DISEASES OP THE OX AND SHEEP. 499 



few persons were actually sent to the galleys because it was 

 thought that they were at the root of this kind of mischief. 

 Moreover, even in the last century, it was supposed that the 

 stones were swallowed by the sheep, which animals, it was pre- 

 sumed, were very fond of them. Indeed, in France, in the year 

 1790, two labouring men were accused of having strewed calculi, 

 which might have been obtained from a butcher, near some 

 sheep. In consequence of the suspicions entertained against 

 these two unfortunate labourers, they were actually condemned 

 to pay a fine of 1,500 livres, and in addition to be sent to the 

 galleys for a period of six years. This injustice, however, was 

 not to be perpetrated, for the professors of the veterinary school 

 at Alfort came forward and boldly stated that the sheep certainly 

 would not of their own free will swallow these concretions, and, 

 moreover, that even if they were forced upon the sheep, they 

 could not possibly find their way into the abomasum, but, on the 

 contrary, would naturally pass into the rumen, where they could 

 not occasion the mischief complained of as having been brought 

 about. Hence, fortunately, the unjust sentence was revoked, 

 and the prisoners were set at liberty. 



Not only, however, was it formerly the case that these bez oars 

 were thought to be destructive to sheep, but they were also 

 believed to possess wonderful virtues in regard to the cure of 

 various ills to which human flesh is heir. For instance, they 

 were thought to possess all the powers of disenchantment against 

 the poison of the viper and that of the scorpion, against vertigo, 

 epilepsy, dysentery, inflammation of the lungs, malignant fever, 

 the plague, the leprosy, and many other maladies. It was put 

 down to the astonishing power of the bezoar that King Edward 

 IV. was strengthened and preserved from the effects of an 

 empoisoned wound, and the same magical influence was supposed 

 to be the real reason why the Emperor Charles V. was enabled 

 to free himself from the dreadful thoughts which haunted and 

 disturbed his mind. 



These bezoars, it should be remembered, are by no means 

 peculiar to the sheep. Occasionally they may be found in every 

 species of deer and antelope, also in the elephant, the rhinoceros, 

 the porcupine, and some other animals. In former times those 

 which had been taken from some species of Indian antelopes 

 were highly prized, and some from the elephant and porcupine 



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