THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



Ill 



ground by Dr. Oppler (upper staff 

 pli3-sician) in Stiiisburg — a means 

 to be found in every liouse — in tlie 

 form of cofiee, roasted and pounded 

 to the finest dust. 



In the Deceml)er number of the 

 Deutschen MiUldr Arzlichen Zeit- 

 schrift, many observations have 

 been communicated about the ap- 

 plication and effect of coffee as " a 

 destroyer of putrefaction, " whicli 

 were made on objects easily subject 

 to putrefaction, such as blood, size, 

 and meat. 



In a small glass ten grammes of 

 blood were well shaken together 

 with one gramme of powdered 

 coffee, at a temperature of 60° 

 Fahr. ; after two days there was no 

 trace of putrid smell. 



Blood which had already become 

 putrid was shaken up with one 

 gramme of povvdered coffee in a 

 test-tube, lost its smell after half a 

 minute, and remained without smell 

 for one and a half days. 



Ten grammesof a solution of size, 

 which had already begun to smell 

 bad, with half a gramme of coffee, 

 well shaken together, lost its smell 

 in half a minute, and remained so 

 after twenty days, although the so- 

 lution was exposed in an open 

 glass to the oppi'essive heat of July . 



Twenty-five grammes of meat, 

 finely chopped, impregnated with 

 eleven grammesof povvdered coffee, 

 left uncovered, showed the same 

 result. 



Fifty grammes of meat kneaded 

 together with nine grammes of 

 powdered coffee, after three daj's 

 became perfectly dry, without any 

 trace of smell, so that it could be 

 rubbed to a powder, with a loss in 

 weight of 64 per cent. 



After it had been indisputably 

 proved that powdered cofiee pos- 

 sessed the power of preventing 

 putrefaction, and interiupting the 

 process where it had already set in, 

 the next thing was to try this pow- 

 der in the treatment of wounds. 



Two soldiers had got gaping 

 wounds from four to five centime- 

 tres long, penetrating even to the 

 periosteum of the bone of the skull, 

 from a fall from a flight of steps ; 

 one had begun to fester. In each 

 case after the finest powdered coffee 

 had been strewn over it, the wound 

 was dry and scabbed over on the 

 following day, and on the third day 

 the man was fit for duty. 



Similar splendid results have to 

 be recorded in the treatment of an- 

 imals with respect to the subduing of 

 bacteria. But bacteria, as is well 

 known, are the bearers of the germ 

 in the bee i)lague — foul brood. A 

 doubt that the beekeepers' terror 

 cannot be conquered by powdered 

 cofiee seems no longer admissible. 

 The advantages are apparent. The 

 means can be had everywhere, 

 cheap, easy to use, and in lai'ger 

 doses even it is harmless. In what 

 way the application of it will have 

 to follow, tlie experience of unfor- 

 tunate beekeepers will soon s^ow. 

 I, for my part, would strew or fill 

 suspected cells with powdered 

 coffee, in badly infected hives would 

 break down all brood-cells, which, 

 as they in any case would be com- 

 l)Ielely dried, would be easily 

 cleaned. Too large a dose could 

 scarcely hurt. A very important 

 advantage consists in the fact that 

 as the remedy is to be used dry, it 

 sucks up all dampness, and facili- 

 tates greatly the purification of the 

 hive by the bees themselves. Also, 

 as a preventive, an addition of 

 cofiee to the water for the bees to 

 drink must be well suited. I beg 

 you will take these words in the 

 way they are intended — as an in- 

 citement to attempt cures. The 

 remedy is so cheap, so simple, that 

 it would be inexcusable to subject 

 the poor little darlings to a fiery 

 deatli without having first tried it. 



Beekeepers ! Coffee as a des- 

 troyei' of putrefaction has attracted 

 the attention of the scientific 



