The Savannah morning news., 1902-07-03
ITEMS of INTEREST.

The sentence asked for by the prose-
cution was three years penal servi-
tude.
A dispatch from Clinton, Iowa,
says: With vegetation luxuriant, hum.
dreds of thousands Of dollars worth of
bees in Iowa and Illinois are dying of
starvation. For three weeks rain has
fallen nearly every day, and has wash
ed the flowers and tree bloom of nee
tar and pollen on which the bees live
and secure their stores of honey. A
peculiar feature of the matter is that
none but adept bee raisers become
aware of the true state of affairs until
they find their bees lying dead by
thousands outside the hives. On inves-
tigation the hives are found to be en-
tirely destitute of honey. The ordinary
raiser sees his bees lying outside of the
hive apparently ready to swarm. This
is where he is deceived, for, in reality,
they are bees which have left their own
empty hive and are in front of a neigh
boris hive, seeking to rob it of its sup
plies. Bees are wise little creatures in
this time of famine, and it is found
they have killed all the drones, which
are honey consumers, and have de-
stroyed the queen cells thus preventing
an increase in numbers. So not only
does the bee raiser face. the calamity
OF no honey crop this season, but also
will have no increase by swarming. Ex-
perienced raisers are advising the feed
ing of the bees at once in order to save
the old ores. Men who have been in
the business for fifty years say this is
the most threatening disaster they
have experienced in their career as bee
raisers, and declare only immediate
action will prevent honey famine.
The most diligent of all the scien-
lists who have devoted their lives to
the bee-and this wonderful insect has
been more written about and studied
than any other member of the animal
Kingdom, with the single exception of
the egoist, man-haVe not been able
to fathom the mystery of the produc-
ton of the wax, of which the symmet-
rical walls are composed, nor to I'M
derstand the mental process by which
the little workers are able to perform
the mathematical wonder of the cells,
every advantage that could possibly be
desired with regard to the stability of
the structure and the strength of each
cell being procured by it's own forma-
ton and its position with reference to
the others, says Pearsons Magazine.
Reamur, who was particular interested
In this aspect of the extraordinary in
telllgence of the bee, gave problem
to Koenig, the celebrated German
mathematician: OF all possible the
hexagonal- cells with pyramidical base
composed of three equal rhombs, to find
the one whose construction would need
the least material. Koenig calculated
that the cell that had for it's base three
rhombs, whose large angle was 109 de-
grees and 26 minutes. and the small
70 degrees and 81 minutes, met the re-
quirements proposed. Then, at Rea-
mur's request, Maraldi, another emf
nent saVant, who was unaware what
were koenig's figures, measured as ex-
actly as possible the angle of the
rhombs constructed by the bees, and
found the larger to be 109 degrees and
rs minutes and the other 20 degrees
and 30 minutes. Maeterlinck says that
the error If there is one, should be
attributed to Maraldi rather than the
bees, since 1t is impossible to meas
ure the angles of the cells with abso-
lutte precision.
We heard doctor complain recent
ly, says the Philadelphia Medical
Journal, that one of his patients, in
order presumably to save his time,
sometimes called him up on the tele-
phone when she wanted him to give
advice about the baby. The good
dame would sit at the other end of the
wire, pencil in hand, and ask the un-
fortunate doctor to dictate his instruc-
tons While she took them down. This
continued until one day she asked him
to dictate his prescription. At this
he rebelled. He was willing to take
the babys temperature and pulse by
telephone, and even to inspect the
character of the objections; he was
even willing to tell all he knew about
babies in general and about that baby
rfjPnlar.
for a while to give the lady the full
benefit of a professional call and
charge 1t as an Office visit
but his conscience smote him when 1t
came to debating Latin prescription
by telephone and having the thrifty
minded housewife sign his name to it
before her own initials. Some physi-
clan should write a chapter on the
medical ethics of the telephone. We
would do it ourselves if we felt capa-
bic. There are two sides to the ques-
ton. The patient sometimes gets the
better of the doctor and saves a fee,
but the doctor sometimes gets the bet
Ter OF the patient and saves himself
q lot of trouble. 1t is obvious in eth
er case the patient should pay for it.
But the question arises, What should
ne pay? Is it an office visit or a house
visit? The advice is given in the Of
fce, but it is received in the house
rms is somewhat of metaphysical
quandary. Should a doctor charge an
office fee for giving advice that goes
straight to the patients bedside? On
the other hand, should a patient be
obliged to pay a house fee for advice
which a doctor gives sitting comforta-
bly, in his office? The problem is full
of difficulties. Perhaps it would be
best to call 1t half-an-half, and charge
accordingly
"A witty and somewhat irreverent
person, in writing on the Cheshire in
dustry said Man cannot live by bread
alone; he must have salt" Although
many treatiseS on dietetics deal with |
salt as if 1T were merely condiment,
says an exchange, it is universally rec
ognized to be something more. In
deed, 1t is an indispensable element |
of the food of man and animals A !
Well-known authority asserts that
whenever the annual consumption of
salt falls below twenty pounds per head |
of the population the public health is
likely to suffer. In regions of the
earth where salt Is a scarce article it
is regarded as a substance of great |
value. Salt starvation is, in it's way |
as distressing as thirst or hunger, al |
though it shows itself in a different
way. The want of salt" says the
Medical Press, from which we quote. |
docs not produce a definite disease |