AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



1T5 



could first perceive that another attack 

 was coming on, recovery from these 

 attacks has almost always been very 

 rapid. Let me describe my recovery 

 from my last attack, which had lasted 

 over three years : 



In the winter of 1891 I suffered from 

 grippe, complicated with other danger- 

 ous symptoms. Our change of residence 

 in Dayton, in April last, seemed to my 

 daughter, to give me considerable re- 

 lief, although I was not myself assured 

 that I was substantially better. In 

 walking to church on the morning of 

 April 17, 1 stopped for a moment to 

 notice the bees working on the fruit- 

 blossoms. If the worst of the attack 

 had not been over, instead of stopping I 

 should have given the bees a wide cir- 

 cuit to avoid the sight of them. The 

 next day I retired to my room after 

 breakfast, to get, if possible, more sleep. 

 In my diseased state my sleep is so poor 

 that I often spend at least twice as many 

 hours in bed as when well. (Had it oc- 

 curred to any of them to try the Moxa 

 cauterizing of my spine, by which Dr. 

 Brown-Sequard cured Senator Sumner, 

 it might have succeeded.) 



My mind became unusually active ; 

 my thoughts darted with great rapidity 

 from one subject to another, when, 

 almost instantaneously, the oppressive 

 burden of gloom seemed to be lifted 

 from me, and I cried out in joyful 

 ecstasy, " O blessed Father ! I shall be 

 well again." From long experience I 

 recognized the usual signs of a recovery, 

 which I might hope would last for half 

 a year, a whole year, or possibly a year 

 and a half. When this change comes, 

 an electrical thrill seems to pass through 

 my hands, extending itself to the very 

 tips of my fingers, just as though some- 

 thing like quicksilver were forcing itself 

 through them for an exit. At times this 

 sensation is so powerful as to be quite 

 painful. I never have these symptoms 

 except when I am free, or soon about to 

 be, from the head-trouble. 



And now begins a period of mental 

 activity and intense enjoyment. My 

 dear wife used to say, "Although you 

 have been a great sufferer at least half 

 of your life since I first knew you, yet 

 none of my acquaintances seems to have 

 got so much enjoyment out of life as 

 you ; for when you are happy, you are 

 so intensely happy." To this I at once 

 replied, " I could wish that this happi- 

 ness might be spread a little thinner, if 

 only it could thus be made to last a 

 little longer." 



My mind now seems to work with 

 almost lightning-like rapidity, and I feel 



as though I could keep many persons 

 busy, in merely writing out my thoughts. 

 Every one to whom I try to explain my- 

 self, or whom I ask to execute my direc- 

 tions, seems to catch my thoughts, or to 

 obey me, so slowly that with great diffi- 

 culty can I repress my impatience ; and 

 often I can hardly refrain from seizing 

 hold of them to push them into swifter 

 execution. In the night my brain is dis- 

 posed to work as it were double tides, 

 until I quite wear myself out. 



We read of intermittent springs which 

 discharge no water until they are full 

 enough for a syphon arrangement. 

 Then they gush forth and flow until en- 

 tirely empty, to remain quiescent until 

 they are full again. After long depres- 

 sion, seldom speaking unless personally 

 addressed, shutting myself up in my 

 room, I seem to act (Ps. 88:8. — J am 

 shut up ; I cannot come forth. No com- 

 mentator, so far as I know, seems to me 

 to have apprehended the full meaning 

 of these words. Only profound melan- 

 cholia can adequately interpret them) 

 as though I had been cheated out of my 

 legitimate amount of talk, and must 

 make up for lost time by uttering as 

 much in a few days as any reasonable 

 person ought to say in as many months. 



I am sensible that this exuberance is 

 often so great as to be oppressive to my 

 friends ; but I do not despair, although 

 over 81 years of age, of learning to con- 

 trol it better. Sometimes, however, it 

 seems to have its advantages ; for after 

 I have given scarcely a willing thought 

 to anything connected with bees, for a 

 year or more at a time, I have, in a very 

 short time, regained my position in the 

 mass of inventors, and often been able 

 to keep step with those who have been 

 forced to leave the ranks. 



Dayton, Ohio, July 4, 1892. 



Honey-Predictions and Foul Brood. 



SAM WILSON. 



On page 85, I notice that Mr. J. M. 

 Pratt says my predictions have failed in 

 his part of Kentucky. It has failed 

 there, as it has in almost every other 

 place, because bees could not get out to 

 gather the honey on account of the un- 

 favorable weather which has prevailed 

 over the entire country up to the date of 

 his letter. I only claim to know whether 

 flowers will contain nectar or not — T do 

 not claim to know anything about the 

 weather. Reports so far show that the 

 flowers have plenty of nectar, but the 



