l:jj On the Poifonons Honey 



j^ttention to the fubjeft. The refult of my inquiries I now 

 communicate to the I'hitofophical Society. 



It is not necelVarv to make any remarks on the fabric of 

 honey. It may be fufiicicnt to obferve, that the honey will 

 always partake, in a greater or a lelTer degree, of the imell, 

 the laftc, and general properties, of the flowers from which 

 it is obtained. This obviDus fact fiiould have folicited more 

 of the attention of thole wliofe emplovnicnt it is to raife large 

 numbers of bees for the purpofe of obtaining the valuable 

 produft of thefc little infccSis. But, in this country at leaft, 

 hardly anv attention has been paid to the fubject. Perhaps, 

 the following loofe hints, by pointing out feme of the fources 

 from which an ill-flavoured or pernicious honey is obtained, 

 may be of fume Icrvice to the new or remote fettlers of our 

 countr\'. 



I miill obferve, that in thefc hints I do not mean to in- 

 clude among the difagreeable confequences of the eating of 

 honey, the occafionul efi'ect of its purging : for although;, as 

 I {Ijail prefently obferve, a purging is one of the common 

 effeds of the poii'onous honey, yet the moft innocent honey 

 will often induce the fame ftate of the body, when it is eaten 

 \n laroe quantities, or when it meets with an irritable flaie 

 of the bowels. 



The honey which I call deleterious or poifonous honey, 

 produces, as far as I have learned, the following fymptoms, 

 or efl'efts: viz. in the beginning, a dinmefs of light or ver- 

 tioi-o, fiiQceedcd by a delirium *, which is fometimes mild 

 and pleafanl, and fometimes ferocious ; ebriety, pain in the 

 fiomach and inteftines, convulfions, profufe pcrfpiration, 

 foaming at the mouth, vomiting, and purging ; and, in a 

 few inltancfs, death. In fome perfons, a vomiting is the 

 firft efiecl: of the poifon. When this is the cafe, it is pro- 

 bable that the perlons fufler much lefs from the honey than 

 ■when no vomiting is induced. Sometimes the htniey has 

 been obferved to produce a temporary pally of the limbs; an 

 effetl which I have remarked in animals that have eaten of 

 one of thole very vegetables f from whofe flowers the bees 

 obtain a perniciou- honey. 



Death is very fcklom the eonfequence of the eating of 



* An intelligent fritnd of mine related to me the cafe of 3 perfon who, 

 for a (hort time, .was ftvereiy afftttcd from the eating of wild honey, in 

 Virgiiiia. He imagined that a perfon fciicd him rudely by one arm; and 

 then l)y the other. After this he fell into convulfions, fiom which, how- 

 ever, he recovered in about an hour. It was imagiiicd that this honey 

 was obuintd from a kind of poifo;ious myihroom. 

 ■ t Tlie Kahinia laiifolia. 



this 



