KAL 



KAM 



Ing out slender opposite branches ; leaves scei 

 nearly six inches long 1 , on short foot stalks, and other 

 Flowers at the ends of the branches in a 

 loose spike, they are white, and have a 



scent like jasmine, whence in Jamaica, 

 and other islands of the West Indies, 

 where it is a native, it is called wild jas- 

 mine. 



KOr k, the lentil letter, and seventh 

 ? consonant of our alphabet; being 

 formed by the voice, by a guttural expres- 

 sion of the breath through the mouth, to- 

 gether with a depression of the lower jaw, 

 and opening of the teeth. 



Its sound is much the same with that of 

 the hard c, or gu , and it is used, for the 

 most part, only before e, i, and n, in the 

 beginning of words ; as, ken, kill, know, 

 &c. It used formerly to be always joined 

 with c at the end of words, but is at pre- 

 sent very properly omitted : thus, for 

 publick, musick, &c. we say, public, music, 

 &c. However, in monosyllables it is still 

 retained, as jack, block, mock, &c. 



The letter k is derived from the Greek 

 kappa, K or * ; it being unknown to the 

 Romans, though we sometimes meet with 

 kalendae instead of calends. 



As a numeral, K denotes 250 ; and with 

 a line over it, K 250,000. 



KJEMPFERIA, in botany, so named 

 from Engelbert Ksempfer, a celebrated 

 traveller, a genus of the MonandriaMono- 

 gynia class and order. Natural order of 

 Scitamineee. Cannx, Jussieu. Essential 

 character: corolla six-parted, three of the 

 parts larger, spreading, one two-parted ; 

 stigma two-plated. There are two spe- 

 cies, viz. K. galanga, galangale ; and K. 

 rotunda. As these are both natives of the 

 East Indies, they require a warm stove to 

 preserve them through our \yintei-. 

 KALI. See ALKALI and POTASH. 

 KALMIA, in botany, a genus of the De- 

 randria Monogynia class and order. Na- 

 tural order of Bicornes. Rhododendra, 

 Jussieu. Essential character : calyx five- 

 parted ; corolla salver-form, with the bor- 

 der five-horned beneath ; capsule five- 

 celled. There are four species ; of the K. 

 latifolia, broad-leaved kalmia, we shall 

 give some little account, taken from the 

 fifth volume of the American Philosophi- 

 cal Transactions. The leaves of this shrub 

 are feasted upon by the deer and the 

 ixmnd horned elk,butare mortally poison- 

 YOL. IV 



ous to sheep, to horned cattle, to horses, 

 and to man. The bee extracts honey, 

 without injury, from its nectary, but the 

 man who partakes of that honey, after it 

 is deposited in the hive cells, falls a victim 

 to his repast. 



Some very singular cases, in proof of 

 this assertion, occurred at Philadelphia no 

 longer ago than the year 1790, in the au- 

 tumn and winter of which an extensive 

 mortality was produced amongst those 

 who had partaken of the honey that had 

 been collected in the neighbourhood of 

 Philadelphia, or had feasted on the com- 

 mon American pheasant. The attention 

 of the American government was excited 

 by the general distress, a minute exami- 

 nation into the cause of the mortality en- 

 sued, and it was satisfactorily ascertained, 

 that the honey had been chiefly extracted 

 from the flowers of kalmia latifolia, and 

 that the pheasants, which had proved thus 

 poisonous, had fed harmlessly on its 

 leaves : in consequence of which, a pub- 

 lic proclamation was issued, ^ prohibiting 

 the use of the pheasant, as a food, for that 

 season. See Good's Oration before the 

 Medical Society. 



KAM SIN, the name of a hot southerly 

 wind, common in Egypt. The wind is 

 said to prevail more or less for fifty days, 

 hence it is called " the wind of fifty days." 

 Travellers, who have experienced the ef- 

 fect of it, have described it as a poison- 

 ous wind. When it begins to blow, the 

 atmosphere assumes an alarming appear- 

 ance. The sky, at other times so clear in 

 this climate, becomes dark and heavy ; 

 the sun loses its splendour, and appears 

 of a violet colour ; the air is not cloudy, 

 but grey and thick, and is filled with a 

 dust so subtile, that it penetrates every 

 where. 



This wind, always light and rapid, is 

 not at first remarkably hot, but it increases 

 in heat in proportion as it continues. All 

 animated bodies soon discover it by the 

 change it produces in them. The lungs, 

 which a. too rarefied air no longer expands, 



D 



