92 
THE PRINCIPLES OF BOTANtf. 
taken with the foot-and-mouth disease, and were kept in a 
straw-yard, and given linseed gruel and roots until they re¬ 
covered. After this they were removed to a sheltered orchard, 
and in order to secure them a warm sleeping ground some 
“ cavings” from barley thrashing were spread beneath the trees. 
In a few hours they were all seen to be ill, and upon trying 
to get them to the farm buildings one fell down dead about 
200 yards, and another 400 yards from the farm buildings, and 
do all we could with castor oil and stimulants they all suc¬ 
cumbed. The post-mortem appearances in these cases were 
much the same as those described by Mr. Gerrard, only that 
ingesta of straw, “ cavings,” and grass occupied the place 
of yew. 
As regards the supposed poisoning effects of yew berries 
upon children I am equally sceptical, as I have seen children 
eat them in quantity with impunity, where, however, from any 
cause the berries remain in the stomach, they seem to me to 
injure by setting up mechanical irritation. They never seem 
to digest, and it is with them, at least, so I think, as with 
the leaves, especially the dried ones of yew; id est , they can 
hardly be said to act after the manner of a poison when they 
have never been digested. 
Of course, I give these ideas without any professional 
authority, but I still think that the matter requires further 
investigation. 
P.S.—-I have just lost a fine ewe two days after lambing, 
which dropped down suddenly with symptoms much like 
those of poisoning. A post-mortem examination revealed the 
fact that the stomach was full of straw and acorns, the refuse 
from barley threshing, to which she had somehow got access 
and partaken of in quantity with a vitiated appetite. This 
gorging of the stomach with indigestible matter is often 
the cause of death in ruminants. In country parlance it 
is recognised by the term of “ a stoppage,” and the sudden¬ 
ness of the end and its accompanying stupor constantly give 
rise to a suspicion of poisoning. 
THE PRINCIPLES OF BOTANY. 
By Professor James Buckman, F.G.S., F.L.S., &c. &c. 
( Continued from p. 14.) 
The Bryonia dioica, our native example of the cucumber 
tribes, differs greatly from the cucumbers and melons of the 
