Laurel. Bay. 
lapius, the son of Apollo, the God of Physic as well as of Music, 
was adorned with its leaves; a custom, doubtless, adopted to 
propitiate that deity, who, as Potter in his “ Grecian Antiqui¬ 
ties ” happily remarks, would assuredly guard from injury any 
place where he found the emblem of his beloved Daphne. 
Physicians held the bay in great esteem, and doubtless from 
its associations, considered it a panacea. When any person was 
seized with a dangerous illness, it was customary with the Greeks 
to fix a branch of laurel over the doorway, in order to avert 
death and drive away evil spirits. It is supposed that from 
these practices arose the fashion of crowning young doctors of 
physic with laurel-berries (bacca lauri), whence is derived the 
terms of “bachelorand “laureate.” “Students/’ says Mr. 
Phillips, in his “ Sylva Florifera,” “ who have taken their de¬ 
grees at the Universities, are called bachelors, from the P'rench 
bachelier , which is derived from the Latin baccalaureus , a laurel- 
berry. These students were not allowed to marry, lest their 
duties of husband and father should take them from their 
literary pursuits ; and in time all single men were called ba¬ 
chelors.” In “ Flora Domestica/’ Miss Kent very pointedly 
remarks that the term of “ bachelors ” has, with some pro¬ 
priety, “ been extended to single men, as the male and female 
berries do not grow on the same plant; and it seems we might, 
with equal correctness, bestow the name upon unmarried 
ladies.” 
Theophrastus tells us that the superstitious man of his time 
was accustomed to keep a bay-leaf in his mouth all day, to 
preserve him from misfortunes ; whilst Theocritus says that it 
was usual with lovers to burn laurel as a means of exciting 
love in the bosoms of those on whom they had fixed their 
affection. 
Hardy and flourishing as the bay-tree appears, when it 
withers, it withers very rapidly ; and this circumstance ren¬ 
ders it likely that the following allusion in the Thirty-seventh 
Psalm applies to this tree : “ I have seen the wicked in great 
power, and spreading himself like a green bay-tree. Yet he 
passed away, and lo, he was not; yea, I sought him, but he 
could not be found.” 
Formerly this rapid decay of the bay-tree was considered an 
cmen of disaster ; and it is stated that, previous to the death 
