had not quite passed into the region of fable when Pomet wrote his
History of Drugs very early in the 18th century, for though he does
not believe in the animal himself, he quotes from other authors not
so very long antecedent to him who did. He states, however, that what
was then sold as unicorn’s horn was in fact the horn or tusk of the
narwhal, a tooth which extends to the length of six to ten feet. The
unicorn, or monoceros was referred to by Aristotle, Pliny, Aelian, and
other ancient writers, and in later times it was described by various
travellers who, if they had not seen it themselves, had met with
persons who had.
[Illustration: UNICORN (AFTER BOCHAUT’S HIEROZOICON).]
The details given by Aristotle are supposed to have been derived from
Ctesias, whose description of the Indian wild ass is what was adopted
with many embellishments for the fabulous unicorn. It is this author
who first notices the marvellous alexipharmic properties so long
attributed to the unicorn’s horn. Drinking vessels, he says, were made
of the horn, and those who used them were protected against poison,
convulsions, and epilepsy, provided that either just before or just
after taking the poison they drank wine or water from the cup made from
the horn. In the middle ages the horn of the unicorn was esteemed a
certain cure for the plague, malignant fevers, bites of serpents or of
mad dogs. It was to be made into a jelly to which a little saffron and
cochineal were to be added. Some writers allege that poisoned wounds
could be cured by merely holding the horn of a unicorn opposite the
wound. These horns are said, however, to have cost about ten times the
price of gold, so that not many sufferers could avail themselves of
them as a remedy.
The unicorn is mentioned several times in the Old Testament, the
translators of the Authorised Version having followed the Septuagint in
which the Hebrew word Re’em was rendered by the Greek term Monokeros,
which corresponds with our unicorn. It is agreed that the word in the
original had no reference to the fabulous animal, but that the wild
ox, or ox antelope, a strong untameable beast, known in Palestine, was
intended. In the Revised Version wild ox is uniformly substituted for
unicorn. This animal is believed to have been the Urus mentioned by
Julius Cæsar as existing in his time in the forests of Central Europe,
and not entirely extinct until some 500 or 600 years ago.
The translators evidently found a difficulty in associating the unicorn
with the Hebrew Re’em in Deut. xxxiii, 17, where we read of “the horns
of the unicorns.” In the Hebrew the horns are the plural but Re’em is
singular. But the horns of the unicorn would have been a contradiction
in terms.
The allusions to the unicorn in Shakespeare all seem to show unbelief
in the legends. In the _Tempest_ (Act 3, sc. 3) Sebastian says when
music is heard in the wood, “Now I will believe that there are
unicorns.” In _Julius Cæsar_ (Act 2, sc. 1), Decius Brutus, recounting
Cæsar’s superstitions, says, “He loves to hear that unicorns may be
betrayed with trees”; and Timon of Athens raves about the unicorn among
the legendary animal beliefs (Act 4, sc. 3). An authority on heraldry,
Guillim, in 1660, however, comments thus on the scepticism of his
contemporaries: “Some have made doubt whether there be any such beast
as this or not. But the great esteem of his horns (in many places to be
seen) may take away that needless scruple.”
The unicorn was introduced into the British royal arms by James I., who
substituted it for the red dragon with which Henry VII. had honoured
a Welsh contingent which helped him to win the battle of Bosworth
fighting under the banner of Cadwallydr. The unicorn had been a Scotch
emblem for several reigns before that of James I. (or VI.). The
Scottish pound of that period was known by the name of a unicorn from
the device stamped on it.
Pomet tells us that in 1553 a unicorn’s horn was brought to the King of
France which was valued at £20,000 sterling; and that one presented to
Charles I. of England, supposed to be the largest one known, measured
7 feet long, and weighed 13 lbs. It is also related that Edward IV.
gave to the Duke of Burgundy who visited him, a gold cup set with
jewels, and with a piece of unicorn’s horn worked into the metal. One
large unicorn’s horn was owned by the city of Dresden and was valued
at 75,000 thalers. Occasionally a piece was sawn off to be used for
medical purposes. It was a city regulation that two persons of princely
rank should be present whenever this operation was performed. This was
in the sixteenth century.
The unicorn was a frequent sign used by the old apothecaries. It was
also adopted by goldsmiths. The arms of the Society of Apothecaries are
supported by unicorns.
[Illustration: DRAGON.]