128 On the Poifonom Honey 



that it would not be prudent to fell their honey; but, unwil- 

 ling to lofe ail their labour, thcv made the honey into the 

 drink well known bv the name of metheglin, fuppofing that 

 the intoxicating quality which had refided in the honey would 

 be loft in the metheglin. In this refpcft, however, they 

 Avere miftaken. The drink alfo intoxicated them ; after which 

 they removed their hiv^s. 



In North-Carolina, this fpecies of kalmia and the andro- 

 meda mariana are fuppofed to be the principal vegetables from 

 which the bces~prepare the poifonous honev, that is common 

 in that part of the tlnitcd States. 



II. The kalmia latifolia, known in the United States bv 

 the names of laurel, great-laurel, wintergreen, fpoon-haunch, 

 fpoon-wood, Sec. is alio a poifon. Its leaves, indeed, arc- 

 eaten with impunity by the deer*, and by the round-horned 

 elkf. But they are poifonnus to (lieep, to horned-cattle and 

 to horfes. In the former of thefe animals, they produce con- 

 vulfions, foaming at the mouth, and death. ^lany of Ge- 

 neral Bradock's horfes were deliroyed by eating ihe leaves and 

 the twigs- of this (hrub, in the month of June 1755, a few 

 days before this unfortimate general's defeat and death. In 

 the fevere winter of the years 1790 and 1791, there appeared 

 to be fuch unequivocal reafons for believing that feveral per- 

 fons, in Philadelphia, had died in confequence of their eating 

 our phcafant;]:, in whofe crops the leaves and buds of the kal- 

 mia latifolia were found, that the mayor of the city thought 

 it prudent, and his duly, to warn the people againft the ufe of 

 this bird, by a public proclamation. I know that by many 

 perfons, efpeciallv by fome lovers of pheafant-flefh, the cir- 

 cumftance juft mentioned was fuppofed to be deftitute of 

 foundation. But the foundation was a folid one. This might 

 be fliown by feveral well-authenticated fafts. It is fufficient 

 for my prefent purpofe to obferve, that the colleftion of a de- 

 leterious honey from the flowers of this fpecies of kalmia gives 

 fome countenance to the opinion, that the flefh of pheaiants 

 that had eaten of the leaves and buds of this plant m.ay haye 

 been impregnated with a pernicious quality§. 



• Cervus Virginianus of Gmclin. 



f Cervus Wapiti, mibi. 



1 Tetrao Cupido of Linnaeus. 



§ It is not a new fufpicion, that the flcfh of animals that have eaten of 

 the leaves, &c. of deleterious vegetables is fometime* endued with a poi- 

 fonous property. Gcorg. H. Welfchius, a very learned German wriier, 

 quoted by Dr. Haller, (fee Hijioria Stirpium Iiidigcnaruvi Hehsiia: In- 

 choata, torn. i. p.44.3.) fays, that the flefli of a hare which was fed with 

 the leaves of the rhododendron ferrugineum proved mortal to the guefts. 

 This fpecies of rhododendron is a native of Switzerland, Siberia, and other 

 parts of the Old World. 



I have 



