Apis Mellifica.
Syn.—Apis, honey bee.
Properties: Diuretic, diaphoretic, alterative.
Indications: Itching with burning. A peculiar burning pain, such as is present in the sting of a bee. Dark red urine with constant desire to urinate, but patient unable to urinate freely.
Use: Apis is made by taking the honey bees, putting them in a bottle, then shaking them until they get excited. Then alcohol is poured over them and tincture made. The poison generated by exciting them is the medical principle. Apis is the remedy in cases of dropsy which appear suddenly as in edema of glottis, diphtheria, scarlet fever, effusion from pleuritis, peritonitis or other acute serous inflammation. In irritation of the bladder; in retention and suppression of urine in children and old people from weakness it is a useful remedy. Incontinence of urine in the aged and feeble. Passive hematuria intractable to other remedies. Urticaria, where there is much itching, has been cured by apis. Inflammation of the subcutaneous tissue if accompanied by irritation of the skin and pain of a lancinating nature.
The Materia Medica and Clinical Therapeutics, 1905, was written by Fred J. Petersen, M.D.
