HUNTERS 203 



its administration, for it is an accumulative 

 poison, and is the constant source of poisoning 

 horses, when administered by grooms and carters 

 to give brilliance to the coats of their charges. A 

 dose, harmless in itself, may, if long continued, 

 prove in the end a fatal one, for as the addition 

 of another drop to an already full tea-cup causes 

 it to overflow, so the giving of one more dose to 

 an animal, in whose system the arsenic has 

 accumulated to the utmost limit it can stand, is a 

 cause of immediate death. The law courts can 

 give proof of this, in which juries have not 

 always been skilfully directed ; and one cele- 

 brated murder case may recur to the minds of 

 some, in which the conviction that followed 

 might never have occurred, had the jury been 

 composed of men accustomed to the use of this 

 drug amongst horses, and been familiar with its 

 peculiar effects. To l3e quite safe, it is better not 

 to administer it for more than a fortnight at a 

 time, with at least a similar interval before 

 recommencing ; the dose recommended is thirty 

 drops. It should never be administered at the 

 same time as physic ; nor should it be used at 

 any time if the bowels are in a loose state. 



Sometimes when horses are out at grass they 

 obtain access to yew with fatal effect, though at 

 other times they seem to eat it with impunity. 

 Undoubtedly it is most dangerous when half- 

 withered, such as yew-clippings, or twigs that 

 have been caught by a frost, and died. The 

 symptoms are those of narcotic poisoning, with 

 fits of shivering and coldness of the skin. 



The treatment to be adopted should consist of 

 purgatives to get rid of the poison, and stimulants 

 to combat the general prostration. 



