noxious honey. 



J72 POISONOUS HONEY OF NORTH AMERICA. 



Ancient ac- long to Pliny : " Upon the fame coaft: of the Pontus, there 

 is found another fort of honey, which is called mcenomenon *, 

 becaufe thofe who eat of it are rendered mad. It is fuppofed, 

 that bees colled it from the flowers of the rhododendros, which 

 is common among the forefts. The people of thofe parts, al- 

 though they pay the Romans a part of their tribute in wax, 

 are very cautious how they offer them their honey f ." 



The Greeks and the Romans have often defcribed the 

 various plants that were known to them, in fuch dark and 

 obfeure terms, that the botanifts of modern times are frequent- 

 ly at a lofs to determine, not merely the fpecies but alfo the 

 genus the ancient writers have mentioned. With refpeft, 

 however, to the plants which I have juft mentioned, the 

 difficulty does not feem to be great. Mr. Tournefort has, I 

 think, fnown, in a very fatisfaclory manner, that the aegole- 

 tbron of Pliny in the chamee-rhododendros pontica maxima, 

 Mefpili folio, flore luteo of his ]nftitutiones, a plant fince 

 defcribed by Linnseus, and by other botanifts, by the name of 

 azalea pontica. Mr. Tournefort has likewife fhown, that the 

 other plant called by Pliny rhododendros in his chamierhodo- 

 dendros pontica maxima, folio laurocerati, flore coeruleo 

 purpurefcente j. This is the rhododendron ponticum of 

 Linnaeus. It is confiderably allied to the azalea pontica. 



Xenophon has recorded the remarkable effects of fome 

 poifonous honey, in his celebrated work, called Memora- 

 bilia. 



When the army of the ten thoufand had arrived near Tre- 

 bifond, on the coaft of the Euxine or Black Sea, an accident 

 befel the troops which was the caufe of great conffernation. 

 *' As there were a great many bee-hives," fay the illuftrious 

 general and hiftorian, " the foldiers did not fpare the honey. 

 They were taken with a vomiting and purging, attended with 

 a delirium, fo that the lead affecled feemed like men drunk, 

 and others like mad men, or people on the point of death. 

 The earth was ftrewed with, bodies, as after a battle; not a 

 perfon, however, died, and the diforder ceafed the next day, 

 about the fame hour- that it began. On the third and fourth 



* From the Greek verb, Ma.'vQ^j&j, infanio. 



f Ibid. 



X Inftitutiojies, &c, 



days, 



