FLORA DOMESTIC A. 



of sick persons, from some superstitious notion of its ef- 

 ficacy. 



<f On avait vu a sa porte les branches de laurier et d'acanthe, que 

 suivant 1'usage, on suspend a la maison d'un malade *." 



" They had seen at his door the branches of laurel and acanthus, 

 which it was the custom to suspend before the door of a sick person." 



It adorned the gates of the Caesars and high pontiffs. 

 It was worn by the priestess of Delphi, who chewed some 

 of the leaves and threw them on the sacred fire. Let- 

 ters and despatches sent from a victorious general to the 

 senate were wrapped in Bay-leaves; the spears, tents, 

 ships, &c. were all dressed up with them ; and, in the 

 triumph, every common soldier carried a branch in his 

 hand. 



The Bay was in great esteem with the physicians, who 

 considered it as a panacea. The statue of Esculapius, 

 though perhaps with an allusion also to his father Apollo 

 (who was the god of physic in general, as his son seems 

 to have been of its practitioners), was adorned with its 

 leaves. From the custom that prevailed in some places of 

 crowning the young doctors in physic with this Laurel 

 in berry (Bacca-lauri), the students were called Bacca- 

 laureats, Bay-laureats, or Bachelors. The term has, with 

 some propriety, been extended to single men, as the male 

 and female berries do not grow on the same plant ; and it 

 seems we might with equal correctness bestow the name 

 upon unmarried ladies. 



The decay of the Bay-tree was formerly considered by 

 the superstitious as an omen of disaster. It is said that 

 before the death of Nero, though in a very mild winter, all 

 these trees withered to the root, (yet surely his death was 

 no serious disaster !) and that a great pestilence in Padua 



* Travels of Anacharsis the Younger, vol. ii. p. 178. 



