CHRONIC DISEASE OF THE KIDNEYS IN TWO MARES. 417 
and farmers cannot be too careful in preventing such scour- 
ings out being deposited in places to which cattle have 
access. 
Mr. C. Johnson, in his work on f British Poisonous Plants/ 
says, “ The water drop wort is perhaps the most virulent of 
the umbelliferous plants ; and as its roots bear the same 
similarity to parsnips in taste and appearance that the leaves 
do to celery, accidents from its use have not been unfrequent. 
Some years back a number of convicts working upon the 
river bank near Woolwich found a quantity of this plant. 
Struck by its resemblance to the well-known vegetables above 
mentioned, seventeen of them ate it. Shortly afterwards nine 
of the men went into convulsions, and became insensible; 
one died in five minutes, another in a quarter of an hour, a 
third in an hour, and a fourth a few minutes later. Two 
more expired in the course of a few days. They appear to 
have partaken both of roots and leaves/* 
YEW POISONING. 
A week or two ago Mr. Prew, farmer and miller, of Sharn- 
brook, Bedford, lost three valuable in-calf cows in con- 
sequence of their eating the clippings of a yew tree, which 
had been thrown into the yard by the person who trimmed 
the tree. The account which we have received states that for 
thirty-five years a similar practice had prevailed, but without 
being attended with any injurious consequences. 
Cases of yew-poisoning are not unfrequent, and many of 
the facts connected with them would seem to point to the 
plant being more injurious in some seasons than in others. 
The condition of the cattle has also much to do with the 
result attending the eating of yew; if the rumen, for ex- 
ample, contains only a moderate amount of ingesta, and if 
the animals from being hungry eat the plant with avidity, 
although the quantity may not be large, fatal consequences 
are more likely to follow. Thus the hungry animals of a 
herd have often been known to perish, and the others to 
escape. 
CHEONIC DISEASE OF THE KIDNEYS IN TWO 
MAKES. 
We are indebted to Mr. F. Earl, M.R.C.V.S., Shifnal, for 
an interesting description of two cases of diseased kidneys, 
both of which proved fatal. The changes observed on a 
post-mortem examination indicated that in each instance the 
