MATERIA 
: i he young bees, and which flows sp 
_ than that expressed from the comb ; whence it is 
ney: the best sort is of a thick consistence, and a whitish 
clining to yellow; it possesses an agreeable smell and pleasai 
_Insome situations, where noxious plants abound, poisonous 
is met with, from the bees feeding on such flowers. Asan a 
of food, when immoderately used, honey. is pernicious to weak sto- 
machs ; it ought therefore to be avoided by persons liable to ¢ 
- tions of the skin, or in whom there is a redundancy of bile. “This 
vegetable substance contains an acid similar to that of sugar, but is 
more spirituous ; hence it readily ferments, occasions flatulency, and — 
and in some habits produces gripes and looseness. As a me ec; 
_ however, it is a very useful, aperient and expectorant, especially when _ 
it has been previously boiled ; in which state it may be used with safe- — 
ty and advantage by asthmatic patients : for it tends to-dissolve vis- 
cid humors and promote the expectoration of tough phlegm, 
Iron. Ferrum. 
A metal very abundant in nature, of a bluish gray color, ductile, — 
scarcely fusible but easily oxydated in heric air, and subject — 
to rust. eg a 
‘The general virtues” of this metal, and ‘the ev 2 
of it-are, to. constringe the fibres, to quicken the cire , tO pro- 
- mote the different secretions in the remoter parts, and at the same 
- time to repress inordinate discharges into the intestinal tube. After 
_ the use of them, if they take effect, the pulse is very sensibly raised ; 
the color of the face, though before pale, changes to a florid red ; 
the uterine, urinary and cuticular eruptions are increased. 
~ When given improperly, or to excess, iron produces headach, anx- 
- iety; ; heats the body, and often causes hemorrhages, or even vo- 
_ miting, pains in the stomach, spasms and pains in the bowels. 
__ Irom is-given in most cases of debility and relaxation ; in passive 
__ hemorrhages; in dyspepsia, hysteria and green sickness ; in most 
Bes of the cachexia; and, in general debility, peered by disease or 
excessive hemorrhagy; 
_. When eithe: a preternatural discharge, or suppression of natural 
secretions, proceed from a languor and sluggishness of the fluids 
and weakness of the solids ; this metal by increasing the motion of 
the former, and the strength of the latter, will suppress the flux, or 
_ remove the suppression; but where the circulation is already too 
quick, the solids too tense and rigid, when there is any stricture or 
spasmodic contraction of the vessels, iron, and: all the ye ee 
of it, will aggravate both distempers. 
_ lren is employed in the following preparations : f 
The Black oxyde of Iron—Such are the seabes of iron fd at 
a blacksmith’s anvil. In these; the iron is oxydized to 
degree in which it is soluble in acids, without the production of 
ogen gas: therefore, when taken into the stomach, they do not 
the distention and flatulence occasioned by the use of ‘0 
