THE NARWHAL'S HORN. 379 



the horns of male deer, the mane of male lions, and other similar struc- 

 tures, appear to be safety-valves to the vital energies, which in the one 

 sex are occupied in the continual formation of successive offspring, and 

 in the other find an outlet in the development of tooth, horn, and hair, 

 according to the character of the animal. In all probability, the health 

 of the animal would greatly suffer if the calcareous and other particles 

 which are deposited in the tusk were forced to remain in the system in- 

 stead of being harmlessly removed from it and. placed upon its exterior. 



The ivory of the Narwhal's tusk is remarkably good in quality, being 

 hard and solid, capable of receiving a high polish, and possessing the 

 property of retaining its whiteness for a very long period, so that a 

 large Narwhal horn is of no inconsiderable commercial value. The 

 throne of the kings of Denmark was made of this ivory ; kings and 

 emperors had their sceptres, and bishops their croziers fashioned from 

 it. But the Narwhal's tusk in older da3^s had a still greater renown for 

 its medicinal virtues ; it was regarded as the horn of the unicorn, capable 

 of disarming all poisons. This antidotal potency was thought to be of 

 vital service to the unicorn, which resides in the wilderness, among 

 all kinds ot loathsome beasts and poisonous reptiles, whose touch was 

 death, and whose look was contamination. The springs and pools at 

 which such monsters quenched their thirst were saturated with poison 

 by their contact, and would pour a fiery death through the veins of any 

 animal that partook of the same water. But the unicorn, by dipping the 

 tip of his horn into the pool, neutralized the venom, and rendered the 

 deadly waters harmless. This admirable quality of the unicorn-horn was 

 a great recommendation in days when the poisoned chalice crept too 

 frequently upon the festive board ; and a king could receive no worthier 

 present than a goblet formed from such valuable material. Charles the 

 IX of France was very careful to put into his cup a piece of the Sea 

 Unicorn's tooth. The Margraves of Baireuth kept one in their treasury, 

 but reserved its benefits for members of their princely house alone. 

 Under the influence of such a belief the most exaggerated price was set 

 on a Narwhal's horn. One in the Elector of Saxony's possession in 

 Dresden was valued in the sixteenth century at 100,000 dollars. As 

 navigation became more general, the horn lost its value, and when in the 

 beginning of the eighteenth century the " Greenland Company " sent 

 several Narwhal horns to Moscow with a view to selling them to the 

 Czar, the emperor's physician refused to buy them, as they were merely 



