Poisonous properties of the Yew 143 



That the dried leaves are not harmless is 

 disproved by the researches of M. Reynal, 1 which 

 show that desiccation does not at all destroy the 

 properties of the yew leaves, and Harmand de 

 Mongarne 2 mentions the poisoning of a child by 

 the powder of the leaves, administered for an 

 attack of convulsions. Cornevin's 3 researches on 

 the amount of poison found in the leaves at different 

 seasons have established, he says, a curious fact : 

 ' Contrairement a ce qui se voit pour beaucoup 

 des phanerogames, ou les parties les plus jeunes, 

 les pousses et les feuilles encore tendres sont tres 

 veneneuses, les pousses vernales de 1'if sont peu 

 dangereuses.' 



Mr. Squarey, 4 who gives numerous instances of 

 sheep and cows being poisoned by it, thinks that 

 the male plant is poisonous and the female harmless 

 to horses and cattle. Lieutenant Stuart Wortley 

 found on analysis that but little 'taxin' exists in 

 the female. 5 These experiments need confirmation, 

 for there does not appear to be any physiological 

 reason for such a difference between the sexes. 

 The specimens examined by Lieutenant Stuart 

 Wortley may have varied through some peculiarity 

 of soil, but it is difficult to believe that there is 

 so small an amount of taxin in the female as he 

 says. If this were true the seed could not be of 



1 Cornevin, Des Plantes Vtntnenses, p. 49. 2 Ibid. 3 Ibid. 



4 Journ. of Roy. Agricult. Soc., Ser. 1892. 5 Times, Aug. 19, 1892, 



