Bezoar stones, magic, science and art

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published February 26, 2013; doi 10.1144/SP375.11 v.375, firstGeological Society, London, Special Publications

Maria Do Sameiro Barroso Bezoar stones, magic, science and art

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Bezoar stones, magic, science and art

MARIA DO SAMEIRO BARROSO

Faculdade de Letras da Universidade de Lisboa, Departamento de Historia Antiga,

Alameda da Universidade, 1600-214, Lisboa and Museu Nacional de Arqueologia,

Praca do Imperio, 1400 Lisboa, Portugal (e-mail: [email protected])

Abstract: Bezoars were introduced into Western medicine by Arabian doctors during the twelfthcentury. They were used as antidotes to arsenic, the poison used most commonly in Europeancourts. The use of bezoars was widespread during the sixteenth century, and their value was tentimes more than their weight in gold. These were rare and expensive items and many kingsowned one or more specimens, some of which were mounted as pieces of jewelry. Sixteenthand seventeenth century physicians wrote extensively about them, describing their propertiesand use. ‘Oriental bezoars’ (mostly from Asian porcupines) were introduced at this time.

Difficulty in obtaining bezoars led to the production of numerous dangerous counterfeits con-taining highly toxic substances including cinnabar, quicksilver and antimony. Possibly for thesereasons, their use declined at the end of the seventeenth century and from 1800 onwards, theywere no longer used. In strict mineralogical terms, bezoars are not actually stones. However, theFlemish mineralogist and physician, Anselm Boetius de Boodt (1550–1632) included them inhis work Gemmarum et Lapidum Historia (History of Gems and Stones, 1609) and their study isan important chapter in the history of toxicology.

Bezoars, present and past

In humans, bezoars are agglomerates of undigestedfibre or hair that form in the stomach and otherparts of the gastro-intestinal tract. They are calledphytobezoars, composed of vegetable fibres and tri-chobezoars, formed from the ingestion of hair inpatients with behavioural problems. Chewing gumbezoars are also frequent. Veterinary medicine alsohas to deal with numerous bezoars produced in ani-mal stomachs and intestines; most mammals, rep-tiles and even fishes can produce them. Bezoars areformed as a reaction to indigestible material thatthe organism cannot expel after swallowing. A con-cretion is formed around the nucleus of fibres orhair. In humans, it usually has to be removed byendoscopy (Berkow 1992, pp. 780–781).

Arabian physicians used bezoars against poisonsand erected an aura of magical healing and pro-tection around them. Based upon the meaning ofthe ancient Persian word, padzahr (pad, expelling;zahr, poison), bezoars were regarded as very effec-tive antidotes. By the end of the twelfth centurymedicinal bezoar stones were mainly concretionsobtained from the double stomachs of Asian rumi-nants and their use was already widespread through-out Europe (Kunz 1915, p. 203). The calcium andphosphates they contain appear to make them anti-dotes to arsenic, the most commonly used poisonin European courts (Schott 1995, p. 91). A studyof the composition of animal stones from 1816onwards has shown the presence of calcium phos-phates (brushite, struvite) in goat and in deer

stones (Van Tassel 1970, p. 31). These minerals actas chelating agents and neutralize the effects of thepoison.

This paper discusses the traditional use of bezoarstones as antidotes in ancient alexipharmic prac-tice (antidotes). Experiments to test the efficacyof bezoars have been carried out since the six-teenth century. There are a few recent studies ontheir pharmacological composition and therapeuticproperties.

The bezoars and other ancient

alexipharmics

The Crusaders not only introduced the medicalworks of Arabic authors into Europe, but also playedan important role in the transport and exchange ofexotic medicines, including bezoars and unicornhorns (Shepard 1930). Like the bezoar, the unicornwas believed to protect against poison, and wasbound deeply to magic and religious healing tra-ditions (Halleux & Schamp 1985). The LıthicaOrpheos, an anonymous ancient Greek magic-reli-gious poem, incited people to look at the wonderfulstag’s horn and to approach the Immortals becausetheir minds smile when they behold such an artisticwork of Nature. The horn described in this work is astone with the shape of the volutes of a goat’s horn,a very popular medicine in the materia medica ofantiquity that resembles ammonites (Opiano 1990).

Palaeontological material has been used fortherapeutic purposes since the Neolithic in Europe

From: Duffin, C. J., Moody, R. T. J. & Gardner-Thorpe, C. (eds) 2013. A History of Geology and Medicine.Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 375,http://dx.doi.org/10.1144/SP375.11 # The Geological Society of London 2013. Publishing disclaimer:www.geolsoc.org.uk/pub_ethics

10.1144/SP375.11 Geological Society, London, Special Publications published online February 26, 2013 as doi:

(Bassett 1982) and in classical times (Duffin 2008),and it is a part of traditional medicine. In Antiquityammonites were commonly related to enrolledsnakes. They were used as amulets and protectorsand as antidotes against snake bite, immersed inwater that animals would drink when they were bit-ten by poisonous animals. They were also believedto be helpful in the treatment of blindness, impo-tence and sterility (Narvaez & Barris 2010).

Bezoars joined mithridatum and theriac in theranks of medicines that Galen (129–c. 210 AD)called antidotis (Galen De Antidotis, Book I,Chapter I in Kollesh & Nickel 1979, p. 164). Theywere recommended in feeding problems, and tofight the effects of toxic agents and the bites ofvenomous animals. Galen explained how to pro-duce a good theriac (Galen De Antidotis Book I,Chapter II in Kuhn 1821 XIV, pp. 5–13).

Mithridates VI, King of Ponto (143–63 BC) suc-ceeded in finding a way of becoming resistant topoisons by taking small daily doses of differentones. King Mithridates had discovered the pharma-cological paradox that poisons can be beneficial aswell as lethal (Mayor 2010, p. 2).

According to Pliny the Elder (23–79 AD),Mithridates was the first to discover the various anti-dotes (Pliny Natural History Book XXV, ChapterIII in Jones, 1956, p. 139). Ironically, KingMithridates had to be killed by the sword when hiskingdom was conquered by the Romans after 42years of war, because poisons had little effect onhim. Appian tells us about his death: ‘upon Mithri-dates, although he walked about rapidly to hastenits action, it had no effect, because he had accus-tomed himself to other drugs by continually tryingthem as a means of protection against poisoners.And he asked Bituitus, an officer from Gaul tostab him with his sword’ (Appian Book XII in Hen-derson 1912, p. 455).

Mithridates’ experiments to test the efficacy ofhis antidotes were carried out on criminals sen-tenced to death (Mayor 2010, p. 220). Galen tran-scribed the recipe that Andromachus, the Cretan,the Emperor Nero’s physician, wrote down as apoem with the ingredients of mithridatum. Headded viper’s meat and poppy seeds, and called ittheriacus, a Latin word that means ‘good againstpoisons’ (Galen De Antidotis, Book I, Chapter I,VI in Kuhn 1822, XIV, p. 32).

Bezoar stones had similar properties to thesemedicines but supposedly were more effective anti-dotes. They were used in a similar way to unicornhorn, being scraped, reduced to powder and thensuspended in liquids, usually wine, where their heal-ing agents were diluted. Mithridatum and theriac,used to prevent and treat all kinds of diseasesand evil conditions, were criticized by Pliny theElder because of the number of ingredients they

contained (Pliny Book XXIX, Chapter VIII in Jones1963, p. 199); mithridatum was made using 54 com-pounds and the number in theriac was countless.Pliny argued that Nature provided each individualcompound as a fully effective therapy in its ownright. Since, however, there were no better therapeu-tic alternatives, these medicines were used untilthe end of the eighteenth century. The tolerance to apoison acquired by taking gradually larger doses isknown in modern medicine as mithridatism.

The medicinal use of bezoars in Europe

Various Arabian authors introduced new toxicolog-ical agents into the materia medica. The spice tradewas established in Roman times and had alreadystimulated a considerable exchange of medicalknowledge between Europe and India. By the sev-enth century the Arabs were trading along the WestCoast of India. Spice cargoes always containednumerous medicinal products. By the ninth cen-tury Indian physicians attended Arabic courts, andin the tenth and eleventh centuries Arabic medi-cal writings already incorporated a wide knowledgeof Indian medicine, containing numerous productsof animal origin. Bezoars do not appear to havebeen used in Europe before the twelfth century,when pestilential fevers became prevalent, causingsuch distress that physicians started to employ thishighly recommended therapy, imported from theArabic medical tradition (Kunz 1915, p. 203).Bezoars were introduced into Europe by the con-tact established between the Spaniards and theMoors.

Trade and use by the Portuguese

In early modern times, Portuguese physicians intro-duced the bezoar stones into European medicalwritings. By 1510 the Portuguese were establishedin Goa and were the first to trade in bezoars. TheDutch followed in 1595, making the East Indies thecentre of their Empire, and the English East IndiaCompany set up trading posts from 1608, graduallytaking a lead in this market (Patterson 2001).

Garcia de Orta (1490–1568), a Jewish Portu-guese doctor who lived in Portuguese Indian terri-tories, wrote the first European work on Easterndiseases and on Indian drugs (Fig. 1). His work,Coloquios dos simples, e drogas he cousas medici-nais da India, printed in Goa (Orta 1563) waswritten in Portuguese and collected valuable infor-mation on the new materials used in Eastern medi-cine; it was translated into Latin by the botanistCharles de L’Ecluse (latinised to Clusius) in 1567,enlarged and reprinted several times (1574, 1579,

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1593, 1601, 1605, 1611). In 1602 it was translatedinto French. The Portuguese physician Cristovaoda Costa, also known as Cristobal Acosta (1515–1594), born in Ceuta, wrote an important book inSpanish, Tractato de las drogas y medicinas de lasIndias orientales based on Garcia de Orta’s work(Costa 1578).

A poem by Luıs de Camoes (c. 1524–c. 1580)dedicated to Francisco Coutinho (1561–1564), theeighth Indian Viceroy, includes praise to Garcia deOrta. Camoes and Orta had become acquainted inIndia (Orta 1891) and were close friends. Garciade Orta represented the impact of the discovery of

India in Portuguese and European culture and Luısde Camoes paid tribute to his friend:

Favor the ancient

Science which Achilles held in esteem;

Look, because you must see

What was created in our time

The fruit of a Garden where

New plants bloom, unknown to scholars.

Look, how in your lifetime

A remarkable Garden produces many herbs

In the Lusitanian fields,

Fig. 1. Title page: Coloquios dos Simples, e drogas he cousas medicinais da India, 1953, by Garcia de Orta.Private collection.

BEZOAR STONES, MAGIC, SCIENCE AND ART10.1144/SP375.11


Herbs which those wise sorcerers

Medea and Circe never found,

Because the laws of Magic outwitted them.

Garcia de Orta’s work was written in the form ofa discussion with Ruano, his imaginary colleaguein India, in a total of 58 dialogues (Carvalhowww.vidaslusofonas). Bezoar stones were includedamong the new therapeutic agents he described. Hededicated a chapter, Colloquy 45 (Bezoar Stone),to ‘this wonderful precious stone used by the Ara-bian physicians’ produced in the stomach of malePersian goats. The bezoar was formed around anundigested straw, producing a laminated structurecompared with an onion. De Orta was alreadyaware of the dangers of counterfeits (Orta 1913, p.363). Since bezoars are reactions to any kind of indi-gestible material, it was difficult even for experts todistinguish real bezoars from forgeries, since strawswere used to fabricate fake bezoars. The goatbezoars were described as being the colour of auber-gine; the larger stones were supposedly of betterquality and so they were more expensive. Thehigh price of bezoars is also referred by Garcia theOrta in the same chapter; one of these stones hadbeen sold for 32 000 Reis (Orta 1563, p. 170).

Oriental bezoars

Indian bezoars were used medicinally for malig-nant fevers. It was believed they could stop bleedingand avert and cure melancholic diseases. Wealthyprinces used to take them as preventatives, dissolvedin beverages twice a year (March and Septem-ber), each time following a strong purge. By takingthis medicine, they managed to be healthier andstronger, both for war and for love, and avoidedmelancholic and skin diseases. Bezoars were alsoprescribed in all cases of poisonous bites. For theHindus bezoar stones were elixirs of life and vig-our (Kunz 1915, p. 205).

Garcia de Orta was conversant with the most out-standing Arabian authors, but while in India hebecame acquainted with the hakuma, the Arabianphysicians, and with the vydias, the Hindu phys-icians, whom he had never met before. He incorpor-ated knowledge of Hindu medicine into his medicalpractice and started to use local Indian bezoars. InColloquy 58 he described the porcupine bezoar,highly valued by the Portuguese Viceroy, as asmall, clear, vermillion stone with a bitter tasteand which felt like French soap. He ascribed itsorigin to porcupine bile. Despite its bitterness, itproved to be good for stomach ache. The stoneswere supposed to come from the porcupine gallbladder and Garcia de Orta believed they werealready used in ancient Rome since bezoars werevalued as precious stones (Orta 1563, pp. 226–227).

In early modern times Eastern porcupine bez-oars joined the male goat bezoars used by Arabianphysicians. These bezoars were traded mostly bythe Portuguese who brought them from Malaysiaand Indonesia. They were obtained from three dif-ferent porcupine species: the Malayan porcupine(Hystrix brachyura), the long-tailed porcupine (Tri-chis fasciatum) and the thick-spined porcupine(Thecurus crassispinis). Porcupine stones were notequally valuable; whitish and pale blue-green var-ieties were esteemed as being of higher quality.Their characteristic extremely bitter taste was due toLeuconotis anceps, a Borneo liana, one of the mostimportant porcupine food sources, which produces alatex-like juice (Borschberg 2006, p. 67).

Recently Peter Borschberg conducted an inqu-iry into the healing characteristics of these stonesin the Penan and Iban tribes in Sarawak in theMalayan Peninsula, where they are still used andtraded today. He concluded that the healing powerof the bezoar is attributable to the porcupine diet.These rodents are able to eat the most bitter rootsand tubers, some of which are toxic to humans andare used by the tribal people to stun fish in the riv-ers. For them the stones are a kind of equivalentto our modern antioxidant drugs. The demand forbezoars continues. Fake bezoars made from bittersubstances with some hair included are still sold inAsiatic markets (Borschberg 2006, pp. 65–66, 74).

Modern alexipharmics

Once imported into Europe, bezoar stones wereoften stored, displayed and utilized in speciallydesigned items of tableware. Multiple amuletic sub-stances were often combined together in the samepiece. One Goan vessel (Fig. 2) dating from thesecond half of the sixteenth century, is made fromthe woody endocarp of a coconut (Cocus nuciferaL.) with a rhinoceros horn handle, containing anoriental bezoar. Each of these materials was con-sidered to be antitoxic and was used in amulets.This object is now considered to be as aspersor-ium, a vessel that holds holy water in Roman Catho-lic Churches (Keating & Markey 2011). This vesselexhibits a silver gilt mount bearing an inscriptionof a Latin rendering of Psalm 42:2:

SITIVIT ANIMA MEA AD DEV(M) FONTE(M)VIVV(M) QVANDO VENIAM ET AP(P)AREBOANTE FACIEM DEI

My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: whenshall I come and appear before God? (Bible, KingJames Version, 1611).

The inscription bears a stamp/sign I. T. B. (Fig. 2).Coconut was supposed to be a potent alexiphar-

mic and was thought to come from the sea. Luıs de

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Camoes expresses this belief in the Lusıadas (CantoX, vv.136):

See in Ceylon that Peak so stark, so gaunt,

shooting high o’ver the clouds or mocking sight:

The native peoples hold it sacrosanct

for the famed Stone where print of foot is pight:

O’ver lone Maldivia’s islets grows the plant,

beneath profoundest seas, of sov’ereign might;

whose pome of eve’ry Theriack is confest

by cunning leech of antidotes the best.

This translation (Camoes 1880) is very close to theoriginal Portuguese poem. Archaisms are used inthe poem, with ‘pight’ and ‘pome’ meaning‘pitched’ and ‘fruit’ respectively.

The coconuts from the Maldive Islands referredto by Camoes were also known as sea coconuts.They were actually the fruits of Lodoicea sechel-larum Labill, a palm tree from the SeychelleIslands in the Indian Ocean (Riedel 1981). Garciade Orta dedicated an entire chapter of his book, Col-loquy 16, ‘Do Coquo’ (the coconut), to this exotic

and tasty fruit. However, he believed that othermedicines, like the bezoar stones, theriac, terrasigillata, emeralds and medicines made from orien-tal snakes and plants, were more effective as antive-nins and he ascribed the therapeutic effect of thecoconut to a fancy of the natives (Orta 1563, p. 68).

Amatus Lusitanus and the origin of

bezoars and snake-stones

Joao Rodrigues de Castelo Branco (1511–1568), ayoung compatriot of Garcia de Orta who laterchanged his name to Amatus Lusitanus (Fig. 3)(Coelho 1998), reported the use of an Indian goatbezoar in the treatment of a poisoning by corrosivesublimate. Theriac and emetics had also been usedin this successful treatment. He described thebezoar as a small, laminated, grey to dark bluestone in the form and shape of an acorn, extractedfrom the stomach or entrails and widely approvedas an effective and divine antidote to all kinds ofpoisons. He reported the case of a man whomanaged to survive a very dangerous poison aftertaking that antidote in barley and pumpkin water,following the prescription from Avenzoar (1091–1161), an Arab doctor. Other applications of thebezoar stones included preparations against malig-nant fevers and the induction of vomiting andsweating.

Fig. 3. Amatus Lusitanus (1500–1568), Portuguesedoctor (Friedenwald collection).

Fig. 2. Coconut vessel from Ceylon and Iberic Peninsulaor Goa from the second half of the sixteenth century,made from rhinoceros horn, containing an orientalbezoar, inscribed silver gilt mount and an inscription.Size: height, 23.5 cm; depth, 14.8 cm; inventoryno. KK. 913. Reproduced with permission of theKunsthistorisches Museum of Vienna.



Avenzoar’s own experience (he claimed to havebeen rescued from ineluctable death after havingdrunk the bezoar), described in his book Theisir,was also reported by Amatus. The cure of jaundicewas also attributed to the same medicine. Lusitanusindulged in the study of all kinds of therapeu-tic agents (Lusitanus 2010, p. 137). He also wrotea work of comments on the Greek textbook DeMateria Medica by Dioscorides: ‘Index Dios-coridis’ (Lusitanus 1553). These works are cur-rently being translated into Portuguese, as part ofthe Project ‘Dioscorides e o Humanismo Portugues:os Comentarios de Amato Lusitano’ by a team ofresearchers led by Professor Antonio Andradefrom the University of Aveiro.

Some authors believed that bezoars came fromthe head of certain animals while others believedthey originated in the liver. Some believed theycame from the eye of a stag. The origin of bezoarswas associated with snake-stone legends, an ancientbelief present in many cultures. Pliny the Eldermentioned a kind of egg, the size of an apple, thatwas very famous in Gaul. It was used by the Druids,who believed it was produced by the saliva ofsnakes and then tossed into the air. ChristopherDuffin has shown that this ‘snakestone’ is actuallya fossil echinoid (Duffin 2008, p. 19).

Bezoars were also associated with deer tearsand thought to be effective against all kinds ofpoisons. Amatus Lusitanus ascribed the bezoar’sorigin to the tears shed by deer when they battledwith and killed snakes. Eating the snakes, the deersank into muddy waters where its tears coagulatedto form a precious bezoar stone (Pliny BookXXIX, Chapter XI in Jones, W.H. 1956, p. 217).From the time of Pliny it was believed thatanimals produced bezoars in self-defence againstpoisonous plants and snake bites (Van Tassel1970, p. 32).

Bezoars from the New World

Bezoars from the New World were esteemed lesshighly. They were produced by several animalsincluding peacocks, wild boars and a variety ofrodents, including beavers. Nicolas Monardes (c.1512–1588), a Spanish physician, wrote on tropicaldiseases and introduced West Indian medicines into

Fig. 5. Gold filigree pendant with the arms of the Dukeof Alba (1508–1582) shaped as a small flask, containinga Goa bezoar, fourth quarter of the sixteenth century.Size: length, 16.2; inventory no. KK. 998. Reproducedwith permission of the Kunsthistorisches Museum ofVienna.

Fig. 6. Bezoar, gold filigree work, Goa, fourth quarter ofthe seventeenth century. Size: height, 11.6; diameter7.6 cm, Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna inventory no.KK.1001. Reproduced with permission of theKunsthistorisches Museum of Vienna.

Fig. 4. Spanish Oriental bezoar stone with a golden ringand an inscription, sixteenth century. Size: length, 9 cm;width, 4.9 cm; inventory no. KK. 958. Reproduced withpermission of the Kunsthistorisches Museum of Vienna.

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the European materia medica (Weckmann 1992).He was very enthusiastic about bezoars both ashealing agents and as powerful antidotes. His texton bezoars is the subject of the second book of hismost important work (Monardes 1565).

Bezoars mounted as pieces of art

The demand for bezoars in both formal and pop-ular medicine increased steadily, leading to theappearance of counterfeits. It was difficult evenfor experts to distinguish a true one from an imita-tion. Bezoar stones commanded unbelievably highprices. One of Lusitanus’s wealthy patients, Beatrizde Luna (1510–1569) or Gracia Nasi Benveniste(Jewish name), the wife of Francisco Mendes Ben-veniste, a rich Jewish banker, purchased a bezoarfor 130 golden ducats when she came to Venicefrom Antwerp. The bezoar bought by the illustrisDomina Beatrix a Luna, mulier opulentissimabelonged to a former Portuguese Indian Viceroy(Lusitanus 1553, p. 188).

The great demand for bezoars made them rarerand more expensive. Popular among the nobilityand the wealthy, they were often kept in special con-tainers, usually richly worked in gold, silver andprecious stones. Bezoars were esteemed as precious

talismans in the belief that they brought good for-tune and assistance in all kinds of lethal poison-ing. A letter from Cristoff Hyeble to the wealthybanker Philip Edouard Fugger (1546–1615) illus-trates this opinion. He recommended that everyoneshould buy one of these stones to afford protectionagainst serious poisoning and disease, no matterthe effort or the cost involved (Hyeble 1598,p. 40). The stones were so valuable that onesixteenth-century Spanish Oriental bezoar bears aninscription of its weight:

PEDRA . BESOHAR . FINISSIMA . PESA . OCHO .ONCAS

(The best bezoar stone, it weights eight pounds)(Fig. 4)

Bezoars found in monkeys and porcupines in SEAsia were the most expensive. Referred to as lapisbezoar orientalis, they were presented as specialgifts to very special people. One pietra de porcos-pino was offered by Ferdinand I de Medici to Elea-nora de Medici, Duchess of Mantua, in 1608. QueenElizabeth I (1535–1603) had a bezoar inlayed in

Fig. 7. Bezoar stone with its oval container decorated,seventeenth century, Germany. Size: depth, 8.00 cm;inventory no. 13583. Reproduced with permission of theMuseu de Farmacia de Lisboa.

Fig. 8. Bezoar stone mounted on a gold filigree stand,decorated with coral, eighteenth century. Size: height25.5. Provenance unknown. Tavora Sequeira Pintocollection, Oporto. Reproduced with permission of thecollection’s owner.



her crown, used as a talisman or charm (Borschberg2006, pp. 61, 67).

The monkey bezoar, closely resembling that ofthe goat, was deemed to be the most valuable ofall. Rounded and little longer than a finger, it wassingled out for special praise by Jacob Bontius(1592–1631) (Bontius 1642), the Dutch botanist,

physician and pharmacist who lived in India andwas the first to describe the neuropathy caused bythiamine deficiency (beriberi).

Some of the bezoar containers are rare and valu-able works of art and have been studied by Duffin2013a. Sometimes, the owner’s name was carved onthe bezoar container. A golden filigree pendant from

Fig. 9. Title page: Gemmarum et Lapidum Historia (History of Gems and Stones, 1609) by Anselmus Boetius de Boodt(sourced from Google books).

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the fourth quarter of the sixteenth century contain-ing a Goa bezoar bears the arms of the Duke ofAlba (1508–1582; Fig. 5).

One specimen embedded in golden filigree witha long golden stem forms part of the Art cabinet ofthe Kunsthistorisches Museum of Vienna (Fig. 6).Another specimen from the Museu da Farmacia deLisboa was kept in an ovoid decorated container(Fig. 7).

A silver goblet of an intact Goa stone, fabricatedby the Portuguese Jesuits of the Monastery of SaoPaulo Goa, dating between the seventeenth and the

Fig. 10. Drinking cup with China (Ming Dynasty)and Iberian golden silver work, c. 1600, horn of theIndian Rhinoceros unicornis (?) with bezoar inside.Size: height, 12.8 cm; width, 13.8 cm; depth, 9.8 cm;inventory no. KK. 3744. Reproduced with permission ofthe Kunsthistorisches Museum of Vienna.

Fig. 11. Bowl carved from Javanese ‘unicorn’(Rhinoceros sondaicus) and containing a bezoar, witha golden lid and stem; Spanish (Iberian), c. 1600.Size: height, 15.2 cm; width, 18 cm; depth, 12 cm.Reproduced with permission of the KunsthistorischesMuseum of Vienna.

Fig. 12. Bezoar goblet signed by Jan Vermeyen(Brussels before 1559–1606), Prague c. 1600.Size: height, 14.5 cm; inventory no. KK. 3259.Reproduced with permission of the KunsthistorischesMuseum of Vienna.

Fig. 13. Golden bowl with Bezoar stone attached,seventeenth century. Size: diameter, 14; width 17; height6.9 cm; inventory no. KK. 1140. Reproduced withpermission of the Kunsthistorisches Museum of Vienna.



eighteenth centuries, can be seen at the Museu daFarmacia de Lisboa (Fig. 8).

Anselm Boetius de Boodt

Although not strictly stones, the Flemish mineralo-gist Anselm Boetius de Boodt (1550–1632), Phys-ician to the Emperor Rudolf II, included them inhis work Gemmarum et Lapidum Historia, pub-lished in 1609 (Fig. 9). Minerals, especially preciousstones, have been highly appreciated for their sup-posed therapeutic qualities since classical times(Duffin 2013b).

De Boodt described the therapeutic uses ofbezoars as an effective diaphoretic, an antidote toall kinds of poisons and the bites of venomous ani-mals, and very useful in the treatment of wounds,infections and pestilential fevers. It was supposedlyhelpful in the treatment of heart diseases, impro-ved the condition of those suffering from

depressive disorders and cured skin diseases,including Arabic leprosy, the elephantiasis of theGreeks, scabies, itching and erysipelas. Bezoarswere also deemed helpful in the treatment ofquartan fevers and epilepsy (De Boodt 1647).

Bezoars and unicorn horns

During the sixteenth century, bezoars and unicornhorns were often associated in therapeutic recipesand in items of jewelry. The horn of a goat and abezoar from Peru were combined in the same mira-culous recipe for treating poisoning and contagiousconditions, as well as ascariasis, pestilential fevers,petechiae, malignant pimples and herpes (De Boodt1647, p. 36). A drinking vessel from about 1600 iscomposed of an Indian rhino horn (Rhinoceros uni-cornis?) with a bezoar in the interior, supported by asilver and enameled stem (Fig. 10). Another valu-able piece is a bowl from about 1600, made fromJavanese ‘unicorn’ (Rhinoceros sondaicus) contain-ing a bezoar with a golden lid stem (Fig. 11).

Rudolf II’s bezoars

Bezoars were prized possessions in Rudolf II’scabinet of art and curiosities. One of these piecescan be seen in the Kunsthistorisches Museum ofVienna. Dating from about 1600, it is a reddishbezoar turned into an artistic enamel goblet, signedby Jan Vermeyden (before 1559–1606), made whilethe Belgian goldsmith was working in Prague. Rud-olf II was fond of objects worked out of mineral

Fig. 14. Spanish bezoar with an artistic work of goldemeralds and rubies from Castilia or Aragon, middleor third quarter of sixteenth century. Size: height, 25.5;width 16; depth 13.3 cm; inventory no. KK. 981.Reproduced with permission of the KunsthistorischesMuseum of Vienna.

Fig. 15. Bezoar pendant, gold filigree work, Goa,seventeenth century. Size: height, 9 cm; inventoryno. KK. 996. Reproduced with permission of theKunsthistorisches Museum of Vienna.

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and animal material, and in later life he was afraid ofbeing poisoned (Bauer 1988, p. 209; Fig. 12).

A golden bowl with a bezoar attached by meansof a golden chain, dating from the seventeenth cen-tury, also belonged to him. It was probably used totest for the presence of poison in beverages (Fig.13). Another piece held in this collection is a bez-oar of Spanish origin dating from the third quarterof the sixteenth century. A small greenish stone isplaced on a gold ring set with emeralds and restingon three ornamental lions. Four bands set withemeralds and dragon-like volutes support the bez-oar, topped by a crown set with emeralds (Fig. 14).

Bezoars were also finely worked to be used asamulets in pendants. They were used for protectionand personal adornment (Fig. 15), following anancient use.

In Roman times, people used to carry amuletsaround the neck. There were small pendant contain-ers, bullae that were used to house precious incanta-tions. Jose Leite de Vasconcellos (1858–1941)

described two of these amulets that children worearound their neck, around their wrists or hangingon their chest from the ninth day after birth untilpuberty when they received the toga viril. Thegolden bulla would have belonged to a wealthychild (Vasconcellos 1913, p. 526; Fig. 16). Bronzebullae were used by poor children (Fig. 17; Ribeiro2002, p. 487, Pl. 167).

Mistrust of bezoars and Caspar Bauhin’s

monography

Relatively few sixteenth-century doctors weresceptical of the therapeutic value of bezoar stones.Ambroise Pare (1510–1590) condemned the useof ‘the mumia’ and distrusted the medicinal proper-ties of bezoars. In 1575 a cook at his Court, who hadbeen caught stealing silver cutlery, agreed to be poi-soned and then treated with the bezoar stone. Hedied in terrible agony six hours after taking thepoison. Pare’s experiment showed that the bezoarstone was not effective in every case of poisoning,contrary to popular belief at the time (Stephen2010, pp. 186–187).

Caspar Bauhin (1511–1624), a learned profes-sor and physician of Basel, wrote an important

Fig. 16. Bronze bulla Bronze, Torre de Ares, Algarve(Portugal), Roman period, first/fourth century AD.Size: height, 4.2; width 2.65 cm; inventory no.98328889. Reproduced with permission of the MuseuNacional de Arqueologia de Lisboa.

Fig. 17. Golden bulla, Pombalinho (Grandola, Setubal,Portugal). Size: length, 1.2; width 8 cm; first/secondcentury AD; inventory no. Au 91. Reproduced with thepermission of the Museu Nacional de Arqueologia deLisboa.



monograph on bezoar stones (Fig. 18), but he indi-cated that physicians were forced to use bezoars, be-cause ‘princes and magnates’ valued them so highly:

Hinc factum, ut etiamnum hodie lapis hic apud prin-cipes et magnates tanti nominis sit, ut eum non soluminter sua ceimelia reponant, verum etiam in gemmarumnumero, et quidem earum quae auro æquiparantur, etetiam illo pretiosiores existimantur, habeant: ita uthunc medici, sed nonnullietiam inviti, in illorumgratiam, in usum revocare cogantur. (Bauhin 1625,Præf. 3)

(As a result this stone [bezoar] has earned untilnow such fame among princes and magnates, theynot only have it among their treasures but theyalso consider it to rank in the category of preciousstones, really equivalent to gold and even morevaluable than it, in such a way that physicians, butsome certainly upset, feel compelled to prescribe[the bezoar] it to obtain [princes’ and magnates’]favour.)

Bauhin admonished against dangerous forger-ies that often contained highly toxic substances

Fig. 18. Frontispiece: De lapidis Bezaari (On Bezoar Stones, 1625) by Caspar Bauhin (sourced by Google books).

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including cinnabar, quicksilver and even anti-mony (Bauhin 1625, p. 142).

He named the porcupine bezoar lapis malaccen-sis, reviewed Arabic literature including De LapideBezaar ex Arabur Sententia (On Arabic writings onbezoar stones), and he summarized the character-istics of bezoars according to their animal and geo-graphical origins. He also reported on the way inwhich they were produced and described their ther-apeutic effects (Bauhin 1625, pp. 75–94). In thisvery detailed study he dedicated a chapter to one ofthe most important effects ascribed to bezoars: theprofuse perspiration they induced and its usefulnessin promoting health: ‘Quomodo sanitate conferuet,sudorum promoueat, & nun vtiliter id fiat’ (Bauhin1625, p. 193).

Semedo’s bezoartic cordial

In the first half of the seventeenth century the Portu-guese physician Joao Curvo Semedo (1635–1719;Fig. 19) introduced the use of quinine for the cureof tertian and quartan fevers (malaria) in Portugal.He also used bezoar stones dissolved in a cordial,prepared personally in order minimize costs. The

bezoars were available from the S Domingos phar-macy in Chiado Square, Lisbon. He prescribed thiscordial mainly for malignant fevers that could notbe cured by the use of quinine. He ascribed threeproperties to the cordial: it was excellent to restorethe vital spirits, it was an excellent diaphoreticand, most importantly, it was an antidote.

The cordial was made from porcupine bezoarstones from Malacca and Cananor snake bezoars,theriacs and mithridatum. He reported that Indiansnake stones were highly effective when they wereapplied to poisonous bites (Semedo 1697, p. 639).‘Snake stones’ or ‘snake bezoars’ (lapis serpentis,pedra de cobra), believed to be retrieved from theheads of those reptiles, were highly valued. Theywere small artificial stones made from a combina-tion of several materials with special earths (Estes1990). In the Lıthica Orpheos, snake-stones arereferred to as the divine stones that healed Phi-loctetes’s wound, as mentioned in Homer’s Iliad(Opiano 1990, p. 384).

The Goa stone

By the late seventeenth century, in order to providecheaper alternatives and to counteract the trade ofdangerous counterfeits, the Portuguese Jesuits ofIndia began to produce artificial bezoars in Goa.The ‘Pedra Cordial’ was called ‘Pedra de Goa’ byits author, Gaspar Antonio, a Florentine Jesuit LayBrother, living in India.

The Jesuits played a very important role in thediffusion of Eastern medicines. They recorded hun-dreds of eastern recipes in a wide range of manu-scripts (Walker 2010). The Jesuit collection of

Fig. 19. Joao Curvo Semedo (1635–1719), Portuguesephysician and pharmacist. Reproduced with permissionof the Biblioteca da Faculdade de Medicina,Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal.

Fig. 20. Two bezoars. Opened bezoar with sliceremoved, perforated with four holes. Size: diameter,8.50 cm; width, 90 g.; inventory no. 14132. Germantrichobezoar, nineteenth century (Germany). Size:diameter, 7.00 cm; inventory no. 14133. Reproducedwith permission of the Museu de Farmacia de Lisboa.



medical recipes ‘Coleccao de Receitas’ from theJesuit’s Library of Rome in 1766 includes instruc-tions on how to make artificial porcupine stones.One of the finest recipes from the Botica do collegiode Macao, shrouded in secrecy, included amber,musk, precious stones including emeralds, rubies,sapphires, topazes, garnets, white and red coral,ivory and scrapings of unicorn horn, stag horn andoriental bezoar as well as terra sigillata, a medicinalearth popular since classical times (Dannenfeldt1984).

The origins and history of the recipe throughto 1787, and the qualities of every component,formed the subject of a very detailed and valuablestudy by Duffin (2010a). A remarkable feature ofthis synthetic stone is the gradual reduction of thebezoar stone component in later recipes. Thesedark green coloured fabricated bezoars were pro-duced in a range of sizes and were as valuable asthe contemporary snake-stones. Both represent akind of equivalent of modern generic compounds.

Although the Goa Stone was supposed to becheaper, the demand for artificial bezoars was asgreat as the search for real bezoars, making bothitems very expensive. The lapis de Goa wasimported into England up until the mid-eighteenthcentury, but for several reasons its use declinedtogether with the decline of the bezoar stone(Duffin 2010b).

The end of the golden age of bezoars

The nineteenth century marks the decline of Hip-pocratic therapies and with it bezoars, unicorn pre-parations and theriacs were substituted for by newtherapeutic agents. Two simple bezoar stones canbe seen at the Museu da Farmacia de Lisboa. Onespecimen is an opened bezoar with four holesand the other is a German trichobezoar (Fig. 20).In his work Toxicologie Generale, Mathieu Orfilla(1787–1853), known as the Father of Toxicol-ogy, indicates that bezoar stones were no longerincluded in the treatment of poisoning, including bymeans of arsenic (Orfilla 1814). Nevertheless thisold fashioned panacea continued to be cited inacademic works.

Recent investigations of bezoar properties havebeen carried out by Gustaf Arrhenius and AndrewA. Benson of the Scripps Institution of Oceano-graphy; they showed that bezoar stones when im-mersed in an arsenic-laced solution would removethe poison. The two toxic compounds of arsenic,arsenate and arsenite are acted upon differently buteffectively by bezoar stones. Arsenate is removedby being exchanged for phosphate in the mineralbrushite, found in the stones, and arsenite bonds tosulphur compounds in the protein of degraded hair,a key component in bezoars (Malcom 1998).

From the eighteenth century onwards the power-ful magical healing properties of bezoars werequestioned more and more. There is some evidencethat they had real pharmacological efficacy. Al-though they are still used in Eastern folk medicine,specific and more effective drugs have replacedthem in modern Western medicine. The study ofbezoars is an important topic in the history of toxi-cology, medicine, pharmacology, geology and art.

I wish to thank Christopher Duffin for his close andattentive reading of the manuscript, insightful sugges-tions and the fruitful exchange of ideas. I wish to thankProfessor Antonio Andrade for contributing to the inter-pretation of the Latin texts. I would also like to thankProfessor Alvaro Sequeira Pinto the kind permission toreproduce the image of the unpublished bezoar of hiscollection.

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