286 ANIMALS OF THE 



some of these concretions in the stomach, intes- 

 tines, kidneys, bladder, and even in the heart. 

 To these, ignorance may impute virtues that they 

 do not possess ; experience has found but few 

 cures wrought by their efficacy ; but it is well 

 known that they often prove fatal to the animal 

 that bears them. These concretions are gene- 

 rally found in cows, by their practice of licking 

 off their hair, which gathers in the stomach into 

 the shape of a ball, acquires a surprising degree 

 of hardness, and sometimes a polish like leather. 

 They are often as large as a goose egg; and, 

 when become too large to pass, block up the 

 passage of the food, and the animal dies. The 

 substance of these balls, however, is different from 

 the bezoar mentioned above, being rather a con- 

 cretion of hair than of stone. There is a bezoar 

 found in the gall-bladder of a boar, and thence 

 called hog bezoar, in very great esteem ; but per- 

 haps with as little justice as any of the former. 

 In short, as we have already observed, there is 

 scarcely an animal, or scarcely a part of their bo- 

 dies, in which concretions are not formed ; and 

 it is more than probable, as M. Buffon justly re- 

 marks, that the bezoar so much in use formerly 

 was not the production of the pazar, or any one 

 animal only, but that of the whole gazelle kind ; 

 who, feeding upon odoriferous herbs and plants, 

 gave this admirable fragrance to the accidental 

 concretions which they were found to produce. 

 As this medicine, however, is but little used at 

 present, our curiosity is much abated as to the 

 cause of its formation. To return, therefore, to 



