Be′zoar

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BE'ZOAR

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An antidote; a general name for certain animal substances supposed to be efficacious in preventing the fatal effects of poison. Bezoar is a calcarious concretion found in the stomach of certain ruminant animals, composed of concentric coats surrounding each other, with a little cavity in the middle, containing a bit of wood, straw, hair, or the like substance. There are two sorts; the oriental, from Persia and the East Indies, of a shining dark green or olive color, with a smooth surface; and the occidental, from the Spanish West Indies, which has a rough surface, is less green much heavier, more brittle, and of a looser texture. The oriental is generally less than a walnut;the occidental is larger, and sometimes as large as a goose egg.

The oriental bezoars are generally of a resinous composition and combustible.

In a more general sense, any substance formed, stratum upon stratum, in the stomach or intestines of animals.

This name is also given to the biliary calculi of certain animals.

Fossil-bezoar is a figured stone, formed, like the animal bezoar, with several coats round some extraneous body, which serves as a nucleus; found chiefly in Sicily, in sand and clay pits. It is of a purple color, and of the size of a walnut. It seems to be of the nature of bole armenian, and is called Sicilian earth.

Bezoar-mineral. This preparation is an oxyd of antimony, produced by distilling the nitrous acid several times to dryness from the sublimated muriate of antimony.