OR GAZELLES. 431 



cians now employ cordials and antidotes againft 

 poifon, may we not prefume, from this great 

 confumption, which ftill continues in fome de- 

 gree, that the bezoar proceeds from a very com- 

 mon animal, or rather, that it proceeds not from 

 one, but from feveral fpecies ; and that it is 

 equally extracted from gazelles, goats, and wed- 

 ders ; but that thefe animals can only produce 

 it in the climates of India and the Levant ? 



From all that has been written on this fub- 

 ject, we have not been able to find one diftincl: 

 obfervation, nor a fingie decifive argument. It 

 only appears, from what has been faid by Mo- 

 nard,Garcias, Clufius, Aldrovandus, Hernandes, 

 &c. that the oriental bezoar animal is not the 

 common domeftic goat, but a fpecies of wild 

 goat, which they have not fufficiently characte- 

 rifed. In the fame manner, all we can collect 

 from Koempfer is, that the bezoar animal is a 

 kind of wild goat, or rather gazelle, which is e- 

 qually ill defcribed. But, from the teftimonies 

 of Thevenot, Chardin, and Tavernier, we learn, 

 that this ftone is not fo often extracted from the 

 gazelles, as from the wedders, and the wild or 

 domeftic goats. Thefe travellers merit the great- 

 er credit, becaufe they were eye-witneiTes to the 

 facts they mention, and becaufe, when treating 

 of the bezoar, though they take no notice of the 

 gazelles, yet, as they are well acquainted with 

 thefe animals, and mention them in other parts 

 of their works*, there is not the leaft appearance 



of 



* Voyage de Tavernier, torn. 2. p. 26 



