he could not describe, because he knew nothing similar to it. At the same time there was a sense of weakness in his limbs, as if he had not the command of his muscles; and he thought that he should have fallen. The fascinating liqueur noyau, _créme de noyau_, is indebted for its flavour to the essential oil of the bitter almond, or peach; and is undoubtedly deleterious if taken in excess. In the _Journal des Debats_, for 1814, we find that the late _Duke Charles de Lorraine_ had nearly lost his life from swallowing some drops of _eau de noyau_ too strongly impregnated with the essential oil of peach kernels. The bitter almond itself, in consequence of the manner in which its deleterious principle is modified by the natural state of combination in which it exists with sweet oil and albumen, does not produce an effect corresponding with the proportion of essential oil which it yields. The experiments of _Orfila_, however, prove that the almond, in doses of a drachm, is destructive to cats; and there can be no doubt but that it would be equally deleterious to the human species; but the quantity required for the production of such an effect must ever prevent the bitter almond from becoming either the accidental or criminal instrument of death. _Physiological action of Prussic acid._ The numerous experiments, which have been made with this poison, have clearly established that its action is upon the nervous system, whose energies it would seem to extinguish without any ostensible injury to respiration and circulation; for in all those animals which were killed by it, in the experiments of _Orfila_, _Brodie_, and others, the heart was found acting regularly, and circulating dark coloured blood, and in some cases this phenomenon was visible for many minutes after the animal was in other respects apparently dead. _Orfila_ considers that he has fully demonstrated that these effects depend on the absorption of the poison, and its transmission to the brain through the medium of the circulation. We have accordingly placed Prussic acid in the second division of our classification. The essential oil of bitter almonds would, according to the experiments of _Mr. Brodie_, appear to act through the medium of the nerves, and it has accordingly been referred to our first division. This is undoubtedly an anomaly, which it is not easy to reconcile; the experiments, however, which led _Mr. Brodie_ to the conclusion appear to us to warrant such a deduction; the instantaneousness with which the poisonous effects were produced, and the fact of its acting more speedily when applied to the tongue, than when injected into the intestines, although the latter presents a better absorbing surface, seem to oppose the idea of the oil requiring to be absorbed, before it can display its energies. _M. Vogel_, of Munich, has lately discovered some facts respecting the composition of this oil, which may perhaps hereafter lead to the true explanation of this