WEBVTT - Poison and the Rhino Horn 0:00:00.040 --> 0:00:01.680 Are you a Stuff to Blow your Mind fan? Are 0:00:01.680 --> 0:00:03.880 you a New Yorker? Do you plan to attend this 0:00:03.960 --> 0:00:06.800 year's New York Comic Con. If so, then you've got 0:00:06.800 --> 0:00:10.600 to check out our exclusive live show NYCC presents Stuff 0:00:10.640 --> 0:00:14.000 to Blow Your Mind Live Stranger Science. Join all three 0:00:14.080 --> 0:00:16.840 of us as we record a live podcast about the 0:00:16.920 --> 0:00:21.640 exciting science and tantalizing pseudo science underlying the hit Netflix 0:00:21.640 --> 0:00:25.840 show Stranger Things. It all goes down Friday, October six 0:00:26.239 --> 0:00:29.240 from seven pm to eight thirty pm at the Hudson 0:00:29.280 --> 0:00:32.279 Mercantile in Manhattan. Stuff you missed in history class has 0:00:32.280 --> 0:00:34.920 a show right before us, so you can really double down, 0:00:35.080 --> 0:00:37.920 learn more and buy your tickets today at New York 0:00:37.920 --> 0:00:45.960 Comic Con dot com slash NYCC hyphen presents Welcome to 0:00:46.280 --> 0:00:55.320 Stuff to Blow Your Mind from How Stuff Works dot com. 0:00:55.320 --> 0:00:57.240 Hey you, welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind. My 0:00:57.320 --> 0:01:00.360 name is Robert Lamb and I'm Joe McCormick. Now I 0:01:00.400 --> 0:01:02.800 want you to imagine yourself for a second, to do 0:01:02.840 --> 0:01:05.920 a little mental time travel here, a little uh, a 0:01:05.920 --> 0:01:09.040 little fantasizing. Okay, wait, no, am I going to the 0:01:09.080 --> 0:01:12.120 future where the crab monsters rule. No, no, no no, You're 0:01:12.120 --> 0:01:14.280 gonna go to the past, but not so far back 0:01:14.280 --> 0:01:17.959 in time that you encounter the crab monsters again from 0:01:18.000 --> 0:01:20.120 their first visit. Right, No, No, I want you to 0:01:20.120 --> 0:01:23.119 imagine yourself as a king or a queen ruling over 0:01:23.160 --> 0:01:25.760 a troubled kingdom. Okay, not hard to do. Yeah, especially 0:01:25.800 --> 0:01:28.600 after a recent episode on Greek Fire we talked about 0:01:28.640 --> 0:01:33.319 the Byzantine Empire. Right exactly, You're constantly warring against rival 0:01:33.360 --> 0:01:37.560 powers on all borders. Your enemies are Legion, every stranger 0:01:37.640 --> 0:01:40.800 is a potential assassin, and every cup of wine is 0:01:40.840 --> 0:01:44.440 a potential poison plot. I have often gotten the feeling 0:01:44.520 --> 0:01:46.920 that it is a natural part of the sort of 0:01:47.080 --> 0:01:52.040 unique decadence of hereditary monarchs to be terrified of poison 0:01:52.320 --> 0:01:55.040 above all other things. I know. It was after a 0:01:55.080 --> 0:01:58.120 guy named Richard Russ tried to poison the Bishop of 0:01:58.200 --> 0:02:00.880 Rochester to death in fifteen thirty one that Henry the 0:02:00.920 --> 0:02:04.640 eighth in Parliament decided in England, people found guilty of 0:02:04.680 --> 0:02:08.799 poisoning would be punished by being boiled alive. I mean 0:02:08.800 --> 0:02:10.960 you could tell it bothered him, Yeah, like he didn't 0:02:10.960 --> 0:02:13.520 like the idea. Well, you can get in Henry's head 0:02:13.520 --> 0:02:16.639 a little bit like he's there feasting, having some lamprey 0:02:16.639 --> 0:02:20.200 pie or something, and he's like, somebody must have it 0:02:20.240 --> 0:02:22.080 in for me. And what if they came at me 0:02:23.000 --> 0:02:26.079 straight through the food? It would be the worst possible thing. 0:02:26.400 --> 0:02:29.280 What's such a subtle weapon? Yeah, and maybe it has 0:02:29.320 --> 0:02:31.720 something to do with like kings and queens feasting while 0:02:31.760 --> 0:02:34.240 their people starve. So you know, the poisoning of their 0:02:34.280 --> 0:02:37.720 food seems like this unbearably ironic reward and thus the 0:02:37.800 --> 0:02:40.280 thing they fear above all else. Oh yes, and of 0:02:40.280 --> 0:02:45.399 course we have so many different fictional, mythological and historic 0:02:45.560 --> 0:02:48.880 examples of this type of thing happening. Right, How many 0:02:48.880 --> 0:02:52.919 different rulers or or at least characters get poisoned in Shakespeare? Okay, 0:02:52.919 --> 0:02:56.080 so if you're Henry the Eighth, they're really you're any king, queen, 0:02:56.240 --> 0:03:00.720 somebody who fears being attacked right in the food. What 0:03:00.840 --> 0:03:03.799 are your options? Well, you know you could you could 0:03:03.840 --> 0:03:06.720 have a food taster, a wine taster and sort of 0:03:07.040 --> 0:03:10.840 try everything out on an individual before it comes to 0:03:10.919 --> 0:03:14.200 your lips. What if nobody wants that job, Well, in 0:03:14.240 --> 0:03:16.880 that case, you need to turn to your trusted advisory 0:03:17.160 --> 0:03:21.440 King Joe. You're because you're trusted Advisor has has traveled far, 0:03:22.040 --> 0:03:25.720 and he's he spent a lot of time with with 0:03:25.720 --> 0:03:30.560 with crumbling tons of arcane knowledge and secrets. And one day, 0:03:30.600 --> 0:03:34.680 this wizard presents you with an ornate drinking vessel carved 0:03:34.760 --> 0:03:38.800 from a mysterious substance. It's unlike any wood or stone 0:03:38.840 --> 0:03:41.200 you've ever seen. And he tells you that this cup 0:03:41.240 --> 0:03:44.320 will alert you to the presence of any poison poured 0:03:44.360 --> 0:03:48.000 within it, for it is crafted from the sacred horn 0:03:48.440 --> 0:03:52.560 of the unicorn. Wow, So the unicorn goblet is like 0:03:52.680 --> 0:03:55.960 a tattle tale cup. It's a chemical tattle tale and 0:03:56.080 --> 0:03:58.720 it will somehow let you know if you are entering 0:03:58.720 --> 0:04:01.440 the danger zone. Yeah, that's well, that's the idea that 0:04:01.520 --> 0:04:04.280 it's a it's I mean, you can ask the wizard. 0:04:04.320 --> 0:04:06.280 You might say, well, does it does it light up? 0:04:06.320 --> 0:04:08.280 Does it is it gonna flash it? You know, what's 0:04:08.320 --> 0:04:10.960 going to be the effect? How am I going to know? Now? Unfortunately, 0:04:11.040 --> 0:04:13.240 I think I would have a hard time coming across 0:04:13.280 --> 0:04:16.479 this cup because the unicorns don't exist. That that is 0:04:16.640 --> 0:04:20.679 certainly a design flaw here. Yeah, they're the natural world 0:04:20.839 --> 0:04:24.000 has never known a true unicorn, but it has long 0:04:24.120 --> 0:04:28.800 known the thundering footsteps of the rhinoceros. Oh okay, and 0:04:28.880 --> 0:04:33.480 humans have long sought it's horn for alleged medicinal and 0:04:33.640 --> 0:04:37.720 magical purposes, a fact that is both intriguing and kind 0:04:37.720 --> 0:04:40.080 of sad because you have to imagine how they get 0:04:40.080 --> 0:04:43.680 the horn. That's right. So pretty much our entire episode 0:04:43.720 --> 0:04:45.960 is going to be intriguing and sad. It's going to 0:04:46.000 --> 0:04:49.320 be uh magical, But we're also going to dive into 0:04:49.800 --> 0:04:54.960 the possible scientific basis for some of these alleged properties 0:04:54.960 --> 0:04:57.320 of rhino horn. Most of them do not pan out. 0:04:57.440 --> 0:04:59.280 We'll go ahead and let you know that right up 0:04:59.320 --> 0:05:03.120 front in case you are considering buying rhino horn for 0:05:03.160 --> 0:05:06.640 some purpose or another. But the science is still interesting. Right. So, 0:05:06.680 --> 0:05:09.480 when you see a rhinoceros, I think it's pretty clear 0:05:09.520 --> 0:05:11.640 the first thing you're gonna notice about it is the horn. 0:05:11.720 --> 0:05:14.640 In fact, the word rhinoceros comes from the observation of 0:05:14.680 --> 0:05:18.120 the horn. Literally it means nose horn. Well, if not 0:05:18.200 --> 0:05:22.479 the nose horn, they're just the sheer size of these creatures. Um, 0:05:22.720 --> 0:05:24.080 if you happen to see one at a zoo, I 0:05:24.120 --> 0:05:26.800 mean they're a megaphon that they are enormous. I was 0:05:27.279 --> 0:05:30.080 in the past year. I was at the zoo down 0:05:30.160 --> 0:05:33.760 in New Orleans, and if they're right their rhino habitat, 0:05:34.080 --> 0:05:35.800 they have it laid out in such a way that 0:05:35.880 --> 0:05:38.880 you can there's certainly a divider between you and the rhinos. 0:05:39.920 --> 0:05:43.000 But but you're you're sort of at level, or perhaps 0:05:43.000 --> 0:05:45.840 a little lower than the rhinos because they're kind of 0:05:45.880 --> 0:05:48.719 they're kind of on a hill, a slight incline anyway, 0:05:49.120 --> 0:05:52.640 So you're you're you're kind of instead of looking down 0:05:52.720 --> 0:05:54.800 on them as if they're in a pit, like you 0:05:54.920 --> 0:05:58.039 encountered a lot of zoos, uh, You're you're kind of 0:05:58.120 --> 0:06:01.720 viewing them on their level, on your level, and it 0:06:01.839 --> 0:06:04.520 just it just makes you realize even more just how 0:06:04.800 --> 0:06:07.720 enormous these creatures are. Also makes it harder for a 0:06:07.760 --> 0:06:11.440 suicidal person to jump down into the rhino pit, right, yeah, 0:06:11.480 --> 0:06:13.599 because it's going to be a little more effort to 0:06:13.600 --> 0:06:15.640 to meet your death in the hands of the rhino. Now. 0:06:15.680 --> 0:06:18.320 A funny kind of linguistic connection, of course, is that 0:06:18.360 --> 0:06:20.599 when when I look at a rhinoceros, one of the 0:06:20.640 --> 0:06:23.280 things I often think is I see a dinosaur, and 0:06:23.320 --> 0:06:26.080 I see that in in plenty of mammals. Actually, this 0:06:26.120 --> 0:06:28.360 is this might be a weird peek into my messed 0:06:28.440 --> 0:06:31.960 up brain. But when I see horses, I think of dinosaurs. 0:06:32.400 --> 0:06:34.839 I'm not quite sure why. It's something about the elongation 0:06:34.920 --> 0:06:37.680 of the face paired with the size of the animal. 0:06:38.520 --> 0:06:41.360 But with the rhinoceros, it's it's definitely that horn. I mean, 0:06:41.400 --> 0:06:43.160 it makes me think of the try sarratops. But the 0:06:43.240 --> 0:06:45.760 linguistic connection is, you know, they've got the same thing 0:06:45.800 --> 0:06:49.200 in the name the try sarah tops three horned face 0:06:49.640 --> 0:06:53.040 and the rhinos seras the sarah there both comes from 0:06:53.040 --> 0:06:58.120 the Greek keros for horn, nose, horn basically. Okay, Now, 0:06:58.160 --> 0:07:01.719 currently there are five species and eleven subspecies of rhino. 0:07:02.040 --> 0:07:05.240 Some have two horns while others have one. And uh, 0:07:05.320 --> 0:07:08.400 we should really drive home a few facts about that horn. 0:07:09.160 --> 0:07:11.640 Uh you can you can argue that it's not even 0:07:11.680 --> 0:07:14.280 a true horn because it doesn't have a bone core. 0:07:14.920 --> 0:07:17.000 So and if you see a skeleton of a rhino 0:07:17.040 --> 0:07:19.800 in a museum, uh, sometimes you'll notice that there's no 0:07:20.160 --> 0:07:23.800 that they won't have any kind of a horn fixture attached. Um. 0:07:24.000 --> 0:07:26.480 I know this was the case at the Field Museum 0:07:26.480 --> 0:07:29.960 in Chicago. They had some rhino skeletons. I can't recall 0:07:30.000 --> 0:07:33.960 if they were um extent rhinos or some sort of 0:07:34.000 --> 0:07:38.640 prehistoric rhino beast, but there was no horn present on 0:07:38.680 --> 0:07:42.120 the skeleton. Interesting. The rhino horn actually has more in 0:07:42.200 --> 0:07:45.240 common with horse hoofs or the beak of a of 0:07:45.280 --> 0:07:48.760 a bird or turtle. It's made of keraton. This is 0:07:48.760 --> 0:07:52.160 the stuff you find in hair and fingernails, and the 0:07:52.200 --> 0:07:55.600 core of the horn contains dense mental deposits of calcium 0:07:55.800 --> 0:07:58.679 and melanin. But it's not like a true bony core, 0:07:59.160 --> 0:08:02.680 so it's more like a big, densely packed protein horn 0:08:02.880 --> 0:08:05.600 rather than a bone horn. Yeah. Yeah, it's kind of 0:08:05.600 --> 0:08:09.200 like just a big enormous fingernail in many respects. Now, 0:08:09.240 --> 0:08:11.880 don't let that be deceiving, because it's still probably hurts 0:08:11.920 --> 0:08:14.600 if it comes at you at high speed. Yes, yeah, 0:08:14.640 --> 0:08:17.960 it's still a formidable weapon. That that the horns can 0:08:18.000 --> 0:08:20.720 be cracked. The horns can be removed. I know that 0:08:20.760 --> 0:08:24.000 the male rhino they previously had at Zoo Atlanta, Uh, 0:08:24.160 --> 0:08:26.080 the horn became cracked and then they had to remove 0:08:26.120 --> 0:08:29.720 it entirely. Yeah. Because so the horns can be removed, 0:08:29.760 --> 0:08:32.160 the material of the horn can be ground down into 0:08:32.160 --> 0:08:35.280 a powder, or it can be made in shavings. Uh, 0:08:35.320 --> 0:08:37.880 And it can be carved, and it can be polished, 0:08:37.960 --> 0:08:40.240 and when it's polished it it often takes on a 0:08:40.320 --> 0:08:45.440 translucent quality and the luster allegedly increases with age. Now, 0:08:45.800 --> 0:08:48.200 on one hand, it's hard to deny that many of 0:08:48.240 --> 0:08:51.719 the artifacts that people make out of rhinoceros horns are 0:08:52.040 --> 0:08:55.400 truly very beautiful. They're astonishing to look at. But we 0:08:55.400 --> 0:08:58.480 shouldn't lose sight of the fact that you know, these 0:08:58.480 --> 0:09:02.280 are acquired through the coaching of rhinoceroses, and in many 0:09:02.280 --> 0:09:07.600 cases rhinoceroses are endangered or critically endangered species. Yeah, and 0:09:07.640 --> 0:09:09.920 we'll get into some of those those numbers here in 0:09:09.960 --> 0:09:12.320 a bit, but if you want to see examples of 0:09:12.360 --> 0:09:17.520 these these rhino horn drinking vessels, we will include two 0:09:17.559 --> 0:09:21.120 images of them as well as some images of rhinos 0:09:21.640 --> 0:09:23.560 on the landing page for this episode. It's stuff to 0:09:23.559 --> 0:09:26.240 blow your mind dot Com. Now, I know throughout history 0:09:26.240 --> 0:09:30.200 that the rhinoceros horn has had not just decorative purposes, 0:09:30.200 --> 0:09:33.520 but believe it's believed to have had magical purposes as well. 0:09:33.800 --> 0:09:36.000 That's right. Yeah, a lot of the magical uses for 0:09:36.120 --> 0:09:39.800 rhino horns are rooted in ancient Asian practices, and these 0:09:39.920 --> 0:09:42.520 entered into European culture as early as the Middle Ages 0:09:42.600 --> 0:09:46.560 and intensified in the sixteenth and seventeen centuries within along 0:09:46.600 --> 0:09:49.439 with increased European trade with the East and West Indies. 0:09:50.880 --> 0:09:53.319 I found an excellent source on all of this from 0:09:53.480 --> 0:09:57.800 an author by the name of Marnie P. Stark. Came 0:09:57.800 --> 0:10:01.200 out in two thousand three, and it it's uh titled 0:10:01.360 --> 0:10:06.079 mounted bees or stones, say, shells, nuts, and rhinoceros horns 0:10:06.360 --> 0:10:10.440 decorative objects as antidotes in early modern Europe. So the 0:10:10.480 --> 0:10:14.200 idea here is if if maybe you are that king 0:10:14.280 --> 0:10:17.480 and you already had some poison, that in some sense 0:10:17.520 --> 0:10:20.480 it was believed that some of these things might cure you, 0:10:20.720 --> 0:10:23.800 or might save you, Yeah, or just serve as magical 0:10:24.160 --> 0:10:28.480 protective elements. Uh. So the author here points out that, 0:10:28.760 --> 0:10:31.280 you know, the thirteenth century in particular saw the European 0:10:31.280 --> 0:10:38.160 introduction of quote, poison detectors or proofs of mounted griffin claws, serpents, tongues, toadstones, 0:10:38.240 --> 0:10:41.000 and a host of other materials as quote part of 0:10:41.000 --> 0:10:44.320 the rituals of dining, as well as rich collections. Oh 0:10:44.360 --> 0:10:46.760 I like that, So like maybe one thing that you 0:10:46.800 --> 0:10:50.360 truly think is functional. In one century at detecting poison 0:10:50.440 --> 0:10:54.080 just becomes a sort of enjoyable and traditional part of 0:10:54.120 --> 0:10:56.760 how you have dinner. Yeah, I mean, and and I 0:10:56.760 --> 0:10:59.679 imagine you know, you may have somebody trying your food 0:10:59.679 --> 0:11:02.680 for you to keep poison, uh from entering your system. 0:11:02.720 --> 0:11:05.560 You may have spies everywhere and guards on hand, and 0:11:05.559 --> 0:11:09.640 you're threatening everyone with with boiling if they try to 0:11:09.640 --> 0:11:12.440 to get some sort of deadly poison into your body. 0:11:12.640 --> 0:11:14.760 But it also helps to have a few magical trinkets 0:11:14.800 --> 0:11:18.600 on hand just in case, just ahead your bat now, uh. 0:11:18.640 --> 0:11:20.560 You you might be wondering. You know, we're not gonna 0:11:20.559 --> 0:11:22.319 spend a lot of time on this, but you might think, 0:11:22.520 --> 0:11:25.760 what are bees or stones? Well, these were allegedly un 0:11:25.800 --> 0:11:29.840 obtained indigestible stone from the gas gastrow intestinal tract of 0:11:29.840 --> 0:11:32.120 an animal such as a goat, and you would wear 0:11:32.120 --> 0:11:34.800 it as an ambulant. And this is probably had an 0:11:34.840 --> 0:11:38.600 Arabic origin. And sometimes these were mounted with bands of 0:11:38.640 --> 0:11:40.480 metal or gold around them, so it would be kind 0:11:40.480 --> 0:11:43.160 of like a paperweight that you know, I guess sets 0:11:43.240 --> 0:11:45.800 on the table with you while you eat. I think 0:11:45.840 --> 0:11:48.000 I recall them having something to do with the plot 0:11:48.040 --> 0:11:51.040 of one of the Harry Potter books. Don't somebody swallow 0:11:51.040 --> 0:11:53.480 a bees or to cure some kind of poison? Oh? 0:11:53.520 --> 0:11:56.080 Maybe they do? Okay, that does that does ring about 0:11:56.160 --> 0:11:58.040 our Potter fans will have to clue us in there. 0:11:58.240 --> 0:12:01.319 She was always throwing an all sort of wonderful little 0:12:01.320 --> 0:12:06.320 occult tidbits. Uh. And as far as Saychelle nuts go, 0:12:06.480 --> 0:12:09.360 these are sa coconuts. It's so I said. You know, 0:12:09.400 --> 0:12:12.400 it's just a it's just a coconut essentially, but it 0:12:12.600 --> 0:12:15.839 is it has an exotic quality to it. Hey, if 0:12:15.840 --> 0:12:19.720 you're in the fifteenth century Europe, you know, coconut looks 0:12:19.720 --> 0:12:24.000 pretty magical. Now. The idea that that that horn, particularly 0:12:24.480 --> 0:12:28.359 uh rhino horn, could have some sort of healing properties 0:12:28.440 --> 0:12:31.960 or or poison detecting property properties, you see, that go 0:12:32.040 --> 0:12:34.520 back at least as far as uh well, in one 0:12:34.559 --> 0:12:38.520 case fifth century see Persia, where they believed that the 0:12:38.559 --> 0:12:41.920 horn vessel could detect poisons and would cause a bubbling 0:12:42.160 --> 0:12:45.560 in the liquid that was in the horn. Right. So, 0:12:45.640 --> 0:12:48.520 if you're a lord who fears poisoning and somebody brings 0:12:48.559 --> 0:12:51.880 you your rhino horn goblet of wine, you sit it 0:12:51.960 --> 0:12:54.000 down for a while, and you observe it, and if 0:12:54.040 --> 0:12:57.480 it starts to froth up, you know that your servant 0:12:57.760 --> 0:13:00.439 is well you probably don't actually know, but you might 0:13:00.480 --> 0:13:02.800 as well accuse your servant of trying to kill you. Well, 0:13:02.840 --> 0:13:05.440 you have to boil somebody at that point, otherwise who's 0:13:05.480 --> 0:13:08.040 gonna fear you? Right, there's a wonderful quote here that 0:13:08.160 --> 0:13:11.680 Stark included uh in in the paper, and this is 0:13:11.720 --> 0:13:16.720 from Swedish traveler Carl Peter Thunberg seventeen seventy three. Around 0:13:16.720 --> 0:13:20.920 the Cape of Good Hope, the horn of the rhinoceros 0:13:21.000 --> 0:13:23.960 were kept by some people not only as rarities, but 0:13:24.000 --> 0:13:26.560 also as useful in disease and for the purpose of 0:13:26.600 --> 0:13:29.840 detecting poisons. As to the former of these intentions, the 0:13:29.880 --> 0:13:33.320 fine shavings of the horn taken internally were supposed to 0:13:33.400 --> 0:13:37.960 cure convulsions and spasms and children. With regard to the later, 0:13:38.160 --> 0:13:41.240 it was generally believed that goblets made of these horns 0:13:41.280 --> 0:13:45.080 in a turner's lathe could would discover a poisonous draft 0:13:45.400 --> 0:13:48.560 that was put into them by making the liquor ferment 0:13:48.720 --> 0:13:52.679 until it ran quite out of the goblet. Such horns 0:13:52.800 --> 0:13:55.480 as were taken from a young rhinoceros calf were said 0:13:55.480 --> 0:13:58.080 to be the best and the most to be depended on. 0:13:58.640 --> 0:14:01.240 Of these goblets are may which are set in gold 0:14:01.280 --> 0:14:04.280 and silver and made presents to kings, people of distinction, 0:14:04.480 --> 0:14:07.839 and particular friends or else sold at high high price, 0:14:07.920 --> 0:14:11.040 sometimes at the rate of fixed fifty six dollars a goblin. 0:14:11.200 --> 0:14:13.959 Now those are seventeen seventy three dollars. Yes, fifty six 0:14:14.000 --> 0:14:16.680 dollars went a lot further back then. Yeah, you know, 0:14:16.760 --> 0:14:19.640 I got to imagine that if you're thinking the rhino 0:14:19.680 --> 0:14:23.440 horn cup has these powers, it may tie in via 0:14:23.480 --> 0:14:26.040 the type of magical thinking that was common then to 0:14:26.240 --> 0:14:29.480 the powers of the rhinoceros itself. Surely, right, I mean, 0:14:29.880 --> 0:14:32.200 I think that was a common mode of thought. Like 0:14:32.600 --> 0:14:36.560 a powerful beast that you know in life has some 0:14:36.760 --> 0:14:39.560 has a strong body and can do great harm or 0:14:39.640 --> 0:14:43.960 something if it's enraged, can also be powerful in a 0:14:44.040 --> 0:14:47.000 magical sense if you take objects from its body or 0:14:47.080 --> 0:14:49.560 some kind of sympathetic magic things that have touched it 0:14:49.640 --> 0:14:52.440 or come from it. Yeah, and so many of these 0:14:52.480 --> 0:14:55.160 these vessels also had rhinos carved on them, so they 0:14:55.200 --> 0:14:57.480 really didn't want you to forget where this came from. 0:14:57.520 --> 0:15:00.080 That was part of the branding, right. The rhin know 0:15:00.480 --> 0:15:03.479 long had a reputation in the West as a ferocious 0:15:03.520 --> 0:15:07.160 beast chat capable of conquering all others, and this was 0:15:07.520 --> 0:15:10.680 thanks in no small part to observations by Pompey the 0:15:10.720 --> 0:15:14.120 Great and the writings of Plenty of the Elder frequent 0:15:14.680 --> 0:15:17.400 a frequent topic here on the show, one of our 0:15:17.440 --> 0:15:22.160 favorite sources of ancient misinformation. Yes, uh so, one of 0:15:22.160 --> 0:15:24.640 these rhinos is said to have fought an elephant in 0:15:24.680 --> 0:15:27.680 the Games of POMPEII, and another one came to Europe 0:15:27.680 --> 0:15:31.560 in fifteen fifteen as a gift to King Manuel of Lisbon, 0:15:32.080 --> 0:15:34.160 and he he also you know, since he had a 0:15:34.240 --> 0:15:37.160 rhino and apparently had an elephant as well, he planned 0:15:37.160 --> 0:15:40.320 to just recreate the battle. What was wrong with these people, 0:15:40.600 --> 0:15:43.640 I know, to fight animals to get this amazing creature, 0:15:44.280 --> 0:15:46.000 you know, imported, and then the first thing you want 0:15:46.040 --> 0:15:49.080 to do do is fight them. I mean even Pablo Escobar. Uh, 0:15:49.440 --> 0:15:50.920 I don't think he did that. I think he just 0:15:51.000 --> 0:15:55.680 kept the exotic animals around. Whatever. Yeah, so, in this case, 0:15:55.720 --> 0:16:00.000 in case you're wondering, the rhino allegedly won the barbaric sport. Uh. 0:16:00.040 --> 0:16:03.000 But but before it died, an artist sketched the animal 0:16:03.480 --> 0:16:06.320 and he sent it to a certain artist of note, 0:16:06.520 --> 0:16:10.280 right albreat Dearer in in Nuremberg. And so this is 0:16:10.280 --> 0:16:12.920 where we get this classic image. If you have not 0:16:13.080 --> 0:16:16.880 seen it, you should look up Dearer's Rhinoceros. D u 0:16:17.200 --> 0:16:20.000 r e er So Juror did many of these drawings 0:16:20.000 --> 0:16:24.400 and woodcuts of the sixteenth century, and this image is 0:16:24.600 --> 0:16:27.760 just out of this world. It looks like an hr 0:16:27.880 --> 0:16:30.720 Geeger creation. And I'm not making that up, am I Robert. 0:16:31.600 --> 0:16:36.880 It's this bio mechanical robot alien or Also, I can 0:16:36.920 --> 0:16:39.520 imagine that you could look at it as a melancholy 0:16:39.640 --> 0:16:44.280 animal with these sad, downcast eyes covered in finally machined 0:16:44.440 --> 0:16:49.040 metal armor with psychedelic designs. Yeah, I mean that that 0:16:49.080 --> 0:16:51.040 describes it to a t. It seems like something that 0:16:51.080 --> 0:16:54.320 you would see tromping around in a like a weird 0:16:54.800 --> 0:16:58.640 psychedelic fringe animated film, like something Mobius would have created. Yeah, 0:16:59.120 --> 0:17:01.880 It's it's like some thing out of the Codex Saraphoninus, 0:17:02.080 --> 0:17:05.320 except it's it's a real animal. Yeah, And you know 0:17:05.400 --> 0:17:07.280 he was, of course, he was going off of this 0:17:07.280 --> 0:17:10.639 this illustration. He's going off, you know, you know, secondhand 0:17:10.640 --> 0:17:14.840 information here and uh and he but he did get 0:17:14.840 --> 0:17:17.919 the idea of the rhino down, especially if this was 0:17:17.960 --> 0:17:22.040 indeed an Indian rhino, which has more sort of skin 0:17:22.160 --> 0:17:24.160 flaps going on, it does have more of an armor 0:17:24.280 --> 0:17:28.199 plating appearance. And he just in his interpretation of the rhino, 0:17:29.600 --> 0:17:31.239 he really takes us and runs with it. He just 0:17:31.440 --> 0:17:34.320 exaggerates it to fantastic effect. Yeah, that does appear to 0:17:34.320 --> 0:17:36.359 be what's going on, because here we see the rhino 0:17:36.359 --> 0:17:38.520 in the image has one horn, and it's got these 0:17:38.600 --> 0:17:42.480 long ridges going across its armor plates, and it also 0:17:42.520 --> 0:17:45.159 has an extra little no if you noticed this on 0:17:45.200 --> 0:17:48.400 the illustration near the word rhinos, there's a horn above 0:17:48.440 --> 0:17:51.320 the shoulder blade. Yeah, which is interesting. And it looks 0:17:51.359 --> 0:17:54.360 a lot like a small unicorn horn, which I think 0:17:54.400 --> 0:17:58.040 is interesting and it ties into our topic here because 0:17:58.040 --> 0:18:02.240 in Stark's paper, she nights that the antidotal powers of 0:18:02.280 --> 0:18:05.520 the horn, the idea that you could, you know, take 0:18:05.680 --> 0:18:08.000 the powder of the horn and it would cure some 0:18:08.080 --> 0:18:11.080 ailment or cure a poison inside you. Uh, that these 0:18:11.119 --> 0:18:14.879 were barred from tales of the mythical unicorn. She writes 0:18:14.920 --> 0:18:17.800 that since at least the fourteenth century, the horn of 0:18:17.840 --> 0:18:21.119 the unicorn, which was in turn usually a narwhal or 0:18:21.119 --> 0:18:24.880 walrus tusk um to begin with, oh, those walls, those 0:18:25.080 --> 0:18:27.960 narwhal horns are great. By the way, that narwhal horn, 0:18:28.400 --> 0:18:30.800 it's a tooth. Did you know that? Yeah? I I 0:18:31.280 --> 0:18:33.600 And there was some recent news about the narwhale. There's 0:18:33.600 --> 0:18:35.440 some new footage I want to say. I mean, can 0:18:35.480 --> 0:18:37.879 you imagine if like a human was like this, like 0:18:37.920 --> 0:18:40.840 if you had like one six foot tooth just shooting 0:18:40.920 --> 0:18:43.600 straight out the front of your mouth, we could probably 0:18:43.600 --> 0:18:46.760 do a whole episode on all the teeth were thankful 0:18:46.800 --> 0:18:50.000 we don't have, I mean you count narwhale teeth and 0:18:50.200 --> 0:18:52.720 uh or the barbar russo where the you know, the 0:18:52.760 --> 0:18:55.760 tusk will grow up, grows up through the like the 0:18:55.840 --> 0:18:59.000 basically the roof of its snout and curve back around 0:18:59.080 --> 0:19:03.000 and die eve into their brain if if they're, if 0:19:03.000 --> 0:19:07.399 they're they're left to grow that long yeah uh yeah, 0:19:07.440 --> 0:19:09.840 but we'll let me believe that for another another episode. 0:19:09.880 --> 0:19:14.520 The long front tooth. It certainly makes kissing hard. Yes, uh, 0:19:14.600 --> 0:19:16.400 well with the barbarousa. Not to get too off topic, 0:19:16.400 --> 0:19:18.199 the other I mean, the weird thing is they when 0:19:18.240 --> 0:19:20.560 they fight, these things are brittle, so they just they 0:19:20.600 --> 0:19:24.040 break off. So it's like I said, be thankful. It's 0:19:24.080 --> 0:19:27.280 weird as human teeth are as awful as they can be. Um, 0:19:27.359 --> 0:19:30.000 they're worst way to have teeth. Well anyway, So we 0:19:30.040 --> 0:19:33.080 have all these ancient teeth, tusks, horns, things that people 0:19:33.240 --> 0:19:36.520 think are from unicorns, and they're believed to have these 0:19:36.520 --> 0:19:39.399 magical powers. Oh yeah, yeah, with the unicorn horn or 0:19:39.400 --> 0:19:41.639 the alleged unicorn horn. They believe that you could use 0:19:41.680 --> 0:19:44.359 as a remedy for poison, you could use it to 0:19:44.359 --> 0:19:47.880 to cure diseases, even the plague. And then when Europeans 0:19:47.920 --> 0:19:51.080 began encountering the rhinoceros and it's and uh and it's 0:19:51.119 --> 0:19:54.080 horn uh, you know, out when they were traveling and abroad, 0:19:54.359 --> 0:19:56.760 then the reality in the myth became intertwined. So they 0:19:56.760 --> 0:19:59.600 took what what they observed about the rhino, and then 0:19:59.600 --> 0:20:02.720 in turn, they took what others and farm lands told 0:20:02.760 --> 0:20:05.000 them about the rhino and their magical beliefs, and then 0:20:05.040 --> 0:20:07.320 they took their own ideas about the unicorn, and it 0:20:07.359 --> 0:20:11.280 all just came kind of became meshed together. Um, they 0:20:11.320 --> 0:20:14.919 you know, they encountered all these uh, additional traditions of 0:20:15.160 --> 0:20:18.720 magico medicinal powers that were associated with the rhino horn, 0:20:19.040 --> 0:20:22.200 and they incorporated them into their own beliefs. And weirdly enough, 0:20:22.320 --> 0:20:26.280 some accounts indicate that even when rhino horn and unicorn 0:20:26.320 --> 0:20:30.960 were considered distinct, uh you know, so people believed in 0:20:31.040 --> 0:20:33.840 both unicorn horns and rhino horns and thought they were 0:20:33.840 --> 0:20:36.520 separate things. Yeah, you know, and that even in these 0:20:36.560 --> 0:20:40.160 cases there are instances where where they talk about, well, 0:20:40.200 --> 0:20:42.719 if you can't get unicorn horn, rhino horn will do, 0:20:43.280 --> 0:20:46.159 you're giving away the game go on. So what's the 0:20:46.240 --> 0:20:50.280 point of the unicorn horn? Now? In terms of of 0:20:50.320 --> 0:20:55.239 other uh nationalities and other cultural beliefs regarding the rhino horn, um, 0:20:55.440 --> 0:20:58.600 there are various tidbits about this. For starters, a fourth 0:20:58.640 --> 0:21:02.880 century Chinese writer Old Kung believed that horns were antidotal 0:21:03.280 --> 0:21:07.479 because the rhino eight poisonous plants and trees, enabling it 0:21:07.520 --> 0:21:10.480 to conquer the poison. Oh okay, so there's a slightly 0:21:10.520 --> 0:21:14.119 more you know, proto scientific way of thinking about it, 0:21:14.280 --> 0:21:17.119 not you know, not quite fully rigorous, but you can 0:21:17.200 --> 0:21:21.320 you can see the chain of cause and effect going on. Yeah, 0:21:21.359 --> 0:21:25.080 it's not just Hey, it's magic. There's an attempt to 0:21:25.160 --> 0:21:30.480 understand what could be underlying this presumed effect. Now, in 0:21:30.600 --> 0:21:34.520 terms of all the various medicinal qualities alleged medicinal qualities 0:21:34.600 --> 0:21:37.639 of of the rhino horn, this is pretty common in 0:21:37.680 --> 0:21:43.000 the traditional medicine systems of Malaysia, South Korea, India, and 0:21:43.040 --> 0:21:45.760 of course China. So so you've got it in Chinese 0:21:45.840 --> 0:21:48.600 traditional medicine. What did they think it did well? The 0:21:48.640 --> 0:21:51.000 idea was that you could take shaved or powdered horn 0:21:51.240 --> 0:21:55.439 and it could be boiled in water to treat fever, rheumatism, gout, 0:21:55.800 --> 0:21:59.919 and various other conditions. Sixteenth century. That's a mean dynas 0:22:00.280 --> 0:22:03.600