|£2 POISONOUS HONEY OF NORTH AMERICA. 



an appearance more difgufting than this, when mixed with 

 melted butter *." Nothing is faid, by this author, that can 

 lead us to fuppofe that the Dixan honey was poifonous. From 

 the manner in which it is mentioned, it is pretty evident that 

 it was not poifonous. Linnaeus informs, us that in Sweden 

 the honey, in the autumn, is principally gathered from the 

 flowers of the erica, or heath, and that this honey is of a 

 fomewhat reddifh colour ; and accordingly, he obferves, thofe 

 provinces of the country that are deftitute of the heath, fuch 

 White honey. as the province of Oelandia, furnilh a white honey +. The 

 great naturalift fays nothing concerning the properties of the 

 heath-honey. However, we may prefume, when we re- 

 collect the minute accuracy of Linnaeus, that this honey did 

 not poflefs any dangerous properties, otherwife he would have 

 noted the circumftance. Whilft I reiided in Edinburgh, I 

 had the honey from the Highlands frequently brought to my 

 table. I often remarked that this honey had a dirty brownifh 

 colour, and I was told that it was chiefly procured from the 

 different fpecies of erica, perhaps principally from the " bloom- 

 ing hather}," which abound in the Highlands. I never 

 heard the people in Edinburgh, although they confume 

 large quantities of this honey, complain that it poflenes any 

 noxious property. If it were actively poifonous, or injurious, 

 the quality would have been, long fince, obferved. I welt 

 remember, however, that, for two years that I ufed it, it 

 almoft always rendered me drowfy. Sometimes, indeed, it 

 compofed me to fleep as effectually as a moderate dofe of 

 laudanum would have done. A foreigner, who had not been 

 accuftomed to eat anodyne honey, was better capable of re- 

 marking the effect which I have mentioned than the natives, 

 who have been in the habit of ufing it from their infancy. 

 I do not find that this fingular property of the Scots honey has 

 been noticed by any writer §. I have, therefore, related it, 



* Travels to difcover the fource of the Nile. Vol. V. or Ap- 

 pendix, p. 151. Quarto edition. 

 •f- Fauna Suecica. 

 J Burns. 



§ Dr. Withering fays bees extract a great deal of honey from the 

 flowers of the erica vulgaris, or common heath, and he remarks that 

 *' •« where heath abounds, the honey has a reddifh call." A botanical 



arrangement of Britifh plants, &c. Vol. 1ft. 



though 



