THE YEW 87 



from the graves by the setting sun. These gasses, or will-o'-the- 

 wisps, divers have seen, and believed them dead bodies walk- 

 ing abroad. Wheresoever it grows it is both dangerous and 

 deadly to man and beast ; the very lying under its branches 

 has been found hurtful, yet the growing of it in churchyards 

 is useful." 



This belief in the fatal effect of even sleeping 

 under the boughs of the Yew dates back from Galen 

 and Dioscorides ; whilst Cffisar records the death of 

 Catibulus, king of the Eburones, from drinking its 

 juice. Gerard, however, in his " Herball " (1579), 

 rashly denies all this, saying, " All which I boldly 

 affirm as untrue, because I have eaten my full of the 

 berries, and slept in the branches, not once, but oft, 

 without hurt." 



The facts would seem to be that the seeds them- 

 selves are poisonous, but the fleshy pink cup, or 

 " aril," as the botanists term it, of which children are 

 so fond, is harmless. As to the boughs and leaves, it 

 appears that cattle can be gradually accustomed to 

 them when mixed with other food ; but that, either 

 when green or when cut and half withered, .', they have 

 been repeatedly fatal to horses, oxen, sheep, and 

 deer. Gilbert White was probably right when he 

 said that it was " either from wantonness when full 

 or from hunger when empty " that the Yew is eaten 

 by them with fatal consequences. Though the leaves 

 are believed to act as a vermifuge, they are likely 

 to be equally fatal to children, the poison acting 

 either on the cerebro-spinal nerves or directly on the 

 heart. 



The topiarian art in many an old farmhouse 

 garden shows the Yew, patient under the shears, 



