THE SNAKE STONES. 5^7 



8rOn fciund in the ftomach of aniir.alsof the goat kind efpcciaUy, a^ is 

 jtiftly ftated by the author of the Tohfet al Momenin^ who takes no noiice 

 of the fabulous generation of it by the fucceffiVely congealed then m 

 flowing from the eyes of a fort of camel or deer fuppofed to feed 

 upon fnakes, as mentioned in the Khwdsal Ekj a r a.nd other works ° 

 the Akhtiyardt Badai is lingular in deriving the animal' Bizoar ivbm the 

 head of a fnale, although its prefence in the porcupine, ape and ox' is 

 oticed in fever al works, agreeably to the information given by Ta- 

 VERNiBR, who fays with great truth, J'ay eu la curiofite de me bien in- 

 ftruirc de tout cc qui fe peut fcavoir du Bezoar : of both fpecies of Be-- 

 zcfar, many varieties, clalTed according to the fhades of colour^ are enu-^ 

 merated by the original authorities^ ' 



It is foreign to the objeQ: of the prefent remarks, to notice the many 

 wonderful properties afcnbed by oriental writers to the Bezoar, or to 

 advert to any,but its fuppofed alexipharmic power. In this refpeft, 

 as^weil as in the method of its application, it anfwers to the accounts 

 given by Thevenot and K.empfer of the virtues of the fnake (lone, 

 and leaves no doubt of their general identity, • 



The only remainingconclufton refulting from Dr. Davy's enquiries, 

 regards the inefficacy of thefe fubftances, be they what they may r the 

 credulity that prevailed on this head, has not been conHned to the na* 

 tivcs of the Eaft, nor even to thofe who took the oriental fables upon 

 trufl, for Tavbrnieb, from information gathered on the fpot, appears 

 to be quite fatisfiedof their properties ; and no lefs a perfonage, than 

 the Preiident of the College of Phyficians, Dodlor Baseman, informed 

 Sir HansSloane ** with great admiration that he had feen'the great ef- 

 "' feds upon the bite of a viper of the fnake ftone, or ferpent flone as 

 "* it is called, before King Chaulbs 2d, wha \vas a great lover of fuch 



