Catalogue notice:
Eg. 2852. MEDICAL and Natural Science collections in Latin and
English. On f.1 is the later title " A boke of making of prizous
waters and medicens, in parchement, haveing the numbre 1565. ."
Contents:-
1. " Liber de aquis," mostly as in Add. MS. 32622, ff. 95-101 b, but
in a different order and including recipes for coloured waters, which
are not in the other MS. Beg. " Actus mirabilis aquarum quas
composuit Petrus Hispannius " [Petrus Hispanus, Pope John XXI.,
is the reputed author of the Thesaurus Pauperum, which contains
a few of the same recipes], and ends with recipe for "aqua cinaria”
[cinerea ?]. f. 1.
2. " Secretum Filosophorum," a collection including other copies
Add. MSS. 32622, 18752, and Sloane MS. 2579, and at Oxford,
Digby MSS. 71 and 153. Most of these, however, are imperfect.
Illustrated with diagrams and pictures of apparatus. Beg. " Iste
liber quem pre madibus habemus." f. 5 b. The work is arranged
under the seven arts, viz. (a) Grammar (writing materials, cyphers,
medical diction, etc. ; a leaf is lost after f. 9, and at the end is
interpolated art. 3-6). f. 6;-(b) Rhetoric (lost in this MS.);-
(c) Dialectic (deceptions of the senses, specula, etc.). Imperfect at
beginning. f. 19;-(d) Arithmetic (puzzles, etc.). Imperfect at
end and by loss of a leaf after f. 27. f. 23;-(e) Music. All lost,
except the last paragraph, " Cum uolueris facere codas lire. " f. 32;
-(f) Geometry and mensuration. f. 32;-(g) Astronomy (the
nature of the elements, and various physical experiments). f. 49 b.
3. Note on the complexions, with the usual verses, " Largus amans," etc.
f. 13.
4. Recipes for dyeing, in English, printed from this MS. by Prof G.
Henslow, Medical Works of the Fourteenth Century, 1899, pp. 1-8.
Beg. " Here by gynnyth pe maner of steynyng of lynne clop.
Furst take a porcioun." Colophon, " Expliciunt artes diuersorum
colorum et aliorum notabili[um]." f. 13 b.
5. A short tract on urines, in Latin. Beg. " Vrina rufa significat
salutem." f. 16 b.
6. " Contra vexaciones dormiendo," a charm beg. " In Monte Celio
requiescunt Septem Dormientes." f. 18 b.
7. Experiments Alberti [Magni] (so the title in Add. MS. 32622,
f. 84b), in four parts, herbs, stones, fish and animals. A supposi-
titious work, which occurs in many forms (cf. Ar. MS. 251, f. 25,
Sloane MS. 3281, f.17), printed Rouen [1500 ?], etc. Beg. Sicud
dicit philosophus omnis sciencia est de genere bonorum." 67.
8. Miscellaneous experiments, cf. Add. MS. 32622, ff. 109-113, but
with additional recipes (flint-glass, lead-glass, gilding, against
rats and mice by the use of a stone called " operten " found at
Wigan, co. Lane., etc.). Beg. " Potus pro scabie. Accipe scabiosam
et utraque iaceam." One recipe is ascribed to Bernardus de
Gordonio (d. circ. 1320). f. 73 b.
9. Medical recipes in English (a few in Latin interspersed), printed
by Henslow, op. cit. pp. 8-73. Beg. " Si quis habet anelitum uel
nasum fetentem take blac mynte. " f. 80.
10. Medical commmonplace in Latin, including a charm for the tooth-
ache. Beg. " Ad sananduni omne vulnus. Accipe farinam tritici."
f. 106.
11. Prognostications, viz. (a) From thunder in the various months,
cf. Royal MS. 12 C. xii. f. 86. Beg. " Si tonitruus sonuerit mense
Januarii," and ends " pacem et concordiam in populo significat."
f. 107;-(b) From the days of the lunar month: a table like that called
Lunationes, which usually accompanies the so-called Somnia
Danielis (Cotton MS. Tib. A. iii. f. 32 b, Sloane MS. 2030, f. 134,
etc., but there is great variety in the texts). Beg. " Luna prima.
Hec dies utilis est omnibus rebus faciendis. In lecto qui inciderit,"
and ends " sompnia vana erunt." f. 107;-(c) " Supputatio Esdre
et argumentum Joseph de natiuitate domini," a prognostication
from the day of the week on which Christmas falls. Occurs in
many forms, Latin, French and English, usually with the name
Esdras, cf. Cotton MS. Tib. A. iii. f. 36, but Royal MS. 12 C. xii.,
f. 87, and others are nearer to the present text. Versions in
Sloane MS. 1609, f. 47 (Engl.), and 12 C. xii. f. 88, and Sloane 3469,
f. 37 b (French verse). A French prose version is printed (s. 1. et a.)
under the title Les deux grandes et vrayes prophecies . . du vray
prophete Esdras. Beg.. " In die dominico si natalis domini euenerit
yemps bona erit sed ventuosa." f. 108 b.
12. " A quibus cibis abstinendum est et a quibus non," etc., diet for
the mouths. Beg. " Ab octo ydus Febr. usque in.viii. May augentur
humores." f. 109.
13. " Lorica Jeronimi," two other charms and the " spera Pintagoria,"
with explanations. f. 110.
14. Gynaecological tract, beg. " Matrix constat ex quattuor tunicis."
f. 112.
15. De conferentibus et nocentibus, a common form of tract, the
contents of which differ considerably in MSS.; cf. Royal MSS.
12 B, xii. f. 127, 12 B. xxv. f. 24, and Arnaldi de Villa Nova Opera
(Basel, 1585), col. 613. Beg. " Conferunt cerebro lignum aloes,
absinthium." f. 114.
16. Directions for a week's masses " pro anima amici mortui,"
attributed to St. Bernard. Beg. " Sanctus Bernardus dicit quod
quicumque facit ista subsequencia." f. 115.
17. A few brief notes beg. " Si vis facere acum natare." f. 115 b.
18. " Phisonomia Aristotilis " (so colophon): one of many mediaeval
treatises bearing this title. Another copy is apparently in the
Oxford MS. Ashm. 1471, f. 74. lt is in part a commentary on the
Latin version of the Greek treatise Physiognomonica attributed to
Aristotle. Thirteen chapters. Beg. "Natura occulte cooperatur
in homine," and ends " viciosis declinemus." Among tho authors
quoted is Albertus Magnus. f. 115 b.
19. Treatise on the ma,-net, astronomical instruments and a "rota
perpetui motus," by Petrus Peregrinus de Maharncuria (Maricourt).
Without author's name or title. It differs in arrangement from
the printed text, Augsburg, 1558 (repr. G. Hellmann, Neudrucke,
no. 10, 1898), and is perhaps an abridgement or an earlier form of
the complete work. Copies of somewhat similar form are at
Oxford, Digby MSS. 75, f. 65, and 193, f. 13. Beg. "Inter omnes
res inferiores lapis quidam qui vacatur magnes in se gerit similitu-
dinem cell," and ends " propter equalitatem virtutis." Spaces are
left for diagrams. f. 126.
20. Extract from some work in defence of astrology (influence of moon
on shell-growth in crustaceans, tides, etc.). Beg. " Videmus similiter
aliquas res sencibiliter habere influencias a superioribus." f. 129.
21. " For to make aqua vite," an addition; printed by Henslow,
op. cit. p. 73. Beg. " Take sauge and f l." f. 129 b.
On one of the blank spaces for diagrams in art. 20 (f. 129) is scribbled
" anno Christi 1464 videlicet in die Ypoliti computavi eum Iuliana
Rede et omnibus computatis et allocatis debet mini de claro 108."
etc. On f. 129 b are scribbled in a later (15th-16th cent.) hand
notes of burials of " Godfryes wyfe " 15 Dec., " Peeke " 16 Dec.,
" Peekes daughter " 18 Dec., and some christenings.
The vellum flyleaves are (a) Fragment of a service-book, circ.
1300, music not inserted. f. i;-(b) Fragment of quaestiones on
theology or canon-law, early 14th cent. ff. ii, iii;-(c) Frag-
ment (14th cont.) of an alphabetical index to Gratian's Decretum,
resembling, but not identical with, the Margarita Decreti of
Martinus Polonus. ff. iv-vii.
Vellum(f. viii paper); ff. viii. + 129. Middle of the XIV. cent.
Initials in red and green.
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