Editorial note — Chapter X · (continued 3)

[Footnote 139: In old times, oriental bezoar was prized at a high rate in medicine, having many fancied valuable qualities, now found by experience to be altogether imaginary; so that it is now confined to cabinets of curiosities. It is merely an accidental concretion, which takes place in the stomachs of various animals, somewhat similar to a gall-stone.--E.]