CASE OF POISONING WITH YEW. 
87 
I have watched all the cases very narrowly, and can see 
no objection to its general use; the quantity of milk is les¬ 
sened for a fortnight or three weeks. But I have always 
found great difficulty in drying the cow afterwards. 
Venesection having gone out of practice, it is very difficult 
to get one's employer's consent, seemingly rather he would 
lose the animal than that she should be bled. 
In a pecuniary point of view I believe there is more money 
lost to the country through this disease than all others to 
which cattle are subject to, besides the loss of our most 
valuable stock. 
I have tried all other means, such as keeping the ani¬ 
mal short of food, compelling her to take plenty of exercise, 
milking her up to the time of calving, giving medicine, &c .; 
but have found no remedy so safe and certain a,s bleeding. 
CASE OF POISONING WITH YEW. 
By F. W. Day, M.B.C.V.S., Tewkesbury. 
On Friday, January 3rd, I was requested by a client of 
mine to go at once and make a post-mortem examination of 
a very valuable brood mare, seven years old, in foal to the 
best agricultural horse in the district, which on the previous 
morning had been found dead in the field where she had 
been turned to grass with five other horses for some five 
or six weeks. I attended as early as I could, and on arriv¬ 
ing at the field found the animal above described lying on 
the off side, the abdomen being swollen to an enormous 
extent from the distension of the intestines with gas. She 
had been partly skinned prior to my arrival, so that I could 
not make any notes of the external appearances beyond 
what I have described. On laying open the abdomen the 
large intestines quickly protruded, and on examining them 
I perceived about the middle of the double colon, a large 
sac formed by the peritoneum, the inner coats of the intes¬ 
tines having been ruptured. The surrounding structures 
were intensely inflamed. I at once called my client's 
attention to this condition of the intestines, and told him 
that in all probability the animal’s death was produced by 
the rupture. He seemed quite satisfied, and made several 
suggestions as to what had led to the lesion. Could it have 
arisen from a kick or blow from one of the other horses ? he 
asked. I said I thought not, as there was no bruise what^ 
