HOLLY LEAVED CHERRY. 
17 
The Laurel, (JPrunus Lauro-Cercisus ,) now so gene- 
rally cultivated in Europe, was brought from Asia 
Minor. Lucullus, after conquering the king of Pontus, 
with whom the Romans had warred for 40 years, among 
his other trophies, brought the Cherry from the fields 
of Cerasonte, and, in transplanting it into Italy, secured 
a monument of his triumph far more durable than that 
which the senate and the people decreed him. The 
Laurel, transplanted at first from Trebizond to Con- 
stantinople, had not so brilliant a destiny; an envoy 
from the Emperor of Germany, David Ungnad, whose 
name is now scarcely known, 262 years ago brought a 
living plant to Clusius, at Vienna. The name of Lanro - 
Cerasus was given to it by Belon, who had seen it in 
its native country, from its leaves being like those of 
the Bay, and its fruit similar to cherries. 
The leaves afford by distillation a liquor which proves 
a violent poison to men and animals. According to 
Duhamel, a spoonful of this water given to a dog, killed 
him instantaneously. Various experiments and acci- 
dents tend to confirm the fact of the powerfully poison- 
ous nature of Laurel water. Fontana found that a 
single drop of the essential oil of this plant, applied to a 
wound on a dog, proved equally as fatal as the venom 
of the viper, and was attended with the same symptoms. 
The emanations from the Laurel, being, in fact, the 
diluted but volatile prussic or hydrocyanic acid, are not 
without their inconveniences, for, after reposing beneath 
its shade on a warm day, a headache and tendency to 
vomit is said sometimes to occur. Considerable use 
was formerly made of Laurel-water for the sake of the 
Bitter Almond flavour which it communicates to vari- 
ous articles of the dessert, but from its dangerous effects 
it is now but little used. 
The effect of this poison is so extremely rapid and 
VOL. II. 3 
