-« V- ";*^r^.■^'^^■;!f?5^^'^?l" 



50 



NINTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE 



about thirty stings. I kept telling her 

 that she should keep off of that foot 

 as much as possible, especially while it 

 was swollen from the bee-stings, but 

 she did not do it; she played tennis 

 and the like, and did not favor her 

 ankle very much, but it helped her. I 

 asked her husband, after nearly every 

 treatment, how she felt, if the rheu- 

 matism ~ had disappeared any, and 

 they both felt that the circulation was 

 helped very much, and the ankle pained 

 a great deal less after being stung. 

 I believe that if she had continued the 

 treatment, and taken good care of the 

 ankle, as good care as she would have 

 done under a doctor's advice, she 

 would have been cured by this time: 

 at any rate, it helped her a great deail. 

 I am a believer in bee-stings for some 

 forms of rheumatism. 



Mr. Stone — I once had rheumatism in 

 the left elbow pretty bad. One day there 

 were a couple of bees lit on my 

 wrist, and stung me there. I watched 

 them while they pulled the stings out; 

 they keep on going further each vibra- 

 tion as they emptied out the poison. 

 My arm swelled clear to the elbow, and 

 the next day I could not see a bit of 

 difference; but when the swelling went 

 out, my rheumatism all went away. I 

 know that bee-stings cured that rheu- 

 matism. 



Mr. Bowen — Bee-stings may be good 

 for rheumatism, but I think good, 

 healthy exercise around the apiary is 

 better than bee-stings; you will then 

 probaWy forget about your rheumatism. 

 Whether or not there is anything in a 

 bee-sting. I know that one day 

 I went to one of my out apiaries, 

 and I overlooked a space in one 

 end of the hive, and the bees 

 came rushing out and made a 

 strike at my .old horse; he had 

 quite a stiff knee and was lame, but 

 after he had been stung he made a dash 

 around there, and I believe if a strang- 

 er came along about that time I could 

 have sold him for a three-year-old; it 

 cured him all right. 



Mr. Crim — Since you have begun to 

 give experiences, I will give you one. 

 About thirty-three years ago I was a 

 blacksmith by trade, worked in the 

 shop, ' and I 'had rheumatism in my 

 elbow and in my hips; sometimes I 

 would have to lie down for a while, it 

 was so bad. It was in the month of 

 June — the weather was pretty warm — 



one Sundiay morning I dressed for 

 church, and the boys came in from the 

 field and said they had found a swarm 

 of bees on the fence-post in the pasture. 

 I had an empty hive, so I carried it out, 

 took some water, took a broom to shake 

 the bees down on a sheet. I fixed ev- 

 erything ready and went out: there, and 

 I got the bees all over my neck, face 

 and eyes; they got all over me and 

 stung me everywhere. It smarted for 

 a while, but never swelled a bit; I 

 went to church afterwards; the bees 

 went into the hive; but I tell you I 

 have not had rheumatism since. 



There was a neighbor of mine, about 

 three years ago, and I was telling him 

 about it. He saidi he had rheumatism 

 so bad and wanted me to treat him 

 with bee-stings. I got two bees one 

 Sunday morning, early, and stung him 

 on the arm. He came the next Sunday 

 morning and I let him have four stings, 

 and every Sunday morning after that 

 he came until he had sixteen stings at 

 one time. The next Sunday morning 

 he did not come, and I never heard him 

 complain any more about rheumatism. 



Mr. Dadamt — This matter of the bee- 

 sting helping rheumatism, I don't be- 

 lieve we can deny that it has; there 

 are many testimonials asserting that 

 bee-stings cure rheumatism, or that 

 they have helped it, at any rate, but I 

 think there is one thing we have over- 

 looked; the same medicine does not 

 act the same on every person. I can 

 call to your mind an instance you will 

 all recognize; with one man, in- 

 toxicants in the smallest dose will 

 act on him in such a way as to 

 make him drunk; while another 

 can stand large' quantities; it is the 

 same with a bee-sting; one man will 

 swell all over with one bite, while on 

 another it will take twenty or thirty 

 to do the same thing. You can have 

 bee-stings on certain parts of the hand 

 and you will not feel it. I believe, too, 

 it is necessary to have active stings; 

 stings that will go into the blood, be- 

 fore you can ever be cured. Of course, 

 the man that can endure a great many 

 stings, it will take more stings to cure 

 him from rheumatism than others. 

 Some medicines are absolutely inert on 

 some men, while they act strangely on 

 others. Some people will take a small 

 dose of sulphate of quinine and become 

 dizzy, while others can take double 

 the quantity and not feel it. Although 



