230 ON ANIMAL AND 



gled hard, and could with difficulty keep it down. 

 He had a prodigious rattling in his stomach and 

 guggling, and these symptoms continued about ten 

 minutes. Perceiving him a little composed, she 

 went out of the room, and returned in about five 

 minutes; when to her great surprise, she found him 

 with his eyes fixed upwards, his teeth clenched, 

 and foam running out of his mouth ; and he died 

 in two hours from the time of taking the poison. 



Dr. Parsons, then professor of anatomy at 

 Oxford, who was called upon to give evidence, 

 stated as a proof of the activity of the laurel poi- 

 son, that a girl eighteen years of age, in perfect 

 health, who by mistake had taken less than two 

 table spoonsful of the first runnings of the simple 

 water of laurel leaves, within half a minute fell 

 down, was convulsed, foamed at the mouth, and 

 died in a short time. And Dr. Ashe reported, 

 that a tea spoonful of the essential oil would 

 destroy animal life in a few seconds. 



Dr. Male, in his treatise on Medical Juris- 

 prudence, mentions, that two ounces of the water 

 distilled three times, killed a middle size dog in 

 less than half a minute, even while it was pouring- 

 down his throat; and that laurel leaves, simply 

 beat into a pulp, possess a deleterious quality ; 

 and yet the strongest decoctions or infusions of 

 them, will be taken by horses with impunity, 

 even when given to the quantity of a pailful ; so 

 y^riously do poisons act upon different animals, 



