254 TAXACEE 
Other reasons may be accountable for its presence 
‘in churchyards. Its wood was used for quarrel and 
crossbow, as the weapon of defence of the day, 
when wars were waged with long-bows and battle-axes, 
and muskets and arquebuses were still unknown 
quantities. . 
The Greek word rofov (a bow) was evolved 
from another Greek word, '‘rdfos (a yew), for the 
reason, we are told, “‘ because they made bows 
and arrows from it” (quod ex eo sagittas et arcus 
faciebant), 
But this does not exhaust all reasons assigned for 
its presence in hallowed precincts. The yew contains 
-a poisonous alkaloid called taxine (presumably derived 
from the Greek word signifying Yew), which acts as 
a heart poison on animals of lowered vitality, or 
unaccustomed by the acquired habits of slow stages 
to its effects. These poisonous properties were 
probably well known to the ancients. Virgil alludes 
to yews as hurtful or noxious (faxos nocentes), and 
the well-fenced-in churchyards, in spite of the incon- 
testable fact, so wisely propounded and so frequently . 
quoted, that “those inside cannot get out, while 
those outside have noi wish to get in,’’ show pretty 
clearly that our forefathers of a long time back had 
realized these poisonous properties. They knew that 
the high walls or fences of such places were a safe 
barrier against the entry of grazing animals in the 
neighbourhood. 
Many are the curious phrases and fables that 
stand to the renown of this God’s acre planted tree. 
Their very position:and presence there invites them, 
and their poisonous properties add cubits to their 
superstitious reputation. They were regarded ‘as 
symbols of immortality,, and emblematic of ‘‘‘a 
reflourishing state to come,” as Evelyn in his Silvia 
quaintly puts it; as Palm Sunday decorations, as 
