the; ix,iviERicari j^um journal. 



510 



respiration, the kidneys, the skin, and 

 the nervous center.like Asiatic eholera, 

 and practitioners find the dift'ercnt 

 phases of tlie disease are legion. 



The summer cholera in Asia is gen- 

 •erally more acnte than summer com- 

 plaint here. The bowel symptoms are 

 usually the most prominent. It does 

 not seem rational to call a relatively 

 mild case of summer diarrhea, and to 

 call another cholera infantum, which 

 has the same symptoms, and only the 

 same symptoms as the former, but in a 

 much more aggravated form. 



The etiological consideration of these 

 liiseases. Prof. C. wholly ascribes to 

 micro-organisms, but he does not offer 

 any evidence or authority as corrobora- 

 tive of his naked assertion based on 

 his fancj' alone. 



From what I have learned concern- 

 ing these diseases, I will, without fear 

 of contradiction, record the well 

 known fact that it has not j'et been 

 shown that any of the forms of summer 

 cholera are due to the action of a 

 specific micro-organism multiplying in 

 the blood or tissues. There certainly' 

 are bacteria in great plenty in the in- 

 testinal canal — the organisms which 

 induce fermentations everywhere, 

 whenever chemical elements combine 

 in a way to favor their action. Chemi- 

 cal substances alone can produce all 

 of the symptoms of cholera and other 

 disease. 



Every stool from a. case of cholera 

 or summer complaint is a fermenting 

 mass. How do we know this ? Be- 

 cause, in the first place, we have in 

 the stool (or the chyme that precedes 

 it) the materials to maintain fermenta- 

 tion ; second, we have the micro- 

 organisms to induce fermentation ; 

 third, we have the proper conditions 

 of heat and moisture in the intestine 

 to facilitate the fermentation ; and, 

 lastly, we have the results of the fer- 

 mentation — the putrid products, and 

 the sour-smelling, fatty acids. 



I have thus followed Prof. Cook by 

 way of review of his essay, which pur- 

 ports to be a Bulletin relating to Foul 

 Brood. Right here I inquire, what re- 

 lation do the diseases hold to foul 

 brood ? That which is known as foul 

 brood was go named by German bee- 

 keepers. They saw the larva; in the 

 colony rot. become a putrid mass, and 

 they called it "foul brood ;" and they 

 saw cases somewhat unlike (dift'erent 

 stages), and they fancied that there 

 are two kinds — the moist and the dry. 

 Father Langstroth in his best of any 

 of the bee-books, treats of foul brood 

 learnedly at the time. Since then the 

 "mystery"' has been unveiled, and 

 swords were at hand to lay the de- 

 stroyer low. I was the first who an- 

 anounced that foul brood was the re- 

 sult of bacteria (see the Bee-Keepers' 



Exchanrjc of August, 1S82). I here 

 ( I note extracts from one of my com- 

 munications, under date of 1882 : 



As soon Its lili' i-' extinct, spontaneous fer- 

 muutation ensues, followed by chan^(;s of 

 properties in the substance that formed t tie 

 animate tissues ai-risinir from new combina- 

 tions of their principles. The fermenliuff: 

 process, called decomjiosins:. rotting-, is de- 

 pendent upon certain conditions— a hi^^ii teni- 

 i>eraturc and ninisl ure— sufticient moisture to 

 act as a menstrum aids the process that 

 develops or leads ni g:eneratinj? the so-trailed 

 foul-brood virus, which acts asadeadly i>oison 

 on living: tissues of the same org:anic matter- 

 larva?— but does not act on tissues of imago 

 bees. 



In all cases where the fermenting- process 

 has been complete, decomposition ensues, and 

 the sphacelus lai-\':e is true ^ran^reuc, every 

 particle of which will, like leaven, take root 

 by inoculation in healthy brood, and, like 

 gang-rene, spreads through to all the live 

 tissues of the san^ organism— animate larvie. 

 If the fermentat*n of dead brood has pro- 

 ceeded rapidly, and reached a certain stage of 

 change througii evolution, it is putrefactive- 

 foul t)rood— emitting a putredinous stench. 

 Chilled brood ma.v appear putrid to an ine.v- 

 perieuced observer when the fermentation 

 had not been such fife is requisite to generate 

 true "foul" or termentive virus peculiar in 

 its properties as Vtrood virus. 



Prof. Cook mentions that, " All of 

 these (micro-organisms) cause decom- 

 position of the material on which they 

 work. The substances that arise in 

 this decomposition either go to nourish 

 the itiicrobes. or are given ofl" as ex- 

 creta, just as we excrete carbonic acid 

 in our life economy." Does he enter- 

 tain the idea and aim to have us un- 

 derstand that decomposing substances 

 afford food for microbes ? Or are we 

 taught by him that the "substances 

 that arise " are given off as excreta — 

 which ? 



He further mentions: "Thus in 

 sweet liquids these (bacteria) cause 

 fermentation, as when cider changes 

 to alcohol, and then to vinegar (acid 

 fermentation). In meat and other 

 dead animal tissues they cause putre- 

 faction. Rot, then, is simply the feed- 

 ing of countless millions of these micro- 

 organisms on the decaying tissue." 



That last sentence is strictly correct, 

 and foul brood is simply rot — but when 

 did Prof. Cook learn the fact ? If I 

 correctly read the first edition of his 

 treatise on bees, he did not "unveil" 

 any of the "mysteries" concerning 

 foul brood. It is less than one decade 

 since I advanced the theory and claim 

 that so-called foul brood is a fermen- 

 tative bacteria rotting, and under cer- 

 tain circumstances originates sponta- 

 neously in foul brood. At the appear- 

 ance of my communications they were 

 even ridiculed. One of my essays was 

 read in convention in 1882-83, and 

 Mr. D. A. Jones, of Canada, remarked: 

 " I doubt foul brood being a germ dis- 

 ease." Such was the opinion generally 

 up to that time. Later on, that emi- 

 nent scientist, Mr. Cheshire, of Eng- 

 land, began his researches in scientific 

 bee-culture, and has educated the 

 world so that now doubts are not en- 

 tertained on that point. 



Prof, ('ook does not bioach llie sub- 

 ject of the origin of foul brood, and, so 

 far as I know, Mr. Cheshire ignores 

 the sul)ject. None of the authors of 

 bee-l)ook.s attempt to ' ' unveil " the 

 sti))))oseil mysteries of the origin of 

 foul brood. Certain correspondents 

 have mentioned that foul brood some- 

 times originates in colonies. The)- 

 were cognizant of the fact, but they 

 did not ascribe the factor or cause to 

 the real source. ■ A veteran and expert 

 New York bee-keeper attributed the 

 cause of foul brood originating, as it 

 had in some of his colonies, to the 

 brood being fed fermenting honey. 



One very overweening scribe, who 

 writes about everything of which he is 

 uninformed, mentions this: "The origin 

 of foul brood is in obscuritj' — there are 

 two kinds — the moist and the dry ; it 

 is probable that it is imported in honey 

 from the India Islands." The potato- 

 bug certainl)' came from the Western 

 regions — that is well known ; but no- 

 body knows that foul brood ever was 

 imported, though perhaps it has been 

 exported. History informs us that 

 foul brood existed as a scourge in the 

 palmy days of Aristotle. 



The scribe alluded to, though inde- 

 fatigable, has not "unveiled" one of 

 the mysteries concerning bees or bee- 

 keeping — yet he pompously ridiculed 

 my essay on foul brood ! 



The changes that fermentation pro- 

 duces are mysterious and wonderful. 

 It develops several different organic 

 substances in passing through different 

 stages, defined by authors as vinus, 

 acetic and putrefactive, and the term 

 is applied to other processes of change, 

 as the panaiy fermentation or rising 

 of bread. Vinus fermentation does not 

 generate poison, but acetous (which 

 follows vinus and terminates in the . 

 production of alcohol) is poisonous in 

 the latter stage, especially so when 

 transformed into ether and chloroform. 

 Besides the fermentation of vegeta- 

 ble substances caused by fungoid or 

 spores, there is putrid fermentation of 

 animal — animate tissues — the process 

 of change beginning the instant vitality 

 ceases to exist, even though only a 

 small part of the whole tissues of the 

 body be involved, as in cases of gan- 

 grene or mortification. After dissolu- 

 tion of the whole body, putrefaction 

 begins, followed by " rot." 



Knowing these facts, it is reasonable 

 grounds for the belief — for the con- 

 clusion — that it is probable that the 

 honey-bee larvre are not only liable to 

 putrid fermentation, but that larv£e, 

 under circumstances that favor fer- 

 mentative action, do proceed to pois- 

 onous rot — real virus, which, in case 

 the poison touches live tissues of the 

 same organic structure as that from 

 which the poisonous matter was when 



