88 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



does no harm. That isn't true. My father was a 

 clergyman. Hoarseness used to interfere sometimes 

 with his voice in the pulpit. He tooli cough lozenges 

 to clear his throat, and he carried them into the 

 pulpit. After years, when he was beginning to be 

 dissatisfied with the working of the lozenges, a man 

 sent him circulars and samples of s -other kind that 

 delighted my father by their efficiency. He bought 

 them by the big box, and had them for a family 

 medicine. At length his voice got so that he could 

 not depend on it even with that help, and he felt it 

 necessary to consult a doctor in the matter. The 

 doctor told him that he had been ruining his throat 

 with cough lozenges — -first the milder sort, till those 

 got him into a condition where they no longer took 

 effect, then the stronger until they had about finished 

 the job. His only chance, the doctor said, was to 

 give up lozenges of any sort. By following that 

 advice father's throat got back strength enough so 

 that he went a few years more, and rounded out a 

 good length of service; but when he did break down 

 it was his throat that went first. Moral. — What is 

 true of medicines in general is true of cough medi 

 cines. 



I do not mean to decry the legitimate use of medi- 

 cine. In many diseases there is some symptom 

 which interferes with nature's worK of curing the 

 disease, so that if you knock out the symptom with 

 a drug it leaves nature a better chance to work ; 

 and a cough is very apt to be such a symptom. 

 Also there are cases where nature's, curing is not 

 enough without some help; for example, the lockjaw 

 microbe cannot live long in a man's body. It al- 

 ways dies before the man does, so that in a stnse 

 the germ-killing power of the human blood has suc- 

 cessfully cured the disease; but the microbe leaves 

 in the blood so much of a strychnine-like poison that 

 the man dies of that; so he has little chance of life 

 unless you can either give him a dose that will kill 

 the microbe quicker than the blood kills it, or else 

 give him an antidote for that poison. So drugs have 

 their proper use, though the best doctors are apt to 

 be those who trust most to the self-curing power of 

 the body. But I doubt if there is any exception to 

 the rule that it is dangerous to make habitual iise 

 of any medicine, great or small, without the more 

 or less continuous oversight of a competent doctor. 



As to those recipes for cough medicines, I should 

 think it safe to guess that the ones which contained 

 least of medicinal ingi-edients would do least harm. 

 Chambers' Encyclopedia gives a list of two or three 

 dozen cures for cold that are used by different peo- 

 ple, and then sa;,s^ "There is no doubt that colds 

 do get well under all these treatments;" but it 

 thinks most of those colds would have got well quite 

 as well without the treatment. 



Some folKS, sad to say, are so in the habit of 

 dosing that they feel more as if they were going to 

 get well if they are "taking something;" so it does 

 them good to give them something that has a reputa- 

 tion but has no medicinal qualities, such as sarsap- 

 arilla or ginseng. Honey with something to make 

 it taste bitter ought to be good for such. As to any 

 possible medicinal effect of the honey itself, a me- 

 dicinal quality that is not strong enough to keep the 

 article from being wholesome as daily food is not 

 strong enough to worry over. 



The case is different with antiseptics to hasten 

 the cure of external sores, wounds, etc. Such can 

 do no harm to the constitution unless very badly 

 misused. Honey ought to be an efficient mild anti- 

 septic under any circumstances where it would not 

 get diluted by watery discharges; but such circum- 

 stances would be comparatively rare, so without 

 doubt the propolis salve that was recommended a 

 few mouths ago would do better service in general. 

 Steven T. Byington. 



Ballard Vale, Mass., Oct. 14. 



The suggestion in the above, that even if 

 a drug does effect a cure for that particular 

 trouble, there is much danger that it may 

 do harm somewhere else in the system, re- 

 sulting in proving the truth of the old 

 adage that the remedy may be worse than 

 the disease. And I heartily indorse the 

 sentiment about the habitual use of any 

 medicine being dangerous; and I am glad 

 to see the statement that " sarsaparilla " 

 and " ginseng " really have no medicinal 

 qualities, and I think the list might be 

 greatly extended. 



OVEREATING, ESPECIALLY FOR ELDERLY 

 PEOPLE. 



We clii? the following from the Scientific 

 American: 



In conclusion let me warn you of the dangers of 

 overeating. Most of us eat too much. We would 

 do well to follow the advice of the great English 

 physician, George Cheyne : " Every wise man, after 

 fifty, ought to begin to lessen at least the quantity 

 of his aliment ; and if he would continue free of 

 great and dangerous distempers, and preserve his 

 senses and faculties clear to the last, he ought every 

 seven years to go on abating gradually and sensibly, 

 and at last descend out of life as he ascended into 

 it, even into the child's diet." In short, why do 

 men over forty break down? Indulging their appe- 

 tites! 



Amen to the above. Especially let me 

 put additional emphasis on the fact that as 

 we grow older, and begin gradually to let 

 up on both physical and mental work, we 

 should let up on our eating — especially on 

 eating solid and substantial food toward the 

 close of the day ; and as we go down to our 

 second childhood let us by all means adopt 

 the author's idea. 



Just a word in regard to the matter of 

 sleei^. The first days and even months of 

 childhood are largely devoted to sleep; but 

 as we get older there seems to be less need 

 of it. Now, when our faculties begin to be 

 impaired by age my exiDerience is that we 

 need sleep oftener. Occasionally I do some 

 work in the garden, or possibly somewhere 

 else, by which I get pretty well tired out. 

 At such times I can neither work nor even 

 read intelligently. But a twenty-minute 

 rest and good sound sleep gives me all the 

 vigor and strength of both body and mind 

 that I have in the early morning. In this 

 way we cannot only take care of ourselves, 

 but lend a helping hand to the good people 

 around us, not only wheu we are up to 

 eighty but even ninety. 



In recommending sleep, please do not get 

 the notion that I advise anybody of any 

 age to mope around lazily. Sleep only 

 when you are tired out and fatigued by 

 some sort of work. 



