86 OBSERVATIONS on 



fion inftantaneous death * ; but it more fre- 

 quently happens that epileptic fymptoms arc 

 firft produced^ 



This poifon was difcovered by accident in 

 Ireland in the year 1728. Before that time 

 it was not an uncommon praftice there to 

 add a certain quantity of laurel water to 

 brandy, or other fpirituous liquors, to ren- 

 der them agreeable to the palate. In the 

 month of September 1728, at Dublin, three 

 women drank fome laurel water, and one 

 of them, Mary Whaley, a fhort time after- 

 ward, became violently difordered, loft her 

 fpeech, and died in about an hour. Anne 

 Boyce was feized in the fame manner, and 

 died in a fliort fpace of time. Neither of 

 them vomited. Frances Eaton, who drank 

 no more than a fpoonful of the water, did 

 not find herfelf indifpofed when the other 



* A few fpoonfuls of laurel water killed a large dog 

 whilfl it was palTing down the throat, before it could be 

 fuppofed to have reached the ftomach.-^ — Mead'« 

 Works, 410. p. 128. 



It was the cuftom of the late Dr. Nicholls, when he 

 wanted dogs for anatomical purpofes, to give them 

 ftrong laurel water, as the moft expeditious method of 

 deftroying them. — Bromfieldon Nightshade, p. 75. 



women 



