The Use of Bee Products in Curing Alcoholism

Here is an article from the archives at the
Historical Honeybee Articles site, which claims 
bees stings cure inebriety.  Articles portraying
bees and alcohol, or the 'work ethics of bees 
as a moral model for society to follow' were 
common during the temperance movement.

American Bee Journal
February 1916 Page 62

Stings Curing Inebriety (?)— It has
long been known that bee-stings are of
great value in the treatment of rheumatism.
The poison which a bee injects
into your body when it stings
you not only relieves the rheumatic
pains and swellings, but makes a person
more or less immune to further
trouble from the disease.

This result is due, it is believed, to
the formic acid which is found in large
quantities in the bee's venom. Formic
acid, as has been shown by experiments
with hundreds of cases, is the best of
antidotes for the poisons in the system
which stiffen the joints and muscles
with rheumatism.

Now it has been discovered that beestings
are as effective a cure for inebriety
as for rheumatism. This important
discovery was made quite by accident
in a London hospital.

Five men were being treated for
chronic rheumatism. Four of them
had been hard drinkers for years, and
one of them was a confirmed drunkard.

Bee-stings were applied to them, and
the rheumatic condition promptly subsided.
When they were finally discharged
they found that the treatment
had done more than cure rheumatism-
it had destroyed their taste for alcohol.
Even the sight of a drink nauseated
them, and since leaving the hospital
several months ago, not one has
touched liquor.

The hospital physicians, who were as
greatly astonished at this unexpected
result as their patients, have set on
foot a widespread investigation into the
effects of bee-stings on drunkards, to
see whether they are an infallible cure
for inebriety.

Facts already brought to light show
that an intoxicated person is quickly
sobered by a bee's sting, and that
drinking men who take up work among
bees, where they are frequently stung,
soon lose their old craving for alcohol.
— " Freeman's Journal."
— Australasian Beekeeper.

Best Wishes,
Joe Waggle
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/HistoricalHoneybeeArticles/

             ***********************************************
The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software.  For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html

Guidelines for posting to BEE-L can be found at:
http://honeybeeworld.com/bee-l/guidelines.htm