REMEDIES FOE THE STING OF A BEE. 315 



to swell again. As most of the popular remedies are 

 rubbed in, they are worse than nothing. 



If the mouth is applied to the wound, unpleasant conse- 

 quences may follow ; for, while the poison of snakes, 

 affecting only the circulating system, may be swallowed 

 with impunity, the poison of the bee acts with great power 

 on the organs of digestion. Distressing headaches are 

 often produced by it, as any one who has been stung or 

 has tasted the poison, very well knows.* 



Mr. Wagner says : " The juice of the ripe berry of the 

 common coral honeysuckle (Lonicera caprifolium) is the 

 best remedy I have ever used for the sting of bees, wasps, 

 hornets, &c. The berries or the expressed juice may be 

 preserved in a bottle well closed, and will keep their 

 efficacy more than a year." 



The milky juice of the white poppy is highly recom- 

 mended. An old German writer states that it will instan- 

 taneously allay the pain and prevent swelling. 



Others recommend the juice of tobacco as a sovereign 

 panacea. Relief has unquestionably been found, by 

 different persons, from each of these remedies, and there 

 is as little reason to expect that one remedy will answer 

 for all, as that the same disease can always be cured by 

 the same medicines. 



In my own case, I have found cold water to be the best 

 remedy for a bee-sting. The poison being very volatile, 

 is quickly dissolved in it; and the coldness of the water 

 has also a powei-ful tendency to check inflammation. 



The leaves of the plantain, crushed and applied to the 

 wound, are a very good substitute when water cannot at 



* An old writer says ; " If bees, when dead, are dried to powder, and given t3 

 either man or beast, this medicine will often give immediate ease in the most 

 excruciating pain, and remove a stoppage in the body when all other means have 

 failed." A tea made by pouring boiling water upon bees has recently been pre- 

 scribed, by high medical authority, for violent strangury ; while the poison of the 

 bee, under the name of apix, is a great homwopathic remedy. 



