VOL. LXX.] PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. 663 



first obtained several times over again with new leaves well chopped and dried. 

 I believe it would at last be obtained in the form of a concrete oily substance, 

 which, evaporated by fire, would not only be equal in force to any known 

 poison, but far exceed them all. But I reserve this experiment for some other 

 occasion, when I shall also speak of the bitter almonds, and of the degree of 

 poison to which their water can be raised by distilling it till it be dry. 



The water of the Lauro-Cerasus then kills animals when introduced into the 

 cavity of the body: but what effect does it produce when applied to wounds? It may 

 suffice here to relate one only of the various experiments which I have made. I 

 opened the skin of the lower belly of a pretty large rabbit, and made a wound in 

 it of about an inch long, and having slightly wounded the muscles under it in 

 many places, I applied to the part 2 or 3 tea-spoons full of the water : in less 

 than 3 minutes the animal fell down convulsed, and died soon after. This ex- 

 periment shows us, that the water of the Lauro-Cerasus is a poison similar to 

 the others, and that it operates when insinuated into the body by means of 

 wounds made in it. This experiment has been attended with similar results in 

 other warm-blooded animals ; but I have always found, that the water of the 

 Lauro-Cerasus, when given by the mouth, acts more powerfully and quicker 

 than in the other way, even when the quantity given is smaller ; a circumstance, 

 in my opinion, that deserves the greatest attention, since it is matter of fact, 

 that a large wound offers many more vessels to absorb that poison immediately 

 than the mouth and stomach ; besides that the nervous parts ought to be more 

 affected from the very state in which they are put by the wound. It is not the 

 warm-blooded animals alone which are suddenly killed by this water when they 

 are made to drink it, but the cold-blooded animals also die of the effects of it ; 

 and what appears to me very singular is, that they die in an extremely short 

 time, and perhaps more quickly than the others ; which is quite contrary to 

 what happens from the other poisons. It may suffice for the present to mention 

 eels, which are very difficult animals to kill, and still continue to move their 

 parts when dead. These animals die in a few seconds after having drank the 

 water, and have scarcely swallowed it when they begin to contract themselves ; 

 but death suddenly seizes them, and renders them immoveable in a moment, 

 without leaving even the motion of the parts they usually have on being handled. 

 The heart indeed continues to beat, though faintly, but it ceases to move much 

 sooner than when they are killed by cutting off the head. Here it cannot be 

 denied but that the muscular irritability is extremely affected, and in a particular 

 manner. I know not if there be any cold-blooded animal that resists this 

 poison. Those which I tried it on all died; and I doubt whether there be any 

 to which it is not fatal : if so, it deserves a particular distinction, on account of 

 its being the most terrible of all known poisons, as well as for its universality in 



