Note 454 — PHARMACOLOGIA. (continued 3)

The ancients erroneously considered them as the testicles of the beaver, and Æsop relates that the animal bit them off, when pursued by the huntsman, whence some have derived its name, a castrando; the true origin however of the word is from γαστωρ, i.e. animal ventriculosum, from his swaggy and prominent belly.