JULY. 143 



ous properties of the meadow sweet occurred 

 in Kent, a few years since. Two young men, 

 who had gone thilher from London to spend 

 a day in roving among hills and glades, and 

 to gather the mid flowers from some of the 

 sweetest nooks of that beautiful county, went, 

 in the evening, laden with their nosegays, to a 

 village inn. They had been struck with the love- 

 liness of the meadow sweet, and had gathered 

 a large store to take away with them. In the 

 night both became ill, and the surgeon who 

 was sent for detected, immediately on entering 

 their chamber, a strong scent of prussic acid. 

 This he found to proceed from a quantity of the 

 withering flowers of the meadow sweet, which 

 they had incautiously laid around and under 

 their beds. Both suffered severely, and one of 

 them so much so, that he remained ill for se- 

 veral weeks. This flower is sometimes called 

 queen of the meadows, and the French too 

 term it la reine des j))'es. The stems are used 

 in some countries for dyeing. 



"We have several very pretty willow herbs, 

 {Epilobium,) which with their purplish red 

 blossoms deck the summer hedges ; the hand- 

 somest of the tribe growing near streams. 



The Kamschatdales are very fond of an in- 

 toxicating liquor made from some species, and 

 they also prepare vinegar from them, and eat 

 the young shoots as food. 



The flowers of the willow herb are seated 

 upon long pods, which contain a number of 

 seeds crowned each with a tuft of down. These 



