190 
OBSERVATIONS ON YEW POISONING. 
also Professor Buckman’s reply to his statements. Professor 
Buckman says, however, that the evidence is still not suffi¬ 
cient to convince him that the yew, in the cases alluded to, 
acted as a narcotic poison, because in some cases which had 
come directly before his notice the plant had not been digested. 
I perfectly agree with Professor Buckman so far as that dis¬ 
tension and irritation of the stomachs are frequently causes of 
death in ruminants, but at the same time I hold that death 
does not necessarily result from these causes when yew has been 
partaken of by the animal. 
I will now give the history of a case which I have always 
supposed to be yew poisoning, which occurred a few years 
since (at Kypton House, Weasenham, Brandon), and in 
which there was no gorging or filling the stomachs to reple¬ 
tion. I was called late one evening to the above-mentioned 
place to see some cows which were ill. On my arrival I 
found one cow dead, and two or three others giving evidence 
of ill health. My first question was, What have the animals 
been eating ? as I felt quite certain they were all suffering 
from the same cause, and judging from the symptoms pre¬ 
sent, I was convinced that the illness had arisen from some¬ 
thing which had been taken into the stomach. 
Upon inquiry it was found that the gardener, early in the 
morning, had harrowed some clippings from a yew fence into 
the cow yard, and left them exposed. The quantity was 
small. The cows were seen eating it, and no more notice 
was taken of the circumstance. 
I made a post-mortem examination, and tiever before or 
since opened a ruminant that had died suddenly with so 
little material in the stomachs. The abomasum apparently 
contained the greatest portion of the yew, and its appearance 
in this stomach was very much like that of crushed black 
pepper. The mucous lining membrane was but slightly in¬ 
flamed. The contents of the omasum appeared normal. The 
reticulum was empty, and the rumen contained some yew, 
mixed with ordinary ingesta. It was not gorged, nor any¬ 
thing approaching thereto. As was to be expected the yew 
had not undergone any great change in its appearance in the 
rumen, save that of having been crushed by the animal’s 
molar teeth when eating it. 
I did not carry the post-mortem examination further, as I was 
anxious to lose no time in treating the other animals. Only 
ipne presented symptoms which at all alarmed me; she had 
■een staggering and shaking for some little time Upon reen- 
|Amg the cow-shed, after making the post-mortem exami- 
I found her down and showing symptoms analogous 
