218 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



HEALTH NOTES 



March, 1917 



POISON IVY IS IT WORSE THAN EEE-STINGS? 



Some little time ago the young man who 

 married my oldest granddaughter, Mr. 

 Marshall F. Bryant (I suppose 1 shall have 

 to call him my grandson-in-law), while at 

 our cottage on the shore of Lake Erie v/as 

 severely poisoned with poison ivy. Of 

 course there was the usual talk about reme- 

 dies; but after the trouble had continued 

 several days he concluded it would not get 

 well of itself, as I had suggested, like bee- 

 stings. So he went to our druggist, who 

 gave him a prescription that killed the 

 virus at once. Here is the prescription 

 the druggist filled : 



rOISON-IVY REMEDY. 



Zinc sulphate, 15 grains; distilled water, 1 oz. 

 Soak cloth in the solution and apply to the poison 

 blisters. Alternate with^ alcohol if not relieved. 

 Use with care, as it is a deadly poison. 



Since then the two folhnving letters have 

 come to hand in regard to the same matter: 



I notice some reference to poison ivy on page 

 214; and as I have had some experience M'ith it 

 I am giving the remedy which I have found to 

 be most successful. Simply moisten the affected 

 parts with a 1-1000 to a 1-5000 mercuric chloride 

 solution. As this is very poisonous if taken in- 

 ternally, it should be handled with care. I have 

 not foiind the stronger solution to be hurtful to 

 the skin. Renew the application several times 

 a day. Leonidas R. Littleton. 



Professor of Chemistry, Emory and Henry College. 



Dear Mr. Root: — I dearly love Gleanings, and 

 especially your department. I have been taking it 

 for 26 years, and I have not missed a copy. W iien 

 I see you classing poison ivy as no worse than 

 bee-stings I am tempted to write you my ex- 

 perience and observation, extending over a pei iod 

 of 50 years. I have had my share of stings, and 

 poison ivy too, and I know whereof I speak. 

 If I had to take either, and had my choice, I 

 would say bring on the bees. Some people are 

 affected by ivy a great deal more than others. I 

 don't dare go near it when I am hot and perspir- 

 ing:; yet my son can handle it any time, and he 

 has never been poisoned by it. I knew a lady 

 (one of my mother's sisters) who was near to le 

 delivered of a child. She was poisoned by ivy. 

 She failed to get it cured, and it went all thru her 

 sjstem. "When her child was born its body was 

 broken out all over like its mother. The doctor 

 said it was the ivy poison that its mother had. It 

 was not cured, and lived only a short time. Bee- 

 slings will get well without anything being ap- 

 pliel; but poison ivy, never. O. M. Outts, pa^^e 

 755, Aug. 15, has discovered that salty meat 

 grease will kill it. Tell him to try the salt with- 

 out the grease, or salt and water, and it will be 

 .iust as effective. Tlie best remedy I have ever tried 

 an old doctor gave me. Go to the drugstore and 

 get some sugar of lead, put it in just enough 

 water to dissolve it, and apply it to the poison 

 with a rag about three times, and that is the end 

 of the poison. W. Mii/roN Mcio^uo. 



Visalia, Cal., Sept. 1. 



With the above evidence I think 1 shall 

 have to conclude that pjisoii i\y docs not 



get well of itself like bee-stings. Now, 

 even tho 1 may be wrong, I am going to 

 make another suggestion. From what I 

 am told above, 1 am inclined to think the 

 poison of redbugs, that so much h?,s been 

 said about, would yield to any or all of 

 the above remedies. If the remedy is ap- 

 plied shortly after the insect has i^unetured 

 the skin, the strong medicine would kill it. 

 If after the insect has burrowed beneath 

 the skin, and the spot is swollen, give it a 

 good scratching and then apply the medi- 

 cine. Last winter I used a strong solu- 

 tion of sal-soda with very gov.d I'esults. 

 Sugar of lead has long been known as an 

 antidote for poisonous plants or insects. 



The letter from our good friend Moore 

 reminds us not only to be careful about 

 coming in contact with poison ivy, but also 

 the importance of going to a doctor or 

 druggist for a remedy as soon as possible. 

 The whole wide world is .iust discovering 

 how an unborn child may suffer from alco- 

 holic poison taken by the parents; and the 

 incident before us shoAvs what may follow 

 in like manner from the effects of poison 

 ivy. 



HELPS FOR DEAF PEOPLE. 



In addition to what I said on p. 1190, 

 Dec. 1, I wish to add that the Globe Audi- 

 phone Co., Reading, Mass., have just got 

 out a beautiful little instrument called the 

 " Audi Aid." When I first put it against 

 my ear I uttered a shout because of the 

 loud ticking of the clock and a lot of other 

 sounds I had not heard for years. 1 said 

 to Sue, " Why, this thing is going to be 

 worth a hundred dollars !'' But when care- 

 fully tested with the human voice I was 

 compelled again to admit I could hear and 

 tmderstand nO' better than Avith my hand 

 held over my ear, and perhaps not quite 

 as well. At present I cannoif understand 

 this, and I hope it may do better with otlier 

 deaf people. 



" god's kingdom coming--" 



UMITTING ITS FOOT DOWN ON DOPE CURES. 

 After years of litigation, the United States Su- 

 preme Court has at last decided that the traffic in 

 dope medicines and cure-alls is illegal, and must 

 hereafter be excluded from the mails and barred 

 from interstate commerce. Under this ruling, the 

 Shii'ley amendment to the Pure Food and Drugs 

 Act becomes operative, shutting out the whole fra- 

 ternity of quacks who for many years have been 

 growing rich at the expense of the credulous and 

 the simple. These conscienceless swindlers and 

 their worthless cures have been so often exposed 

 tliat tlie only remarkable thing about the case is that 



