SPURGE-LAUREL. 313 



pheasants, but it is uncertain whether they do not reject the 

 nut and eat only the pulpy covering. We have met with no 

 instance on record of its poisonous effects on man except the 

 following, related by Mr. Waller : — 



" A strong robust peasant, who was attacked by venereal 

 disease, which began to gain ground and threatened a bubo 

 on each groin, mentioned his distress to a soldier of his ac- 

 quaintance, who strongly recommended him to make use of 

 this plant, which he gathered and prepared for him, stripping 

 off a single leaf downwards, so as to include a small portion of 

 the bark, and after drying this in an oven, and reducing it to 

 powder, gave him the whole of it in the morning in a pint of 

 beer. In the course of ten minutes sickness came on, followed 

 by copious vomiting, by which means, probably, the greater 

 part of the medicine was evacuated. The patient, however, 

 experienced a dreadful sensation of heat, which diffused itself 

 immediately from the stomach to every part of the frame, so 

 that, to use his own phrase, ' the blood appeared to boil in all 

 his veins.' In about an hour, a severe purging commenced, 

 which continued without intermission for several hours, the 

 matter evacuated burning and excoriating the passages to a 

 degree that was intolerable. This extreme agitation of the 

 whole system, which was accompanied with violent fever and 

 tendency to delirium, continued nearly twenty-four hours, and 

 for the last five or six, he was in a profuse sweat, which 

 terminated in some hours of refreshing sleep. On awaking, 

 the patient found himself, as it were, recovered from a severe 

 and dangerous indisposition ; the syphilitic symptoms had en- 

 tirely disappeared, and a ravenous appetite quickly succeeded ; 

 the whole frame feeling as if totally renovated." 



If any case should occur of accidental or intentional poisoning 

 by this plant, the treatment will not differ from that recommended 

 under the article " Mezereon." 



Medicinal Properties and Uses. — The leaves, bark, and 

 fruit of this plant are violent in their operation on the organic 

 system of man, being more or less acrid, corrosive, excoriating, 

 drastic, diaphoretic, and externally, rubefacient. The chief 

 disease in which it has been employed is syphilis, but in, 

 these cases, it has been known to be followed by violent and 

 alarming symptoms, as already described. Similar effects 



