The Natural History of Pliny, Volume 3 · the Elder Pliny
CHAP. 20.—THE YEW.
Not to omit any one of them, the yew[2318] is similar to these other trees in general appearance. It is of a colour, however, but slightly approaching to green, and of a slender form; of sombre and ominous aspect, and quite destitute of juice: it is the only one, too, among them all, that bears a berry. In the male tree the fruit is injurious; indeed, in Spain more particularly, the berries contain a deadly poison.[2319] It is an ascertained fact that travellers’ vessels,[2320] made in Gaul of this wood, for the purpose of holding wine, have caused the death of those who used them. Sextius says, that in Greece this tree is known by the name of “smilax,” and that in Arcadia it is possessed of so active a poison, that those who sleep beneath it, or even take food[2321] there, are sure to meet their death from it. There are authors, also, who assert that the poisons which we call at the present day “toxica,” and in which arrows are dipped, were formerly called taxica,[2322] from this tree. It has been discovered, also, that these poisonous qualities are quite neutralized by driving a copper nail into the wood of the tree. CHAP. 21. (11.)—METHODS OF MAKING TAR—HOW CEDRIUM IS MADE. In Europe, tar is extracted from the torch-tree[2323] by the agency of fire; it is employed for coating ships and for many other useful purposes.[2324] The wood of the tree is chopped[2325] into small billets, and then put into a furnace, which is heated by fires lighted on every side. The first steam that exudes flows in the form of water into a reservoir made for its reception: in Syria this substance is known as “cedrium;”[2326] and it possesses such remarkable strength, that in Egypt the bodies of the dead, after being steeped in it, are preserved from all corruption.[2327]
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