Tht RURAL NEW-YORKER 
1581 
A Trip to the Hospital 
“Yes,” the doctor was saying in a 
casual and detached sort of way, “I 
think we had better fix you up right off. 
I wouldn’t advise letting things go any 
longer. Now let’s see; I could operate 
next Saturday. Stop at the hospital on 
your way home and see the superintend¬ 
ent about your room and special. Be on 
hand late Friday afternoon. Fine day, 
isn’t it?” 
As I walked out of the doctor’s office, 
the one thing of which I was certain 
was that I didn’t know whether the day 
was a fine one or not. I had just been 
sentenced to the electric chair, and the 
state of the weather didn’t somehow seem 
to he of any immediate concern. Yet here 
I am, a number of weeks later, feeling 
very much alive—a member in good 
standing of the famous and ever increas¬ 
ing O.U.’s—Operation Union. Those who 
do not belong to this mystic order are 
said to be awfully fed up on the never- 
changing conversation of those who do. 
An operation, major or minor, is good 
for 15 years of interesting talk and com¬ 
parisons between operatees. But let’s 
get down to the details. 
There are probably millions of men 
and women in this country who are in 
various stages of bad health, all for the 
need of a two or three weeks’ trip to the 
hospital and the healing knife of a sur¬ 
geon recognized as one of the best. It 
takes about all the nerve an average per¬ 
son possesses to make up his or her mind 
to a preventive operation. Yet if the 
preventive operation were indulged in 
when the need is first known, the mil¬ 
lions in this country who die every year 
from cancer, tumors, and the dozens of 
other diseases which the surgeon’s knife 
only can conquer so easily on the very 
start, would decrease in a startling man¬ 
ner. and the poor, putting-it-off victim 
would live to laugh and enjoy life for 
many added years to come. 
I was at the hospital on Friday after¬ 
noon at the appointed time, and went 
through the usual preliminaries at the 
hands of the nurse in preparation for 
the grand ceremonies next morning. 
When you know and make up your mind 
to do a thing—especially if you have 
known for some time previous that the 
evil hour must come some day—the aver¬ 
age person musters together all his thin 
sporting blood, his ragged ’and badly 
scared nerves, his faith in his doctor, his 
common sense, and if he be of a religious 
turn—implicit trust in God. You are 
glad that the time has come and will 
soon be over. You know exactly how the 
soldier felt when he made ready to go 
over the top. 
The next morning, just before nine 
o'clock, I was dressed in operating togs, 
which resemble nothing so much as a 
deep-sea diver’s outfit, and was wheeled 
into the operating room, where I climbed 
with well-simulated enthusiasm onto the 
operating table. The table was surround¬ 
ed by surgical nurses and the doctor 
giving the anaesthetic. The Chief Carver 
I didn’t observe. A cone-shaped thing 
was immediately pressed down over _ my 
eyes and nose and began that unique 
odor which one never forgets. No—I 
wasn’t afraid—I suppose my nerves were 
still obeying the inner command to hold 
forth at any cost, and be a sport to the 
bitter end. It seemed a long time before 
anything happened—they told me later 
that I was a glutton for this kind of 
ether punishment. I heard the doctor 
who was giving the stuff ask, “Who is 
this woman?” And as nobody replied, I 
told him my name. Then it seemed as 
though I wasn’t getting air—and I 
rather slowly told them so. All of a 
sudden my mind began to revolve just 
like a cart wheel. It seemed as though 
I couldn’t hang to my senses much 
longer. I pressed hard the nurse’s hand 
—some people .fight like maniacs as they 
go under—and as I felt oblivion coming 
on like a long, unfrightening tide, I men¬ 
tally or physically waved my conscious 
self “goodby.” for I could protect it no 
longer! The next thing I knew, I had 
waked up four hours later in my room, 
the interim a dreamless blank, and was 
gagging from the effects of the sickening 
ether. Everything was all over and per¬ 
fectly all right. Was I downhearted? 
Only physically. 
And that’s the whole experience in a 
nutshell. After you have been through 
the rather needless mental travail, the 
later physical suffering seems rather a 
poor second. For the first 24 hours, you 
are not allowed one drop of water, be¬ 
cause it makes one nauseated and there¬ 
fore racks and wrings the incisions. I 
had taken so much ether that I was 
simply burning up with it, and that long 
wait without water was one of the hard¬ 
est periods I ever experienced. If it 
hadn’t been for the cracked ice the nurse 
let me hold in my mouth. I should have 
suffered greater torment than I did. My 
nurse told me of one poor Polish woman 
who tried to bribe her to bring water 
during such a time. I can understand 
the feeling of explorers and travelers 
lost in the waterless desert. 
But everything has. an end. and at the 
expiration of my drinkless 24 hours, I 
was tendered half a glass of hot soda 
water which probably tasted the best 
of anything in this world. Every half- 
hour this drink was repeated. We—my 
mind and body—were out of the woods. 
One of the miracles of the modern hos¬ 
pital is—how one can feel so sick at 
first, and in a week be almost another 
person. The woman who can hang onto 
this thought when she is feeling so ut¬ 
terly down and out can't help but be a 
little cheered. 
Ten years ago the hospital was not 
considered in the maitter-of-faet light 
which it is today. Nor was it. equipped 
and run so that it deserved to be. We 
have come far in 10 years where scien¬ 
tific medicine and surgery is concerned, 
and that man or Avoman aaJio alloAvs old 
superstitions and ignorance to blind 
their eyes to what this institution is pre¬ 
pared to do for them will end by pay¬ 
ing with their lives in thousands of 
cases. 
Ten years ago, as short a time as this, 
educated and enlightened people were in¬ 
clined to hide their hurts as if something 
to be ashamed of—and they entered the 
grave instead of the hospital, or entered 
the hospital so late that it could not 
help them. Since then eA-ery paper, mag¬ 
azine, lecturer and health propaganda 
have united in exposing the dangers of 
letting those symptoms go Avhich mean 
danger. Every disease has been flooded 
with light, and we are shown that it can 
be helped. Only the putters-off take 
chances Avhen they finally give in, and in 
nine cases out of ten their lives are saved 
or at least prolonged. It doesn’t seem 
reasonable for anybody to deliberately 
ignore their body’s danger signals when 
by displaying ordinary nerve and cour¬ 
age, they could be spared to their families 
and friends for a natural lifetime. It 
Avould take more courage for me to court 
death in a certain period of time than 
to go to a hospital and there "have all 
uncertainties and pain cut aAvay for al¬ 
ways. 
If the expense is deterring you, when 
your doctor tells you that an operation 
is necessary, explain to him at once and 
frankly just how you are situated, and 
he will arrange for you to pay both his 
and the hospital’s bill on the installment 
plan, just as America has learned to buy 
so much of everything. After you have 
got your health back, you will be glad 
to take in Avashings if necessary to pay 
up. Not at first, of course, for strength 
is often slow in getting normal, but some 
time you are going to feel like a different 
man or Avoman—and you will bless the 
day you gathered all your courage to¬ 
gether and decided to have it out once 
for all AA'ith your health. America can 
Avell be proud of her efficient hospitals 
and their life-saving staffs. If Ave would 
all throw ourselves upon their wonderful 
skill Avhen we first know that our bodies 
are not running right, the wives and 
mothers especially who would be spared 
for long useful lives would make an 
army of living testimonials the like of 
which the world lias never seen as yet. 
If you need helping in a physical way, 
don’t say it with patent medicines if 
some good doctor has advised an opera¬ 
tion. I cannot tell you not to dread one, 
for the foolish mind is not so easily con¬ 
trolled, but the little purgatory a ner- 
A r ous and imaginative person goes 
through Avith before an operation does 
seem like crucifying oneself without 
rhyme or reason, after its all OA’er. The 
safest place in the Avorld is a hospital. 
It is equal to practically everything in 
the long line of human ailments. If 
these Avere Bible times, the staff of a hos¬ 
pital would be accused of performing 
miracles. And it does perform them. 
Personally, I Avould rather be mended up 
in one than play on a harp in the here¬ 
after at some rapidly approaching date, 
and belong to the honorable order of 
O.U.’s here on earth. Wouldn’t you? 
HELEN S. K. WILLOOEX. 
N. Y. Beekeepers Meet 
It is a wonder to me why so many bee¬ 
keepers of this State neglect to attend 
the NeAV York State convention Avhich is 
held every year on the second Tuesday 
in December at the College of Agricul¬ 
ture at Syracuse. I always figure that I 
learn enough new wrinkles about the 
care and management of bees to pay my 
expenses several times over, and besides 
it is an inspiration to get acquainted with 
beekeepers Avho number their colonies by 
the hundred and count their crop in tons. 
Most of these men have built their busi¬ 
ness from small beginnings, and have the 
real stuff in them. Anyone who is inter¬ 
ested in bees is welcomed to these meet¬ 
ings. Be sure to be there next year, and 
bring the ladies along, as I hear the of¬ 
ficers are planning to have more enter¬ 
taining features next season, and Avill not 
be all business. 
Mr. Jay Smith of Vincennes, Ind., 
gave us a wonderfully interesting and in¬ 
structive talk on queen rearing, and 
again called attention to the fact that if 
there is any one thing more important 
than the rest in beekeeping, it is to have 
the very best queens that we can secure. 
Although Mr. Smith raises thousands cf 
queens for sale, he advises every bee¬ 
keeper to learn to raise his own queens, 
as many seem to be more or less injured 
by being in the mail and are not apt to 
be quite as good as queens that do not 
have to endure the trip. lie used a mod¬ 
ification of the Doolittle method of queen 
rearing, using cells of his own make. He 
especially emphasizes the point that the 
colony that is to raise the cells must be 
fed liberally for at least five days before 
receiving the prepared cells, unless there 
is a quite heavy honey flow coming in at 
the time. Also he has found it best to 
spray some feed over the nuclei Avhen 
giving the cells. If they are given a lit¬ 
tle feed for a day or two very feAA r cells 
will be destroyed. There was some dis¬ 
cussion about breeding up a race of non- 
SAvarming bees, and some claim to have 
made quite a start in this direction. 
Mr. It. B. Willson, our State extension 
man, told us of the use of the formalin- 
alcohol treatment for American foul 
brood. This is knoAvn as the Ilutzleman 
solution, and is composed of SO per cent 
alcohol and 20 per cent formalin. This 
is apparently a successful Avay of disin¬ 
fecting combs which have been on col¬ 
onies affected with American foul brood. 
Before treating, all honey must be ex¬ 
tracted and every cell must be uncapped, 
so the solution can come in contact AV'th 
the inside of the cells; it is the formalin 
which does the work ; the alcohol is sim¬ 
ply the best and most penetrating carrier 
that has yet been found. The combs are 
to be immersed 4S hours, after Avhich the 
solution is thrown out with an extractor. 
The combs are now hung up to dry. after 
Avhich they are ready for use. 
There is such a great variation in the 
strength of formalin ; it is dangerous to 
try to make your OAvn solution. Combs 
can be treated for around 4 cents in 
large lots; smaller lots cost somewhat 
more, according to the number treated. 
Anyone Avho contemplates treating combs 
for this disease should correspond with 
R. B. Willson, Roberts Hall, Ithaca, N. 
Y. It is dangerous to attempt this Avork 
without minute directions. Mr. Willson 
has an outfit for demonstrating the use 
of this solution, and Avill go anywhere in 
the State Avhere there is a group of bee¬ 
keepers Avho need his services. 
Geo. II. Rea of the A. I. Root Com¬ 
pany gave us a very interesting address 
on the progress that is being made in bee 
culture. It is safe to say that this indus¬ 
try is keeping pace with any other agri¬ 
cultural pursuit. The discoverey of a 
method of treating American foul brood 
seems to be the most recent outstanding 
advance. More and more beekeepers seem 
to be wintering their bees on their Sum¬ 
mer stands. They are learning that with 
young queens, plenty of stores and heavy 
packing bees can be wintered successful¬ 
ly, even far up in Canada. Many xioav 
use a food chamber placed on top of the 
brood nest, to insure plenty of feed for 
Winter, and to last until fruit bloom. 
Many think a half-depth chamber better 
than a full hive body, as it takes too 
much heat to keep it warm. 
No set rule can be given for the tem¬ 
perature of a bee cellar, as it is found 
that the moisture in the cellar has a 
great effect. The proper temperature is 
that at which the bees are quiet, and may 
be anywhere from 42 to 57. 
Dr. Phillips, who now occupies the 
chair of apiculture at Cornell Univer¬ 
sity, told us of his investigations in find¬ 
ing the cause and cure of black brood, or 
European foul brood, while employed by 
the United States government. He car¬ 
ried on his investigations in many States 
and found many puzzling problems. He 
would find a very badly infested area, 
and perhaps a few miles away, and some¬ 
times right in the center, he would find 
places not affected. So in order to find 
the cause of this condition he wovdd make 
a chart of the area under investigation 
and put different colored tacks to indicate 
where the disease was causing the most 
trouble. In this way he discovered that 
where there was a heavy flow of honey 
very early in the season there was very 
little trouble. Also that healthy bees 
moved into an infected area would con¬ 
tract the disease, and when moved back 
the trouble would disappear. It was 
also found that with a food chamber add¬ 
ed to a colony, so there Avas sure to be an 
abundance of stores until fruit bloom, 
there was little trouble, even in the in¬ 
fected area. Where an area has once 
become infected the germs are ever pres¬ 
ent. To keep in check, see that every 
colony has a young, vigorous Italian 
queen and plenty of stores and heavy 
packing, if wintered on Summer stand. 
G. AV. B. 
Extracting- Honey 
I have three gallons of honey. Please 
advise me how I can separate the honey 
from the wax. F. A. H. 
Commack, N. Y. 
The old-fashioned way to separate the 
comb from the honey Avas to mash the 
comb Avitli a potato masher, or something 
like this, and then strain through a 
cheesecloth. Of course this was a very 
slow process, taking many days for the 
honey to drip out, and usually there 
would remain quite a lot of honey, still 
adhering to the comb. The improved 
method is to mash the combs, and put in 
a tin pail or sap bucket. Place it in a 
boiler of water on the stove, keep it 
stirred up until the honey is about the 
consistency of water, then pour into 
your cheesecloth bag, or strainer. In this 
way you will get most of your honey, 
and not have to wait a week for it. Of 
coure you cannot expect to get quite all 
of the honey unless you have some way 
of applying pressure. In using the heat 
method be very careful not to get it 
too hot. as the flavor of the honey might 
be injured. The temperature should not 
go above 160 degrees. o. av. b. 
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RURAL NEW-YORKER 
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