Yew Poisoning. 163 



sometimes fatal to pheasants in pleaSilre grounds ; it kills 

 the worms and grubs that are near the surface of the paths, 

 and these are eaten by the pheasants with fatal effect. 



With regard to injurious substances taken as food, it is 

 unquestionable that pheasants are sometimes destroyed by 

 eating yew, the seeds as well as the leaves having proved 

 fatal ; but it is singular that the precise conditions under 

 which they are poisoned have not been ascertained. The 

 poisoning of animals from eating these leaves is so well knowni 

 that damages have been claimed and obtained, after an appeal 

 to the higher courts, by persons who have lost cattle, horses,, 

 or sheep, in Consequence of the branches of yew trees being 

 allowed to hang over fences, or the cutting of hedges being 

 thrown upon the ground. Working with the late Professor 

 Tuson, of the Veterinary College, Mr. Tegetmeier investigated, 

 several years ago, the poisoning of pheasants by yew leaves, 

 of which many instances are recorded. The action of the 

 poisonous leaves in producing inflammation of the intestines 

 was so well marked that there could be no possible doubt 

 of the cause of death ; but the circumstances that led well-fed 

 pheasants to eat yew leaves on some occasions, and not to 

 touch them on others, are difficult of explanation. Most 

 poisoned birds which have been examined have been highly 

 nourished, extremely fat, and in good condition, and, so far 

 from being hungry, their crops in many instances have been 

 filled with maize. 



Lieut. F. Stuart Wortley, then working at the Agricultural 

 College, Downton, wrote a letter to the Times of August 19, 

 1892, in which he described a number of experiments performed 

 with a view of ascertaining the amount of the poisonous, 

 principle known as taxine in the leaves of the male and female 

 yew respectively. His experiments went to prove that taxine 

 exists in a much larger quantity in the leaves of the male than 

 in those of the female yew. If this taxine is the active principle, 

 his experiments indicate that only the male yew is poisonous, 

 but no tests which can be regarded as conclusive have yet 



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