1^0 On the Po'ifojious Honey 



produce an honey injurious to man; fince the properties of 

 this fluid are fo dependent upon the properties of the plants 

 from which it is procured. There is, therefore, more poctry 

 than philofophy in the following lines of Mr. Pope; 



" In the nice bee, wliat fenfe fo fubtly true 



" From pois'nous herbs extrafts the healing dew '■" 



Effay on Man, Epiftle i. lines jii &: 2i:. 



1 have been informed that in the fouthern parts of our con- 

 tinent, there is a plant, called hemlock, from the flowers of 

 which the bees prepare a honey that is polfonous. The 

 flowers are faid to be yellow, and the root a deadly poilbn. 

 I do not know what plant this is. Moft probably, it is fome 

 umbelliferous plant, perhaps a cicuta, an angelica, or a 

 fcandix. 



Some fpecies of agaricus, at leafl; fome fungous vegetables-, 

 that grow in the fouthern dates, are extremely poifonous. 

 As accidents from the ufe of deleterious honey have happened 

 in the fame countries in w hich thefe poifonous fungi gvow, it 

 has been fuppofed, and aflerted, that the poifonous honey is 

 prepared from a dew that colleiSts upon thefe fungi. Perhaps, 

 this fuppofition is not entirely devoid of foundation*. 



I fliall now mention a few vegetables from the flowers of 

 which, I think, it will be found, that the bees colleft a poi- 

 fonous or injurious honey. Thefe are : 



* If the celebrated author of the Rccherches Philofophiques fur Its Ainc- 

 rhaiin be ftill living, this account of our poifonous a.nd injurious honey 

 (fhould my memoir fall into his hands) would afford him fome entertain- 

 ment. [ would advife him to conncft the fafts, wliich I here communi- 

 cate, with the remarks concerning our infeiSts contained in the fiift volume 

 of the Rccherches (fee p. i6g and I70.) I hope, however, that Mr. De 

 Pauw, who, notwithllanding his love of fyftemand his many errors, is cer- 

 tainly a man of great reading, will recolleft, that the Greek and Roman 

 writers (as we fliall afterwards fee) have faid much concerning the poifon- 

 ous honey of various parts of the Old World. And now let me add, that 

 in America there is as good honey as in any other parts of the world ; and 

 there is not a fcarcity of tliis good honey. The honey which is collefted 

 from the flowers of the tulip-tree (liriodcndron tulipifera), the buckwheat 

 (polygonum fagopyrum). the red maple (acer rubrum), the clover (trifo- 

 lium), and many other plants, is excellent. The Abbe Clavigero fays the 

 bee of Yucatan and Chiapa makes " the fine clear honey of Eltabentun, of 

 an aromatic flavour, fupcrior to that of all the other kinds of honey with 

 which we arc acquainted." The Hijhrv of Mexico, vol. i. p. CS.f Per- 

 haps on fome futtire occafion I may communicate to the Philofophical So- 

 ciety a lift of thofe indigenous vegetables which, as furnifiiing an innocent 

 and excellent honey, are worthy of prefervation in the neighbourhood of 

 apiaries. The lift is an cxter.five one. 



t This fine honey, according to the Mexican hiftorian, is " m^Ac 

 from a fragrant white flower like jciTamine, which blows ia September." 



I. The 



