( 
95 
/ 
female flowers is very lliort, and the germen becomes an oval berry, co- 
vered with a dark green rind, and feparable into two lobes or cotyledons. 
This tree is a native of Italy, and other fouthern parts of Europe, 
and the firll account we have of its cultivation in England is 
a handfome evergreen, 
given 
and 
now \ 
:'ery 
by Turner in 1562 ; it 
common in the fhrubberies and gardens of this country. The leave's 
and berries pofTefs the fame medicinal qualities, both having a fweet 
fragrant fmell, and an 
aromatic aftringent taile. 
The berries are 
■ 
imported from the Streights, and are much ftronger than the leaves. 
" In diftillation with water the leaves yield a fmall quantity of very 
fragrant effential oil : with redified fpirit they afford a moderately 
warm pungent extrad . The berries yield a larger quantity of elTential 
oil: theydifcover likewife a degree of unduofity in the mouth, give 
out to the prefs an almofh infipid fluid oil, and on being boiled in 
, water a thicker butyraceous one, of a yellowifh green colour, im- 
pregnated with the flavour of the berry."'* 
The Laurus of honorary memory,' the diftinguifhed favourite 
^ Turn» Herb, part 2. fol. 32. in Hort. Kew. cit. *^ Lewis M. M, 382. 
* Their fpicy warmth has recommended them for culinary purpofeSj and in this way 
they were much ufed by the Romans, " Apud veteres Romanes inter cibi condimenta 
in culinis frequenter adhibebantur, ut teftatur Apicius Coelius." And the leaves both of 
this plant, and the common laurel, are frequently ufed in cuftards, &c. But the pra6Hce 
has by many been difcontinued, fmce a recent and fatal proof of the poifonous qualities 
of the latter was made public. To fuch we may obferve, that the common laurel, or 
Prunus Lauro cerafus of Linnaeus, differs very materially from the plant here reprefented, 
both ih its efFe6ls and in its botanical characters. The common fweet bay may be thus 
ufed not only with fafety but with the advantage of affifting digeftion : and it has even 
been thought to obviate the poifonous effeds of the laurel: " Aqua ftillatitia Lauri, 
fecundum Clar. Cantwell, antidotus eft aquae ftillatitiae Lauro cerafi." (Hall. 1. c.) It 
may be remarked, however, that the deleterious part of the laurel is the effential oil 
which requires to be feparated by diftillation, in order to become art active polfon. 
/ 
j» 
Laurus planta eft, Apollini lucidiffimo facra : quin etiam a Jove colitur. It was 
not only generally worn as a triumphal crown, but, by the Emperor Tiberius, as a prc- 
teftion againft thunder. " Laurum fulmine non percuti veteribus perfuafum fuit. 
" Eadem fuperftitione nititur obfervatio ilia de crepitu quern folia & virgae Lauri inter 
urendum edunt. Nam fi crepuiiTent abunde^ac fonatiiis, haud dubie portendi felicem 
eventum rebantur : quod fi tacita deflagrajGTent, triftem & inaufpicatum." The Laurus, 
as well as the Olive, was confidered as an emblem of peace, and called Laurus pacifera, 
" fi ejus rami prsetendebantur inter armatos hoftes, firmum quietis erat indicium.'* 
(Matthiol) Mufas in Laurinis montis Parnaffi fylvis fidere finxerunt. Eadem corona- 
bantur Poets. Necnon adhuc quibufdam in locis novi Medicinae Do6lores Lauro 
coronantur : inde fortafle Laureandi k Laureati dicuntur, (Geof,) 
(- 
No. 
B 
of 
