Bee Stings as a Remedy for Gout. 



It will be remembered that at the late 

 session of the North American Bee- 

 Keepers' Association, a committee was 

 appointed to interview the Post Master 

 General, and endeavor to have the rul- 

 ing excluding bees and comb foundation 

 from the mails, reversed. Prof. Cook 

 was chairman of the committee, and he 

 has visited Washington for that pur- 

 pose, and has, we are glad to say, been 

 successful, as announced in the follow- 

 ing telegram from Washington, on the 

 14th ult. : 



" The postofflce department, on 

 recommendation of the National Bee- 

 Keepers' Association, has reconsidered 

 the order excluding queen bees from 

 the mails. Queen bees and their neces- 

 sary attendants will be allowed to go 

 through the mails so long as no one is 

 injured by them." 



A few days after we received the fol- 

 lowing letter from Prof. Cook, confirm- 

 ing the dispatch : 



Columbus, O., Jan. 15, 1880. 



DearFriend Newman: The victory 

 is gained. I am just advised that the 

 order refusing to carry queens and 

 foundation is repealed. The sugar in 

 lieu of honey, and the double gauze }i 

 inch apart as a shield, won the day. 



We are much indebted to Hon. Edwin 

 Willits, of Michigan, who granted me 

 much aid. It is a good point gained. 

 Yours truly, A. J. Cook. 



Bee-keepers generally will give Prof. 

 Cook a vote of thanks for his efforts in 

 the matter, and he richly deserves them. 



gg° In the Bulletin D'Apiculteur, pub- 

 lished by friend Bertram! in Nyon, Swit- 

 zerland, we find the following item : 



" With alacrity we received our mail 

 matter from America. The Hon. T. 

 G. Newman, in the Amrican Bee 

 Journal, for October, gave a particu- 

 larly flattering account of his visit to 

 the Society Romand D'Apiculteur and 

 of his good reception in Switzerland. 

 The same Journal contained a de- 

 tailed account of our Assembly of 

 August 21st. Mr. Newman will return 

 home in good time to preside over the 

 American National Apicultural Con- 

 vention to be held in Chicago, on 

 October 21st." 



A person suffering from the gout, 

 writes in the Augsbury Abendzeitg, the 

 following for the "benefit of humanity:" 



"That the sting of bees has the effect 

 of immediately mitigating the unspeak- 

 able pains of this disease, has been an- 

 nounced in several articles by patients 

 that are no w convale s cent. 



One remarked as follows : On March 

 28, when I was stretched out upon my 

 bed. suffering the most excruciating 

 pains from the gout in my left foot, be- 

 ing scarcely able to move that part of 

 my body, one of these articles fell into 

 my hands, in which a colleague humor- 

 ously described how he was cured by the 

 stings of bees. Having tried a great 

 many things, in fact everything that 

 was offered to me, in the hope of rid- 

 ding myself of this painful disease, find- 

 ing them all humbugs, I resolved to have 

 the diseased part stung by bees. With- 

 out delay I constructed a small box, so 

 arranged that only one bee could crawl 

 out from it at a time, after which I 

 would close the door. With a small 

 stick, the top of which had been dipped 

 into honey, I took up the bee and placed 

 it upon the affected part, immediately 

 after which the sting followed. A 

 second and third bee was treated in like 

 manner, and I underwent the same 

 treatment from them. After the lapse 

 of a few moments the stings, that were 

 left behind, were removed from the 

 foot, and after the pain had subsided 

 that was caused by the stings of the 

 bees, the pains from the gout also dis- 

 appeared. On the same day I left my 

 bed and on the day following I felt my- 

 self able to attend to the duties of my 

 occpation (I am a forrester). For some 

 time I experienced a slight burning 

 sensation in my foot, but that also left 

 me, after 4 or 5 days. I give publicity 

 to this, hoping that my companions in 

 suffering may also find alleviation and 

 cure by employing the same remedy." 



The Workshop Companion : A Collection 

 of Useful and Reliable Recipes, Rules, 

 Processes, Methods, Wrinkles and 

 Practical Hints, for the Household 

 and the Shop. Price 35 cents. New 

 York : Industrial Publication Co. 



This book covers a very wide range 

 of subjects, there being no less than 

 ninety main articles, some of which 

 contain as many as sixty sub-headings, 

 forming'an almost complete encyclopae- 

 dia of practical, every-day information. 



