Hairball, also known as a bezoar.

Object/Artifact

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Transylvania University Library

Name/Title

Hairball, also known as a bezoar.

Entry/Object ID

2013.4.54

Description

Giant hairball from the stomach of a cow, this specimen measures 14 inches in diameter. Given to the school in 1848 by alumnus George Rogers Clark Todd, brother-in-law of Abraham Lincoln. Supposedly Lincoln once used a hairball to treat his son Robert, who had been bitten by a possibly rabid dog. At the time it was thought that hairballs, also known as bezoars, had the power to suck poison out of wounds.

Collection

Moosnick Museum - Anatomical Specimens

Web Links and URLs

Hairball's twitter account, Article in Louisville Courier Journal, 2020., Information on hairballs in general from Ripley's