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Wanted: Hornet nests

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  • Wanted: Hornet nests

    HENDERSON [TX] TIMES, December 12, 1863, p. 2, c. 1
    We are directed, by the government officials in this place, to notify the public that a few "hornets' nests" are needed in the medical department. The nests must be fresh, and contain the live young hornets; otherwise they will not be received. Three fine nests were condemned this week because the young hornets were dead. A young gentleman from Panola county brought up three fine looking nests the other day, which Gen. Flanagan, Dr. Stedman and Capt. Barret pronounced "all right," but Capt. Armstrong, the Inspecting officer, upon examination, found that the young hornets were dead, and condemned them on that ground; the young gentleman had his ride of fifty or sixty miles to no profit. It is to be hoped he will have better luck on his next trip.

    Okay, all I've used immature wasps for was fishing bait. Is this for real? Is it a joke? Is it in code of some sort? A secret new Confederate weapon?

    Vicki Betts
    vbetts@gower.net

  • #2
    Re: Wanted: Hornet nests

    Total speculation, but perhaps they were using the wasp venom for something?
    Regards,
    Elizabeth Clark

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    • #3
      Re: Wanted: Hornet nests

      Hallo Kameraden!

      I cannot say for sure in this context, but in frontier and primitive "folk medicine," hornet and wasp nests were believed useful against poisons and the treating of convulsions and piles (I don't quite see the connection)...
      ;-)

      I would lean toward humor in the newspaper, but one never knows...

      Curt-Heinrich Schmidt
      Descendent of Witches Mess
      Curt Schmidt
      In gleichem Schritt und Tritt, Curt Schmidt

      -Hard and sharp as flint...secret, and self-contained, and solitary as an oyster.
      -Haplogroup R1b M343 (Subclade R1b1a2 M269)
      -Pointless Folksy Wisdom Mess, Oblio Lodge #1
      -Vastly Ignorant
      -Often incorrect, technically, historically, factually.

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