POISONING BY SAVIN, BRYONY, CANTHARIDES, EUPHOR- 



BIUM OR SPURGE, YEW TREE, AND MEADOW 



SAFFRON. 



Savin is another drug sometimes given by grooms and others with the idea 

 of improving the general condition, and death has often been caused by this 

 practice. It is said that the presence of savin can be detected in the 

 stomach of the dead animal, by the black-currant-leaf like smell of the 

 contents when boiled in a little water and beaten up in a mortar. 



Bryony also is often gi\cn by horse-breakers to young animals with a 

 similar idea, but, although this drug excites the poor creature, and for a time 

 appears to improve his condition, it is, nevertheless, decidedly poisonous, 

 ;and when the transient effects are over, depression and loss of condition 

 follow. 



Cantharides or Spanish flies are sometimes administered by attendants, 

 .and owing to the large amount sometimes given, death has sometimes 

 resulted. Its use by amateurs is in e\'ery way to be deprecated. 



Euphorbium or spurge, one of the components of the old farriers' 

 blister, has also caused many deaths, which have resulted from the great 

 irritation set up by this drug. 



Of the remaining poisons, yew tree, water drop-wort, and meadow 

 saffron, which are sometimes eaten by horses out at grass, our readers 

 probably ha\e some knowledge. 



Many instances of death from bro^^•sing on the leaves of the yew tree 

 (Taxus Baccata) have been recorded. After death, which in some cases 

 takes place in from two to three hours after the ingestion of the foliage, the 

 stomach has been found contracted and inflamed. The method of treatment 

 to be adopted in cases of yew-tree poisoning, is the administration of a pint 

 of linseed oil, with two ounces of spirit of ammonia, and one ounce of nitric 

 ether. In a couple of hours this draught may be repeated, and again after 

 an interval of four hours, the ammonia and ether may be gi\en alone in a 

 pint of gruel. 



The water drop-wort is a plant which grows in ditches and marshy 

 localities. This plant is not often eaten b)' horses, but brood mares with 

 vitiated appetites have been poisoned by ingesting it. 



The meadow-saffron or autumn crocus, known botanically under the 

 name of Colchicum autumnale, is sometimes a cause of death to horses and 

 cattle. Several cases of poisoning by eating the stalks, leaves, pods, and 

 seeds of the plants, have been recorded, but the writers have never had 

 under treatment a case of poisoning by this vegetable. The symptoms 

 manifested generally, are colic, and great dulncss, follow^ed b)' death in about 

 twenty-four hours. At the autopsy, the stomachs have been found inflamed 

 and eroded. Cattle, when poisoned by this plant, present pretty much the 

 same manifestations, viz. : — colic, diarrhoea, great straining, dulness, cold 

 extremities, and extreme prostration. In these cases, it is best to give 



