THE BEAVER AS A SPECIES 215 



they realise the importance of wind and always 

 select the lee side of a pond when on watch. 



Castoreum, for which the beaver is famous and 

 has been for at least twenty-four hundred years, is 

 a peculiar substance secreted in two glands situated 

 below the pubis. It has a mild and not unpleasant 

 odour which is supposed to be very attractive to 

 many kinds of animals and consequently is used 

 by nearly all trappers in preparing " medicine" 

 with which to lure the various fur-bearers to the 

 traps. It is also believed to possess extraordinary 

 medicinal properties, and has been in use for over 

 two thousand years. Martin states that *' the 

 earliest references we have to the beaver in history 

 date back to 500 B.C., when Hippocrates mentioned 

 it in connection with medicinal uses of castoreum, 

 and from the fact that Pliny wrote that the 

 creature's life was spared on surrender of the 

 valuable pouches of castoreum, we gather that it 

 was for these alone that the animal was hunted." 

 The substance in various forms was used as a cure 

 for headaches, deafness, abscesses, gout, epilepsy, 

 colic, toothache, sciatica, lethargy, fever, pleurisy, 

 "induces sleep and prevents sleepiness," helps 

 memory and cures tuberculosis and rheumatism, 

 and is of benefit to mad people. It was also used 

 in smoking with soothing effect by the Indians. 

 Surely an array of virtues not surpassed by even 

 the most imaginative quack doctors in advertising 

 their " cure-alls ! " We may laugh at the ancients 



