




















218 PERFIDY. 
our groves; and is loaded in the spring with 
numerous pyramids of white flowers, which 
are succeeded by a black fruit, resembling 
small cherries; its flowers, fruit, and leaves, 
have the taste and smell of the almond. 
It is related that a tender mother, on the 
birth-day of one of her children, wishing to 
prepare something nice for her family, threw 
some pounds of sugar and a handful of almond 
laurel leaves into .a cauldron of boiling milk. 
At .the prospect of the approaching feast, an 
innocent joy sparkled in every eye. O! sur- 
prise! Scarcely had they tasted the fatal dish, 
when every countenance changed, their hair 
became erect, their breathing quickened, a 
thousand confused noises issued from their 
chests, a horrible fury possessed, agitated, and 
disordered their senses. The desolate mother 
wished to call for succour; but, seized with 
the same disease, she partook of the insensible 
delirium, for which she could offer no remedy. 
Calm sleep at length relieved them from this 
sad inebriation. But what were the feelings 
of the poor mother, when informed on the 
morrow, that she had given to her children 
a poison like that of the viper. This poison, 
concentrated in the distilled water, or the 
essential oil of the almond laurel, is so violent, 
that it is sufficient, when it comes in contact 
with the slightest wound, to kill the most 
robust man. The sale of this deadly poison is 

