tf Xcrlh America. lijj 



though it rather oppnfes any o1)je6lion to the figns employed 

 by our hunters to diliinguifh poifonous from hmocent honey. 

 But he wlio is ftuilious oF truth (liould relate ufeful fafts as 

 they arc, without regarding what is their connexion with a. 

 favourite fvllem or opinion. 



The learned Jofeph Acofra fpeaks of a grav-colourcd ho- 

 ney-comb which he faw in the province of Charcas in South 

 America. The honey of this comb, he fa\'S, is *' fharp and 

 black." He fays nothing further of its properties *. 



An ingenious friend of mine f, to whom the public are 

 indebted for a variety of vahiable information concerning the 

 natural produt5'l;ions (jf various parts of North America, in- 

 forms me, that, in the Carolluas and Fioridas, the poifonous 

 honcv is often fo fimilar iji colour, tafte, and odour, to the 

 common or innocent honey, that the former cannot be tli- 

 ftinguiflied from the latter. It is owing, he lays, to this cir- 

 cumflancc that i"o many accidents daily happen from the nfc 

 of the wild honev. JHe was informed that it is experience 

 alone which enables the hunters and others to determine 

 whether the honey which they find in the woods be poi- 

 fonous or innocent. They have obferved that the injurious 

 effeifts manifeft themfelves in a ihort time after the ht)ney is 

 taken into the flomacli. Tii^y are accuftomed, therefore, to 

 eat a fmall cjuantity before they venture to fatisfv their appe- 

 tite. Should this produce anj difa<rreeable eff"e6l?, they do 

 not think it prudent to continue the ufe of it. But if, in a 

 fliort time, it (hould occafion no inconvenience, they think 

 they mav, with perfe6l fafetv, indulsve their appetite to the 

 full. ' . ' ^ 



f have liccn informed that the poifonous honey, by boilinsj 

 and by ftraining, may be rendered as innocent as any honey 

 whatever. It is likewife faid, that by long keeping it becomes 

 harinlefs. 



The honey of wiiich I am treating is poifonous to dogs as 

 well as to men. 



Hitherto I have not been able to obtain any certain in- 

 formation concerning the means to be purfued in the treat- 

 ment of perfons labouring under the efi'edts of the ]>oifonous 

 honey. It is faid that the Indians, and fome of the wiiitcs, 

 ufe cold bathing with advantage. It is probable that this 



flowers of the cri. a 'vulgaris, or common heath ; and he remarks that, 

 " where heath abounds tlic honey has a reddifh caft." A Botanical Ar- 

 rangeiTicnt of Eritifli Plants, ^c. vol. i. 



'' The Natural! and Morail lliftoric of the Eaft and Wta Indies, Sec 



t Mr. William Baitram. 



6 pra6lice 



