68 On the POISONOUS HONEY 



the bees extradl from a certain ihrub in Colchis or Min- 

 grelia, is dangerous, and caufes vomiting. Lambert calls 

 this fhrub oleandro giallo, or the yellow rofe-laurel, which 

 Mr. Tournefort fays is, whhout difpute, his chamx- 

 rhododendros pontica maxima, Mefpili folio, flore lu- 

 teo*; the azalea pontica, already mentioned. 



There are feveral paifages in the Roman poets, which 

 plainly fhow, thaf they were no ftrangers to the poifon- 

 ous properties of certain kinds of honey. It is not necef- 

 fary to mention all thefe paflages. But the following 

 are worthy of notice. 



Virgil cautions us not to fuffer a yew tree to grow 

 about bee-hives: 



Neu propius IclUs taxtim fine. 



Gkorgic. Lib. IV. 1, 47. 



In his 9th Eclogue, the fame philofophic poet fpeaks of 

 the yews of Corfica as being particulai'ly injurious to 

 bees. 



Sic ilia Cyruceas fugiant cxam'tna taxos, 1. 30. 



T he honey of Corfica was, as Dr. Martyn flrongly 

 exprefles it, " infamous for its evil qualities-f*." 



The 



* See Tournefort's Voyage into the Levant. Vol. iii. p. 68. Englifh 

 iranflation. London, 1741. 



•|- See his Tranilationof the Geoigics of Virgil, note to line 47, in book 

 IV. Dr. Martyn's criticifms and annotations always demand attention. 

 I greatly doubt, however, if the taxus c.f Virgil, be the common yew, or 

 any fpecies of that genus. Martyn himfelf allows, that " it does not ap- 

 pear from other writers (befide Virgil), that Corfica abounded in yews." I 

 have been alfured, that the yew is not an indigenous vegetable in that ifland, 

 and that it is even rare among the foreign vegetables. It may, indeed, be 

 faid, perhaps it was common in the time (^i Virgil. I would obl'erve, that 

 the yew is much lefs poifonous than has been commonly fuppofed. 1 know 

 not that any modern writer has pretended that tlie bees procure a pernicious 

 honey from its flowers. Thefe facts give rife to my fufpicion, that the tax- 

 us of Virgil was not the yew, or taxus of the modern botanifts. If not the 

 } ew, what vegetable was it ? Perhaps, the buxus virenS; or box. This ve- 

 getable abounds in Corfica, where to this day it is known by the name of 



