94 
RETROSPECTS OF VETERINARY PRACTICE. 
In the spring following, two valuable colts, under the same 
ownership, of the Suffolk breed, had strayed through a broken 
fence into a plantation of yew trees of not very aged growth, 
and, as gathered subsequently from uninterested persons, 
they were proved to have been there for several hours, the 
state of the trees being such as to show that a good meal had 
been obtained by the animals. 
The terrors attending the previous case of wholesale poison¬ 
ing were again aroused, and I was speedily summoned; but 
instead of finding the same symptoms, or thereabouts, as 
noticed in the black cattle, I was rather amused at the total 
absence of all such as would indicate the least sign of disturb¬ 
ance of health. A dose of purgative medicine was adminis¬ 
tered, and no ill effects whatever were noticed. 
Whether the shoots of the young yew trees are irritant, I 
am not aware, but we might infer not from the above fact, 
and coupled with it that many times afterwards, when driving 
through the beautiful avenues of yew trees in the district, 
cattle were seen by me cropping them with an apparent 
relish. Besides, in no instance of poisoning that has occurred 
in my practice has death originated otherwise than from 
eating the dried cuttings at the close of the year. 
With Mr. Dickens (vide Veterinarian, December, 1859, page 
686), I am of the opinion that ff very much of the dele¬ 
terious action depends upon the quality or quantity of the 
ingesta contained in the stomach at the time the yew is 
taken, the season of the year, &c. The cases I have recorded 
are in favour of this. The black cattle, coming from a long 
journey only a few days prior to the occurrence, were low in 
condition, and the state of the grounds affording but scanty 
morsels; the digestive organs were, in consequence, the more 
exposed to the action of the plant. 
The reverse, however, was the case with the cart-colts. 
They had been turned from the stable after the six o’ clock 
feed, in the morning, which had consisted of oats and wheat, 
with chaff, pea-straw, &c. It was intended to fetch them up 
again when the ploughman returned at three o’clock p.m., 
but the steward, finding them in the interim as described, had 
them removed. 
Owing to some misunderstanding having taken place be¬ 
tween the men who carted away the dead animals and the 
steward, no post-mortem examinations were made. I was 
greatly disappointed at this, for I had promised myself a 
treat, and hoped to gather much from the appearances of the 
viscera, by which I might deduce reasonable inferences as to 
the origin of certain of the symptoms in the living animals, 
