Apis Mellifica; or, The Poison of the Honey-Bee, Considered as a Therapeutic Agent

by C. W. Wolf

But if the disease sets in with a considerable degree of intensity at the very outset, and the fever continues without abatement, it is advisable to keep up a medicinal impression by repeating the dose. To this end we dissolve a globule of Apis 30, in seven dessert-spoonfuls of water, by shaking the solution vigorously in a corked vial, and giving a dessert-spoonful every three, six, or twelve hours as the case may require. In all ordinary cases a single solution of this kind sufficed to subdue the fever and to secure a favorable termination of the disease.

The struggle between disease and medicine assumes a far different form, if the morbific poison has penetrated the organism more deeply; if a process of disorganization has already developed itself in the intestinal mucous membrane, and if the alteration of the sanguineous fluid, which is an inherent accompaniment of such a disorganizing process, has depressed the nervous activity to such a degree that typhus, or paralysis of the brain or lungs seems unavoidable, as may be inferred from the bright-red tongue, which is thickly studded with eruptive vesicles, and speedily becomes excoriated, fissured and covered with aphthæ; by a copious discharge of thick, white, bloody and fetid mucus from the nose; by the swelling and induration of the parotid glands, increasing difficulty of deglutition; sensitiveness of the abdomen to pressure; badly-colored, slimy, bloody diarrhœa; scanty emissions of turbid, red, painful urine; accelerated and labored breathing; loss of consciousness; delirium; sopor; convulsions; trembling of the limbs; appearance as if the patient were lying in his bed in a state of fainting; the skin is at times burning, hot and dry; at others it feels like parchment, cooler; at others again, hot and cool together in spots; the fever increases with changing pulse, and is more constant; in short, all the symptoms, although developing themselves less rapidly, show that a fatal termination becomes more and more probable. In such a case it is above all things necessary to saturate the organism with Apis. If there is much fever, this result is best accomplished by means of alternate doses of Aconite and Apis, a few drops of the third potency, shaken together with twelve tablespoonfuls of water, each drug by itself, the dose to be repeated every hour; and if the temperature is rather depressed, by giving Apis without the Aconite, a tablespoonful every hour or two hours. In favorable cases the fever becomes more remittent within one to three days; a moderate and pleasant perspiration breaks out all over the skin; the sleep becomes calm and natural, and the typhoid symptoms abate. If this change takes place, it is proper to exhibit Apis in a more dynamic form, in order to assimilate it more harmoniously to the newly awakened reactive power of the organism. To this end we dissolve a few globules of Apis 30 in seven dessert-spoonfuls of water, giving a dessert-spoonful morning and evening, and we continue this treatment, until the symptoms of typhoid angina have gradually abated, the tongue has been healed, the normal desire for food has returned, and the digestive functions go on regularly; after which the natural reaction of the organism, assisted by careful diet, will be found sufficient to complete the cure. If no improvement sets in after Apis has been used for three days, we may rest assured that a psoric miasm is in the way of a cure, which requires to be combated with some anti-psoric remedy. I have generally found Kali carbonicum efficient, of which I gave one globule thirty on the fourth day of the treatment, permitting it to act uninterruptedly from one to three days, according as the disease was more or less acute, after which I again exhibited Apis in the manner previously indicated. In this way I succeeded in developing the curative powers of Apis, so that in a few days a gradual improvement, however slight, became perceptible to the careful observer. As soon as the improvement is well marked, all repetition of the medicine should cease, and the natural reaction of the organism should be permitted to complete the cure. Any one who is acquainted with the action of the Kali, must know that it continues without being interrupted by Apis. An invaluable blessing of Nature!

This proceeding is crowned with the desired results; the convalescence is shorter and easier, and there is less danger of serious sequelæ, which, according to all experience, are so common in complicated cases of scarlatina, otorrhœa and suppuration of the parotid glands are generally avoided under this treatment without any other aid, or, if it is impossible to avert such changes, they generally come to a speedy and safe end. This treatment likewise keeps off dropsy and its dangers.

In cases where the secretion of black urine shows that the liver is deeply involved in the disease, Apis is powerless. These are the only exceptions to the curative power of this drug. Here we are told by our law of cure, that the sphere of Lachesis commences. We give one or two globules of Lachesis 30 in seven dessert-spoonfuls of water, a dessert-spoonful every twelve hours, and in acute cases every three hours; and the good effects of the medicine must seem miraculous to one who is not accustomed to this mode of treating diseases. Already in a few hours the patient becomes tranquil, showing that the process of disorganization has been arrested; the improvement continues from hour to hour; the sleep becomes more tranquil; the cutaneous secretions, and those of the bowels and kidneys, become more active; after the lapse of one, or at most two days, the urine begins to look clearer and lighter-colored, and in about three days a return of the natural color of the urine shows that the functions of the liver are restored to their normal standard; the patient is able to do without any further medical treatment, and the natural reaction of the vital forces will be found sufficient to effect a cure.

If I have not mentioned the affections of the kidneys, which may be present in this disease, it is because I have become satisfied by years of experience, that they constitute secondary affections in scarlatina, and that we should commit a great error if we would draw conclusions regarding this point from post-mortem phenomena.

Nobody who has observed the resemblance, at any rate, during the present epidemic, between

RUBEOLA

and scarlet-fever, will deny that the remarks which we have offered concerning this latter disease, likewise apply to rubeola. In

MEASLES,

likewise, Apis will prove a curative agent.