Nor are the leaves of this plant wholly free from danger; it is true that they have, for many years, been in general use among cooks, to communicate an almond or kernel-like flavour to custards, puddings, creams, _blanc-mange_, and other delicacies of the table; but the custom has not always been harmless; a fact with which it behoves the forensic physician to be acquainted. In some parts of the continent milk is boiled with one or two leaves of the cherry-laurel in it, and _Ingenhouz_ states that he saw people much affected by it. In the _Literary Chronicle_ (no. xxii, p. 348, 1819) we find the following illustrative case: “Several children at a boarding-school, in the vicinity of Richmond, having partaken of some custard flavoured with the leaves of the cherry-laurel, four of them were taken severely ill in consequence. Two of them, a girl of six, and a boy of five years of age, fell into a profound sleep, out of which they could not be roused for ten hours, the other two complained of severe pains in the epigastric region. By proper medical treatment, they all recovered, after an illness of three days.” The essential oil of _bitter almonds_ is equally poisonous; and the water distilled from them is highly dangerous if incautiously taken. _Duvignau_ and _Parent_ instituted some experiments upon themselves to ascertain this fact; they commenced by taking six drops of the water distilled three times, in an appropriate vehicle, without producing any other than a transient impression. On taking _eighteen_ drops, however, vertigo was experienced, and a disposition to sleep, accompanied with a tingling of the ears and dimness of sight. When the dose was increased to _twenty-two_ drops, alarming symptoms followed, such as convulsions, and vomiting; which, although the experimenters succeeded in allaying by antispasmodics, cured them completely of any ulterior wish to ascertain how far this substance might be deleterious. A drachm of the distilled water of bitter almonds has killed a moderate sized dog. The _essential oil_ is proportionally more active; _Mr. Brodie_[440] found that one drop, when applied to the tongue of a cat, killed it in five minutes; no sooner did the poison come in contact with the organ than the animal was seized with convulsions. When two drops of the same oil were injected with half an ounce of water into the rectum of a cat, it was not seized for two minutes, but it died, as in the former experiment, after the expiration of five minutes. While engaged in this inquiry, _Mr. Brodie_ dipped the blunt end of a probe into the essential oil, and applied it to his tongue, with the intention of tasting it, and not having the least suspicion that so small a quantity could produce any of its specific effects on the nervous system; but scarcely had he applied it, when he experienced a very remarkable and unpleasant sensation, which he referred chiefly to the epigastric region, but the exact nature of which