Dear tsuwm: it is really disappointing to be unable to learn anything more about "lurgulary". I can ermember reading many times about putting salt or dead bodies into wells to deny their use by the enemy, but never saw a word to describe the practice. And "poison" is quite possibly not the best word. In the era described, I can't think of any poison available at the time that ould have been effective when so diluted.Too bad Mrs. B didn't give a bit more information. Maddening to to be able to guess the roots of the word. It rhymes with "burglary" I wonder if it is from same period.