Evening Republican, Volume 23, Number 68, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 March 1920 — TO ALLAY PAIN OF STINGS [ARTICLE]

TO ALLAY PAIN OF STINGS

Use of Aipmonia to Be Avoided in the Case of an Attack by an • Irate Wasp, e Ammonia promptly applied when a bee stings you prevents serious con-sequences-and allays pain. It has gen- * erally been supposed that this was true also of wasp stings but Edward R. Speyer, an Oxford university spe- ' clalist, points out tn a letter to the London Times that the application of ammonia or any other alkali to 'a • wasp sting makes It worse. । The reason Is that the poison of a bee’s sting is acid; that of a wasp’s sting is alkaline. * Hence alkalles, like ammonia, neutralize the. acid of the bee’s sting, but aggravate the toxic effects of the wasp’s alkaline sting. । The best thing to apply to a wasp’# sting is vinegar, being the nearest acid in domestic service. Onion juice, lemon juice, or any other handy acid will do as well. j The Lancet says these facts ought to be widely known, “for not uncommonly the sting proves to be not a simple puncture but the beginning of a toxic process sometimes fatal. A wasp sting on the moist mucosa, as In the mouth, invariably leads to serious inflammation, with most distress- . Ing results. If the simple gargling or washing of the attacked spot with an < . add fluid In such a case keeps down the swelling Ilves may well be saved.”