ON KALMIA LATIFOLIA. 
243 
tridges. The latter are considered poisonous, as food, during 
the winter and spring, from their feeding on the buds. The 
facts in support of this opinion are numerous, but the pre- 
scribed length of this article prohibits me from mentioning 
more than a few of them. Dr. Shoemaker, of Philadelphia, 
published in the North American Medical and Surgical 
Journal, two cases of poisoning occurring in the same 
family, from eating the flesh of partridges ; the place where 
the bird was prepared for the spit, was examined and a 
number of the laurel leaves were found. This occurred in 
February, 1S26. Dr. Mease has published several cases 
which occured in the same city, during the years 1791 and 
1792. Other cases are related by Dr. Hay ward of Boston, 
and Dr. Comstock of Connecticut. It is well known that 
honey is occasionally poisonous, and, in our own country, 
the deleterious properties imparted to it, have been traced to 
the bees feeding on the flowers of this, and other poisonous 
plants, as the Andromeda, Agalea, Datura rhododendron, 
&c. Dr. Barton, states that a party of adventurers removed 
some hives of bees from Pennsylvania to New Jersey, in 
hopes that the savannas of the latter country might be fa- 
vorable to their increase, and consequently to the making 
of honey ; the Kalmia was the principal flowering plant in 
these situations ; the bees increased prodigiously, but it was 
soon found that every one who ate of the honey became in- 
toxicated in a high degree. He recommends that every 
fcetid or poisonous vegetable should be removed from the 
habitation of these insects. In two cases recorded by Dr- 
Hosack, the honey was of a dark reddish color, and thicker 
consistence than is usually sold in the markets. 
Medical Properties. — The leaves, which constitute the part 
used in medicine, are possessed of poisonous properties, but 
have been used with advantage in some cases of disease. Cau- 
tion, should be used, however, in carefully regulating the 
dose. Dr. Thomas, in an inaugural dissertation, published 
in Philadelphia, A. D. ? 1802, states that a case of diarrhoea 
