124 THE KALMIA. 



may be thus derived, Kalmia, Kallamia, Killamia, 

 Killani, Lambkill. There is no other way of explain- 

 ing the origin of its common English name. I have 

 never been able to discover an authentic account, and 

 have never known an instance of the death of a sheep 

 or a lamb from eating the leaves of this plant. It is an 

 error having its origin in a false etymology ; and half the 

 notions that prevail in the world with regard to the 

 medical virtues and other properties of plants have a 

 similar foundation. 



It is stated in an English manual of Medical Botany 

 that the brown powder that adheres to the petioles of the 

 different species of Kalmia, Andromeda, and Ehododendron 

 is used by the North American Indians as snuff. 



