680 ORD. XL. Oleracee. LAURUS NOBILIS, 
The Laurus of honorary memory,* the distinguished favourite 
of Apollo,’ may be naturally supposed to have had no incon- 
siderable fame asa medicine ;* but its pharmaceutical uses are 
so limited in the present practice, that this dignified plant is now 
rarely employed, except in the way of enema, or as an external 
application; thus, in the London pharmacopoeia the leaves are 
directed in the decoctum pro fomento, and the berries in the 
emplastrum cumini. The berries however appear to possess some 
share of medicinal efficacy," and if we do not allow them to be 
so extensively useful as represented by J. Bauhin, Tournefort, 
* Laurus planta est, Apollini lucidissimo sacra: quin efiam a Jove colitur. 
It was not only generally worn as a triumphal crown, but, by the Emperor 
Tiberius, as a protection against thunder. ‘‘ Laurum fulmine non percuti . 
veteribus persuasum fuit.” adem superstitione nititur observatio illa de 
erepitu quem folia & virge Lauri inter urendum edunt. Nam si crepuissent 
abundé ac sonatius, mped dubie portendi Sore eventum rebantur: quod si tacita 
deflagrassen , tris icatum, aurus,~as well as the Olive, was 
considered as an emblem of peace, and canned Laurus pacifera, “ sj- ejus rami 
pretendebantur inter armatos hostes, firmum quietis erat indicium.” (¢ Matthiol ) 
Musas in Laurinis montis Parnassi sylvis sidere finxerunt, Eadem coronabantur 
Pete. Necnon adhuc quibusdam in locis novi Medicine Doctores Lauro 
coronantur: inde fortasse Laureandi & Laureati dicuntur. (G@eoff.) 
* Cui Deus. At conjux quoniam mea non potes esse, 
Arbor eris certe, dixit, mea. Semper habebunt 
Te coma, te cithare, te nostre, Laure, pharetre. 
Tu ducibus Latiis aderis, cum leta triumphum. 
Vox canet; & long visent Capitolia pompe. 
Postibus Augustis eadem fidissima custos 
Ante fores stabis; mediamque tuebere quercum. 
Utque meum intonsis caput est juvenile capillis ; 
Tu quoque perpetuos semper gere frondis honores. 
Ovrp. Met, I. v, 557, 
« ‘* Laurus apud veteres medicos magnum habuit in medicina usum, & veluti 
panacea estimata fuit”’ Geoff. 
* Haller says, ‘* Calida & aromatica planta, semine, potissimum, cujus vires 
@ medicis nondum pro dignitate per experimenta explorate sunt.” 
