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AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



his voluminous article on pages 822 to 

 826 inclusive, I learned that he has 

 changed his " do not believe," to teach- 

 ing that foul brood is a germ disease, 

 and admits that it originates from rotting 

 dead brood, thus teaching just the same 

 doctrine I did in 1882. 



There were at that time others who 

 disputed my claim but they are not 

 worthy of mention. Mr. Jones fancies 

 that the honey becomes charged with 

 foul brood virus, the microbes ; but, if he 

 will investigate, he may learn that 

 microbes do not feed on or exist in honey. 

 Indeed, honey is a good antiseptic, and 

 is used as such. In fact, honey possesses 

 preservative qualities — not equal to bee- 

 sting virus, but so long as a colony of bees 

 remains large and honey is being gath- 

 ered, they are able and do, hold out 

 pretty successfully, against the disease. 



Bee-sting poison is powerfully anti- 

 septic ; hence its reputation for curing 

 so-called rheumatism. 



The idea of bees eating germs (putrid 

 rot, in honey) ! If bees swallow germs, 

 would the scamps remain in the " abdo- 

 men " as long as Jonah did in the fish, 

 and come out all right ? If bees ever 

 swallowed such foul stuff as rotten brood, 

 I would not eat honey. The only way 

 foul brood virus can be transmitted by 

 bees, is by being carried on their feet or 

 other parts. I venture the assertion 

 that more apiaries have had foul brood 

 originate in one or more of the colonies, 

 than the apiaries that have been attacked 

 from the contagion. 



When bee-keepers practice freeing 

 all of their colonies of dead brood that 

 might ferment, foul brood will be a thing 

 of the past. Very few, if any, who have 

 not allowed brood to ferment and rot in 

 the hive, have seen the disease. 



The case related by Mr. Jones of 10 or 

 15 colonies caught in the flood, and the 

 brood was drowned — the weather was 

 warm and the combs were wet, and con- 

 tinued in this condition during a period 

 that allowed the fermentative process to 

 decompose the tissues to a state of 

 rottenness — and a mass of animate 

 matter-germs emanated from the brood 

 organisms. Such is one of the changes of 

 organic matter, which are just as certain 

 as that starch contains the elements of 

 sugar, which are convertible into alcohol, 

 and thence into ether, and so on ! 



One of the ways to produce alcohol is 

 to " plant corn " and produce starch first, 

 but you cannot get any corn to plant, 

 other than such that first grew sponta- 

 neously. 



Mr. Jones is quite right in believing 

 that "some diseases arise de novo, or 



spontaneous." There is no disease that 

 flesh is heir to, other than such as have 

 originated in the flesh. It is not possible 

 to be otherwise in the order of nature. 

 We are subject to ills from accidental 

 causes, such as poisoning, bites by 

 reptiles, hydrophobia, etc. It is known 

 that rabies appear spontaneously in 

 animals of the canine genus, and it has 

 been reported that hydrophobia occurred 

 spontaneously in man ; certain it is that 

 incipient symptoms are not uncommon. 



Medical scientists are aware that some- 

 times the most contagious diseases 

 appear in subjects who have certainly 

 not been exposed to the contagion. 



Since I first mooted the doctrine that 

 foul brood is a germ disease, in 1882, 

 Mr. Cheshire, of England, has taken the 

 subject for a theme, and speaks of it 

 extensively. He fain would have readers 

 infer that he is the original discoverer of 

 the germs, or the fact that foul brood is 

 a germ disease, and he assumes to coin a 

 name ''hacillus alvei" for the special 

 kind of germs which are the exciting 

 cause of foul brood. 



Mr. Cheshire does not stop to refer to 

 any authority, many times when he is 

 wholly indebted to others for matter 

 that he records. He does not, as I have 

 read his writings, attempt to deal with 

 the problem of the origin of foul brood, 

 but treats that point of the matter as 

 though foul brood came from heaven. 



Lo ! the poor Indians are not the only 

 mortals who dream of a far-away spirit- 

 country. Why look far off for what is 

 within view ? Each and every bee-brood 

 grub can be made to develop foul-brood 

 virus spontaneously. How do I know ? 

 Because I have proved the fact by test- 

 ing. Go thou and do likewise. "Prove 

 all things." 



My plan of dealing with cases of foul 

 brood is to remove the bees from the 

 infected hive, and put them into a pre- 

 pared hive. I prepare hives for such 

 use, by washing the interior, frames 

 and all, with some antiseptic. Chloride 

 of Sodium (salt) is a powerful anti- 

 septic, and strong brine will "fix" 

 every thing it nears, so that germs 

 cannot do business on it. If there 

 be enough healthy brood in the colony 

 from which it was removed, to bother 

 with, I amputate the affected parts and 

 wet the brood-combs, (all of the combs in 

 the hive,) with some efficient disenfectant 

 or antiseptic, and the work is done ! I 

 have found more difficult troubles to 

 contend with, in my more than 50 years' 

 experience in bee-keeping, than in foul 

 brood. 



Richford, N. Y., Dec. 22, 1890 



