r many years been in use among cooks, to communicate
an almond or kernel-like flavour to custards, puddings, creams,
_blanc-mange_, and other delicacies of the table.

It has been asserted, that the laurel poison in custards and other
articles of cookery is, on account of its being used in very small
quantities, quite harmless. To refute this assertion, numerous instances
might be cited; and, among them, a recent one, in which four children
suffered most severely from partaking of custard flavoured with the
leaves of this poisonous plant.

"Several children at a boarding-school, in the vicinity of Richmond,
having partaken of some custard flavoured with the leaves of the cherry
laurel, as is frequently practised by cooks, four of the poor innocents
were taken severely ill in consequence. Two of them, a girl six years of
age, and a boy of five years old, fell into a profound sleep, out of
which they could not be roused.

"Notwithstanding the various medical exertions used, the boy remained in
a stupor ten hours; and the girl nine hours; the other two, one of which
was six years old, a girl, and a girl of seven years, complained of
severe pains in the epigastric region. They all recovered, after three
days' illness. I am anxious to communicate to you this fact, being
convinced that your publication is read at all the scholastic
establishments in this part of the country. I hope you will allow these
lines a corner in your Literary Chronicle, where they may contribute to
put the unwary on their guard, against the deleterious effects of
flavouring culinary dishes with that baneful herb, the Cherry Laurel.

"I am, with respect, your's, Sir,
"THOMAS LIDIARD."[112]

What person of sense or prudence, then, would trust to the discretion of
an ignorant cook, in mixing so dangerous an ingredient in his puddings
and creams? Who but a maniac would choose to season his victuals with
poison?

The water distilled from cherry laurel leaves is frequently mixed with
brandy and other spiritous liquors, to impart to them the flavour of the
cordial called _noyeau_, (see also page 195.)

This fluid, though long in frequent use as a flavouring substance, was
not known to be poisonous until the year 1728; when the sudden death of
two women, in Dublin, after drinking some of the common distilled cherry
laurel water, demonstrated its deleterious nature.

FOOTNOTES:

[112] Literary Chronicle, No. 22, p. 348.--1819.

_Poiso