FOOD 105 



twigs without effect. Three days later the same calves ate 10 oz. in two 

 hours, and two days afterwards one of the calves was noticed to be ill, 

 and in half an hour it died. A donkey ate in twenty-four hours 5j oz. 

 of half-dried leaves without effect, and two guinea-pigs consumed 1^- oz. 

 of dried leaves in seventy - two hours without suffering any inconve- 

 nience. In another instance experiments were tried with the yew 

 leaves, some of which had been eaten by a valuable filly on the first 

 night of entering the pasture, and which was found dead on the follow- 

 ing morning. Some of the leaves from the plant of which the filly 

 partook were given to three guinea - pigs, mixed with bran and oats. 

 Ten days afterwards, the feeding being continued during the whole time, 

 one of the guinea-pigs died. On the following day a second one died, 

 and four days after, the third guinea-pig died. On post-mortem exami- 

 nation it was found that the stomach in each case was perfectly empty, 

 the lining membrane of the intestines much congested, and the tube was 

 filled with well-digested leaves of yew. Two sheep and a horse were 

 hurdled on the same pasture and supplied with the yew leaves, but they 

 steadily refused to touch them. The horse was subsequently placed in 

 his stable and a quantity of yew leaves, finely chopped, were mixed 

 with the ordinary food and placed in the animal's manger, where it re- 

 mained for the whole of the day without being eaten. On the follow- 

 ing morning, however, the animal was found dead, and its manger was 

 empty. It would appear in this case that the particular plant, the 

 eating of which led to the death of the valuable filly, did possess actively 

 poisonous qualities, at least for horses and guinea-pigs. The sheep which 

 were made the subject of the experiment escaped by refusing to eat the 

 plant. 



Acorns are well known to be a useful article of diet under ordinary 

 circumstances, and in places where they are abundant. On common 

 lands they are carefully collected and sold by the collectors as food for 

 horses, cattle, and sheep. Pigs thrive upon them, and the passage 

 rights in forests where oak - trees are abundant are valued on account 



o 



of the opportunities which the owners of pigs have to turn them into 

 the forest when the acorns are falling. Sheep and cattle also take acorns 

 freely, usually, if not invariably, when mixed with other food; but several 

 serious outbreaks of acorn poisoning from time to time have occurred, 

 attended with fatal results, when, owing to a long drought, the herbage 

 has been extremely scanty, and the animals have, therefore, been in- 

 duced to live on the acorns almost exclusively. The disease from which 

 the cattle have suffered is not in any way due to the indigestible 

 character of the food. Occasionally, in seasons when acorns are very 



