24 NAT. ORDER. LAURACEiE. 
nary purposes, and in this way they were very much used by the 
Romans. And the leaves both of this and the common laurel were 
frequently used in custards, Sec, but the practice has by most been 
discontinued, since the recent and fatal proof of the poisonous qual- 
ities was made public. To such we would observe, that the com- 
mon laurel, or Prunus lauro cerasus of Linnaeus, differs in every 
respect, from the plant here described, both in its effects and in its 
botanical characters. It may be remarked, however, that the dele- 
te reous part of it is the essential oil, which requires to be separated 
bj^ distillization, in order to become an active poison. 
Medical Properties and Uses. The leaves and berries possess the 
same medicinal properties, both having a sweet fragrant smell, and 
an aromatic astrinoent taste. In distillization with water the 
leaves yield a small quantity of very fragrant essential oil ; with 
rectified spirit they afford a moderately warm pungent extract ; the 
berries yield a larger quantity of essential oil; they discover like- 
wise a degree of unctuosity in the mouth, give out to the press an 
almost insipid fluid oil, and on being boiled in water, appears on the 
surface, a thick butyraceous oil, of a yellowish green color, impreg- 
nated with the flavor of the berry. The oil thus obtained may be 
used with safety and advantage in assisting digestion ; and it has 
even been thought to obviate the poisonous effects of the laurel. 
The Laurus of honorary memory, the distinguished favorite of 
Apollo, may be naturally supposed to possess extraordinary fame as 
a medicine, but its pharmacutical uses are so limited in the pres- 
ent practice, that this dignified plant is now rarely employed, except 
by the way of enema, or as an external application ; thus in the 
London Pharmacopoeia the leaves are directed in the decotum pro 
fomento, and the berries in the emplastrum cumini. The berries 
however appear to possess some share of medicinal efficacy, and if 
we do not allow them to be so extensively useful as represented by 
S. Bauhin, Tournefort, Goeffry, and some others, yet we have no 
doubt of their possessing highly valuable emmenagogue properties 
