REMEDIES FOR 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 bo 
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 powerful 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; w If bees, when dead, are dried to powder, and gi^en ta 
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 meaus 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 tai* 
bee, under the name of aj)is % is a great honueopathic remedy. 
