Back to Poem

The Unicorn

by Aylin Malcolm

Seventeenth-century writers did not always define a clear boundary between myth and fact, or locate this boundary in the same places as modern writers. Literary and scientific sources from this period ascribed wondrous characteristics to common animals while attempting to demystify beasts that we would now consider mythological. For example, Edward Topsell’s The History of Four-footed Beasts (first published in 1607) contains a long entry on the unicorn, including emphatic arguments for its existence and detailed information on the medicinal properties of its horn, such as the resistance to poison that Pulter mentions (lines 63-4).

Edward Topsell, The History of Four-footed Beasts
A unicorn in profile.

Now the virtues of the horn, of which we will make a particular discourse by itself, have been the occasion of this question [of whether the unicorn exists], and that which doth give the most evident testimony unto all men that have ever seen it or used it, hath bred all the contention; and if there had not been disclosed in it any extraordinary powers and virtues, we should as easily believe that there was a Unicorn in the world, as we do believe there is an Elephant although not bred in Europe. (p. 551)

That there is such a beast, the Scripture itself witnesseth, for David thus speaketh in the 92. Psalm: Et erigetur cornu meum tanquam Monocerotis. That is, my horn shall be lifted up like the horn of a Unicorn. … And do we think that David would compare the virtue of his Kingdom, and the powerful redemption of the world unto a thing that is not, or is uncertain or fantastical, God forbid that ever any man should so despite the holy Ghost. (p. 552)

The horns of Unicorns, especially that which is brought from new Islands, being beaten and drunk in water, doth wonderfully help against poison. … I myself have heard of a man worthy to be believed, that having eaten a poisoned cherry, and perceiving his belly to swell, he cured himself by the marrow of this horn being drunk in wine, in very short space.

The same is also praised at this day for the curing of the falling sickness [epilepsy] … It is moreover commended of Physicians of our time against the pestilent fever, (as Aloisius Mundellus writeth) against the bitings of ravenous Dogs, and the strokes or poisonsome stings of other creatures. … The horn of an Unicorn being beaten and boiled in Wine, hath a wonderful effect: in making the teeth white or clear, the mouth being well cleansed therewith. (pp. 558-9)

Edward Topsell, The History of Four-footed Beasts and Serpents (London: printed by E. Cotes for G. Sawbridge, T. Williams and T. Johnson, 1658), pp. 551-9. Special Collections, University of Houston Libraries, with spelling and punctuation modernized by Aylin Malcolm.

The likeliest explanation for eyewitness accounts of “unicorn horns” is that these were actually narwhal tusks. As the animal kingdom’s only straight tusk and only spiral tooth, the narwhal tusk is a unique structure with an uncertain function and no clear analogue in any other species. This elongated left front tooth develops in most male narwhals (and about 15% of females) when they are a year old, and can grow up to 3 meters long (about 10 feet). Topsell describes “horns” measuring up to 6 feet, suggesting that tusks may have been trimmed before being sold in European markets.

Two narwhal tusks on a table.

Photograph by Aylin Malcolm at the Redpath Museum, McGill University, Montréal, distributed under a CC BY-NC 4.0 license.