Nov 17, 2017
Furs had always figured importantly in the European luxury trades; beaver in particular was highly prized for both its soft, deep pelt and its alleged medicinal properties. As Adriaen van der Donck would explain midway through the seventeenth century, beaver oil cured rheumatism, toothaches, stomachaches, poor vision, and dizziness; beaver testicles, rubbed on the forehead or dried and dissolved in water, made effective antidote to drowsiness and idiocy.
Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898, Edwin G Burrows and Mike Wallace