Silver mounted bezoar stone. 18th century

The bezoar stones are calculi found in the digestive system or urinary tract of ruminants. In the 18th century these stones were seen as amulets and they were used as antidotes with multiple virtues: healing rabies, breaking bladder stones, driving away sadness, etc. They became so expensive that the poor who could not afford to buy them used to rent them for a day during plague epidemics. Four bezoar stones remain in the museum, two of which are mounted in silver.