24 DIADELPHIA. 



as the Pea, Bean, Vetch, &c.'' they are all said to be 

 wholesome, but I believe there are some exceptions 

 to that rule. The seeds of the Citisis Labernum, in 

 their green state, have an emetic quality, and those, 

 beautiful red seeds with a black spot, brought from 

 India^ which are sometimes worn as ornaments of 

 dress, ^ are said by the natives to be so dangerous, that 

 the half of one of them is sufficiently poisonous to de- 

 stroy a man ; this account, however, may exceed the 

 truth J but thatthey have a ver}^ prejudicial quality I have 

 reason to believej for, within my own knowledge, I 

 have seen an extraordinary effect of the poison of one 

 of these peas. A poor woman who had some of 

 them given to her, and who did not choose to be at 

 the expense of having them drilled to make a neck- 

 lace, put the seeds into hot water till they were suf- 

 ficiently soft to be perforated with a large needle j 

 in performing this operation she accidentally wounded 

 her finger, which soon swelled, and became veiy 

 painftil, tlie swelling extending to the \\'hole hand; 

 and it was a considerable time before she recovered, 

 the use of it. 



• That which in common language is called a pea-shelly 

 in the language of Botany is called Legumeny the seeds being 

 arranged along one of its sutures. When, in a similar covering, 

 the seeds are affixed to the seams on both sides, as in the 

 plants of the second Order of Class XV. that kind of seed- 

 vessel is properly called a pod. The English language wants 

 this discrimination. 



^ The Botanical name of the plant that produces this Pea i> 

 Ahrm Trecator'im, 



