly of the constant and reproachful object lesson 

 of homeopathy. No regular physician would ever 

 admit that the homeopathic ' iniinitestimals ' could 

 do any good as direct curative agents; and yet it 

 was perfectly certain that homeopaths lost no more 

 of their patients than others. There was but one 

 conclusion to draw, that most drugs had no effect 

 whatever on the diseases for which they were ad- 

 ministered." 



Now let me go back a minute to give tlie 

 Woman's Crusade, tliat started here in Ohio 

 in the early spring of 1874, a little credit. 

 If I remember correctly, Dr. Dio Lewis fir.st 

 made the suggestion that the mothers of our 

 land should meet in a body together and 

 invade the saloons. A lot of Ohio mothers 

 did this. They went into the saloons here 

 in our town of Medina, expostulated with 

 the saloon-keeper, sang Iiymns, and finally 

 knelt in prayer on tlie filthy sawdust I'oor. 

 When T heard what was p'oing on 1 hesitat- 

 ed about going into a saloon for any more 

 drink. Even though I did not go to church 

 at the time — at least not very much — I had 

 a reverence and respect for those earnest 

 faithful, God-fearing women, and I broke 

 off then and lliere, and soon decided that a 

 little more outdooi' work in tlie earden 



would be a better tonic than booze. I think 

 I used to get Kennet ale at the drugstore 

 occasionally ; but the way people stared at 

 me to see me drinking something that looked 

 like beer, even in a drugstore, made me feel 

 I was not doing exactly the right thing. In 

 fact, I one day overheard a small boy tell- 

 ing his mother something like this : " Mr. 

 Root drinks beer. I saw him drink some 



in Dr. 's drugstore." There was no 



use of explaining that I took it for medi- 

 cine. Public opinion, even that many years 

 ago, was fast climbing up on the right side. 

 Now a word about exaggeration : 



The Cleveland Plain Dealer, from which 

 I have quoted so much, ha snow a couple of 

 I have quoted so much, has now a couple of 

 the opposite column against it. Well, J 

 have been amused at the pleas on the wet 

 side. It seems to me, to use a slang phrase, 

 the writer is continually giving himself 

 away. As an illustration : 



The wet writer said if Ohio votes dry, 

 140 places of business now occupied by 

 saloon-keepers would be vacant. He said 

 there were already enough rooms in the city 

 labeled " For Rent," and if 140 more were 

 added, rents would go down all over the city, 

 for two reasons — first, because there would 

 be an oversupply of vacant rooms; second, 

 because no one could afford to pay the pnce 

 for rent that a saloon-keeper can. I pre- 

 sume the latter may be true; but is it not 

 a rather sad truth"? And then he goes on 

 to tell the enormous amount of money that 

 would be lost if the saloons were closed. 

 Now, this writer was either purposely or 

 ignorantly " lame " in ever so manj- direc- 

 tions, for towns and cities that have gone 

 dry all over the United States are giving 

 notice that the empty rooms are soon taken 

 for better business and at better prices. 

 And is it positively certain that it would 

 be a calamity to have rents go down? The 

 liquor people are continually declaring that 

 the money that saloon-keepers do not get is 

 lost. If rents go down, the owners of 

 buildings, who are mcstly wealthy men, lose 

 a little. Now, wherever there is some loss 

 there is generally a corresponding gain. 

 The renters are usually poorer people, and 

 to have their rents reduced would be a gain 

 to those wlio most need it. Let me illus- 

 trate: 



Every fall, when I go down (o Florida, 

 eggs are away up. A year ago, for .a few 

 days I got CO cents a dozen; then after 

 awhile, when the hens got over moulting, 

 the ])rice began to go down. One day last 

 April, when I brought my eggs to the gTO- 

 eer he said, " Mr. Root, I hate to tell you, 

 especially as you are such a good and reg- 



