====== BOSTON ACADEMY OF HOMOEOPATHIC MEDICINE.====== {{anchor:s2}}Jan. 10, 1859. Apis mellifica being the subject for discussion, the President commenced by remarking that, a few years ago he took an oz. of the tincture of the whole bee, commencing with 10 and Increasing to 30 drops at a dose. {{anchor:s3}}His only symptoms were burning and constriction of the throat, increased flow of urine, and great aggravation of a long, standing. gastralgia, (15 years.) Since this proving he has not had an attack, while previously he used to have it 2 or 3 times daily-had used it successfully; in linea capitis, anasarca, intermittent fever, angina and other diseases; had also known it produce miscarriage He thought that the tincture was worthless after standing 6 months, the alcohol completely neutralizing the poison. {{anchor:s4}}DR. GEIST said he thought this did not hold good in the case of attenuations, as he had used the 30th (made several years) with very good effect. {{anchor:s5}}DR. WOODBURY read a letter, detailing a case of general anasarca cured by Apis. {{anchor:s6}}DR. McFARLAND spoke of its topical application for mosquito bites, and small pimples on the face; acting in these cases like a charm. {{anchor:s7}}DR. GREGG: that considering the well known fact of the antidotal effect of alcohol on animal poisons, he had always felt that they should be prepared in some other manner. {{anchor:s8}}On motion of DR. TALBOT, it was voted that the President be requested to report on the best method of preparing Apis for medical purposes. {{anchor:s9}}Several gentlemen spoke of the symptoms produced by the sting of the bee. {{anchor:s10}}Dr. Talbot said it would be a question well worthy of discussion, how far the symptoms produced in this way were pathogenetic and therefore reliable as internal curatives. {{anchor:s11}}On motion of DR. McFARLAND, it was voted that the Secretary furnish the Editors of THE AMERICAN HOMOEOPATHIC REVIEW a copy of the letter read by Dr. Woodbury. {{anchor:s12}}DR. WOODBURY, {{anchor:s13}}DEAR SIR:-You ask about the symptoms, treatment and cure of my dropsy-I will give it you as fully as I can; not being a medical man you must not expect it to be very scientific. {{anchor:s14}}In the early part of April last, (1858) I took a severe cold while engaged in making maple sugar in the woods, and in the course of a day or two I found myself suddenly growing very stout, so that my clothes would not go on, in fact in two weeks I had not a single garment that I could wear, except a shirt, and I filled that very full. {{anchor:s15}}There was water every where except where it ought to be, and there it was almost entirely wanting, for in three days I passed no more than a 6 oz. vial full of urine, and this state of things continued more than three months : but everywhere else I was full of water, it was round my head, in my eyelids which hung down like sacks of water or a blister, in my cheeks, around my neck, in the chest, so the Doctors said-I could not lie down at all for six weeks, and my breathing was a constant labor, till finally it became a constant pant and nothing more-in my bowels, for I girthed as much as a small ox, in my legs and feet which were so unwieldy that I could scarcely raise them from the floor, and the former burst open in many places discharging a great deal of water in that way; my hands and arms were also in the same condition; in short I expected to die, and this opinion was strengthened by the assurance of my physicians that this would soon be the case. {{anchor:s16}}As to the treatment, I took with heroic fortitude every thing they ordered, black spirits and white, blue spirits and grey, bitter, sour, sweet, puckery or nauseous, but all to no purpose; as a last resort they proposed tapping, but when in reply to my inquiry, as to what good that would do; they said it might prolong my life a few weeks and nothing more. {{anchor:s17}}I turned them all out of doors together, Allopathic, Homoeopathic and Botanic, and for a few days gave poor old nature a little rest; but the infernal dropsy was fast getting the better of her, when a lady who has traveled much at the South and West, called on me and told me that she had heard the honey bee spoken of as a remedy in this disease, and had in fact seen a lad who had been cured by its use. {{anchor:s18}}I at once determined to try it, though I knew nothing of its preparation I concluded that whatever virtue it might possess I could soak it out of him, so I pursued this course: I caught a working bee in the morning, put him in a 2 oz. vial and shook him till he was fully enraged, then I filled it with gin and let it stand in the sun till noon, when I drank it, then prepared another for night, and then one for morning and so on taking three a day. {{anchor:s19}}Now for the result; for the first 3 days I could see no effect, after that I began to pass more urine, and it increased until I passed more than two gallons in a single night. {{anchor:s20}}In addition to this I was taken with a watery diarrhea, which passed off a large quantity of water, so that in three weeks my skin hung on my bones like a ready-made coat on a countryman. {{anchor:s21}}In a few weeks I could walk a mile and began to do a little work, which I have continued to increase up to the present time. {{anchor:s22}}I can now breath as well as ever, and lie in my bed again like a Christian. {{anchor:s23}}I took the bees about eight weeks in all; for one week I took drone bees, but in that time I did not progress at all. {{anchor:s24}}From this I conclude it is the virus of the sting that does the core, the drone bee has no sting. {{anchor:s25}}I am 58 years old, my usual weight is 160 lbs., never was sick before; I do not know how much I weighed when I was the worst, I tipped the largest pair of steelyards in this neighborhood, and they weigh 220. {{anchor:s26}}I know nothing of the chemical analysis of my urine when I was sick, but it was the color of strong lye from wood ashes and would float an egg. {{anchor:s27}}I had taken gin regularly before I took it with the bees but without any effect. {{anchor:s28}}H L. CHASE, Secretary. ---- ====== DOCUMENT DESCRIPTOR ====== ^ Source: | The AMERICAN HOMOEOPATHIC REVIEW Vol. 01 No. 05, 1859, pages 235-237 | ^ Description: | Transactions of BOSTON ACADEMY OF HOMOEOPATHIC MEDICINE; Dropsy cured by Apis. | ^ Remedies: | Apis mellifera | ^ Author: | BostonAHM | ^ Year: | 1859 | ^ Editing: | errors only; interlinks; formatting | ^ Attribution: | Legatum Homeopathicum |