YEW-POISONING. 
187 
would seem, if partaken of too freely, capable of causing death 
by the mechanical irritation which they induce in the mucous 
membrane of the stomach. According to Prof. Buckman 
this is the modus operandi of yew. I do not consider the 
matter as one between Prof. Buckman and me; on the con¬ 
trary, I regard it as having been satisfactorily determined 
long ago, for one cannot find in any botanical or toxicological 
work that the authors express any doubt on the subject, and 
popular opinion is unanimously in favour of the idea that 
yew is poisonous. It is just possible, however, that the 
several authorities may have arrived at conclusions without 
just premises, and assigned to the plant a property which it 
does not possess, and that Prof. Buckman is the first to 
doubt or disbelieve. We are all, perhaps, too ready to take 
things for granted, and to accept hypotheses for facts. 
Professor Buckman, I presume, will not deny that there are 
certain agents, mineral and vegetable, w T hich, when intro¬ 
duced into the animal body, induce in it a peculiar condition 
called narcotism, and which, if swallowed in large doses, in¬ 
variably produce a certain train of symptoms, destroy the 
vital powers, and occasion certain morbid changes which 
are detectable after death ; such agents being termed 
narcotico-irritant poisons. Most prominent among the 
symptoms are paralysis, tetanic spasms, and convulsions, 
and the post-mortem appearances are those of gastro-intestinal 
irritation and inflammation, with serous effusion on the brain 
and spinal cord. If any animals should exhibit these symp¬ 
toms and the after-death appearances correspond, and, fur¬ 
ther, if they should be known to have partaken of any of 
the supposed poisonous agents which are found in abundance 
in their stomachs, “ it is an obvious and fair conclusion—in 
the absence of positive proof in the shape of analysis—that 
they were poisoned by the agents, and it would be manifestly 
unfair to attribute such a nature and action to any of the 
ordinary articles of provender when the extent and uni¬ 
versality of their use sufficiently testifies to the contrary. 
I am at a loss to account for the death of the animals re¬ 
ported by Professor Buckman, unless on the supposition of 
some poisonous agent among the “ cavings,” or in the orchard 
which, in the depravity of their appetite and change of cir¬ 
cumstances, they had rather liberally partaken of. 
I cannot believe that the quantity of “ cavings” an animal 
could take into its rumen in the time mentioned—“ a few 
hours”—would produce such results. Overgorging of 
the stomach of ruminants is not an uncommon affair, but it 
is rarely fatal, unless it be produced by some poisonous 
