540 Snake-Eater of the Afghans. 



These stones are probably formed in a similar manner to 

 the gravel stones in the human subject, and as the latter is a 

 prevalent disease at Candahar, it may perhaps be traced 

 to some impurity, or peculiar mineral quality of the waters of 

 Afghanistan. 



The bezoar occurs in the ^Egagrus and Markhore, the 

 calculis in the human bladder, and I possess several speci- 

 mens of bezoar secretions of lime, about the size of a pi- 

 geon's egg, which were cut out of tumours in the throat of 

 the common ass. It is said to be a common disease among 

 the asses of Bokhara. The stone is hard and compact inter- 

 nally, exhibiting often concentric layers ; on the outside it is 

 rough and coarsely granulated, its colour is white. These 

 are used as medicine by native practitioners, and given in- 

 ternally. 



(C The most probable etymology of the word bezoar is 

 from the Persian Pdd-zahr, i. e. " expelling poison, the ex- 

 peller of poison :" the stone bears this and other designations 

 of similar import in Persian : e. g. Bdd-zahr, which seems 

 to be a corruption of Pdd-zahr. The word Pad means 

 " relieving, curing, removing (disease), and garh is poi- 

 son."* 



This etymology would appear to be particularly applica- 

 ble, since the stone is not only thought to be efficacious 

 in rendering the poison innocuous, but is also extracted 

 from the intestines of an animal, which is supposed to wage 

 unceasing warfare against the serpent tribe. 



P. S. — Since writing the above, the 42d No. of the Annals 

 and Magazine of Natural History has reached me, and I 

 find therein some observations which need farther notice. 



In a paper by Mr. Blyth, entitled " An amended list of the 

 species of the Genus Ovis," read before the Zoological 



* Penny Cyclopedia, article Bezoar. 



