REMARKS ON POISONING BY YEW, 685 
the upper portion, be exposed to such causes as tend to dis¬ 
integration and death. 
The foregoing observations, I think, fairly show the value 
of the subcutaneous mode of dividing the tendon or ligament 
over that of the open wound, and they also suggest the 
necessity of regulating, as much as possible, the amount of 
blood to the parts operated on ; for, as before stated, too much 
may tend to induce the suppurative process, and too little, a 
deficiency of structure. On the other hand, the exudative 
material may be abundant, but of that plastic nature which 
would unfit it for the reparation of the organ. This would 
suggest the necessity of attending to the general health of 
the animal, and tonic medicines, with a more generous diet, 
might be called for. Or it may be, under different circum¬ 
stances, necessary to restrict the diet, and give cathartic 
agents. 
We have asserted that ligament is capable of throwing out 
a larger amount of material for reparation than tendon is, in 
consequence of its being more vascular ; and the result of 
our experiments seems to warrant us in coming to this con¬ 
clusion. It might from this be also inferred, that the more 
richly organs are supplied with blood the more readily a 
breach in their structure would be repaired. But this appears 
not to be universally the case, for it is found that in the 
division of either a ligament or tendon the material for 
repair is more quickly provided, and a union sooner formed, 
than is the case in division of muscles. I may likewise further 
observe, that while th? first-named organs or parts are united, 
as we have before stated, by tissue identical with that of 
their original structure, such is never the case with the latter, 
this being invariably by fibrous tissue. 
REMARKS ON POISONING BY YEW. 
By Charles Dickens, M.R.C.Y.S., Kimbolton. 
In your journal for the past month I find an article ex¬ 
tracted from the Lancet , to the effect that eight beasts were 
found dead in a field adjoining the residence of Sir W. Heath- 
cote, in consequence of having eaten the clippings of a yew 
hedge, and that a ninth would probably have shared the same 
fate had not a “ strong emetic” been administered. Now, 
reasoning from analogy, this may seem very feasible to the 
xxxii. 90 
