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Show 490 CHERRY LAUREL. CHERRY LAUREL. Aug. 29. Eight ounces of blood separated one ounce six drachms of dark-coloured serum. ‘The gore had not the least film upon it, and was now grown so tender, that a column of mercury four inches high cut throughit. During the whole time the horse appeared very brisk and well, and his appetite continued good. But asto his distemper, the running at the nose increased in quantity, but the matter was altered into a white, well-digested pus, without any offen. of blood, as it ran from the arm of a child ten years old, and troubled with the St. Anthony’s fire, it preserved a beautiful colour, andJet go one ounce three drachms of dark-coloured sive smell, as at first. The quantity of laurel water which was taken in the whole time was 336 ounces, or 21 pints. Experiment IIT. The following experiments were made to show that even out of the body the laurel water has great powerover the blood. To six ounces of blood extracted from a young man violen tly afilicted with an inflammatory rheumatism, I put one ounce of laurel water, which altered the crassamentum, renderi ng it soft and tender, without a speck of size upon it. The serum was of a light red, like Burgundy wine, and, after standi ng 24 hours, weighed exactly two ounces. Six ounces more of the same blood, being saved in another porringer, by itself, appeared very foul and sizy, with a thick, tough buff coat upon it. The serum was of a bright yellow, and weighed two ounces one drachm and ten grains. Experiment IV. Sixteen ounces of blood being drawn from a woman on the third day of a pleuritic fever, I put one ounce of warm laurel water into a bason which received about one-half of it. The next day I found the blood which was mixed with the laurel water of a bright colour, the coagulum exceeding tender, the Serum ofa pale red, and in a small quantity. The other parcel of blood had a buff coat at uponit at least onethird of an inch thick ; the grumous part looked very foul and black ; the serum was of a straw colour, and much more in quantity than what was in the other porringer. But this patient being in the country, I had not an Oppo rtunity of examining into the exact proportions. Experiment V. Half an ounce of laurel water being mixed with three ounces 49] rene three ounces six drachms andfifty grains of the same plood, in another cup, separated one ounce a drachm and a scruple of straw-coloured serum. ‘The fibrous part had a coat one-sixth of an inch thick, exactly resembling melted suet. I could add a great many more experiments of this kind, but as they all exhibited the same phenomena it moult he useless. I shall therefore only observe, that from these experiments oe is evidently demonstrated that laurel water has a power of making : great alterations in the blood. The kernel-like flavour which these leaves impart being generally esteemed grateful, has sometimes causet them to be emcustards, a ployed for culinary purposes, andespecially on of this sap proporti the as and ge, &c.; dings, blancman y = commonl is milk the of quantity the to leaf the of matter considerable, bad effects have seldom ensued. But as the poisonous quality of this laurel is now indubitably proved, the public ought to be cautioned against its internal use. The following communication to the Royal Society, by Dr. Madden of Dublin, contains the first and principal proofs of the deleterious effects of this vegetable upon mankind :—‘¢ A very extraordinary accident that fell out here some months ago, has discovered to us a most dangerous poison, which was never before known to be so, though it has been in frequent use among us. The thing I meanis a simple water,distilled from the leaves of the lauro-cerasus. ‘The water is at first of a milky colour, but the oil which comes over the helm with it, being in a good Measure separated from the phlegm, by passing it through a flannel bag, it becomes as clear as common water. It has the smell of bitter almond or peach kernel, and has been for many years in frequent use among our housewives and cooks, to give that agreeable flavour to their creams and puddings. It has also been much in use among our drinkers of drams; and the pro- portion they generallyuse it in, has been cne part of laurel water to four of brandy. Nor has this practice, however oes ever been attended with any apparentill consequences,till some time in the month of September 1728, when it happened that one Martha Boyse, a servant, who lived with a person that sold |