362 



GLEANINGS IN BEE' CULTURE. 



May 1, 



dance), but they are dangerous things for a man in 

 your condition to have around him except as they are 

 dealt out to him by the judicious one at the head of 

 the household. This may seem strange, but I believe 

 it true. 



For years your very .surroundings have been just 

 vrhat the microbes of fermentation delight in having 

 their victim in — plenty of vegetables, fruit, and sweets. 

 I tell you, it is hard to see great crimson .strawberries 

 with their background of green, and not eat some of 

 them before one gets out of the patch, and it is this 

 eating of such things between meals that keeps up 

 acid fermentation in the stomach more than what 

 one eats at the regular hours. For instance, suppose 

 you are getting along very well with the breakfast, 

 very little signs of trouble.'when you find somt- nice 

 maple .syrup to sample, or honey, or beautiful berries 

 or other fruit. One eats a little of one or more of 

 them, and feels but little if any the worse for it : but 

 that is just where the danger lies. At this time the 

 morning meal is nearly passed out of the stomach ; 

 but little remains, and that will be the coarse or poor- 

 ly masticated part, such as bits of potato and fruit in 

 which fermentation has nicely begun, yet would, 

 with a drink or two of water, pass through the pylorus 

 into the intestines, and cause but little trouble ; but at 

 this time if one adds to these little bits of fermenting 

 food a few spoonfuls of sweet or other food which 

 ferments quickly, trouble is bound to come — not so 

 much noticed at that time, or for some time after, 

 but before night. It i^ a good deal like putting a cup 

 of yeast into a barrel of beer or any thing one wants 

 to 'ferment. The veast is weakened, or diluted, at 

 first ; but j ist wait a little while, and it will make its 

 presence known. 



But, to go back to our victim, we find that at 10 a.m. 

 he has added to the little yeast cakes— pardon the 

 comparisons, but that is about what they represent — 

 a few ounces of sweet and a drink of water (not 

 enough to reduce the sweet to a less than two-per- 

 cent solution); this makes a good batch of yeast, and 

 by dinner time it is in fine trim. Now for the dinner, 

 it matters not what it be ; unless the meal is entirely 

 of lean meat or eggs, there is now in the stomach so 

 much of this yeast-like stuff that its acid will destroy 

 the effect of the alkaline secretions— if they haven't 

 already become acid ; digestion is stopped, and the 

 victim filled with gas until he can do but little until 

 the whole mass has had time to pass off, which it may 

 not do before another addition is made in the shape 

 of a supper, and so on from day to day, the cur.se be- 

 ing laid on the food taken at noon, when it should 

 have been on the small bits taken between meals. 



Doctors have, in my mind, done a great deal of harm 

 by advising such patients to eat little and often. Bet- 

 ter eat a fair meal, and then give it time to pass 

 thoroughly out of the stomach before more is added. 

 I have been through the mill, and I think one can do 

 more for himself than any other man can for him. I 

 will tell you why I am so sure that what I write is just 

 about the facts, in cases of acid fermentations of food 

 in the stomach. 



For years I have (the cause unknown to myself) 

 been in poor shape to do any thing. Why, I could 

 hardly bend myself over a hive or do other work ; 

 short breath, hard rapid beating of the heart, sensa- 

 tion of pressure on eyes, and dizzy headache, restless 

 nights, lying for hours in a cold sweat, and — well, 

 you know the whole train of distressing conditions 

 better than one can tell you. I will tell you how I ob- 

 tained relief— that is, temporarily. I drank freely of 

 warm water until I threw up what was in my stom- 

 ach ; and even though it had been there four or five 

 hours it was as swallowed except that it was so sour 

 it made mv throat sore for over a week. But I felt 

 1 ke a new man right straight off. I then drank a 

 great lot more, but took soda with it, and thoroughly 

 rinsed mv stomach, and soon threw that up also. It 

 was then'that I knew my real trouble, or, rather, the 

 cause of it. I could not bend over, because I was so 

 full of gas— yes. that's just what I mean, and you may 

 jyst as well laugh as not. It also prevented me from 

 taking a full breath, made pressure on the heart, and 

 a sense of fullnes= in the eves and he?id My system 

 was filled with acid, so I could not keep warm with- 

 out a load of clothes. After getting such relief from 

 one treatment I began in earnest to try what I called 

 a new thing. You have advocated thoroughly rinsing 

 the bowels with water : but I believe the s/oniach is 

 what needs the washing. For about four months 

 there were but few days when T did not thoroughly 

 w^ash and cleanse my stomach. First, half a teaspoon- 

 ful of soda in half a glass of warm water is taken to 

 sweeten the contents of the stomach so as to prevent 

 strangling and sore throat in case there is much acid. 



Then drink a quart of sloppy warm water ; and as the 

 last swallow is going down, a little effort will change 

 its course, and the whole mess will come up. I usually 

 repeat the operation once or twice, or until the water 

 comes up as clear as when swallowed. At first it may 

 be difficult for some to do this; but I think that, with 

 a little effort, any one can. This, with attention to 

 some other little things as regards eating and what 

 one eats, have done for me what doctors have failed 

 to do. Chester A. Olmste.\d. 



E. Bloomfield, Ont. Co., N. Y. 



Friend O. , I think yours must be an extreme 

 case. I have had some such experience. Is 

 it any wonder that people have sick -headache 

 when their digestive apparatus is charged with 

 stuff so foul that it scalds the throat in throw- 

 ing it up? Soda and various alkaline lozenges 

 sometimes give temporary relief ; but I think 

 5'our remedy is more likely to go to the bot- 

 tom of the mischief and build up good diges- 

 tion. Why, it makes me think of the recent 

 exhortations in the agricultural papers to the 

 friends who make maple sugar — I mean in re- 

 gard to giving their sap-kettles and other 

 utensils a frequent and thorough cleansing 

 with boiling water. It is a pity if we can not 

 take as good care of these bodies of ours as 

 the sugar-makers and milk-men do of their 

 pails and cans. Your article is certainly an 

 excellent supplement to our water-cure tracts ; 

 and I think that hereafter we shall have to in- 

 corporate it in with them. 



Let me digress a little to say that one of our 

 subscribers sent me an advertisement of a 

 wonderful discovery called "Nature's Own 

 Cordial." The proprietors charged a dollar 

 for the formula. Our friend wanted to know 

 if I would advise him to send the dollar. I 

 said, " No, no ! We will send the dollar and 

 then give it free to all the readers of Gi,Ean- 

 INGS." Here is the dollar formula : 



FORMULA FOR NATURE'S OWN CORDIAL. 



Oatmeal, % lb.; pulverized charcoal, 1 oz.; pulver- 

 ized slippery-elm bark, }i oz.; ground cinnamon, l,i oz. 



Put the oatmeal in a shallow pan, and brown in an 

 oven. Do not allow it to scorch or burn. 



The charcoal as well as the slippery elm and cinna- 

 mon can be purchased already pulverized. 



Mix these ingredients thoroughly, put in a sealed 

 jar, and keep in a dry dark place. 



After abstaining from food for two days, take two 

 teaspoon fuls ot this mixture in a cup of hot water be- 

 fore breaking your fast. Thereafter take one tea- 

 spoonful before each meal in half a cup of boiling 

 water. Do not attempt to masticate this preparation 

 thoroughlv. It should be moistened with the salivary 

 fluid just "sufificiently to swallow with e:a.se.—Secular 

 Science and Common Sense. 



No doubt the above, in some cases, will be 

 beneficial. First, the patient is to fast until 

 his stomach is thoroughly cleansed. The 

 roasted oatmeal would then furnish a whole- 

 some nutrition, and may be the slippery elm 

 would help it some. The powdered charcoal 

 will absorb the gases and cleanse the stomach 

 and intestines ; and the cinnamon, I suppose, 

 would make it palatable. Some people urge 

 that if a thing like this is put in the papers 

 nobody will bother himself to try it. If the 

 recipe or secret costs the patient a dollar (or 

 five) then he would be sure to procure some 

 of the stuff and take it according to directions. 

 But even granting this to be true, does it make 

 it right to charge your neighbor a dollar for 

 something that can be written or printed on a 

 postal card ? A dollar ought to buy a pretty 



