The medicinal use of bezoar stones in the work Paraguay Natural Ilustrado, by José Sánchez Labrador, S.J. (1771)

Abstract

This article presents an analysis of the manuscript Paraguay Natural Ilustrado, work written by Jesuit priest José Sánchez Labrador, between the years 1771 and 1776, in which he describes the fauna and flora of the regions of the Jesuit Province of Paraguay, as well as the therapeutic practices adopted by the indigenous groups alongside which he acted as a missionary. Among the knowledge and the healing practices of the natives, Labrador highlighted the medicinal use of the bezoar stones, a practice on which we detain ourselves more closely, contemplating the descriptions that are part of the seventh Chapter – De las Piedras Bezares – of the first Book of the Third Part of the work, entitled Animais quadrúpedes, as well as the references the Jesuit makes to them in the Fifth Chapter of the Third Book of the Second Part of Paraguay Natural Ilustrado.