Trivia Junction

A Compendium of trivia I find interesting
...for the curious

Bezoar stones

In the 16th century, the hot medical treatment was Bezoar stones – hard secretions formed in cow stomachs and goat gallbladders. The stones, it was widely believed, contained magical medical properties.

One skeptic was Ambroise Pare, a French barber/surgeon who argued that the stones were completely useless.

Pare persuaded authorities to do an experiment. A thief was offered a choice: be executed by public strangulation or swallow a lethal poison along with a Bezoar stone thought to be the perfect antidote.

The thief chose the latter and promptly died. The experiment, however, changed few minds. King Charles IX concluded the thief's Bezoar stone was a fake.

Prior | Tell us what you think | Next

Add to Your Social Bookmarks: Del.icio.us Digg Furl Reddit Simpy Spurl Y! MyWeb - Netscape - StumbleUpon StumbleUpon