Friday, January 8, 2010

Cool Stuff I Learned From Books

Those of you that know your Harry Potter, will remember that in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Harry uses a bezoar to save Ron from an accidental poisoning. We learned in potions class that a bezoar is a stone taken from the stomach of a goat and is an antidote to most poisons.

It turns out that a bezoar isn't something J.K. Rowling just made up. A bezoar really is a solid mass, usually as hard as a rock, of partially digested material found in the stomach of ruminant animals like cows, sheep, deer, and goats. And in the past, people really did believe that bezoars could cure a variety of illnesses, including plague, jaundice, a weak heart, sexual impotency, and even snake bites. People can also develop bezoars. When hairs or vegetable fibers are ingested but not digested, a bezoar can accumulate in the stomach or bowel and cause an obstruction. Gross.

Learned from: "Feeling His Oats" in The Deadly Dinner Party and Other Medical Detective Stories by Jonathan A. Edlow

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