Apis Anhang 2
[Frans Vermeulen]
A bee is never as busy as it seems; it's just that it can't buzz any
slower.
[Kin Hubbard]
The order includes the best known of the social insects - ants and some
species of bees and wasps. Bees and ants are derived evolutionarily from two
different lineages of wasps. Bees have given up the carnivorous lifestyle of
their wasp ancestors and gather protein from flowers as pollen.
The Hymenoptera are the principal insect pollinators of flowering
plants, to the extent that many plants cannot reproduce without the helpful
intervention of an insect species belonging to this order. They are abundant in
most habitats, in particular in tropical and subtropical regions. In the U.S.
bees pollinate more than 100 different agricultural crops worth about ten
billion dollars. Another phenomenon of perhaps even greater ecological
significance in the order Hymenoptera, is that of parasitism. Hymenoptera, the
most prevalent and successful of insect parasites, exert a profound control
over populations of other insects and certain other arthropods-groups that
might otherwise overpopulate.
Apis mellifica
Honeybees live in colonies of thousands of individual bees working
co-operatively to maintain the integrity of the hive and to ensure the survival
of the next generation of bees. A strong colony will amount to between 40.000
and 70.000 adults. All honeybees are social insects.
All larvae are fed royal jelly as well, but only for a short period.
Only the future queens are fed royal jelly. When fully grown, the larvae
transform into pupae.
1. Queen: emerge in 16 days/become queen because she is fed royal
jelly/are continued on the diet of royal jelly/a substance produced by the
salivary glands of the workers; thus, queen bees are made rather than
born/larger than the worker bees/have smaller brains than workers, but their
ovaries are enormous in comparison/lays eggs and are fertilized with the
drones' sperm and develop into females. Yet little respect is paid to the queen
once she has emerged. Only when she is ready for her life of egg laying (after
the mating flight) her royalty is fully acknowledged by all. p into males.
Worker bees have undeveloped ovaries, or rather the development of their
ovaries is inhibited by queen substance, a substance secreted in the mandibular glands of a queen bee. The quantity of this
substance greatly increases at the time of her mating and gets distributed over
the whole surface of her body during grooming. Workers crave this substance and
eagerly seek absorption of it by physical contact with the newly mated queen.
But, if the inhibition ceases, for example when the queen dies, the workers
panic and rush about madly. Setting up a strange sound known as "queenless roaring", the disturbance within the hive is
heightened and the workers inform each other about the loss by means of scent
dispersion. They immediately set about rearing a new queen from any larva she
may have left in a worker cell. Some of the workers may start laying eggs themselves,
but they will be capable only of laying unfertilized eggs, hatching only
drones. If no new queen is reared, the colony will probably die. After
emerging, the queens fight among themselves until only one remains in the hive.
She then attacks the old queen, who leaves the nest with a swarm to form a new
colony
2. Worker bees: emerge in three weeks/are sterile females/carefully look
after the inmates of royal cells. Workers lay unfertile eggs and develop into
males. Worker bees have undeveloped ovaries, or rather the development of their
ovaries is inhibited by queen substance, a substance secreted in the mandibular glands of a queen bee. Honeybees collect nectar
and convert it into honey. They also collect pollen, which provides the
essential proteins necessary for the rearing of young bees, and propolis, a resinous material from buds of trees. Propolis, also called bee glue, is used for sealing cracks
in the hive or for covering foreign objects in the hive that can't be removed.
Water is also used to dilute the honey when they consume it.
3. Drones: emerge several days after the workers/are stingless.
Honeybees take great care to cool the air when it becomes too hot. Tiny
droplets of water are brought to the top of the hive, where a group of worker
bees are fanning ceaselessly with their wings to evaporate the water. "The
bees maintain a uniform temperature of about 34° C in the broodnest
regardless of outside temperature. The colony can survive daily maximum
temperatures of 49° C if water is available with which they can air-condition
the cluster.
When the temperature falls below 14° C the bees cease flying, form a
tight cluster to conserve heat, and await the return of warm weather. They can
survive for several weeks in temperatures of -46° C." During winter,
worker bees combine their individual heat-producing abilities to regulate the
temperature of the brood. They cluster in the area of the hive where the brood
is located and adjust their joint metabolic heat production and density of
clustering so that the brood temperature remains remarkably constant, at about
34° C, even as outside air temperature drops below freezing.
Honeybees have developed elaborate social structures to divide the many
tasks among the worker bees. These tasks are divided in an age-based fashion;
tasks are performed in a specific sequence.
The youngest worker bees clean out brood-cells for about three days for
reception of the queen's eggs.
Then they are nurses to the brood for several days.
The worker bees feed the larvae a highly proteinacous
substance from glands at the front of their heads.
From days 10 to 20, the bees engage in building activities and pollen
storage and reception.
Around day 20, the bees stand guard at the hive entrance,
After a few days they become foragers. They remain foragers until they
die.
Research has shown that there is a correspondence between the
age-related tasks and the levels of juvenile hormone [JH]. JH lowers the
behavioural threshold to many task-related stimuli. Young bees raised in the absence
of older foragers will begin to forage precociously. Young bees raised in
isolation show increased levels of JH and the tendency to engage in foraging
activity. This suggests that JH plays a role in controlling the onset of
age-related task performance. The presence of older bees in a hive may inhibit
the production of JH in young bees, thus preventing them from engaging in
activities normally performed by older bees. As the older bees die, younger
bees receive less inhibition and thus have increased levels of JH, promoting
behavioural patterns appropriate for older bees.
Bees work according to a tight schedule. Their body clock accurately
times their arrival at flowers, allowing them to visit different plants at
pre-set times of the day. In turn, the blooms are ready, using their own
internal clocks to trigger the release of nectar or open petals in welcome. By
dividing the day up between them, flowers avoid competing for the bees'
attention.
The world of bees is mainly governed by smell. Unwelcome visitors at the
entrance of the hive are stopped by guard bees, which waft out a fruity aroma.
This aroma drives the hive into a frenzy and the bees pour out in a drunken
fury, destroying the intruders. Experiments demonstrate that bees react to
odours. "Sugar water is placed in small boxes, and, after bees have found
them and are making trips to and from the hive, the box is replaced by one just
like it, also containing sugar water, but sprinkled inside with flower extract.
After the bees have made sufficient trips to get used to the scent, several new
unscented boxes are placed beside a new scented one. When the bees return for
more sugar, they buzz about the openings of the boxes but finally go inside the
scented one. Further, when they are trained to go to one odour - say rose -
they will not go to another, such as lavender. That the sense organs are on the
antennas is shown by removing parts or all of the antennas from bees trained to
certain scented boxes. When the last eight segments are removed from each
antenna, the bees cannot distinguish odours. That this result is not due to the
shock of the operation
is proved by a control experiment in which some bees are first trained
to visit blue boxes for sugar water. Then their antennas are removed, and it is
found that they still return to the correct boxes."
Bees communicate with each other by means of scent dispersion and
through the medium of dance. Foragers or scouts return to the hive with
information about the sources of food [flowers].
A "round" dance is performed if the source of food is
relatively close to the hive. If the distance is greater, a "waggle"
dance is performed, consisting of a figure of 8 with a straight run between the
loops. The provided information includes the type of the source of food,
particularly its quality [the higher the quality, the more intense the dance is
performed], and their distance and direction from the hive. New food
discoveries are only reported when the colony needs additional food sources,
when the new source's distance from the hive is not too great, and when it
concerns good quality and adequate quantities. "The most far-reaching
research, and research that promises to join mathematics and biology, has been
conducted by a mathematician at the University of Rochester, Barbara Shipman.
She has described all the different forms of the honeybee dance using a single
coherent mathematical or geometric structure [flag manifold]. And
interestingly, this structure is also the one that is used in the geometry of
quarks, those tiny building blocks of protons and neutrons. From this and
technical evidence too complex to present for our purposes, Shipman speculates
that the bees are sensitive to or interacting with quantum fields of quarks.
Researchers have already established that bees are sensitive to the planet's
magnetic field, but they have always attributed it to the presence of a mineral
in the bee's abdomen. Shipman's research indicates that the bees perceive these
fields through some kind of quantum mechanical interaction between the quantum
fields and the atoms in the membranes in certain cells. Shipman says simply,
'The mathematics implies that bees are doing something with quarks.' If Shipman
is correct and bees can 'touch' the quantum world of quarks [without 'breaking'
it as we do when we try to detect a quark], scientists say it would
revolutionize biology, and physicists would have to reinterpret quantum
mechanics as well."
"Bees have three colour receptors to give them full-colour vision,
but they see the world differently. One of their receptors is sensitive to
ultraviolet [UV] light - a wavelength that we simply cannot see - and, in turn,
bees cannot see red; to them it would appear black. In effect the whole of
their vision is shifted away from the red end of the spectrum towards
ultraviolet, giving them a totally different perception of colour. If we were
to perceive the world as bees do, as well as seeing the eerie glow of
ultraviolet light, we would find that familiar colours such as purple were
replaced by the baffling mix of ultraviolet and yellow known as 'bee's purple'.
Overlaying many of these colours would be patterns that had previously been
invisible. Flowers would reveal strange markings and the sky would display
concentric patterns. We humans cannot see the ultraviolet waves that make these
signals visible, but many creatures do peer into this hidden world. ... Because
many insects see ultraviolet, flowers use secret markings in this colour to
attract insect pollinators. Floral decorations, invisible to human eyes, guide
insects such as butterflies and bees to the nectar and pollen at the centre of
the flower." Colour vision can be demonstrated in bees. Experiments have
been done in which a table is put near a beehive, with cards of different colours
placed on the table. On each card is set a glass vessel filled with water, and
sugar is added to the water in one vessel, for example on the blue card. In its
excursions a bee will find the sugar water and, while busily feeding, is marked
with paint for the purpose of identification. After the bee has made several
trips between the table and the hive, the sugar water is switched to the yellow
card. The bee then returns to the blue card as before, even is the card is
removed to another position on the table, showing that the bee is reacting to
colour and not to position or odour. Similarly, a bee can be trained to respond
to yellow or to ultra-violet. Bees trained to red or black cannot discriminate
between these two colours, or between them and dark grey.
Bees are highly sensitive to electrical. charges. A bee's whole body is negatively
charged. This fact has been exploited by flowers, whose positively charged
pollen is able to leap on to any visiting bee thanks to the forces of opposites
attracting. If beehives are placed under powerlines,
the inhabitants soon swarm and leave; those that stay produce fewer brood cells
and in the winter more bees die. In fact, bees seem to hate all electromagnetic
fields and will vent their anger on any electrical equipment. But such loathing
is far from universal ..."
Homoeopathically, this might provide an interesting clue in the
treatment of patients who are oversensitive [allergic] to electromagnetic
fields, if accompanied by the reactions typical of Apis,
such as angioneurotic oedemas, restlessness,
irritability, tired feeling in the brain, etc. This oversensitiveness
sometimes even results in the exclusion from family life!
"In The Queen Must Die, contemporary beekeeper William Longgood's knowledge of bees comes from his feelings and
intuition and what a long intimacy with these insects has taught him. He tells
of bees grieving over the loss of a queen, making war cries, or humming with
contentment. He described them as angry, fierce, calm, playful, and aggressive
and distinguishes their happy sounds from their distressed ones. We can relate
to what he says. We know about grief and distress calls. We hum too when we are
content and emit all manner of sounds to express how we feel as we go about our
day. ... Those who do spend time with bees report that they are calming to be
around and invoke peacefulness. The bees' contentment is apparently contagious.
... Before the industrialized age, people all over the world linked bees to
peace, harmony, propriety, renewal, fertility, industry, and eloquence. Bees'
historical association with peace, harmony, and propriety, for instance, is so
strong that people believed that in times of war bees would sicken and die, and
that a hive would not do well if it were stolen. It was also believed that bees
would react to the immorality of their beekeepers with a stinging fury, and
this notion of honeybees as guardians of morals is still common in
France."
Bees can kill each other with their stings, but if they attack human
beings they cannot withdraw the sting from human flesh, and so die. Queen bees
usually only sting other queens, while workers will only sting other workers
and then usually only to defend themselves. For the worker bee the sting seems
to represent her power to defend her home, while the queen uses it to defend
her status.
"The bee, like the wasp, has two kinds of glands, one secreting an
acid poison into a reservoir-bag; the other [Dufour's
gland] producing an alkaline oily liquid, secreted directly into a pear-shaped
receptacle at the top of the chitinous sting. Through
regulating valves the bee can discharge either the acid or the alkaline fluid
into the sheath of the sting. Only the acid secretion stored in the poison sac
is supposed to be toxic, while the alkaline secretion serves to clean and
lubricate the sting, and perhaps for other purposes within the hive. ...
Systemic effects of bee stings do occur, although they are relatively rare,
considering the frequency of the incidents. The symptoms, whether one explains
them as 'allergic' or not, are there: confusion of thoughts, confused and
incoherent speech for a short while, a heavy, dull head, unconsciousness or
fainting, alternating heat and chill, great anxiety and dyspnoea, prostration
with chilliness and a slight rigidity of the neck, spasmodic contractions of
the extensors of the legs, twitchings of many
muscles; palpitations with strained heart beat, while the peripheral pulse was
feeble or imperceptible." The typical dermatological expression for honey
bee venom is a raised white weal with central red spot of about 10 mm which
appears a few minutes after the sting, and lasts for about 20 min. There may be
oedema and pruritus; the initial intense pain will
last only minutes and symptoms should resolve in a few days.
"Certain types of clothing can be good protection against a bee
sting; white or light-coloured clothing with a smooth finish is less likely to
excite bees to attack. Leather is particularly irritating to bees, but they
will also become disturbed with brightly coloured, dark, rough or woolly
material. Bees also seem to become irritated over perspiration odours,
perfumes, suntan lotions and hair sprays."
It takes 10.000 bees to produce one gram of pure venom. Bee venom is a
highly complex chemical substance which contains haemolysing agents similar to
those found in snake venoms, further histamine, small amounts of formic acid,
and some protein-like substances. When locally applied the latter produce
coagulation of fibrinogen and an increased permeability of the capillaries of
the skin. Due to the lowered surface tension the osmotic pressure is reduced,
thus making diffusion easier, so that fluid can enter a given space more
readily. Any application of cold reduces oedema by impeding the diffusion of
fluid and decreasing the permeability of the capillaries. According to the
chief neurologist of the MS Center at Georgetown
University Hospital, USA, apamin might help MS
patients to improve the conductivity of nerve sheaths. "The active components
of honey bee venom include enzymes, other smaller proteins and peptides, and
amines. The principal small proteins and peptides are melittin,
apamin, and peptide 401. Melittin
constitutes about 50% of the venom dry weight; it hydrolyzes cell membranes
causing changes in permeability and is most responsible for the pain associated
with the sting. Peptide 401 is also known as 'mast cell degranulating
peptide' and causes mast cells to release histamine as they degranulate,
setting up an inflammatory reaction. Enzymes include phospholipase
A2 [11% of dry weight], which is non-toxic when pure but in concert with melittin is a major haemolytic factor. Phospholipase
A2 is a major venom allergen and is responsible for inducing IgE-mediated anaphylaxis. Hyaluronidase,
which is also common in the venom of other animals [e.g., wasps, spiders,
snakes], causes changes in cell membranes and is considered the major
'spreading factor'. It is also the second most common allergen in honeybee
venom. Honey bee venom also includes some physiologically active amines
[histamine, dopamine, norepinephrine].
Most fatalities from bee [and wasp] stings occur in hypersensitive
individuals; death is most often induced by a single sting, and occurs most
often within 1 hour after the sting. The victim is typically over 40 years of
age and stung on the head or neck. Most deaths are caused by respiratory
dysfunction with the second most common cause being anaphylaxis;
arteriosclerosis may be a compounding factor. Large numbers of bee stings can
also cause death in non-hypersensitive individuals. The LD50 of bee venom for a
human has been estimated to be 500-1500 stings. Mejia et al cites five people
receiving >1000 stings, who manifested acute renal problems, yet four of the
five survived.
"The Insect Allergy Committee of the American Academy of Allergy
studied over 3.000 completed questionnaires from persons experiencing allergic
reactions to the stings of bees and wasps, of which 2.606 were recorded and
analyzed [IAC, 1965]. Of these, 13.3% reported only 'local' reactions;
16.1% reported 'slight general' reactions, in which there might be such
symptoms as a few hives or itching beyond that which local swelling and pain
might be expected to produce; 43.6% reported 'moderate general' reactions;
24.2% reported life-threatening 'severe general' reactions; and 2.8% reported
'delayed' reactions, in which the time of onset of reactions was an hour or
more after the sting. Symptoms indicating 'severe general' reactions were
dyspnoea, swelling in the throat, shock, and unconsciousness, the latter
affecting 62.2% of the persons in the 'severe general' reaction group. A sharp
rise in the proportion of serious reactions in both sexes after age 30
suggested increasing sensitivity as the total number of stings received would
mount over the years. A particularly disquieting finding was that responses to
stings might be completely normal before the occurrence of a particular sting
that produced a life-threatening allergic response."
As the "birds of the Muses" bees were bestowers
of eloquence [by association with 'honeyed' words] and song. Greek poets and
orators such as Homer, Pindar, Sappho and Sophocles were believed to have their
lips touched with honey in infancy. "The Greeks, charmed by the magic of
the spoken word and the sound of the human voice, compared their greatest
orators and singers to the bees who by the work of their mouths produce
delicious and strengthening honey; and also another honey, spoken of by
Xenophon, Horace, and Pliny, which after a moment begins to trouble the
hearer's thought and to keep it in confusion. Pertaining to the first of these
two kinds of honey, that is, to wise and virtuous eloquence, are the fables
telling how the bees of Thrace died all at once at the moment when the heart of
the inspired singer Orpheus ceased to beat; how the bees of Hymettus put drops
of honey on the lips of the child Plato as he slept, and fed with their finest
nectar the baby who was the future poet Pindar. This legend was later
transposed in “The Golden Legend” to apply to one of the most eloquent of the
Christian pontiffs, St. Ambrose, the illustrious bishop of Milan: as a sleeping
baby, it was said, the bees came to him and one by one entered his mouth and
from there shot skyward like arrows. Seeing this, his father cried, 'Blessed be
the Lord! My son shall be holy before him and great in the company of men.'
Among the Hebrews, the bee was related to the idea of language because
of its name, ‘dbure’, and the Hebraic root ‘dbr’, which means word or speech. In the Orient, the Hindus
dedicated the bee to the cult of the divine Word, Bhagavat,
represented as within a white tent, robed in yellow and girdled with a rope of
sweet-smelling flowers which the bees are busily plundering."
Since prehistoric times bees and honey have assumed a sacred role in the
mythology of cultures worldwide.
Beelike creatures were found on cave paintings dating fifty thousand
years ago.
Chinese legends speak of a giant race of bees living in the K'unolun Mountains.
Ancient cultures believed bees to be endowed with divine gifts and
mysterious powers.
Wherever the Earth Mother or Great Mother was worshiped - the goddess of
fertility, wildlife, and agriculture - bees also had a sacred status. Analogous
to the Earth Mother's annual renewal of fertility, bees disappeared in the
winter and reappeared in the spring.
Mohammed taught that the bee is the only creature ever spoken to
directly by God. In Islamic tradition bees represented intelligence, wisdom,
harmlessness, and faithfulness. Bees were thought to "practise useful
things, work in the daytime, and obey their ruler." They were attributed
numerous virtues: they don't eat food gathered by others, dislike dirt and bad
smells, "they dislike the darkness of indiscretion, the clouds of doubt,
the storm of revolt, the smoke of the prohibited, the water of superfluity, the
fire of lust." [Ibn al-Athir].
In this traditional mode, honeybees and their hive symbolize the social virtues
that make nations great: respect for authority, submission to law, honest hard
work, economy, and justice. The ancient Greeks called Zeus the Bee Man because
as an infant he was hidden in a cave and guarded by bees that nourished him
with honey. To the Greeks, bees symbolized fresh incarnations; "Bee"
or "Melissa" was the name given to a soul about to be born. Souls
were believed to come down from the Moon goddess Artemis in the form of bees.
Only those souls who had lived a righteous life were called Melissae,
returning afterwards to heaven, as the bee returned to her hive.
Peter of Padua called Christ "Apis Aetherea", for, "as the bee flies up into the
air, she is a symbol of the soul who enters the kingdom of heaven."
Following the Egyptian myth that bees were born from the tears of the sun god Ra,
Christian legend has it that bees were created from the tears Christ shed on
the cross. The sweetness of honey and the sting of collecting it became a
metaphor for the nature of Jesus himself and the agony of his passion.
To obtain higher knowledge one has to suffer. Regarded as never
sleeping, the bee represented Christian vigilance and zeal. In addition, the
beehive became a Christian metaphor for the ordered, chaste and charitable life
of monastic communities. The misconception that bees reproduce as chastely as
the flowers they pollinate made them emblems of the Virgin Mary. The biblical
land of Canaan flowing with milk and honey was an image of spiritual as well as
physical plenty. The concept of the hive as a community life that is wisely
ruled, peaceful, and fruitful, and under the governance of one single head,
made some big monasteries in medieval France take a name derived from the life
of the bees [French abeilles], such as the Cistercian
abbey of Melleray.
The virtue exemplified most particularly by the bee is that of chastity.
Virgil has sung of the pure life of the bees "who do not abandon
themselves to love nor weaken themselves with pleasures, and know not either
the union of the sexes nor the labour of giving birth." Plutarch goes
further and assures us that bees become angry if a man approaches them directly
from a woman's bed, and will aim their stings at libertines.
"Being one of the few preservatives the ancients knew, along with
salt, honey was widely regarded as a substance of resurrection-magic. In Asia
Minor from 3500 to 1750 BC the dead were embalmed in honey and placed in foetal
position in burial vases or pithoi, ready for
rebirth. 'To fall into a jar of honey' became a common metaphor for 'to die.'
The pithos represented the womb of the Goddess under
her name of Pandora. 'All-giver', and honey became her sacred essence. Myths
present many symbolic assurances that the Goddess would restore life to the
dead through her magic 'bee-balm.' Worshippers of Demeter called her 'the pure mother
bee', and at her Thesmophoria festivals displayed
honey-cakes shaped like female genitals. The symbol of Aphrodite at Eryx was a golden honeycomb. ... Bees are still called
hymenoptera, 'veil-winged', after the hymen or veil that covered the inner sanctum
of the Goddess's temples, the veil having its physical counterpart in women's
bodies. Defloration was a ritual penetration of the veil under the 'hymeneal'
rules of the Goddess, herself entitled Hymen in the character of patroness of
the wedding night and 'honey-moon.' The honeymoon spanned a lunar month,
usually in May, the month of pairings, named after the Goddess as the Virgin
Maya.
In an archaic period, sacred kings seem to have been destroyed after a 28-day
honeymoon with the Goddess, spanning a lunar cycle, as the queen destroys her
drone-bridegroom - by tearing out his genitals.
As applied to ordinary weddings rather than sacrificial dramas, the
honeymoon of a lunar month would include a menstrual period, the real source of
what was euphemistically called moon-honey.
A bridegroom contracted the source of life by copulating with his bride
during menstruation, according to the oldest Oriental belief. ... A combination
of honey and menstrual blood was once considered the universal elixir of life,
the 'nectar' manufactured by Aphrodite and her sacred bees, which kept the very
gods alive. Similarly, the great secret of Norse mythology was that the gods'
nectar of wisdom, inspiration, literacy, magic, and eternal life was a
combination of honey and 'wise blood' from the great Cauldron in the belly of
Mother Earth - though a late patriarchal revision claimed this hydromel or
'honey-liquid' was a mixture of honey with the blood of a male sacrificial
victim known as Wisest of Men."
Two girl's names are connected to bees: Melissa, meaning honeybee, and
Deborah, queen bee. Having a bee in one's bonnet refers to having fixed ideas
or being crazy. "Telling the bees" of a death, or important event, is
to send a message to the next world or to the spirits. It was thought that if
the bees weren't told, they would take offence and leave. According to another
popular belief, virgins were supposed to be able to pass through a swarm of
bees without getting stung. According to German and Scottish folklore, the soul
may come out of the body of a sleeping person in the form of a bee.
"It is known that cold weakens the virulence of bee venom, whereas
heat intensifies its effect. It is also known that bee stings are more dangerous
on hot days and in the tropics than in cool weather and colder climates ... The
very characteristic thirstlessness in the symptom
picture of Apis, even during fever, can be traced to
what appears as the key condition of Apis - oedema -
as the patient is so to speak internally drowned in his own fluids and his
reflex stimulus of thirst inhibited, to protect the organism against the
additional intake of fluid ... The common field of action of Apis is represented by the cavities of the body, the brain
ventricles, the pleural cavity, the pericardial sac, the abdominal cavity, the
synovial cavities of the joints, the cavity surrounding the testicles, the
amnion sac in the case of threatened abortion, cysts, which are pathological
cavities filled with serum, like the ovarian and other cysts, and finally the
whole system of intercellular spaces, countless microscopic cavities, spread
throughout the entire body, and filled with fluid when oedema occurs, as in
nephritis. ... This enormous network of cavities, called the interstitial or
intercellular spaces, is spread throughout the body like a huge assembly of
combs. A slide of oedematous tissue, viewed through the microscope, reveals a
network of cellules filled with liquid, like the honeycomb cells of the bee. ...
The bee is a restless being, it flits from place to place, never staying too
long with one flower. It becomes displeased and angry when disturbed in its
work. At other times, when not working, it is seemingly apathetic, and when
hibernating, lapses into a kind of comatose state ... The dreams of the provers are full of flying activities, of travelling from
place to place, of taking great leaps, of trying out a flying apparatus, and
besides, dreams of business, of care and toil."
PROVINGS
•• [1] Hering - self-experimentation; method:
ingestion of 'poison of one bee.'
•• [2] Humphries - self-experimentations, 1852; method: 1 drop of a
tincture 'made by irritating bees in a bottle and then pouring alcohol on
them'; 2 drops of 1st dil.; 2 drops of 2nd dil.; 6 drops of
6th dil.
•• Welmuth, Bigelow, Bishop, Hays, and Kellogg
- self-experimentations; method: tincture, manner not stated.
Affinity
CELLULAR TISSUE [EYES; FACE; FAUCES; OVARIES]. SEROUS CAVITIES. SKIN.
KIDNEYS. BLADDER. Nerves. Respiration. Heart. Blood. * RIGHT SIDE. Left side.
Right to left.
Modalities:
<: HEAT [ROOM/weather/drinks/fire/bed]/TOUCH/after sleep/late
afternoon [15 – 16 h.]/PRESSURE/suppressed eruptions/closed room/lying down;
>: COLD [AIR/bathing/uncovering/applications]/slight expectoration/motion/changing
position/sitting erect;
Main symptoms
Possible scenario of the Apis situation.
Brought up in a family where one of the parents [most likely the mother]
was paramount, the Apis patient encountered from an
early age a life full of rules, duties and tasks. With one of the parents
absent [most probably the father], whether physically or psychologically, there
was no escape from the penetrating, dictatorial and restraining influence of
the mother, who ruled the family like a godmother. This situation inhibited the
Apis patient, usually female, in her natural
development towards freely engaging in activities normally performed by people
of her own age. Apis seem to end up easily in similar
behavourial patterns as their mother [or father],
thus sacrificing their need for personal development. Housewives, for example,
would have liked to continue with their studies [the absorption of fertilizing,
stimulating elements from outside the hive], but instead, felt forced to submit
themselves to the traditional role patterns of family orientation. Instead of
"swarming" - to leave behind their background or conditioning, and,
as an act of faith, to take a leap in the dark - they remain in the hive.
Dreaming of freedom [flying away], her life is a life of service to the hive,
and its consequential strict bee-hiveiour. The
jealousy of the Apis patient is directed towards
women who were able to break this pattern of submission. In fact, Apis may be compared with honeybees that didn't take time
to savour the honey of their endeavours. They never grew their own blossoms.
Activities would be more productive and sweeter if they would take the time to
enjoy them.
The opposite polarity can be recognised in Apis
children or youngsters who break free from parental control by precociously
engaging in activities opposed to the strict family traditions [disposition to
contradict].
Irritable, nervous, FIDGETY persons hard to please.
Busy, fruitlessly busy, insane loquacity, undertakes many things,
perseveres in nothing.
Desires company but not affection.
When disturbed becomes full of obdurate rage. [Gibson]
Especially during menses.
Focus on external events and domestic issues.
• "The main preoccupation of Apis
patients seems to be on outward events - the domestic situation, work, and
practical matters. With this focus on external events, we see an inability to
focus on deep inner issues. If the patient is focused at all on inner growth,
it will be in rather simple ways, such as positive visualization. These people
are intensely loyal to their network of family and friends. It is very
important to keep strong relationships intact. Anything that threatens the
security and harmony of the home is viewed with hostility. The jealousy of Apis is similar. Flirtation is seen as a threat to the
home, almost as much as a personal threat. ... They have a forceful nature, so
they are usually able to accomplish a lot. Many of these patients are described
by relatives as 'workaholics.' ... Very strong focus on business and work. They
want to achieve; they are very ambitious. But it is not an egotistical type of
ambition. Generally, these are not egotistical people. Rather, they are
industrious for its own sake. They just like to be doing things."
Neglect.
• "I have wondered since reading about bees, whether it could be
useful for women who feel neglected by their husbands. They are like the worker
bees; their life is joyless, their lives full of care and toil in a possibly
sexless existence. When women revolt against this they may well feel towards
their husbands as the workers feel towards the drones who eventually, when they
get older, are denied food and are evicted from the colony. Some of the mental
symptoms extracted from the provings of Apis speak for themselves in this regard, for example:
• Lets everything fall out of her hand, or breaks things and laughs over
it.
• Cannot bring her thoughts to bear upon anything definite or any
subject continuously.
• Great tearfulness, cannot help crying.
• Cannot bear to be left alone.
• Languid and listless.
• When asked if sick says nothing is the matter.
• Irritable, contradictory humour, nothing pleases her.
• All her ideas turn round jealousy.
• Loquacity.
• Agitated, impatient, apprehensive.
• Ailments from fright, rage, vocation, jealousy, or hearing bad news.
Here we see even more clearly the relationship between Apis and Nat-m.; and probably Sep. also." [Thompson]
A state of cheerful levity.
• "Thus it seems that the primary action of this remedy, the
peculiarity of its effect in the proving, is to produce a state of cheerful
levity, from a mild mirthful restlessness up to a fruitless, frenzied,
uncontrolled activity. The greater the intensity of the Apis
state, then the more exaggerated will be this state. The stupor, the debility,
and even loss of consciousness as Hering describes,
are all to be expected after such intense frenzied delirium - these are an
expected [secondary] response of a normal organism to such a primary reaction.
Now, if the Apis disease is less intense, then the
reaction will be more of simple mirth and frivolity, rather than of the extreme
busy, delirious frenzy. ... The patient suffering Apis
disease, may 'tell' us they are well not only verbally, but even physically,
through their gestures, motions, behaviour, etc."2
JEALOUS persons, women (widows).
• "Among the bees the Queen is paramount, the drones and workers
serve her. Apis is a jealous widow, deprived though
not depraved, amorous, vain and hard to please. She is bossy and wants to run
the world, a breaker of rules; absentminded, apathetic, awkward, drops things
and breaks things [whereas Nat-m. stumbles]. There is a sting in her gossip;
direct malice, not devious. She is impatient, dictatorial, whiny, fidgety,
averse to constriction, upset by trifles, irked by small talk, procrastinating,
worse after sleep and violently aggravated by anything hot." [Elisabeth
Wright Hubbard]
The jealousy may be directed against any female who questions their
efficiency and organisation skills, in household or at work (mother-in-law/sister-in-law/daughter
having her own family/new colleague at work, etc.).
CAUSELESS WEEPING.
Clumsiness, physical and mental.
Drops things; laughing at misfortune; laughing over serious matters;
silly laughing.
"Children, girls and women who, though generally careful, become
AWKWARD and let things fall while handling them." [Farrington]
More healthy state:
Mentally sharp and observing. Quick-tempered; unexpected and intense
outbursts.
Want quick, practical solutions for problems.
Forceful and direct. Not concerned about being polite.
But: emotional instability and unpredictability.
[Compare: Fear that something will burst, which physically is expressed
by fear of having a stroke, and fear something will burst in abdomen when
coughing or straining.]
"They are individualists, and find it difficult to integrate into
community life." [Grandgeorge]
Warm-blooded persons; WORSE in WARM and STUFFY ROOM.
At night pushes off the bedcovers in search of coolness.
May be chilly [mainly felt in the extremities], but even then there is a
desire for cool air.
RIGHT-sided affections [paralysis, erysipelas, ovaritis,
ovarian cyst].
Perspiration [chiefly or only of the head].
Sweat may have a musk-like odour.
THIRSTLESS in nearly all complaints OR: Drinks often, but little at a
time.
< Lying down. > Motion.
BURNING, DARTING, STINGING PAINS.
> COLD, WASHING or MOISTENING the part with cold water.
Burning and stinging pain in swollen parts, as if the parts were pricked
with pins and needles, < touch. Skin very sensitive to touch. Swelling rosy,
waxy. SHARP and SUDDEN PAROXYSMS of PAIN. And nervous restlessness or great
prostration. G Suddenly migrating pains, from one part to another. Extreme sensitiveness to touch. G OEDEMATOUS
SWELLING, SEROUS EFFUSIONS and URTICARIA, sudden appearance. DROPSY internally
and externally. Angioneurotic oedema. Oedema glottidis. G Vertigo. < Lying down and closing eyes.
> Walking about.
Brain feels tired or numb.
BAG-LIKE, PUFFY SWELLING under the eyes.
Thyroid dysfunction and ovarian troubles [mostly on the right side].
[Gibson]
And menses irregular.
Urticaria in asthmatic troubles; from change
of weather; during fever; during perspiration.
Urticaria after violent exercise.
Urticaria from shellfish.
Repertorium:
Mind: Plays antics.
Desire to break things.
Busy.
Childish behaviour after delivery.
Confusion of mind > eating.
Thoughts of death without fear.
Delirium, declares she is well, indistinct loquacity.
Delusion, he himself was dead, she is pregnant, he cannot walk, must run
or hop.
Fear of birds, of organic heart disease, of pins.
Frivolous. Insanity, busy; erotic. Irritability when questioned.
Jealousy.
Mirth, simulating hilarity when feeling wretched.
Shrieking, “As if she must shriek”.
Stupefaction during heat.
Weeping, cannot weep though sad.
Vertigo: From sneezing. Spells of vertigo in spring.
Head: Pain, > bending head backward, >
exertion, on moving the face, from becoming heated by a fire or stove.
Eye: Lachrymation at
night, on looking steadily.
Looking steadily, < white objects.
Winking when looking at bright objects.
Vision: Dim, better at night than by day.
Teeth: Sudden involuntary biting together of teeth.
Throat: Choking < clothing, on lying down.
Rectum: Diarrhoea after acids, during climaxis.
Electric-like shock in rectum before stool.
Urine: Scanty - with amenorrhoea, with brain
affection, during fever, before menses.
Female Organs: Pain, ovaries, after coition, from
continence, before menses.
Chest: Palpitation with scanty urine.
Limbs: Numbness, upper limbs, holding anything in
hands, > motion.
Sensation of swelling, soles of feet, when walking.
Dreams: Being a crazy man. Physical exertion. Flying.
Being a girl.
Generals: Lassitude in spring.
Suppression of sexual desire <.
Seeing or hearing of running water <.
Food and Drinks:
Aversion to: Warm drinks/water;
Desires: Cold drinks (milk)/cold food/sour/green vegetables/meat
fat/oysters/vinegar;
<: Cold drinks/hot food/pickles/pungent/shellfish;
>: Milk/cold drinks [during heat]/wine;
Homeopathic Remedies for GWI/GWS
[Erika Price]
Apis.: First aid remedy for illness caused by
Multiple Chemical Sensitivities and allergic reactions when skin is bright
pink, burning, itching, stinging, with swelling, puffiness and oedema. It is
the homeopathic
Anti-inflammatory and Anti-histamine.
Allergic reaction: when skin is bright pink, burning, itching, stinging,
with swelling, puffiness and edema; hives; anaphylactic
shock; to chemicals, antibiotics; <: heat/touch;
Allergic Sore Throat: due to allergy: back of throat bright red, swollen
uvula, pain burning stinging.
Bladder Cystitis: sudden onset with frequent desire to urinate with
burning pain and soreness while urinating, especially last drops; pressing
bladder pain, urging painful; burning pressing bladder pain;
burning pain in neck of bladder before and during urination; <: 16 –
18 h./after sleep;
Cancer: to relieve pain of cancer, with burning, stinging, swelling of
right breast, tongue, lower eyelids, and open tumors.
Cysts: of the breast, ovaries, and of any kind that develop very rapidly
and are very large.
Edema: primarily caused by an allergen; internal and
external, with swelling and pale white shinning; with joint and extremity
pains; without thirst; foot swelling with sweating.
Eye Inflammations: allergic condition with swelling around eyes, lids
swollen (full of liquid), shiny, red, excessive tearing; burning, stinging;
sudden piercing pains; conjunctivitis; trachoma; better for cold applications,
<: for heat and bright light.
Hives/Urticaria: burning and swelling of lips
and eyelids, worse warmth; nodular eruption on face and extremities; in
asthmatic trouble, change of air and weather; during chill, fever perspiration;
livid/bluish;
<: at night and heat.
Swelling: lips, tongue, ears, eyes, skin; swollen external genitalia of
males and females; with inflammation.
<: r./midnight/heat/warmth of any kind/in closed heated rooms/hot
baths/saunas/touch/pressure/sexual excess or frustration/after sleeping;
>: Cold (applications/bath)/uncovering/open air/movement/sitting
erect/lying on right-side;
Disposition:
They can pretend and seem to be happy when they actually feel wretched.
Misfortune can make them laugh instead of cry because they feel awkward with
the emotions. Awkward and clumsy, knocking things over, tripping and falling
usually from rushing. Can be constantly busy, with buzzy
energy. They tend to walk fast, as if rushing. They can be fidgety, fussy and
bumpy. There can be shrieking because of the sudden intensity of symptoms (as
if stung by a bee).
Allergic. Lack of thirst generally. Flying dreams.
[Richard Moskowitz]
Leitsymptome einer örtlich begrenzten oder einer systemischen Entzündung
Die bekannten Folgen eines Bienenstichs: stechende Schmerzen, Schwellung, Rötung und Hitze .
Allergien, Nesselsucht, Hautinfektionen, Nephritis, EPH – Gestose (Bluthochdruckserkrankung während der Schwangerschaft) und Enzephalitis (Hirnentzündung). Die typischen Symptome von
Apis, nämlich Oligurie (verminderte Harnausscheidung), Durstlosigkeit und Ödembildung weisen alle signifikant auf eine Nierenbeteiligung hin, während die von Reizbarkeit und motorischer
Ungeschicklichkeit gekennzeichnete Gemütsverfassung dem Bild eines akuten Hirnsyndroms ähnelt.
Konstitutionell tendieren Apis-Patientinnen zu Eifersucht (von impulsiver, grausamer Art sein kann, hier erkennen wir die Ähnlichkeit mit dem Ursprungstier der Arznei, die Bienenkönigin.
Apis-Patientinnen können außerdem über einen übermäßig guten Wärmehaushalt verfügen, so dass Wärme oder Hitze in jeglicher Form nicht gut vertragen werden. Das stellt sich dann
so dar, als befänden sie sich in einer Art Delirium oder als seien sie von einem ekstatischen Wahnsinn befallen, wobei sich oft Symptome entwickeln können, die vornehmlich auf der rechten
Körperseite auftreten, oder diese Symptome strahlen von der rechten Körperseite hinüber zur linken aus.
Vorwort/Suchen Zeichen/Abkürzungen Impressum