1 40 Yew- Trees of Great Britain and Ireland 



are given in the Gardeners Chronicle for 1881, 

 A lunatic in the Sussex County Asylum had eaten 

 large quantities of them and was found dead. At 

 the post-mortem examination evident signs of irrita- 

 tion of the stomach and intestines were discovered. 



A case of poisoning by yew-berries is related by 

 Dr. James Thompson of Droxford, Hants, The 

 boy, aged three years, had eaten some of the berries 

 and swallowed the stones. When first seen by the 

 doctor he was 'just recovering from *a convulsion ; 

 he Avas semi-comatose, but could be roused ; the 

 skin cold and clammy ; breathing difficult ; pupils 

 dilated, and slight attempts at vomiting.' 



Birds, such as turke3^s, peacocks, and blackbirds, 

 eat them with impunity.^ This statement is open 

 to doubt, but it is not unlikely that they may be 

 able to eat a considerable quantity without injury. 

 Blackbirds and thrushes eat a certain quantity, but 

 from the large number of seeds found under yew- 

 trees it would seem that they more commonly suck 

 off the mucilao-e without sw^allowino- the seeds. 

 M. Clos,- of Toulouse, from a series of experi- 

 ments on birds, concludes that there is much less 

 poison in the nuts than in the leaves, and Professor 

 Grognier,^ of the Veterinary School of Lyons, found 

 that 800 grammes of them administered to a fasting 

 horse produced no ill effects, and he concluded that 

 they were therefore not poisonous, but his experi- 



' Ablett. - Cornevin, Planies Veneneuses, p. 47. ■^ lOid, 



