in his " Lalla liookli," in a most forcible and poetic 

 manner : 



Ju.-t Alia ! what must be Ihy lr>ok 



When such a wn tch het'o'rethee stands 

 Unblushing-, with thy sacred book, 



Turning the leaves wit.li blood-stained hands, 

 And wresting from its pape sublime 

 His creed of lust and hate and crime ? 



Kv'n as those bees of Trubizomi 

 Which from the sunniest flowers that f*lad 



With their pure smile the pardons round, 

 Draw venom forth that drives men mad. 



It is probable that the plant in question is the 

 Rhododendron ponlicum, or the Azalea politico of 

 Linnaeus. 



Dr. B. S. Barton, in a valuable paper in the Fifth 

 Volume of the Transactions of the Philosophical 

 Society of America, after detailing the statements of 

 classical authors upon the subject of poisonous honey, 

 has stated that, in the autumn and winter of 1790, 

 the honey collected near Philadelphia proved fatal to 

 many, in consequence of which it was discovered, 

 after an inquiry instituted by the government, that the 

 honey had been chiefly collected from the flowers of 

 tin; Knlmia latifolia. He also mentions that a party 

 of adventurers removed some hives of bees from 

 Pennsylvania to New Jersey, in the hope that the 

 savannahs of the latter country might be favour- 

 able to the increase of these animals, and, conse- 

 quently, to the making of honey ; they accordingly 

 placed them in the above situations, and where the 

 Kalmiaanffustifotia was the principal flowering shrub ; 

 the bees increased prodigiously, and the enterprise 

 appeared successful, but it was soon found that every 

 one who ate of the honey became intoxicated to a high 

 degree. It was then made into metheglin, but with a 

 similar effect to those who partook of it. The usual 

 symptoms were a dimness of sight, or vertigo, suc- 

 ceeded by a delirium, which was sometimes mild and 

 pleasant, and sometimes ferocious ; intoxication, pain in 

 the stomach and intestines, convulsions, profuse perspi- 

 ration, foaming at the mouth, vomiting, purging, and, 

 in a few instances, even death. Sometimes vomiting 

 was among the earliest symptoms, and in that case 

 the patient was readily relieved, although a temporary 

 weakness of the limbs was not an uncommon result. 



Dr. Hosack has recorded two cases in which this 

 substance produced violent vomiting, a coldness at 

 the extremities, and a livid appearance of the 

 countenance. The pulse was reduced to about twenty 

 in a minute; the spontaneous vomiting, however, 

 being followed by a dose of castor oil, together with 

 the application of fomentations, relieved the sufferers. 

 In these cases the honey was of a dark reddish colour, 

 and a thicker consistence than usually sold in the 

 market. 



From the facts mentioned above, Dr. Barton is of 

 opinion that the poisonous nature of the honey is 

 owing to the bees feeding on poisonous plants, such 

 as the Kalmia of various species, the Andromeda Ma- 

 riana, which is injurious to sheep, the Rhododendron, 

 the Azalea wcdiflora, and the Datura, and he recom- 

 mends that every fo3tid or poisonous vegetable should 

 be removed from the habitations of these animals. 



Thus it will be seen that, as Dr. Barton observes, 

 there is more of poetry than philosophy in the follow- 

 ing lines of Pope, 



In the nice bee what sense so subtly true, 

 l'i-oi:i poisonous herbs extracts the healing dew? 



Adding, " It is, however, much to be questioned 

 whether this noxious honey proves so to the bees 



' E ' 355 



themselves." This, it may easily be conceived, does 

 not take place, since the bees would most undoubtedly 

 have the instinct to avoid the plant, and in the case of 

 the Philadelphia bees, they are said to have thriven 

 prodigiously. The case is, however, very different with 

 them in respect to other flowers and fruits, which act 

 upon them in a manner greatly resembling the effects 

 of intoxication. Thus an elegant modern writer, cited 

 by Dr. Bevan, after defending animals in general against 

 the impropriety of the expression that a man who 

 has drank to such an excess as to lose his reason, has 

 made a beast of himself, observes, that it may fairly 

 be said that he has made a humble bee of himself, for 

 those little debauchees may often be observed round 

 the nectaries of hollyhocks, quaffing as pertinaciously 

 as though they belonged to Wiikes's Club, whilst 

 round the flower on the ground several of the bon 

 vivants will be found lying inebriated arid insensible. 

 Other observations have been made to the like effect. 

 Various plans have been of late years adopted to 

 obtain the honey from bee-hives without resorting to 

 the cruel, and, as it seems, unnecessary practice 

 (which is, however, still usually adopted in this 

 country) of sacrificing the lives of the bees, by 

 placing the hive at night over a hole, in which lighted 

 brimstone matches are placed, the fumes from which 

 in a short time kill the bees. 



Sudden the dark oppressive steam ascends, 

 And, used to milder scents, the tender race 

 By thousands tumble from their honey'd dome, 

 Convuls'd and agonising in the dust. 



THOMSON. 



The plans chiefly adopted have had for their object 

 the expulsion of the bees from the old nest, after the 

 combs are well filled with honey, into adjacent boxes, 

 in which they then recommence their labours, or 

 after the i jmoval of the honey, they are again returned 

 to their old habitation. We shall take this opportu- 

 nity of mentioning a plan adopted by Mr. Nutt, an 

 intelligent and practical apiarian of Lincolnshire, 

 whose apparatus was lately exhibited at the Museum 

 of National Manufactures in Leicester-square. By 

 arrangements which, although very simple are verv 

 complete, a secretion of a much larger quantity of 

 honey is caused than can be produced by any oilier 

 mode of management. Three collateral boxes are 

 placed side by side, with a single entrance in the centre 

 box, which, however, communicates with the side 

 boxes by apertures, which are easily closed by a tin 

 slide. The bees are first introduced into the centre 

 box ; when this is filled with honey, which is allowed 

 to remain for the use of the bees, 'in order to obviate 

 the necessity of swarming, Mr. Nutt removes one of 

 the slides, and establishes a communication with one 

 of the side boxes, the temperature of the latter !>eing 

 regulated by a perforated tin tube, which acts as a 

 ventilator, and by which means these additional store 

 boxes are kept at a proper working temperature, and 

 below the generative heat, in consequence of which 

 the queen bee is always retained in the middle box. 

 The heat of these side boxes is kepf at 70 or 80. 

 whilst the natural temperature of the working hive is 

 90" or 100, increasing even to 120. When the tem- 

 perature of the side boxes rises towards the latter 

 point it is evident that they are. full, and the necessity 

 which exists for establishing a connexion with the 

 centre and the other end box is thus shown. The 

 sees are easily driven from the full side box by the 

 action of the ventilator, when the communicating 

 GG'2 



