EDITORIAL OBSERVATIONS. 
425 
the leaves were first boiled, and the decoction given as a 
draught. This was followed by a lowering of the pulse four 
beats in the minute. On the animal being destroyed soon 
after, no lesion of any of the tissues was found to exist. 
Professor Simonds gave no less a quantity than nine pounds 
ten ounces of the leaves of the yew, in seven consecutive 
days, to a horse, without their producing any remarkable 
effects on the animal, and certainly none to create any alarm. 
To account for this difference of action, mere conjectures 
have been resorted to, and it has been asked u Is it always 
the same kind of yew that has been given V 9 Linnaeus enu¬ 
merates four species of Taxus. The plant being more ener¬ 
getic in a half-dried state than when fresh, has been attributed 
to its being less disagreeable to the taste ; animals, therefore, 
will eat more of it. Again, it is stated to be more active in 
the summer than in winter. Besides this, in some places it is a 
common opinion that it is only the berry-bearing yew which 
is poisonous—the pistilliferous plant, the yew, belonging to 
the class Dicecia of botanists. This opinion may arise from 
children being often poisoned by eating the seeds, which are 
invested with a sweet fleshy pericarp, although this, in itself, 
is perfectly innocuous. 
We have recorded these conjectures with the view of 
eliciting information on the subject. 
TESTIMONIAL TO MR. H. CORBY, M.R.C.Y.S. and 
DEMONSTRATOR OF ANATOMY IN THE ROYAL VETERINARY 
COLLEGE. 
[It affords us very great pleasure to insert the following. 
The testimonial v r as richly emblazoned on vellum, and to it 
the signatures of all the pupils of the College were attached. 
Thus so early to receive a proof of the estimation in which 
he was held by those he had taught, must have been very 
gratifying to Mr. Corby, and it will doubtlessly operate as a 
stimulus to renewed exertions on his part in after life.] 
xxxii. 56 
