The magic of jewels and charms

The bezoar stone, according to the usual belief, was taken from the intestines or the liver either of the goat or of the deer. The Arabs told a strange tale as to the generation of this stone.[409] They said that at certain seasons the deer were wont to devour snakes and other venomous creatures, whereupon they would straightway hasten to the nearest pool and plunge into it until only their nostrils were above the water. Here they remained until the feverish heat caused by the poison they had swallowed was alleviated. During this time stones were formed in the corners of their eyes; these dropped as the deer left the pool, and were found on its banks. The stones were a sovereign antidote for poisons of all kinds. When reduced to a powder and taken internally, or when simply bound to the injured part, they effected a cure by inducing a profuse perspiration. It is curious to note that this tale foreshadows, in a fanciful way, the latest progress of medical science; namely, the use of a substance generated in the body of a diseased animal as an antidote for the disease from which the animal suffered.

We are also told that Abdallah Narach narrates the case of the Moorish king of Cordoba, Miramamolin, as Monardes gives the name, to whom a violent poison had been administered and who was cured by means of a bezoar stone. The king, overcome with gratitude for the preservation of his life, gave his royal palace to the man who had brought him the stone. Monardes remarks: “This certainly was a royal gift, since we see that at this day the castle of Cordova is something rare and of great value and the stone must have been highly prized when such a price was paid for it.”[410]

The first mention of the bezoar stone is by the Arabic and Persian writers. In the Arabic work attributed to Aristotle, and which was certainly written as early as the ninth and possibly in the seventh century, it is even described among the precious stones. The same is true of the oldest Persian work on medicine, namely, that of Abu Mansur Muwaffak, composed about the middle of the tenth century. A valuable monograph on the bezoar was written in 1625 by Caspar Bauhin, a learned professor and physician of Basel; this work contains all that was then known of the various qualities ascribed to this substance by the older authors.

The bezoar does not appear to have been used medicinally in Europe before the twelfth century, when the so-called pestilential fevers became very prevalent. In their distress people turned to the lapis bezoar, which was so highly recommended by the Arabic physicians whose works were, at that time, becoming more widely known through the intercourse between the Spaniards and the Moors. Caspar Bauhin writes:[411] “Even to-day princes and nobles prize it very highly and guard it in their treasures among their most precious gems; so that the physicians are forced, sometimes against their better judgment, to employ it as a remedy. So great are its virtues that many imitations are made.”

The name bezoar, derived from the Persian padzahr (pad, expelling; zahr, poison), or some of its many variants, was often used to designate any antidote for poison, so that the Arabs would say that such or such a substance was the bezoar for a particular poison. This should be understood to signify that the stone received its name because it was regarded as a specially powerful antidote.

The various authors give many different sources for the bezoar. We have already cited Monardes and repeated his account; other writers asserted that this concretion came from the heads of certain animals, others again said that it was taken from their livers, and still others stated that it was formed in the eye of the stag. Naturally, concretions of a similar form and quality may well have been obtained from any of these sources. Indeed, one of the most potent bezoars was that taken from the monkey. A specimen of this kind is described and figured in the Museum Brittanicum[412] with the following description:

A Monkey’s Bezoar, very much resembling one from the goat, of an oblong shape broke in two, with a long straw, or some such like substance in its centre; its colour brown, pink, or deep yellow. I found it set as generally they are for preservation in a little chest, or case, of what is called Lignum Læevisiunum; the pith or medula of which appears to resemble the common elder, and may, for what I know, be as curious as the stone itself.

As the chief quality claimed for the bezoar was that it induced a profuse perspiration, we might understand that it could have a beneficial effect in some cases. It was also remarked that the solution of the stone blackened the teeth and those who used it were therefore obliged to take great care that the medicine should not touch their teeth.

We learn that a genuine stone was valued at 50 gold crowns (about $125) in Calcutta; another is said to have brought 130 crowns ($325). De Boot states that a drachm of the powdered stone was worth two ducats ($5) in Lower Germany and four ($10) in Upper Germany; why, he does not say.

Garcias ab Horto, a Portuguese physician of Goa, in India, describes a variety of the bezoar called the Lapis Malacensis, used as an antidote for poisons in Malacca. This was found in the liver of the hedgehog, and the substance was held in such esteem that of two found in the fifteenth Century, one was sent as a very valuable gift to the Portuguese Viceroy at Goa. Garcias describes this as being of a light purple hue, bitter to the taste and smooth as the skin of a toad. The custom was to steep the stone in water for some time and then to give this water to the patient as a medicinal draught. A specimen was brought to Rome from Portugal by Cardinal Alexandrinus, and Mercato states that he had seen a test of its virtues as an antidote for poisons. In the opinion of De Boot: “As an antidote for any poison which may have been administered, nothing more excellent than the bezoar stone can be had.”[414] It was even asserted that if a bezoar set in a ring were frequently placed in the mouth and sucked, this would afford a cure for poison by inducing a profuse perspiration.[415] Besides its exceptional quality as an antidote for poisons, this stone was regarded as a panacea for all chronic and painful diseases, especially if taken each morning for several days, after the use of a cathartic.

Besides this use as a remedy or antidote, the bezoar was credited with the powers of an elixir of life, for some of the Hindus employed it as a preservative of youth and vigor. Twice a year, after dosing themselves with a strong cathartic medicine, they would take ten grains of powdered bezoar daily for fifteen days, and they are said to have derived great benefit from this treatment.[416]

The celebrated practical test of the bezoar’s power as an antidote to poison, recorded by the famous French surgeon, Ambroise Paré (1510–1590), was performed in Paris with one which had been brought from Spain to Charles IX of France. Clearly the only perfectly satisfactory means of ascertaining whether the reputed virtues of this curious concretion were really present was to make an experiment therewith upon a living human being. Now it chanced that just at this time there was in the royal prison a cook who had stolen two silver dishes from his master, and who, in accord with the pitiless laws of that period, had been condemned to death for this offence. Here was an excellent opportunity, therefore, to make a trial of the bezoar, but as the adjudged legal penalty could not well be arbitrarily changed to some other form of death, the matter was first laid before the condemned man himself, with the promise that should he not succumb to the poison he would be given his liberty. As at the worst this was taking a chance of life in exchange for certain death, the cook readily consented. The necessary preparations having been made, the poison was administered and immediately thereafter the man was given a dose composed of a part of the bezoar reduced to powder and dissolved in liquid. The effects of the poison were soon manifested by violent retching and purging, and when Paré was called in an hour later, he found the man in great agony, with blood issuing from his nose, ears and mouth, and from the other bodily apertures.

He piteously complained that he felt as though consumed by an inward flame, and before another hour had passed he expired, crying out that it would have been much better to have died by hanging. From his report, Paré seems not to have been present when the poison was given and not to have been informed of its character, as he merely states that from the results of his autopsy and from the symptoms he had observed, he concluded that it was corrosive sublimate. Probably, conscientious and truly religious as he was, he was unwilling to take an active part in such an affair. The king ordered that his discredited bezoar should be cast into the fire and destroyed. As an illustration of Ambroise Paré’s humility and piety we may cite his remark on the recovery of one of his patients: “I treated him and God cured him.”[417] It was Paré who operated upon Admiral Coligny after the unsuccessful attempt on the latter’s life made a few days before his assassination on St. Bartholomew’s Day, August 24, 1572, at the outset of the dreadful massacre.

Alluding to the ill-success attending the experiment performed by Ambroise Paré, in order to test effectively the supposed virtues of the substance as an antidote for poisons, Engelbert Kaempfer remarks that Paré’s bezoar may have been of inferior quality, and, moreover, bezoars could not be successfully used to counteract mineral poisons, but were only useful when vegetable poisons had been taken. This opinion was probably due to the fact that the bezoar itself is largely or in the main a vegetable substance. That the interior layers of a specimen should be inferior in quality to the external layers was not for Kaempfer a proof of its spurious character, but might easily be accounted for by a change of pasturage in the case of the creature in whose body the concretion had formed.

This writer asserts that he considered those bezoars to be genuine which were of a partly resinous and partly mineral composition, so that when pulverized they could be dissolved in nitric acid, the solution having a reddish hue. The Persians not only attributed to bezoars the same virtues as did the Europeans, but also recommended the administration of the bezoar elixir to persons in health, that they might avoid contracting disease and prolong their lives, more especially if the dose were taken at the beginning of the year. In general, however, he found that where Europeans used the bezoar as a remedy, the Persians gave a dose of pearl tincture instead; but as rarities, or perhaps as talismans, bezoars were even more highly prized in Persia than in Europe, for there was hardly a Persian of note who did not preserve one of these concretions among his treasures. The price depended upon perfection of form and color, as well as upon size, one weighing a mishkel (about 75 grains Troy) was commonly valued at one toman, the equivalent of 15 ounces of silver (about $20), according to Kaempfer’s computation, but the price rose rapidly with the size of the bezoar in a proportion similar to that observable in the case of pearls. As Persian bezoars were so costly in Persia, and the home demand for them so great, those sold by this name in Europe must have had another origin.[418]

Of several experiments made with criminals to whom poison was administered and then a dose of bezoar to test its virtues as an antidote, one of the most interesting has to do with a criminal incarcerated in the prison at Prague, in the reign of Emperor Rudolph II. To this man a drachm of the deadly poison aconitum napellus was administered. Five hours were allowed to elapse before the bezoar was given, so that the poison should have full time to be absorbed by the system. During this time the effects were fully manifested, oppression at the chest, pain in the gastric region, dimness of vision and dizziness. When the five hours had expired five grains of bezoar were given to the man in a little wine. After taking the dose he felt some relief and vomited, but the bad symptoms soon returned and even became aggravated, as though a supreme conflict for the mastery between poison and antidote were in progress. There was delirium, extreme tension of the abdomen, repeated vomiting, and an irregular, feverish pulse; finally an acute inflammation of the eyes supervened, causing such intense pain that the man declared he would rather die than endure it longer. However, at the end of eight hours’ time from the administration of the poison—three hours after the dose of bezoar had been given—all the morbid conditions passed off, the patient was able to eat food with relish and he slept quietly. In the morning he was perfectly well, and never realized any subsequent bad effects. The emperor released him from prison and even bestowed a handsome reward upon him.[419]

A strange experiment to determine the character and quality of bezoars is related by Kaempfer on the authority of Jager. The latter asserted that while in Golconda he had the opportunity of examining recently captured gazelles for the presence of bezoars, and that by compressing their abdomens he could distinctly feel two such concretions in the case of one of the animals and five or six in the case of the other. They were kept some days for further observation, but as they absolutely refused all food, it was decided to kill them rather than have them starve to death. This was done, but when the bodies were opened no trace of any bezoar could be found, and Jager conjectures that the substance of these concretions had been absorbed into the system of the animal for lack of any other nourishment.[420]

In his memoirs, Jehangir Shah relates that an Afghan once brought from the Carnetic two goats said to have bezoar stones [pâzahar] in their bodies. Jehangir was much surprised to note that these animals were fat and healthy looking, as he had always been told that those having bezoars were invariably thin and wretched in appearance. However, the Afghan was shown to be correct in his conjecture, for when one of the goats was killed and the body opened four fine bezoars were brought to light.[421]

About the beginning of the eighteenth century, Charles Jacques Poncet, a French physician, was called to the court of the Abyssinian monarch of that time. One of the favorite remedies of this Frenchman was a kind of artificial bezoar, which he claims to have used with great success in cases of intermittent fever. This so-called bezoar he administered to the sovereign and to two of his children, and he also revealed to the Abyssinian king the secret of its composition. He tells us that this “Emperor of Ethiopia,” as he terms him, showed great interest in medical science, and listened eagerly to explanations of the character and operation of the various remedies.[422]

The Indians relate from the traditions and teachings of their ancestors, that in the province of Xaura, and in other provinces of Peru there are various poisonous herbs and animals which empoison the waters and pastures where they [the vicuñas, etc.] drink and eat. Of these poisonous herbs, one is right well known by a natural instinct to the vicuña and to the other animals which engender the bezoar, and they eat of this herb and thus preserve themselves from the poison of the waters and pastures. The Indians also say that the stone is formed in the stomachs of these animals from this herb, whence comes the virtue it possesses as an antidote for poisons, as well as its other marvellous properties.

Of the mineral bezoar, which was also regarded as an antidote against poisons, Mohammed ben Mançur relates that various ornamental figures were formed from it, such as small images of the Shah or little female figures; these were perhaps regarded as talismans. Knife-handles were also made of this material,[424] and here the use may have been connected with the belief in the curative power of the bezoar, if brought into direct contact with the skin, as would be the case when the knife-handle was grasped in the hand.

A mineral bezoar bearing a close likeness to the animal concretion was found in Sicily. This stone was usually round, sometimes oblong like an egg, and sometimes compressed; its usual size was about that of a pigeon’s egg, the largest stone not surpassing the size of a hen’s egg. It was commonly white, occasionally of a somewhat ashy hue, and the surface was generally smooth, though now and then it was rough with small protuberances. Its taste resembled that of the white bolus armenus. The composition of this stone was similar to that of the Oriental bezoar of animal origin, having the same layers, and in the centre a small mass of sand over which nature had imposed from eight to ten layers, just as in the animal bezoar.[425]

A peculiar bezoar is reported from Indrapura, India. This was said to have been found in the skull of a rhinoceros, and was of light weight and of a black hue, varying to pale red when held against the light; it was hard enough to cut glass. The owner believed it to be a panacea for all ills. For blood-spitting it was held in the mouth; for rheumatism, bruises, or burns, it was rubbed over the affected part; and for the bites of venomous creatures it was simply laid upon the wound; even those at the point of death were revived by it.[426]

An amulet set with a bezoar stone is said to have possessed such a power to prevent bleeding that when a Malacca prince was killed in a battle with his rebellious subjects, no blood was flowing from any of his numerous wounds. On stripping the body a golden armlet set with a bezoar came to view, and the moment this was removed blood began to flow freely from the wounds.[427]

Mercato writes of a marvellous Occidental bezoar, sent from Peru to Rome in 1534, as a gift to Pope Gregory XIII. It weighed no less than fifty-six ounces, although it was defective, since a large portion of the exterior crust was missing, the second layer was partly broken away, and even the third layer was damaged in some places. This wonderful concretion had been dedicated to one of the Peruvian gods, as a rare and precious object, and it was taken away by the Spaniards when they spoiled the temple. Mercato says that this bezoar was “of a truly monstrous size, unheard of in all previous centuries, and it is still the largest in the whole realm of nature.”[428]

The bezoars of the New World seem to have differed considerably from those of India. They had a rough surface, were usually of a gray color, of various sizes and forms, and composed of a number of superimposed, coalescing layers, much thicker than those of the Oriental, or Indian, bezoar. They were usually of considerable size, either hollow within or containing seeds, needles and similar substances. They came from the West Indies, especially from Peru, and were brought thence by the Spaniards and Portuguese. The greater number were found in a kind of chamois; however, we are told that the bezoar was not found in all these animals, “but only in the old ones.”[429]

A gentleman living about twenty-eight years in these Countries, writes to his Friend, that he saw those Animals out of which comes the Bezoar, and saith, they are very like Goats, only they have no Horns; and are so swift, that they are forc’d to shoot them with guns. He tells us, that he and some Friends, on the 10th of June 1568, hunted some of these Creatures, and in five Days kill’d many of them; and that in one of the oldest of them, they made diligent Search for the stone, but found it not, neither in the Ventricle, nor in any other Part of the Animal. They ask’d the Indians that attended upon them, where the Stones lay; they denied they knew anything of them, being very envious and unwilling to disclose such a Secret. At length (he saith) a Boy about twelve years old perceiving us to be very inquisitive, and to be very desirous of Satisfaction in that Particular, shew’d us a certain Receptacle and (as it were) a Purse, into which they receive their eaten herbs, which afterwards when churned, they convey into the Ventricle.[430]

The same circumstances were observed by this informant in regard to the Peruvian bezoars, and from the “pouch” of one of these animals were taken no less than nine stones, “which, by the help of nature, seemed to be made of the Juice of those salutiferous Herbs, which were crammed up into this little Pouch.”[431]

While the Occidental bezoar from South America enjoyed a special repute in Europe in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, when bezoars were so freely used as poison-antidotes, and for the cure of fevers and other diseases, it has been doubted whether the aborigines of South America ever valued them in any way before the time of the Spanish Conquest. What seems, however, to be a proof that they sometimes did so, is afforded by the discovery of a bezoar, probably taken from the body of a llama, in a tomb at Cojitambo, in the Cañari region of Ecuador. In spite of the contrary opinion expressed by Garcilasso de la Vega, there is reason to believe that such animal concretions were used by these Indians in magic practices. The Quichua name is illa, and Holquin in his Quichua dictionary says that the natives believed that bezoars were luck-bringing stones. Another name, quicu, is vouched for by Arriaga, who states that the Spaniards found some bezoars stained with the blood of sacrificial victims, thus showing that they were thought to possess a certain religious or mystic significance. Another author, Don Vasco de Contreros y Vievedo, writing in 1650, states that the most highly valued of these concretions among the natives of South America were those taken from the American tapir, which they called danta.[432]

The comparative value of Oriental and Occidental bezoars was still an open question toward the end of the sixteenth century. In a letter written by Sir George Carew to Sir Robert Cecil, on October 10, 1594, the former states that he had submitted a bezoar from the West Indies to a London jeweler named Josepho, who had told him that had the substance come from the East Indies he would value it as high as £100, but that never having made trial of West Indian bezoars, he would not venture on an estimate, although he did not doubt but that they were quite as good. Nevertheless he would not care to buy this one before having tested its virtues experimentally.[433]

That good Queen Bess shared the beliefs of her age as to the virtues of stones is well known, and she appears to have regarded her bezoars as worthy of a place among the treasures of the Crown, for in the inventory of the jewels made at the accession of James I we read:

Also one greate Bezar stone, sett in goulde that was Queene Elizabeth’s, with some Unicorne’s Horne, in a paper; and one other large Bezar stone, broken in peeces, delivered to our owne handes, by the Lord Brooke, the two and twentith day of Januarie, one thousand sixe hundred and twenty and two.[434]

After the death of Rudolph II, in 1612, the Venetian envoy, Girolamo Soranzo, wrote to the Doge, “No other monarch has ever accumulated so many jewels.” He also communicates the fact that some at least of these gems were to follow him to the grave, for when interred, his head was covered with a cap adorned with many valuable precious stones. However, Rudolph’s fondness for the more splendid gems and jewels was accompanied by a very particular taste for the collection of Oriental bezoars, of which a large number are noted as in his possession at the time of his death. These ranged in weight from 1 loth (½ oz. Troy) to 25½ loth (a little more than one pound Troy); most of them were provided with a rich gold setting, and one especially prized bezoar, weighing about 8 ounces, reposed in a silver box decorated with 32 diamonds and 26 rubies. Another of very singular shape, resembling “four toes,” is also entered on the list. Besides these the imperial collection included several other curious animal concretions, probably regarded as having therapeutic virtues, such, for instance, as a “stone” from the body of a doe; this had been found by a certain Helmhardt Jörger and by him presented to the emperor; another of these treasured concretions came from the stomach of a stag. A specimen of the famed “eagle-stone” is also listed; this had a double gold setting, and on it were inscribed the words “Piedra Geodas,” showing that the real character of this stone as a geode was then well understood.[435]

Some of the gold mounted bezoars of Rudolph II are still to be seen in the Hofmuseum, at Vienna. One is surrounded by a gold band with a scroll pattern; another has a capping of gold and stands upon a golden base, and still another, capped and belted with gold, is attached by a chain to a golden bowl. This was probably to be used as a test of the freedom from poison of any beverage in the vessel. A bezoar of the eighteenth century is mounted upon a tree of gold, against the trunk of which a wild boar is leaning. This may be only a decorative adjunct, or it might be an indication of the particular animal source of this special bezoar.[436]