528 SING-IRANICA
of curing any disease, and called pa-tsa'r" (written as above);' cf. Portuguese bazar, bazodr, bezoar.
On the other hand, bezoars became universal in the early middle ages, and the Arabs also list bezoars from China and India.2 From the Persian word fädaj, explained as "a stone from China, bezoar," it appears also that Chinese bezoars were traded to Persia. In Persia, as is well known, bezoars are highly prized as remedies and talismans.3
1 Ao-men , Ch. B, p. 37.
2 J. RUSKA, Steinbuch des Aristoteles, p. 148.
3 C. ACOSTA (Tractado de las drogas, pp. 153-160, Burgos, 1578), E. KAEMPFER (Amoenitates exoticae, pp. 402-403), GUIBOURT (Histoire naturelle des drogues simples, Vol. IV, pp. 1o6 et seq.), and G. F. KUNZ (Magic of Jewels and Charms, pp. 203-220) give a great deal of interesting information on the subject. See also YULE, Hobson-Jobson, p. 9o; E. WIEDEMANN, Zur Mineralogie im Islam, p. 228; D. HOOPER, Journal As. Soc. Bengal, Vol. VI, 1910, p. 519.
IIIF Color HighRes
