290 



MEDICAL BOTANY. 



C. lauro-cerasus. 



with subulate filaments and roundish anthers. 

 Fig. 144. The ovary is round, and supports a columnar 



style, with a globose stigma. The fruit is a 

 globular drupe,, of a shining black colour, 

 closely resembling a small cherry, in appear- 

 ance and structure. 



This plant flowers in May, and is cul- 

 tivated as an ornamental evergreen in 

 many parts of Europe, but is too tender 

 to withstand the frosts of the northern 

 and middle sections of this country, but 

 would probably grow perfectly well to 

 the south, where many allied species are 

 native. It is indigenous to the Levant, 

 and was introduced into Italy towards the 

 close of the sixteenth century. It has 

 been mistaken by some writers for the 

 true Laurel {Laurus nobilis), and sup- 

 posed to have been the plant dedicated 

 to Apollo, and used to crown victors; 

 but it does not appear to have been 

 known to the Greeks or Romans; the 

 mistake has arisen probably from the 

 plant in question having received the 

 name of Laurel, whilst the true laurel 

 became known under the name of the 

 Bay tree. 

 The part of the Cherry laurel which is officinal is the leaves ; these are 

 almost inodorous, until they are bruised, when they emit a bitter almond 

 odour. Their taste is bitter, aromatic, and somewhat astringent. When they 

 are dried, they lose all smell, but retain their flavour. The properties of these 

 leaves depends in a great measure on the hydrocyanic acid they contain. On 

 distillation with water, they afford a volatile oil, which, as in the case of the C. 

 serotina, is probably a product of the operation, from the transformation of 

 amygdalin by the action of emulsin ; it should be stated that Wohler and 

 Liebig were unable to detect this substance in their examination of the leaves. 

 The volatile oil closely resembles that of the bitter almond in its properties, 

 but is not as powerful in its action on the stomach. Besides the oil, distilla- 

 tion affords a medicated water, Cherry laurel water, which is also poisonous, 

 from containing a certain proportion of hydrocyanic acid. This water is 

 officinal in some of the foreign Pharmacopoeias, and was formerly much used 

 in the cases in which the diluted hydrocyanic acid is employed, but is now 

 seldom prescribed as a medicine, though is in request as a flavouring ingre- 

 dient in certain culinary preparations, more especially in Europe, being su- 

 perseded in this country by an equally poisonous preparation, " Peach-leaf 

 water." 



Medical Properties. — As both the volatile oil and the distilled water owe 

 their powers to the hydrocyanic acid they contain, they are of course appli- 

 cable to the same deranged conditions of the system in which this article has 

 been found useful, and as just said, have been almost superseded by it. The 

 distilled water is chiefly interesting at present, in a medico-legal point of view, 

 as many cases of poisoning with it have occurred, and been the subject of 

 judicial investigation ; one of the most celebrated of which was that of Captain 

 Donelly for the murder of Sir Theodosius Boughton. This case, has 



