AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



767 



or dawn of bee-keeping, though it has 

 been tinkered with by eminent scientists, 

 and would-be wise scribblers, yet the 

 mystery that puzzled Aristotle has not 

 been solved to the satisfaction of bee- 

 keepers at large. 



Up to 1880 no mention had been 

 made announcing that foul-brood is a 

 germ disease. Prof. Cohn discovered 

 microbes in samples of foul-brood, and 

 fancied that the disease is caused by the 

 germs he saw, not even suspecting that 

 germs may be discovered in all decom- 

 posing bee-brood, as well as being pres- 

 ent in all decomposing matter. Had the 

 Professor placed a bit of the sample in 

 contact with healthy brood yet unsealed, 

 and in due time discovered that foul- 

 brood had taken root, he then would 

 have been correct in his conclusion that 

 the sample was foul-brood, but he would 

 not know that the germs he saw through 

 the lense were the foul-brood virus that 

 reproduced the disease; the germs, per- 

 haps, were produced by the action of 

 fermentation, decomposing of dead 

 tissue. 



The eminent and world-renowned 

 scientist, Frank Cheshire, of England, 

 announced that he discovered microbes 

 or germs in foul-brood, and he assumed 

 to give a technical name to the large, 

 frisky germs which he only saw at first, 

 by which they might be identified. At a 

 later inspection of foul-brood matter he 

 claims to have a smaller germ, and made 

 the announcement that there are two dif- 

 ferent nations of foul-brood germs — the 

 more recently discovered nation are 

 diminutive compared with his first, and 

 not so unlike; hence, according to Mr. 

 Cheshire, two kinds of foul-brood exist, 

 at least in England. However, in this 

 country, according to reports, tbere ex- 

 ist divers kinds of what is called foul- 

 brood disease, by some called "chilled 

 brood " — dcadhrood, certain. 



More than a decade has elapsed since 

 Mr. Cheshire wrote on the subject of 

 foul-brood, at which time the science of 

 bacteriology only began to glimmer ob- 

 scurely, but it has so grown and devel- 

 oped within the past few years, as to 

 reach, with almost equal importance, 

 the domains of medicine and surgery. 

 Twenty years ago no one conceived of 

 the possibility of a magnifying power of 

 from 3,000 to 4,000 diameters, of 

 which a recent writer has said, "If we 

 could view a man under such a lense, 

 he would appear from three to four 

 miles in length, or as high as Mont 

 Blanc, Mount Ararat, or even Chimbo- 

 razo " — a magnifying power which can 

 bring into view an organism so minute 



and invisible that, when passing under 

 the field, it appears no larger than a 

 point or comma of ordinary print. 



Before I conclude this discussion, I 

 will discuss the science of bacteriology 

 as gleaned from works of reference, 

 namely, "Micro-organisms," A. B. Grif- 

 fiths Bailliere, Tindal & Co., 1891 ; also 

 Cruikshank's " Manual of Bacteriology;" 

 Cornil & Babes' " Les Bacteries ;" De 

 Barry, " Lectures on Bacteria;" Watson 

 Cheny, " Selected Essays ; " Micro-para- 

 sites in Disease," New Sydenliam Society; 

 Tyndal, "Piloting Matter in the Air;" 

 Klein, "Micro-organisms in Disease;" 

 Aitkin, "Micro-organisms in Disease" 

 "Studies on Fermentation," by L.Pas- 

 teur; and many others in which the 

 reader will find full and complete in- 

 formation. 



The origin of foul-brood, as explained 

 by me, is in accordance with natural 

 laws, the subtile influence of the begin- 

 nings of life on this planet, the evolution 

 of matter. I refer readers to, ";Life 

 Histories of Organisms," Darwin and 

 Pastaire. If one of these giant spirits 

 of the age has revolutionized the old 

 order of thought as to the sources of 

 life, the other has given us a clear in- 

 sight into the causes of death. More of 

 this after stating my theory in brief. 



I claim to know that the origin of the 

 destructive agent that causes dead brood 

 to become poisonous to healthy brood, is 

 by reason of a special fermentation — the 

 fermenting of dead brood — the fermen- 

 tation proceeding under favorable con- 

 ditions for generating the micro-organ- 

 isms, vivifying the spores that ever 

 exist in the tissues before decomposition, 

 the fermentation, whether accidental, as 

 in cases of originating foul-brood, or 

 otherwise, is the essential condition in 

 the process of conversion of a fermenta- 

 ble into a fermenting substance. 



In case dead brood passes into an 

 active fermentation — the favorable con- 

 ditions being moisture and high tem- 

 perature — the spores that permeate the 

 disorganizing tissues hatch into microbes 

 which, in accordance with a natural 

 law, reproduce when nourished with the 

 same element as that from which they 

 were generated ; but these germs pos- 

 sess no power over anything other than 

 this substance — embryo brood. When- 

 ever the elements that compose imma- 

 ture brood changes into mature brood, 

 these germs are perfectly harmless. 



I will try to make it more plain, by 

 mentioning that spore life in fermenting 

 brood is, in law, very similar to yeast. 

 Any home is familiar with the process 

 of making yeast without '■'seed.'''' By a 



