256 ACCOUNT OF THE POISONING OF FOUR BULLOCKS 
served and confessed by every one present, that nothing could be 
plainer. I then said, “ I have not finished yet : call your men-ser- 
vants and boys.” On questioning them, one of the boys confessed 
that he had left three or four faggots of yew in the straw-yard, 
instead of taking them to the wood-rick in the meadow below, as 
ordered to do by Mr. Lee. He let them remain over night in the 
yard where the bullocks were kept. They all freely acknowledged 
the cause would riot have been rendered so plain, had it not been 
for my investigation. The stomachs of two of the cows had been 
examined before my arrival ; but, strange to say, nothing particular 
was observed, yet in the very same I found a quantity of yew. 
I had now the pleasure of seeing the countenances of those who 
stood around beam with satisfaction, while only a short time before 
sorrow was depicted on the countenances of several, who feared 
that it was some malignant disease that was breaking out amongst 
their cattle, and each dreading whose turn might come next. 
The Symptoms of Poisoning by Yew are nearly alike in all 
animals in its simulation of apoplexy. Mr. Tremlett, of Hol- 
combe Barton, saw two beasts die in the space of five minutes, 
although they had been observed by him eating straw heartily pre- 
vious to the commencement of the attack. “ Then, all at once,” he 
says, “ they began to turn round, stagger, fall on their haunches, 
and then on their side, and quietly die.” Since these cases have 
occurred in my vicinity, others are spoken of. One gentleman in- 
formed me that he had a horse at plough, and doing his work well, 
when, at a moment, he was seized with a giddiness, fell down, and 
died in a few minutes : on opening the stomach, a hat-full of yew 
was taken out. 
The effects of the poison of yew are the same in sheep, — vertigo, 
and reeling, sometimes preceded by stupor; and then, in from 
fifteen minutes to half an hour from the beginning of the attack, 
they are dead. 
Professor Viborg says, the horse dies suddenly, and without any 
previous suffering, from taking yew. Mr. James Beeson, Y.S., 
says, in The Veterinarian for 1835, two horses died suddenly, 
while at their work, from eating yew. Many other cases of 
sudden death are recorded in the volumes of The VETERINARIAN, 
which will well repay for perusal : in fact, in all animals the 
poison’s last influence is on the brain and the nerves that originate 
therefrom for the performance of vital action. 
General Post-mortem Appearances. 
The stomachs all had slight blushes of inflammation, here and 
there; but what was very singular, was the easy manner in which 
the gelatinous coat of the rumen and of the maniplus could be de- 
