chap. exii.

7'AX a'cETE. 7’A'XUS.

2089

properly enough, gives a preference to some soft pleasant tint, in oppositionto a glaring bold one; but, when colours act in concert (as is the case in allscenery), red, blue, yellow, light green, or dingy green, are all alike: thevirtue of each consists solely in its agreement with its neighbours.” (For.Seen., i. p. 101.)

The poisonous Nature of the Yew Tree has been known (as we have seen inp. 2009.) since the time of Theophrastus, though some are of opinion that theyew of the ancients was a species of cypress. A mass of evidence, however,proves that the yew of the moderns is generally poisonous in its branches andleaves, though the berries may be eaten with perfect safety. The leaves wereformerly thought a cure for worms in children; but Dr. Percival of Man-chester, in his Medical and Philosophical Essays, relates a melancholy circum-stance of three children being poisoned by their mother’s giving them yewleaves for this purpose. The children first took a spoonful of the dried leaves,equally divided among them, and mixed with brown sugar, and afterwardsate a mess of porridge with sour buttermilk. From this dose they experiencedno bad effect: but, two days afterwards, the mother, finding the worms stilltroubled them, administered a dose of the fresh leaves, giving them afterwardsa mess of nettle pottage; that is, gruel with young nettles boiled in it; and ina few hours the children were all dead. They appeared to have suffered nopain, and, after death, looked as though they were in a placid sleep. A younglady and her servant, in Sussex, who had drunk a decoction of yew leaves bymistake for rue, died in the same manner; and several other instances arerelated of their proving fatal to human beings. There are instances of horsesand cows having been poisoned by eating the branches of the yew; and sheephave been killed by browsing upon the bark of the tree; but goats, deer, andturkeys are said to eat the leaves without being injured by them. In theNew Planter's Kalendar, it is stated, that,' though the yew has been cried downas a standard in pasture ground, on account of the poisonous nature of theleaves, yet there are many yew trees in pastures, not fenced round, and alsohedges, which are uniformly browsed by sheep and cattle without doingthem any injury whatever. Hanbury relates a story of seven or eight cattle“ having died in consequence of having eaten the half-dried clippings of a yewtree or hedge, which the gardener had thrown over the wall; by which it wouldappear that the leaves and twigs, when dried or half-dried, and when takeninto the stomach in considerable quantities, have a very different effect fromwhat they have when taken in small quantities when green.” Marshall hasseen extensive yew plantations, into which cattle were admitted without anyeyil consequence to themselves, though the trees were browsed to the verybough. Sheep, he says, are particularly fond of the leaves, and, when theground is covered with snow, will stand upon their hind legs, and devour themas high as they can reach.

In the Diclionnaire des Eaux et Forets, the subject of the poisonous natureof the yew is discussed at great length. The young shoots, it is allowed, arepoisonous both to men and animals, acting like other acrid poisons, by pro-ducing inflammation and spasms; the antidotes to which are oily substances.In 1753, several horses having entered into a garden near Bois le Due, in DutchBrabant, ate some of the branches of this tree, and died four hours afterwards,without any other symptoms than spasms, which continued for severalminutes. A similar instance is related by Varennes de Fenilles respecting acompany of cavalry horses, during the war in Germany, which had been tiedto some yews, and had eaten of them. Valmont de Bouare mentions thatan ass, which had been fastened to a hedge of yews near the Jardin desPlantes, after eating a few of the branches, instantly expired, being greatlyinflated. MM. Daubenton and Desfontaines have seen poultry and sheep,that had eaten of the leaves of the yew tree, die in a short time. Thesepernicious effects of the yew have been confirmed by the repeated experienceof Professor Wiborg, in the Veterinary School, and at the Botanic Garden,of Copenhagen. From the experiments of the professor, it appears that yew