this
bezoar had already acquired the reputation of possessing great though
somewhat undefined virtues ; he presented it to Professor Wood of the
Ohio Medical College in Cincinnati.33
Writing
of bezoars in the year 1876, Dr. Learned states that Signor Korkos, of
Morocco, showed him one for which he had paid twelve dollars. It was as
large as a small walnut, the surface being smooth and cream-colored ;
a section revealed the presence of the concentric circular layers
characterizing the formation of this concretion. For remedial use it
was rubbed on a stone until a sufficient quantity of its powder was
obtained, which was then diluted in liquid and administered as a
potion. Strict dieting and absolute rest in the house for seven days
were an essential part of the treatment, the bezoar powder being more
especially recommended in diseases of the heart, liver or other
internal organs, but for sore eyes and for rheumatism its virtues were
praised. This illustrates a modern employment of the concretion in
Mohammedan Morocco.34
Some
medical authorities of the sixteenth century were disposed to regard
the calculus produced by the human subject as superior in medicinal
efficacy to the far-famed bezoar. One of their arguments was that as
man was the highest type of organized being a human product must exceed
in value one from an animal source ; then again, his food was of the
best, superior in quality to that taken by the animals furnishing the
bezoars. For every theory a proof can be found if one is on the lookout
for it, and therefore we need not be surprised if the virtues of
calculi or gravel were also supported by evidence. In 1624 or 1625 the
Dutch city of Leyden was visited by the plague, and to the great regret
of the physicians there was no supply of bezoars on hand. Here-
■'* Scientific American," vol. xv, No. 19, p. 299; November 3, 1866. " Dr. Learned, " Morocco and the Moors," 1876, p. 281.
