EXPERIMENTS AND SECRETS OF GALEN, RASIS, AND OTHERS
II. CHEMICAL AND MAGICAL
The _Liber Vaccae_--Its other titles--Its two
prologues--Experiments in magic generation and
rain-making--More magic with animals--Other marvelous
experiments--Plato as an alchemist--Galen as an
alchemist--_Eighty-eight Natural Experiments_ of
Rasis--_Liber ignium_ of Marcus Grecus--Further
experiments--_Secretum philosophorum_--Experiments connected
with writing--Riddles: a trick with a knife--Deceiving
the senses--Tricks of jugglers--Mathematical
problems--Astronomy: experiments with air: the magnet--_Le
Secret aux Philosophes_--_Natural Experiments of
Solomon_--Experiments without author or title--Twelve
experiments with snakeskin of John Paulinus--Marvelous
virtues of snakeskin--Other treatises concerning the
virtues of snakes--Chemical experiments of Nicholas--Books
of waters--Colors--Necromantic experiments--_Experimentum
in dubiis_--_A natural experiment_--Variety of
experiments in medieval manuscripts--An experimental
manuscript--Experimental character of the Sloane MSS--Some
seventeenth century experiments--More recipes and
experiments--Magic experiments--Appendix I. Manuscripts
of the _Liber Vaccae_--Appendix II. Manuscripts of the
_Secretum Philosophorum_.
[Sidenote: The _Liber Vaccae_.]
Of the books of experiments of a chemical or magical character which
we have to consider in this chapter the earliest, as far as our
available information goes, is the _Liber Vaccae_, with which the
name of Galen is associated and which is primarily a collection of
magical and necromantic experiments. The original author, however,
was the philosopher Plato whose work, according to a long, rambling,
and confused prefatory statement, Galen had revised and abbreviated.
Steinschneider held that our treatise was cited under the title _Liber
de prophetiis_ by Pedro Alfonso in the _Disciplina clericalis_ at the
close of the eleventh century,[2442] but perhaps Pedro knew it in
Arabic or Hebrew[2443] rather than Latin translation. The manuscripts
of the Latin translation, however, go back to the thirteenth, if not
to the twelfth century,[2444] while for most of the other treatises to
be considered in this chapter the oldest extant manuscripts seem to
be of the fourteenth century. Moreover, William of Auvergne refers to
our treatise in his work written in the first half of the thirteenth
century.
[Sidenote: Its other titles.]
The work has many other alternative titles besides _Liber Vaccae_,
which seems to be suggested by its first experiment which is concerned
with a cow, and _Liber de prophetiis_, which I do not remember to have
seen in any Latin manuscript. Another common title is _Liber Anguemis_
or _Anequems_ or _Anegnems_ or _Anagnenis_,[2445] although the preface
explains that the treatise was not called the _Liber Anguemis_ in
the first place. The manuscripts also call it _The Book of Active
Institutes_ and _The Book of Aggregations of Divers Philosophers_.
William of Auvergne spoke with disapproval of our treatise as a book
of mixtures employed in magic, which was ascribed to Plato and called
_Liber Neumich_ or _Nevemich_, or the _Laws_ of Plato. “And,” adds
William sarcastically, “it is called the _Laws_ of Plato because it
is contrary to the laws of nature.”[2446] Steinschneider has pointed
out that in Arabic _Nawamis_ means “laws” and that both _Neumich_ and
_Anguemis_ are probably Latin corruptions of the Arabic word. And
of course _Laws_ and _Institutes_ are practically the same thing.
Pico della Mirandola, writing against astrology at the close of the
fifteenth century, refers to our treatise by the two titles _De vacca_
and _Institutes_, warning his readers that astrologers palm off their
volumes as the writings of great authorities like Aristotle, “just
as magicians carry about the books of Plato _De vacca_ and what they
call the _Books of Institutes_, stuffed with execrable dreams and
figments.”[2447]
[Sidenote: Its two prologues.]
Honein ben Ishak again appears in connection with a supposititious
work of Galen. The long and repetitious prefatory statement, to which
we have already alluded, is professedly by him, and we are told what
Honein said and what Galen said and what Honein says Galen said
in great profusion. The Latin translator, however, not to mention
subsequent copyists, has perhaps taken liberties with the wording of
this preface and corrupted an original Arabic clarity. Who the Latin
translator is we are not told, but in some manuscripts the prefatory
statement to which we have thus far alluded is proceeded by an even
longer prologue which opens with the pious wish, “May God confer
noble morals upon you.” This is probably the same as a prologue by
“Farachius” opening, “Friend, may God grant you noble morals,” which
Steinschneider held belonged with the _Medical experiments_ of Galen or
Rasis.[2448] But our prologue seems to contain a direct allusion to the
following _Liber vaccae_[2449] as well as to be generally appropriate
to it. The name of the writer of this first prologue is not given in
the manuscripts I have seen, but he refers to his books concerning
animals and poisons and simple medicines, which last is also called
the _Book of Sustenance_ (_liber sustentationis_). He appears to have
been criticized for his propensity toward marvels and occult virtues
and his inconsistency in at the same time censuring vulgar suspensions,
incantations, and cures. His defense of occult properties is the usual
one that even if reason cannot account for them, they are supported
both by the testimony of the ancients and by experience. As usual the
property of the magnet is adduced; the Pseudo-Aristotle is cited “in
his books on stones,” and the genuine Aristotle in the _History of
Animals_ concerning the narce’s power of stupefying. The remainder of
the prologue consists chiefly of a series of citations from various
authors which are largely duplicated in the _De mirabilibus mundi_
ascribed to Albertus Magnus. This first prologue cannot be by Honein,
since it cites not only Costa ben Luca but _filius messie_, that is,
Yuhanna ibn Masawaih who died at Cairo in 1015, or some Latin writer of
the eleventh or twelfth century who pretended to translate his works
from the Arabic. Presumably therefore it is by the Latin translator of
the _Liber vaccae_. This could not be Faradj ben Salem under Charles of
Anjou if the translation was known to William of Auvergne early in the
thirteenth century.
[Sidenote: Experiments in magic generation and rainmaking.]
The experiments of the _Liber vaccae_ are hardly such as can be
described in detail in English translation. Some of them are
elaborate experiments in unseemly generation and obstetrics, having
for their object “to make a rational animal” from a cow or ape or
other beast,[2450] or “to make bees.”[2451] By a similar procedure a
liniment is obtained which has such virtue that if one is anointed
with it, one feels no pain from blows, while it blunts the edge of
a sword with which one is struck. Or by suffumigations with it rain
may be produced.[2452] A less unmentionable method of rain-making is
that which is “famous among the wise” and which, the author says, some
employ in his own time. First a black crow without a speck upon it is
to be “submerged in water until it dies.” Then a very black dog is to
be imprisoned in a dark house and given the crow to eat and the water
in which it was drowned to drink on the third day. By the eleventh
day, we are assured, only the whites of his eyes will show and he will
be unable to bark. Then one takes a small tree called _mephus_ with
small leaves like rue and a flower like the bean, and gives the dog
about an ounce of its juice, which will cause him to recover his voice
and bark mightily. He should then be bound “hand and foot” (_manus et
pedes_) and boiled in a big pot. The broth thus obtained is to be used
to bring rain.[2453] Other procedures are described to stop a rainy
spell and restore fine weather.[2454]
[Sidenote: More magic with animals]
In order to see spirits a white cock with a round crest which is
concave in the middle is put in a place where neither the bark of a dog
nor the voice of a crow is heard, whereby this experiment is sharply
distinguished from the dog-and-crow procedure. For three successive
days the cock is to be fed on the eyes of three fish of the species
known as _alliataiu_, and the eyes must have been removed while the
fish were living. On the third day the cock will swell up and become
aggressive and his crest will grow inflamed. After three hours he is to
be decapitated and fed to a wild cat, which is then to be beheaded in
its turn. Its blood and gall are to be dried and from them a concoction
is to be prepared which will enable one to see spirits.[2455] A frog
figures as an ingredient in a mixture which, if one merely writes with
it on parchment and throws the same into a den of snakes or vipers,
will excoriate and kill them instantly.[2456] The congealed blood of an
ass is a constituent of a suffumigation which enables one to learn what
the future holds in store of good or evil.[2457] Indeed throughout the
work parts of animals are the favorite substances employed, although
stones and herbs are also used.
[Sidenote: Other marvelous experiments.]
The _Liber Vaccae_ abounds in suffumigations, marvelous houses,
golden or otherwise, and magic lamps and fires. One makes men appear
in any form desired;[2458] another makes a house seem to be full of
snakes;[2459] or a lamp is extinguished by opening the hands over it
and is relighted by closing them.[2460] Such marvels we shall find
frequently repeated in our following books of experiments. That of
holding fire in the hand and not being burnt by it is here described
as if quick-lime were used rather than alcohol.[2461] Other paragraphs
tell how to plant seed and have it grow instantly,[2462] how to
understand the language of the birds,[2463] how to answer questions
about persons who are absent,[2464] how to sit under a tree and cause
it to incline toward you.[2465] The last recipe calls for the teeth,
nose, and bones of a dead man. But perhaps we have sufficiently
illustrated the character of the _Liber Vaccae_. Its necromancy should
have at least “provoked the silent dust” of Plato and of Galen.
[Sidenote: Plato as an alchemist.]
To Plato and Galen, though never apparently again in partnership, were
also attributed various works of alchemy in the middle ages. Most
widespread would seem to have been _The Fourth Book_ or _Four Books_,
which is found both in the manuscripts and in print. In an Oxford
manuscript[2466] it opens by Thebit, presumably ben Corat, asking Hasam
to “tell us briefly what you have learned of the revelation of things
occult and expound the book of old Plato.” Thebit also introduces both
of the other parts of the book in this manuscript, but for the most
part Hames tells us what Plato said. This indirect form of presentation
is somewhat similar to that of the _Liber Vaccae_, and there is also
much talk of abbreviating even in the fuller and different printed
version,[2467] which is divided into four books, but the contents
are entirely alchemical and there is no mention of Galen. The work
seems to be a translation from the Arabic and not a Latin forgery.
Berthelot placed the Latin translation of the alchemical treatise of
the Pseudo-Plato about 1200.[2468] But there are in the manuscripts yet
other works of alchemy ascribed to Plato, one of which, _The Thirteen
Keys of Greater Wisdom_, is said to have been translated from Arabic
into Latin about 1301 A. D.[2469]
[Sidenote: Galen as an alchemist]
As for Galen, a _Commentary of Galen upon Hermes’ Book of
Secrets_[2470] turns out to be an alchemy of the incoherent and
mystical variety. A _Practice in the Secrets of Secrets of Nature_
ascribed to him is obviously spurious, since it opens by citing Geber.
It is accompanied by a _Theorica_.[2471] Indeed, the _Practica_ is
really the same as the treatise usually ascribed to Archelaus.[2472]
There was perhaps a medieval alchemist named Galen, since a manuscript
at Paris states that “Master Galienus the writer who is used in the
episcopate is an alchemist and knows how to whiten _eramen_ so that it
is as white as ordinary silver.”[2473]
[Sidenote: The _Eighty-eight Natural Experiments_ of Rasis.]
The _Eighty-eight Natural Experiments_ of Rasis[2474] are not medical
but a series of magic tricks and chemical experiments. Yet they are
not only ascribed to Rasis, or at least are said to be a selection
from a larger work of his recently translated from Arabic into Latin
at Toledo,[2475] but the translator seems to be the same mysterious
Ferrarius[2476] of the _Experimental Medicines_, while the opening
words[2477] are very similar to those of the _Secrets_ of Galen which
Gerard of Cremona is supposed to have translated, except that here we
read, “You have asked me, friend Anselm” instead of Monteus.[2478]
Only fragments of the treatise seem to be extant but enough of the
eighty-eight experiments are preserved to illustrate their character.
Serpents are assembled at a given spot by placing a snake in a
perforated pot about which a slow fire is built in order to make him
hiss and attract his kind. Fish are made to congregate similarly
beneath the surface of a river by letting down into the water at
night a lighted lantern with glass windows in its four sides.[2479]
The property of alcohol (_aqua ardens_) of burning on the tip of a
finger or from a cloth which has been dipped in it without consuming
the cloth or burning the finger is termed magical. To cook an egg in
cold water, it is placed in quick-lime in a vessel, then cold water is
poured in and the vessel tightly closed. Other experiments are to make
a ring hop about the house like a locust, to carry live coals without
injury, to light a candle from the rays of the sun, to blacken the face
completely. More useful seem those experiments which consist in making
alcohol, turpentine, or Greek fire.
[Sidenote: _Liber ignium_ of Marcus Grecus.]
Following the three experiments just mentioned, in both the manuscripts
of the _Eighty-eight Natural Experiments_ which we have just been
describing, comes _The Book of Fires for Burning Enemies_ of Marcus
Grecus.[2480] Since it is also found in other manuscripts,[2481] it
would appear to be a distinct treatise from the _Eighty-eight Natural
Experiments_, although its form is similar. Berthelot already has
been impressed by the close association in this treatise of “purely
scientific compounds of combustible or phosphorescent substances
and the preparations of prestidigitateurs and magicians.”[2482] For
instance, in an effort to make an inextinguishable fire glow-worms
are pulverized and mixed with other substances and then warmed for a
certain number of days in horse manure.[2483] A lamp that will shed a
silvery light on everything in the house is obtained by smearing the
wick with a liquid similar to quicksilver supposed to be obtained by
cutting off a lizard’s tail.[2484] Or everything around will appear
green, if the brain of a bird is wrapped in cloth and burned with
olive oil on a green stone. If the hands are rubbed with an Indian
nut or chestnut and “water of camphor,” a candle may be extinguished
by opening them above it and relighted by closing the hands.[2485]
Other ointments are said to keep one from being burned by a flame
or by the red-hot iron in the ordeal.[2486] More scientific are the
recipes for oil of sulphur, gunpowder, Greek fire, alcohol.[2487] Two
of the more fantastic experiments are said to have been discovered by
Aristotle for Alexander,[2488] and another cites Hermes and Ptolemy
for its “prodigious and marvelous works.”[2489] The reader will have
noticed the recurrence of some of the matters treated in the _Natural
Experiments_ of Rasis. Such repetitions and resemblances are common in
the medieval collections of recipes and experiments.
[Sidenote: Further experiments.]
At the close of the _Book of Fires_ of Marcus Grecus, in one of the
two manuscripts[2490] where it follows the _Eighty-eight Natural
Experiments_ of Rasis, the listing of experiments of the same sort
continues without any new title and the consecutive numbering of them
in the margin goes on up to one hundred and forty-four in all. It is
doubtful, however, how far we may regard these additional experiments
as a resumption of the text of Rasis, which had been interrupted by
the work of Marcus Grecus, since we cannot arrive at an even number
of eighty-eight experiments by any combination. These additional
experiments instruct us how to paint an image on the wall from which a
candle may be lighted, how to write letters that cannot be read unless
the material upon which they are written is placed near a fire or
touched with a rod, how to make cooked meat seem raw and wormy.[2491]
This trick, which is found frequently in medieval manuscripts, is
performed by making mince meat of the heart or dried blood of some
animal and strewing the particles upon the piece of cooked flesh, whose
heat will make them move like worms, while their color is that of raw
meat. We are also instructed how to cook meat of a sudden, how to turn
a red rose white--apparently by fumigating it with sulphur, and how
to make “marvelous bottles” (_ad faciendum ampullas mirabiles_)--the
directions seem to tell how to blow soap bubbles.[2492] How to emit
fire from the mouth, to heat a bath, to construct an artificial mill
in a camp, and to make all the bystanders appear headless.[2493] A
score of experiments are concerned with colors and dyes.[2494] To make
a dog follow you, place a piece of bread and butter under your armpit,
“that it may receive the odor of the sweat,” and then feed it to the
dog.[2495] A magical experiment to deprive a man of his urine consists
in taking urine and earth on which someone has made water and enclosing
them together in the skin of a camel’s womb or a dog’s paw; “and he
will have no urine as long as the earth is enclosed in the skin.”[2496]
The last experiment, “that a wife may live a good life with her
husband,” involves writing an incantation upon parchment.[2497]
[Sidenote: The _Secretum Philosophorum_.]
Found together with the _Eighty-eight Natural Experiments_ of Rasis
in one of the two manuscripts[2498] containing that work, and in
other manuscripts together with the _Liber ignium_[2499] and _Liber
Vaccae_[2500] and _Experiments_ or _Secrets_ of Albert,[2501] is an
anonymous work entitled _The Secret of the Philosophers_. As it seems
to be found especially in English libraries,[2502] and mainly in
manuscripts of the fourteenth century,[2503] it was perhaps composed in
England in the thirteenth century. At any rate it claims no connection
with Galen or Rasis. It is longer than most medieval collections of
experiments and subdivides into seven sections, each named after one of
the liberal arts.
[Sidenote: Experiments connected with writing.]
Under the heading “Grammar” materials and instruments used in writing
are first spoken of, then methods of writing, especially those employed
by the wise to conceal their meaning, as when the alchemists use the
names of planets to denote the seven chief metals. Instructions are
given for making colors employed in illuminating, ink, white tablets,
and glues. We are told again how to write letters which are invisible
until touched with a rod or exposed to fire. Also how to write so
that the writing can be read only in a mirror, how to erase writing
without leaving any mark, how to engrave steel and other metals, and
how to color the letters so engraved. A paragraph on the right way of
speaking might seem to belong under the head of rhetoric rather than of
grammar, but just precedes the section of rhetoric in such manuscripts
as I have examined. It warns against much speaking, citing Aristotle’s
advice to Alexander in the _Secret of Secrets_, and ends with the
familiar couplet:
“If you would be wise, observe my five commands,
What you say, where, of whom, to whom, and when.”[2504]
[Sidenote: Riddles: a trick with a knife.]
The section on “Rhetoric,” which is defined as speaking ornately, is
devoted to riddles, verbal deceits, quibbles, and catches. Under one of
its sub-heads, Of Weights, we are told how to balance a knife, although
its center is to project beyond the edge of a table and although a
weight is to be hung on this projecting end. “The way to fulfill the
doctrine of this thing is to fix the blade of the knife in the end of a
rod so that it makes an acute angle with the rod, and you will see how
the rod will hang with the knife.”
[Sidenote: Deceiving the senses.]
“Dialectic” is concerned in our treatise not with logical fallacies but
with deception of the senses by various tricks. To make water look and
taste like wine, a bottle half full of water should be held or left
inverted for a time over the orifice of a jar of wine. This procedure
is recommended in cases where a patient wants to drink wine and the
doctor knows that it would not be good for him. In order to determine
whether a patient is really dead and to prevent cases of burial alive,
it is recommended to hold a mirror to his nostrils and see if it will
be clouded by a faint breath. This comes under the sub-head, _De
olfactus deceptione_, breathing as well as the sense of smell evidently
being included under the olfactory organs. The sense of hearing is
deceived by an echo, and the sense of sight by mirrors which enlarge or
multiply objects or make an image appear outside the mirror. The use of
burning glasses is also discussed.
[Sidenote: Tricks of jugglers.]
Under the sub-head, “Sophistries called sleight-of-hand,” (_De
sophisticationibus que vocantur iugulationes_), come the tricks or
_cautelae_ of the jugglers. An apple is made to move on a table
by preparing a hole in the center beforehand and placing a beetle
inside. To construct a cross that will seem to turn to right or left
automatically in answer to questions put to it concerning hidden or
future matters, one builds it up of wax about the tail of some insect
or tiny animal[2505] which is also concealed in wax and irritated with
sage[2506] so that it wiggles its tail and the cross. Hands that have
been bound may be freed by cutting the rope against a prearranged
knife. Again we meet the experiments to make cooked meat seem raw
or full of worms and directions for blowing soap-bubbles, a process
which is spoken of as “making a golden sphere appear flying in the
air.” Other illusions under “Dialectic” are to seem on fire and not be
burned, to see stars in the daytime by multiplying the reflections of
the sun, to make a silver coin seem copper, and to deceive the sense of
touch by such methods as holding an object between two crossed fingers.
[Sidenote: Mathematical problems.]
The headings, Arithmetic, Music, and Geometry, are more exactly
appropriate to their contents than Dialectic was. One problem in
arithmetic is to tell how many knights, esquires, and pages will be
required to divide twenty loaves of bread, if each knight receives two
loaves, if two pages share a loaf, and if four esquires share a loaf.
Under geometry are calculated surfaces, the cubic contents of various
receptacles, and the altitudes of inaccessible objects.
[Sidenote: Astronomy: experiments with air: the magnet.]
Under “Astronomy” the rule of superiors over inferiors is affirmed and
the various attributes, properties, and effects of the planets are
listed. Then come “experiments with air” and many figures of vessels
partly filled with water or other liquids. Siphoning is explained under
the heading, “Of the ascent of water on account of the consumption of
the air lest a vacuum be left.” By employing the same principle that
Adelard of Bath observed in the magic water-jar of the enchantress, any
one of four different liquids that the spectators choose can be poured
from a single faucet. Inside the jar are four compartments each with
its own airhole above and outlet below, and beneath all four a common
chamber into which they open and from which the common faucet pours.
The four air-holes are covered with the fingers, and as one of these is
raised, the liquid will flow from the corresponding compartment. This
is illustrated by a diagram of the contrivance. The magnet is discussed
under “Astronomy” “because it bears in itself a likeness of the sky.”
This discussion of the magnet and some of the accompanying figures
resemble the treatise of Peter Peregrinus on the magnet, which was
written in the thirteenth century.[2507] Here the work ends in two of
the three manuscripts which I have used,[2508] but in the third further
experiments are added.[2509] Some of these have occurred before in the
_Secretum philosophorum_ itself, or in other experimental treatises of
which we have already spoken. Others are to make fireworks,[2510] to
soften steel, to drive away crows, and to tell whether a person is a
leper.
[Sidenote: _Le Secret aux philosophes._]
Not to be confused with the Latin _Secretum philosophorum_, which we
have just described and which seems to be of English origin, is a
work in the French vernacular written at the end of the thirteenth
century and entitled _Le Secret aux philosophes_.[2511] It is not a
collection of experiments but rather an encyclopedic discussion of
theological and metaphysical as well as natural problems in the form
of a dialogue, presumably imaginary, although sometimes represented as
a translation, between Placides, the promising son of a petty king,
and his master Timeo, who chose him as his pupil in preference to
the stupid son of a great emperor. Through this medium is retailed
for less learned perusal much of the knowledge and superstition,
especially astrological, to be found in the Latin and Arabic learning
of the time. Perhaps the resemblance is greater to the _Secret of
Secrets_ of the Pseudo-Aristotle than to any other treatise that we
have considered. The author, very weak and meager on theological
and metaphysical matters, shows a much greater interest in natural
science and something of the spirit of experimental research. Yet in
a prologue “the compiler” gives his name as Jehan de Bonnet, priest,
doctor of theology, and native of Paris. Ernest Renan was impressed
by the curiosity shown concerning problems of natural science, by the
“search after realities” and by the experimental spirit of the book.
The solutions, as in the _Natural Questions_ of Adelard of Bath, often
make one smile, but “this naïve composition ... is superior to many
scholastic treatises in Latin which deal purely with abstractions and
where modern thought has not its true antecedents.” In this treatise,
on the other hand, “the science of reality has taken the upper hand”
and “the idea of research is born.”[2512] But Renan was mistaken in
thinking such scientific curiosity a new thing as late as the close of
the thirteenth century, and perhaps on that account overestimated its
importance in this case.
[Sidenote: _Natural Experiments of Solomon._]
Returning to books of experiments, we may note a treatise whose
contents are very similar to the _Eighty-eight Natural Experiments_
of Rasis, the _Book of Fires_ of Marcus Grecus, and the _Secretum
philosophorum_, namely, _Some experiments which King Solomon composed
because of his love for, and the imploring of, a most excellent queen,
and they are experiments of nature_.[2513] Instead of the experiment
with the snake in the pot we now have rats in a cage, whose squealing
when a fire is heated is supposed to attract other rats. Again we are
told how to write invisible letters, how to make a candle burn in
water,[2514] how to light a candle from the mouth of an image painted
upon the wall. This is done by painting the mouth with sulphur and
turpentine and applying the wick of the candle to it just after the
candle has been blown out and before it has quite ceased to glow.
Quicklime as well as sulphur and turpentine are used in an image that
will illuminate and take fire when water is poured over it. Quicksilver
is placed with saltpeter and sulphur inside a ring in order that it may
hop about when put near a fire.
[Sidenote: Experiments without title or author.]
Such experiments sometimes occur without any title as well as
without name of author, as in a manuscript where there are a dozen
leaves filled with them between the treatise on plantations and the
experiments or secrets ascribed to Albert.[2515] Again we encounter the
jumping ring, the cooked meat turned raw, men made to appear headless,
and artificial thunder which seems produced by use of gunpowder. There
is much discussion of colors and alchemy and we are told how to make
_sal ammoniac_ and “the best bitumen.”[2516] But the virtues of herbs
and animals are not forgotten and many of the experiments are medical
or magical. Instructions are given for making a white crow by tampering
with the crow’s egg, and how to make human hair grow again by the
application of the ashes of a mole, burned in a new pot, mixed with
honey. A cure for diarrhoea is to drink milk in which a glowing iron
has been quenched. Suspending the tongue of a goose over a sleeper has
the appropriate effect of causing him to reveal all his secrets, while
the suspension of the head of a bat prevents his waking. The bearer of
the herb _aristologia_ is safe from demons whether awake or asleep.
To escape from chains one should employ an incantation which contains
allusions to the rescue of the apostle Peter from the sea and from
prison.
[Sidenote: Twelve experiments with snakeskin of John Paulinus.]
Frequently found in the manuscripts are twelve experiments with
pulverized snakeskin which John Paulinus or John of Spain excerpted
from the book in Arabic of the physician or physical scientist,
Allchamus or Alchanus or Alanus or Alganus, or whatever his name may
have been,[2517] a book entitled _Life-Saver_ (_Salus vitae_).[2518]
This work, as John further informs us at its beginning, he discovered
when he “was in Alexandria, a city of the Egyptians.”[2519]
Steinschneider listed this John Paulinus as a different person from
the well-known twelfth century translator, John of Spain, but at
least in one manuscript[2520] he is called both John of Spain and John
Paulinus.[2521]
[Sidenote: Marvelous virtues of snakeskin.]
Another manuscript[2522] presents our treatise under the amusing
caption, “Twelve experiments with snakeskin and some of them true.” All
due credit should be given for such partial scepticism but it might
well have been made more sweeping. The snakeskin is to be pulverized
when the moon is in the first degree of Aries, and one manuscript adds
that this must be the full moon.[2523] This powder will heal a wound in
the head, or will keep the head from being wounded, if it is sprinkled
on the hair. A face, washed with it and water, is terrible to foes and
secures the faithful allegiance of friends. If the powder is scattered
in an enemy’s house, he will be unable to remain there. To secure an
attentive hearing in a council, sprinkle a little at your feet. Place
some on the tip of the tongue, and you will be invincible in scientific
disputations. “And this has been tested many times.” This healing
and magic powder also enables one to see into the future, to learn
another’s secrets, to insure the fidelity of a servant or messenger, to
guard against poison, to win the love of a woman. If a leper eats some
of it, his disease will grow no worse. This last experiment is perhaps
suggested by Galen’s story of the cure of skin disease by drinking wine
in which a viper had died.
[Sidenote: Other treatises concerning the virtues of snakes.]
At the end of these twelve experiments one manuscript adds that “John
in the same book gives additional statements which Alcanus composed,”
and continues with further suggestions concerning the medicinal
preparation and uses of snakes and their skins and blood.[2524]
Similar are _Secrets concerning the Serpent_, which, according to a
manuscript of the fifteenth century in the Bodleian, Albertus Magnus
gave to a doctor of sacred theology of the order of Friars Minor at
Nürnberg,[2525] and which direct how to prepare snakes and recount
their medicinal virtues. It will be recalled, too, that in our
preceding chapter we treated of the _Experiments_ of Nicholas of Poland
which made considerable use of pulverized snakes or toads or scorpions,
and which are sometimes found in the same manuscripts[2526] as the
_Twelve Experiments with Snakeskin_.
[Sidenote: Chemical experiments of Nicholas.]
Perhaps this is the same Nicholas to whom chemical experiments are
attributed in two Oxford manuscripts.[2527] In the fuller manuscript
these experiments are numbered in the margin from one to twenty,[2528]
but sometimes more than one recipe or item is found under a
number.[2529] Besides some alchemistic generalizations, such as the
opening sentence which states that there are seven bodies, namely,
Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Sun, Venus, Mercury, and Moon, and a recipe or
two for making gold and silver, the treatise consists of instructions
for the preparation of such chemicals as _sal ammoniac_, quicksilver,
arsenic, sulphur, and common salt, and of other recipes similar
to those in the _Book of Fires_ of Marcus Grecus.[2530]The author
frequently cites the books and experiences of the philosophers but
also speaks of his own experiments. Once, for example, he supports the
assertions of the philosophers by adding, “And I, Nicholas, say that
I have tested these two operations experimentally”:[2531] in another
place he says of a powder recommended “by a very wise philosopher” that
he has not yet experienced it himself as the operation is long and
difficult.[2532]
[Sidenote: Books of waters.]
In addition to the _Book of Fires_ of Marcus Grecus and the experiments
with air in the _Secret of Philosophers_, we must not forget the
treatises in medieval manuscripts devoted to marvelous waters,
medical and chemical. We have already seen such works attributed to
Aristotle[2533] and to Peter of Spain.[2534] At that time, of course,
various liquid compounds and acids were known as “waters”; alcohol,
for instance, was called _aqua ardens_; and in one manuscript some
of the “waters” are really dry or solid.[2535] As in the case of the
treatises ascribed to Aristotle and Petrus Hispanus, twelve seems to be
the favorite number in these medieval collections of waters, but the
twelve are not always the same,[2536] and sometimes, while the title
says twelve, the text will include more than that number.[2537] Such
a collection of twelve waters is sometimes ascribed to Rasis,[2538]
and once to Vergil,[2539] but often occurs anonymously.[2540]
Other treatises on waters in general and the fountain of youth in
especial are ascribed to famous names, Albert Magnus,[2541] Arnald of
Villanova,[2542] and Thaddeus of Florence[2543] and of the University
of Bologna, a thirteenth century writer upon anatomy and medicine
who lived from 1223 to 1303. We also encounter _Nine Waters of the
Philosophers_,[2544] _Physical Waters_,[2545] and a _Book of Saint
Giles concerning the virtues of certain waters which he made while
dwelling in the desert_.[2546] The saint would scarcely seem to have
chosen the best place for the investigation of his subject. Such
are a few specimens of medieval works on waters; many more might be
collected.[2547]
[Sidenote: Colors.]
Experiments with colors are also of rather frequent occurrence in
medieval manuscripts, and seem to a large extent to be anonymous. I
have not sufficiently examined them to be able to say what additions
may be made in the manuscripts of the thirteenth and fourteenth
centuries to the recipes already given in the _Compositiones ad
tingenda_, _Mappe clavicula_, and works of Heraclius and Theophilus of
which we have already spoken. Like the _Book of Twelve Waters_, but not
so widespread, is a treatise on twelve colors and their virtues,[2548]
while a Virgilius appears again as the author of _Pictorial Waters for
Painting on Linen and Cloth_.[2549] The works on colors of Peter of St.
Audemar, of John Alcerius, and of John le Bègue have been printed by
Mrs. Merrifield,[2550] but many brief anonymous collections of recipes
concerning colors still remain in manuscript.[2551]
[Sidenote: Necromantic experiments.]
Other examples of necromantic experiments are found in the manuscripts
than those of the _Liber sacratus_, _Picatrix_, and the _Liber Vaccae_,
or those which are attributed to Michael Scot and Peter of Abano. An
anonymous collection of “conjurations and invocations of spirits to
discover thefts and other things of the sort” contains “among many
other experiments” some concerning three angels in a crystal, a sibyl
in a candle, four kings in a crystal, “a bearded old man,” and the
_ars episcopalis_.[2552] A manuscript at Munich contains “A probable
experiment to provoke spirits from all four quarters of the universe,
whatever their condition, order, and station, by means of the mass.” “A
good experiment in astrology of Master John of Belton” turns out to be
necromantic, consisting largely in writing and repeating such words as
the Tetragrammaton.[2553]
[Sidenote: _Experimentum in dubiis._]
An “Experiment in cases of doubt” from an early thirteenth century
manuscript at Erfurt[2554] may perhaps be described more fully. It
should be begun during the March equinox early in the night with
psalms and prayers. Starting forth to a spot where potter’s clay
may be found, one repeats the Paternoster and Credo as one leaves
his house or church. On the road he repeats seven psalms, and if he
meets any passers-by, returns no answer to them. Having reached the
potter’s earth, he plants his heel upon it and turning successively to
the East, South, and North, repeats the magic word “Syos” to each of
those cardinal points. Turning to the East again, he utters a short
prayer beginning, “Force eternal, innumerable power, true presence of
things, I suppliantly beg your clemency.” Then with a trowel with a
white handle he cuts the earth about his heel, and digs up enough of
it for his purpose, repeating the while a “Te Deum” and “Gloria in
excelsis.” Having secured the clay by this ceremony, when he wishes to
settle any doubtful question, he writes the words “Yes” and “No” on two
bits of parchment, encloses these in pastilles of the clay, places a
dish of holy water between the two pastilles, saying, “In the name of
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost” and another pious phrase. Then he puts the
pastilles in the water, adjuring them by the names of Elias and Moses
to show him the truth of the matter in question, and opens for his
answer the first pastille which floats towards him.
[Sidenote: “A natural experiment.”]
What we should regard as specimens of downright sorcery and magic are
sometimes presented in the manuscripts not merely as “experiments,”
but as instances of purely scientific procedure. Under the title, “A
natural experiment,” which, however, is likewise called “ineffable,” a
writer in a Paris manuscript[2555] describes three _Practicae_ which
may be used against enemies or serpents. Of these practical experiments
the most interesting is the first, which the writer learned of when he
was at Paris from Thomas de Pisan. This Thomas is also spoken of as
of Bologna and as the physician of the French king. Evidently he is
the father of the poetess, Christine de Pisan, Thomas of Bologna, who
made astrological predictions and composed philters for the learned
king, Charles V of France, and the duke of Burgundy, and who also
wrote a letter on the philosopher’s stone.[2556] The object of Thomas’
“experiment” was the expulsion of the English companies of mercenaries
from the French kingdom. He procured earth from the center and the
four quarters of France and under a selected constellation made five
images of lead or tin in the form of nude men. On the forehead of each
he wrote the name of the king of England or one of the captains of the
companies and on the jaw and breast astrological characters and names.
These images were hollow and were filled with the aforesaid earth and
at the proper astrological moment were buried in the five aforesaid
regions with an incantation to the effect that this was the perpetual
burial and total destruction and annihilation of the said captain and
king, and the permanent expulsion of him and every official or adherent
of his “so long as this work shall endure by God’s will, Amen.” The
images were buried face down with their hands behind their backs, “and
within a few months all the said companies had fled from the realm.”
The writer states that all three of his _Practicae_ are based on the
first _Practica_ of Thebit ben Corath, and notes that Albert the
commentator has said in his _Mirror_[2557] that such images are purely
natural like medical recipes.
[Sidenote: Variety of experiments in medieval manuscripts.]
It is hard to tell where to make an end of describing or even of
merely illustrating the many collections and isolated examples of
“experiments,” medical, chemical, culinary, artistic, magical, and
necromantic, both of spurious and of anonymous authorship, to be
found in medieval manuscripts. There are “experiments, good and
best” which include such illusions as making a river appear to flow
in a house;[2558] there are “some experiments in which occur many
words written in a mystic form with vowels omitted”;[2559] there is
an experiment to catch birds which begins by using the tongue of
a dog;[2560] there are “Sounds of trumpets and other mathematical
experiments,”[2561] and “A booklet of experiments for this and
that,” which opens with instructions how to dissolve phlegmatic
humors.[2562] In a single manuscript are “incantations and other
experiments,” “Experiments of Alexander,” “experiments from Galen’s
book of _Dinamidia_,” “general experiments,” “Experiments of Rusticus”
who is perhaps Rusticus Elpidus, physician to Theodoric, king of the
Ostrogoths, and “Experiments of Parisius, Abbot of St. Mark’s.”[2563]
A certain group of experiments seems to be associated in some way with
the emperor Frederick, presumably the Second.[2564] Another group of
perhaps twenty-five experiments was collected at Paris about 1331 and
“approved by divers doctors of the same dear university.”[2565] In an
Escorial manuscript are experiments of a chancellor and cardinal.[2566]
[Sidenote: An experimental manuscript.]
A manuscript which belonged to an English family in Northamptonshire
in the fifteenth century and received some additional entries in
the sixteenth provides a good example of the scope and character
of the experimental interest of those times. Omitting some brief
family records, we find its main contents to be a calendar, list of
eclipses, table and chart of the influences of planets and signs on
the human body, treatises on flebotomy, on colors, a problem credited
to Aristotle, verses on the seven liberal arts, medical recipes, a
_compotus_, arithmetics, a _Sphere of Pythagoras_, the treatise of John
Paul on experiments with snakeskin, Alfraganus on signs from thunder,
what seem to be extracts from the _Herbarium of Apuleius_ and perhaps
from the treatise of Sextus Papirius Placitus on animals which so often
accompanies it. This last is accompanied by a memorandum to the effect
that there are many true things here and also many false ones. Charms
and further recipes are followed by a treatise on the conduct of waters
and siphoning and how to learn the altitude of objects, which is not
unlikely to be an extract from the _Secretum philosophorum_. A treatise
on the moon in the twelve signs is followed by one “on philosophy
according to Aristotle with cases and experiments proving its thesis.”
It opens with the words, “In these things nature works in an occult
fashion.” Next comes a charm in English, then more recipes in Latin,
the _Physiognomy_ of Aristotle, a treatise of chiromancy, a _Dream
Book of Daniel_, a further discussion of colors, the familiar charm
to find a thief by means of a loaf of bread, and various tricks and
fireworks.[2567]
[Sidenote: Experimental character of the Sloane manuscripts.]
How long this experimental literature, which we have been describing
for the medieval period, retained its popularity, and how large a
place it had even in the esteem of celebrated scholars and scientists,
may be inferred from the very prominent place which it occupies in
the manuscript collection of Sir Hans Sloane, which with his books
and scientific collections formed the nucleus of the present British
Museum. Sir Hans Sloane, who lived for nearly a century from 1660 to
1753, won such a reputation both as a medical man and a naturalist
that in 1727 he became physician to the king and succeeded Sir Isaac
Newton as president of the Royal Society. Yet the manuscripts collected
by this distinguished scientist contain about as much alchemy and
astrology as they do medicine, while even in those of the seventeenth
century experiments of every sort continue to play as great a part
as ever before. Indeed the general tenor of the seventeenth century
manuscripts in the collection seems rather more superstitious than
in those of any previous century. This may be due to the fact that
superstition is being crowded out of the printed page by that time, and
finds a refuge only in private manuscripts, but I am doubtful if such
was the fact. We must remember that the seventeenth century was marked
by the witchcraft delusion, and even Boyle had not quite lost faith
in alchemy despite his _The Sceptical Chemist_. Perhaps, however, the
combined influences of the _Index Expurgatorius_, English censorship
of the press, and the natural tendency or pretense of alchemy and
magic to adopt secret and cryptic methods, were enough to keep a
number of works or “secrets” in manuscript form. Be that as it may,
it certainly seems as if the recipe notion dominated the catalogue of
the Sloane manuscripts and especially so in those of the seventeenth
century. I have not begun to note all the titles with the word or idea
of experiment in them, but I should like to run over a considerable
number of the subjects of seventeenth century manuscripts which I have
jotted down, and which I think will serve to illuminate the character
of the science of that time, and its relation to the preceding medieval
literature in the same field.
[Sidenote: Some seventeenth century experiments.]
We may begin with “Notable experimentall receipts taken out of the
booke of Hen. Rantzovius _de conservanda valetudine_.”[2568] We pass
on to “Small empirical experiments” in both German and Latin,[2569]
and to “Doctor Collette’s Experyment for the memory” and several
medical receipts.[2570] “A new system for an experimental college” is
dated 1680.[2571] In a long manuscript devoted to alchemy are found,
among other items, “the experiment of some unknown,” “some remarks
about the magic image in a Benedictine monastery near Florence,”
“a marvelous experiment from a book printed in Flanders, but in my
opinion a deceit,” and some other “sophistical experiments.”[2572] To
a manuscript in which are contained “Severall receipts of my mother’s
which she had chiefly in my Lord Berkeley’s family”[2573] soon succeeds
another in which four out of the six treatises are respectively
anatomical, chemical, medical, and philosophical experiments.[2574] “An
experiment with a mirror, for theft” and so forth, is explained by the
catalogue as being “rather sundry charms by which experiments may be
made.”[2575]
[Sidenote: More recipes and experiments.]
“Lady Rennelagh’s choise receipts, as also some of Capt. Willis, who
valued them above gold,”[2576] are probably not very different from “A
Booke of Receipts collected on Sundry occations, being for the moste
part such as are commonly used in shopps yett nott to be found in the
London Pharmacopaeia; with some other receipts of certaine Chymicall
preparations most in use in Apothecaries shopps with the way of makeing
them.”[2577] “L’arsenal des secrets,” besides recipes for making
potable gold and various elixirs, contains “Diverses secrets curieux”
in the way of directions how to stamp or cast metals, to make colors,
ink, and dyes.[2578] Thus we see that industrial processes are still
“mysteries.” A method of shooting guns without noise[2579] excites
our curiosity, but we recall that Thomas Browne classes among his
Vulgar Errors the belief in a “white powder that kills without report,”
concerning which, he wittily remarks, “there is no small noise in the
world.”[2580] We turn to “Experiments made at several times upon Oxe’s
galls,”[2581] to “Preparations and Experiments” and “Some excerpts from
the experiments of Andreas Michelius.”[2582] In a manuscript which
consists chiefly of recipes we find directions for making saltpeter and
gunpowder and various kinds of fireworks.[2583] An experimental remedy
for the gout[2584] carries our thoughts back to Alexander of Tralles,
while a manuscript written in 1579 consists of “A book of certain
experiments of physics, copied out of an old written book in old
English, bearing the date of 1329, by John Nettleton, with additions of
medical receipts and observations in a later hand.”[2585]
[Sidenote: Magic experiments.]
We come to the books of magic in the manuscripts of the seventeenth
century in the Sloane collection and find them full and running over
with “experiments.” “An excellent approved experiment to cause a thief
to come again with the goods.” “An experiment to call out spirits that
are keepers of treasure trove, either by an artificiall inchantment
magically, or otherwise by Divine justice.” “An introduction teaching
the use of the foregoing treates and thereby other experiments.”[2586]
Another manuscript has “some experiments and incantations and imperfect
conjurations written by John Evans,” “some experiments for sport,”
“an experiment with book and key to reveal the thief by the names of
the suspects,” and the equally superstitious experiments of William
Bacon.[2587] Elsewhere we meet “A magical treatise containing a
number of experiments and directions to those that will call any
spirit,”[2588] “Experiments for finding out stolen or hidden things by
the help of the Chrystal Stone,” “A noble experiment of King Solomon
with astrological tables,”[2589] “Experiments for love,” “Experiments
for all games,”[2590] “the doctrine of all experiments,”[2591] “some
magical experiments,” “many experiments of magic,”[2592] and so on and
so forth; in short, magic experiments galore.
FOOTNOTES:
[2442] Steinschneider (1906), p. 44; (1862), p. 53.
[2443] A Hebrew version is extant in a Munich MS (214, fol. 109v)
described by Steinschneider (1862), pp. 54-5.
[2444] For a list of the MSS see Appendix I to this chapter.
[2445] A _Liber tegimenti_ cited in the _De mirabilibus mundi_
ascribed to Albertus Magnus perhaps refers to our treatise, of which
the _De mirabilibus_ seems to make further use. The citation from
the _Liber tegimenti_ is to the effect that a training in dialectic,
natural science, astrology, and nigromancy is necessary for one who
would thoroughly understand the world of nature and the books of the
philosophers.
[2446] Cited by Steinschneider (1862), pp. 52-3, “Liber Neumich, sive
nevemich, et alio nomine vocant leges Platonis, qui totus liber est de
huiusmodi commixtionibus; et vocatur leges Platonis, quia contra leges
naturae est.” The passage was first noted by A. Jourdain.
[2447] _Adversus astrologes_, lib. I, “sicut libros Platonis de vacca
magi circumferunt et quos vocant institutionum execrabilibus somniis
figmentisque refertos.”
[2448] See above, p. 756, note 3.
[2449] Digby 71, fol. 37r, “quare negas ergo quod si vacca sit
reliquarum rerum que suis proprietatibus agunt (?) donec experiaris et
certificis certitudine.”
[2450] Arundel 342, fols. 47v-48r; Digby 71, fol. 42v; Corpus Christi
125, fol. 147r-v.
[2451] The Hebrew version, according to Steinschneider (1862), p. 54,
devotes its first chapter to making bees from a calf and a calf from
bees rather than, like the Latin version, to the production of “a
rational animal.”
[2452] Arundel 342, fol. 48v; Digby 71, fol. 43v; Corpus Christi 125,
fol. 148r.
[2453] Corpus Christi 125, fol. 150r.
[2454] _Ibid._, fol. 150r-v. As the three MSS which I used were all
difficult to decipher, I did not take time to locate each recipe in all
three, having satisfied myself of the essential identity of contents of
the two Oxford MSS at least, which I compared together.
[2455] Arundel 342, fols. 50v-51r.
[2456] _Ibid._, fol. 54v; Digby 71, fol. 56r; Corpus Christi 125, fol.
159v.
[2457] Arundel 342, fols. 52v-53r.
[2458] Arundel 342, fol. 53r.
[2459] Corpus Christi 125, fol. 159v.
[2460] Digby 71, fol. 56r.
[2461] Arundel 342, fol. 54v; Corpus Christi 125, fol. 159v.
[2462] Corpus Christi 125, fol. 157r.
[2463] _Ibid._, fol. 151v.
[2464] _Ibid._, fol. 152r.
[2465] _Ibid._, fol. 151v.
[2466] Digby 219, late 16th century, fols. 120-43, “Liber quartus
Platonis tribus partibus, explicatus ab Hamete filio Hasam rogatu
Thebeth,” opening “Dixit Thebeth Hames filio Hasam, Abrevia nobis
quod de revelatione occultorum intellexisti et expone librum senioris
Platonis,” and closing, “Dixit Plato et qui cognovit cognovit quod
quedam dictorum nostrorum, etc. Hic defiunt multa.”
Other earlier MSS are:
S. Marco XVI, 1, 14th century, fols. 43-6, Platonis quartus super
secretis naturae, opening, “Dixit Plato, cum res ex eodem genere
sint....”
S. Marco XVI, 3, 15th century, fols. 291-303, Commentum tertiae partis
quarti de quartis Platonis, opening, “Haec scientia incipit a potentia
et pervenit ad actum....”
Bologna University Library 138, 15th century, fols. 216v-21v, “Quartum
Platonis scolasticorum. Dixit Plato ... / ... omnibus diebus vite sue.”
Bologna University Library 270, X, 15-16th century, fol. 185r, “Quartum
Platonis scolasticorum. In nomine Dei ... / ... intellige hoc.”
[2467] Zetzner, _Theatrum Chemicum_, V (Strasburg, 1622), 114-208, “cum
commento Hebuhabes et Hamed philosophorum, explicatus ab Hestole.”
Concerning the Arabic original see Steinschneider (1906), p. 44.
Berthelot (1893) I, 247-8, spoke of it as “ouvrage juif.”
[2468] Berthelot (1893) II, 398. Lippmann (1919), p. 480.
[2469] S. Marco XVI, 1, 14th century, fols. 20-26, Incipit liber
Platonis de tredecim clavibus sapientiae maioris, translatus de arabico
in latinum anno. Dom. 1301. It opens, “Narraverunt quod in terra
Romanorum fuit quidam philosophus qui vocabatur in arabico Platon....”
Examples of MSS of what seem to be still other Platonic alchemies are:
Orléans 290, 16th century, fol. 207-, “Incipit summa Platonis alkymie
sic inquiens: Cum res ex eodem sunt....”
Riccard. 119, fols. 1r-2v, “In nomine domini amen. Incipit liber
Platonis super aptationem lapidis pretiosi scribens filio suo ex dictis
philosophorum. In vii capitulis.”
[2470] Corpus Christi 125, fols. 78-80r, Galeni super Hermetis librum
secretorum expositio.
[2471] Riccard. 1165, 15th century, fols. 96-101, “Practica in secretis
secretorum naturae,” fols. 101-105, “Theorica.”
[2472] J. Wood Brown (1897) 83, has pointed out that in Riccard. 119,
fols. 192v-195v, the _Liber Archelai Philosophi de arte alchimiae_ is
called also in the margin _Practica Galieni in Secretis secretorum_.
[2473] BN 6514, but Brown (1897) 83, who quotes the Latin of the
passage fails to mention the folio of the MS.
[2474] Both copies of this work of which I know seem to be fragmentary.
Amplon. Quarto 361, English cursive hand of early 14th century, fol.
24, I have not seen, and follow the description of it by V. Rose in
his “Ptolemaeus und die Schule von Toledo,” _Hermes_, VIII, 338-40,
which is fuller than the notice in Schum. Rose knew of no other MS of
the treatise, but I have examined it in the following: Digby 67, 15th
century, fol. 32.
Both MSS have the same prologue by Ferrarius, in which the number of
experiments is stated as eighty-eight, and both open with the same
experiment. Rose gives the headings of only fourteen others, and then
begins the Book of Fires of Marcus Grecus, “Nunc incipiet liber ignium
a marcho greco descriptus,” which, as Rose says, follows the same
form of a series of experiments as the preceding Rasis. Indeed, in
Digby 67 the experiments of both treatises are numbered continuously
in the margin. The Rasis seems to end with the experiment numbered
33, a circumstance which led Macray to describe it as containing 33
instead of 88 experiments. Digby 67, however, does not at present
contain experiments 1-33 inclusive, but only 1-5 and 27-33; apparently
a sheet is missing. The _Liber ignium_, beginning at experiment 34
and at the same juncture as in the Amplon. MS, since the preceding
experiments in both cases were concerned with alcohol (_aqua ardens_),
turpentine, and Greek fire, comprises twenty-five experiments, after
which miscellaneous experiments carry the total number recorded in the
margin up to one hundred and forty-four. In the Amplon. MS the _Liber
ignium_ is followed by another experimental treatise entitled _Secreta
philosophorum_, of which more will be said presently.
[2475] “In Toleno” or “In Coleno.”
[2476] “Suus suo amicus amico Anselmo ferarius.”
[2477] Strictly speaking there are two other sentences before the
words, “Rogasti me, amice Anselme....”
[2478] Professor D. B. Macdonald warns me, however, that these are
common opening words in Arabic treatises.
[2479] This and the preceding experiment follow the _liber ignium_ of
Marcus Grecus in CLM 197, 1438 A. D.; see Berthelot (1893) I, 124.
[2480] First printed in 1804 by La Porte du Theil at the wish of
Napoleon who had heard of the old recipes for Greek fire. Hoefer gave
a faulty edition of it in his _History of Chemistry_, 2nd edition, I,
517-24. I have employed the text printed by Berthelot (1893) I, 89-135,
from four continental MSS: BN 7156, 13-14th century; BN 7158, 15th
century; CLM 267, about 1300 A. D.; CLM 197, about 1438 A. D. This
text is accompanied by a French translation, introduction, and notes.
Berthelot’s discussion of Marcus Grecus suffers from his ignorance
of the existence of other collections of experiments similar to it
in MSS contemporary with it. He notes only its resemblance to the
_De mirabilibus mundi_ ascribed to Albertus Magnus and to the books
of secrets printed in the sixteenth century. Marcus Grecus seems not
the same as Mark, the canon of Toledo (Marcus Canonicus Toletanus) in
the twelfth century who translated into Latin the Koran and works of
Hippocrates, Galen, and Honein ben Ishak: see Steinschneider (1905), p.
54.
[2481] Besides the MSS used in his text Berthelot alludes to some MS
of the _Liber ignium_ in England which belonged to a Mr. Richard Mead
(probably, Professor D. B. Macdonald suggests, Dr. Richard Mead, the
eighteenth century London physician, many of whose books are now in the
Hunterian Museum, Glasgow), but does not mention Digby 67 and Amplon.
Quarto 361, which we have described already; nor CU St. John’s 177,
14th century (Italian), fol. 15v, “Incipit liber ignium a marco greco
prescriptus”; nor Sloane 323, 14th century. fols. 162-5; nor Digby 153,
14th century, fol. 179v-, where it is reduced to ten experiments. There
may be other MSS of the _Liber ignium_ in the British Museum, as I have
not searched especially for them. In Arundel 164, 15th century, fol.
192v, are Recepta varia de praeparatione ignis graeci.
[2482] Berthelot (1893) I, 131.
[2483] _Ibid._, pp. 111, 120.
[2484] _Ibid._, p. 114.
[2485] _Ibid._, p. 115.
[2486] _Ibid._, pp. 114-5.
[2487] _Ibid._, pp. 117-8.
[2488] _Ibid._, pp. 105-7.
[2489] _Ibid._, p. 112.
[2490] Digby 67.
[2491] _Ibid._, Experiments 60, 71-72, 73-74.
[2492] _Ibid._, Experiments 76, 77, 88.
[2493] _Ibid._, Experiments 92, 95, 97, 127.
[2494] _Ibid._, Experiments 104 _et seq._
[2495] _Ibid._, Experiment 136.
[2496] Digby 67, Experiment 90.
[2497] _Ibid._, Experiment 144.
[2498] Amplon. Quarto 361.
[2499] Also Digby 153.
[2500] Digby 71 and Corpus Christi 132.
[2501] Addit. 32622, Egerton 2852, Digby 37, 153, CU Trinity 1351.
[2502] Of the two MSS at Erfurt one is in an English hand.
[2503] See Appendix II to this chapter for a list of the MSS.
[2504]
“Si sapiens fore vis, sex(?) serva que tibi mando: Quid dices, et ubi,
de quo, cum quo, quando.”
[2505] Called _anena_ (?).
[2506] _Safina_ (salvia?).
[2507] Concerning Peter Peregrinus see S. P. Thompson, _Petrus
Peregrinus de Maricourt and his Epistola de Magnete_, 1907, and _The
Epistle of P. Peregrinus concerning the Magnet_, done into English by
S. P. Thompson, 1902. Thompson lists eleven editions and 28 MSS. Addit.
32622, fols. 71-77r, and Egerton 2852, which I have examined, are
briefer than the printed text of the _Epistola_. Addit. 32622 has the
better diagrams of these two MSS.
[2508] Digby 37 and 153.
[2509] Addit. 32622, fols. 77-84.
[2510] _Ibid._, fol. 80v, _ad faciendum volantem_ seems to be a rocket,
and fol. 81r _ad faciendum tonitruum magnum et horribile_ to be some
sort of an explosive.
[2511] The work is described in HL 30: 567-95. I have not seen the
treatise itself. It exists in two different manuscript versions and a
third repeatedly printed text for which no corresponding manuscript can
be found.
[2512] HL 30: 576 and 593.
[2513] Sloane 121, 15-16th century, fols. 90v-92r.
[2514] The knowledge that sulphur and quicklime will burn when brought
into contact with water seems, as Berthelot has pointed out, (1893) I,
95, to antedate Livy who writes (XXXIX, 13), “Matrones Baccharum habitu
... cum ardentibus facibus decurrere ad Tiberim demissasque in aquam
faces, quia vivum sulfur cum calce insit, integra flamma efferre.”
[2515] Arundel 251, 14th century, fols. 12-24.
[2516] Possibly there is some connection with the chemical experiments
of James Hutton (1726-1797), the geologist, and his discovery of a
process for manufacturing _sal ammoniac_ from coal-soot.
[2517] Steinschneider (1905), p. 51, also mentions _Alcharius_ and
_Alcaus_. The catalogue of MSS at Munich gives _Alchabitii_; in a
Bologna MS we read _Aichauus_.
[2518] Steinschneider (1905), p. 51, notes only four of the following
MSS, namely, those starred:
Sloane 1754, 14th century, fol. 30, “De pelle serpentis 12 experimenta
et quaedam vera.” No author or translator is mentioned: the treatise
immediately follows the Experiments of Nicholas of Poland.
Royal 12-D-XII, late 14th century, fol. 111v.
Arundel 251, 14th century, fol. 35v.
CU Trinity 1081, 15th century, fol. 69.
Bodleian 177 (Bernard 2072), late 14th century, fols. 29v-30r.
* Ashmole 1437, 15th century, fol. 3v, “De corio serpentis.” John’s
prefatory statement is omitted and no author is mentioned.
* Amplon. Folio 276, early 14th century, fol. 69.
CLM 206, 15th century, fol. 38, De viribus corei serpentis pulverisati.
* CLM 444, 14th century, fol. 200.
* CLM 534, 14th century, fol. 42v.
Bologna University Library 135, 14th century, fols. 31r-32r, “Aichauus,
Liber vitae.... Illum autem librum fecit Aichauus fysicus.”
Arezzo 232, 15th century, fol. 80, “Secreta magistri Iohannis,” from
the fact that they follow the _Verbum abreviatum_ ascribed to Roger
Bacon are probably the alchemical treatise attributed to Bacon’s
disciple, the youth John, rather than our treatise.
Sloane 3679, 17th century, fol. 96v--, “Sequuntur quaedam Experimenta
mirabilia de spolio serpentis quae Jo. Hispalensis ex Arabico
transtulit in Latinum ex libro salutis vitae Alcani philosophi Arabici.”
[2519] “Hic incipiunt 12 experimenta naturalia de corio serpentis
translata a johanne paulino ab arabico in latinum ut predictus
philosophus dicit cum ego Johannes essem in alexandria civitate
egipsiorum reperi ... hoc qui salus vitae appellatur....” Bodleian 177.
[2520] Arundel 251, “Cum ego Johannis hyspanicus....”
[2521] At least he seems to have been a different person from John of
St. Paul’s, a medical writer whose works will be found in a number
of MSS in the collections of Amplonius and Sir Hans Sloane, and whom
Scott in his _Index_ to the Sloane MSS has identified both with the
translator of the snakeskin experiments and with John Platearius.
And still different from any of these would seem to have been
“Ioannis Paulus de Fundis,” doctor of arts and lecturer on medicine
and astronomy in the university, and astrologer of the commune, of
Bologna, whose _Tacuinus astronomico-medicus_, written in his own hand
in February, 1435, is preserved in a MS of the University Library at
Bologna. Nor is this _Tacuinus_ to be confused with the earlier work of
that title translated by the Jew Faradj ben Salem for Charles of Anjou.
[2522] Sloane 1754.
[2523] Sloane 1754. These virtues ascribed to snakeskin are perhaps
to be connected with the belief that the serpent renews its youth by
changing its skin every year: see J. G. Frazer (1918) I, 66.
[2524] Royal 12-D-XII, fols. 112r-113r. Sloane 1754 ends immediately
after the twelfth experiment with the powdered snakeskin, while Arundel
251 adds but one further sentence.
[2525] Canon. Misc. 524, fol. 17r-v, “Secreta Alberti magni de serpente
dedita uno doctori sacre theologie ordinis minorum de Norenbergia.”
[2526] Sloane 1754 and CLM 534. Sloane 1754 also contains the following
experimental works which have not yet been mentioned: fols. 80-82,
_Experimenta de sanguine_; fols. 197-201, 205-8, 212-8, 222-31,
_Chimica experimenta varia_.
[2527] Ashmole 1448, 15th century, pp. 119-28, de experimentis chemicis
in viginti capitula distributis, opening, “Septem sunt corpora scilicet
Saturnus, Jupiter,” and closing, “Et sic finitur opus Nicholai.”
Corpus Christi 125, 14-15th century, fols. 90r-91v. This has the
same _Incipit_ and some of the same experiments, but is briefer. It
addresses a certain William (fol. 90r) and cites Michael Scot (fol.
91r).
Duhem, III (1915) 443, note, cites from Digby 164, which I have not
seen, “Chi sont les lettres de frère Nichole envoiiées à Bernard de
Verdun et les lettres de frère Bernard envoiiées à frère Nichole sur la
pierre des philosophes.”
[2528] This marginal numbering goes on from 21 to 64 in succeeding
treatises, including one on twelve waters, numbered 25 to 36.
[2529] For instance, under 9. _Aqua pro igne Greco_, _Ignis
inextinguabilis_, _Ignis quem invenit Aristoteles cum Alexandro_, _De 3
generibus igneum_; under 10, _Ad accendendum ignem ad solem_, _Ut manus
ardere videatur nec ardeat_, _Ignis discurrens_, _Candele_, _Ignis ad
sagittandum_.
[2530] See the headings in the preceding note, and other chapters, most
of which Black has already listed in his description of the MS, where
he says, “Some of the chapters are curious and highly deserve notice.”
[2531] Ashmole 1448, p. 119.
[2532] _Ibid._, pp. 125-6.
[2533] See above p. 251.
[2534] See above p. 500.
[2535] BN 6514, fol. 40.
[2536] In the Florentine MS, Palat. 887, 15-16th century, fols. 89-,
91-, 93-4, three different books of twelve waters occur in succession;
and Berthelot (1893) I, 70, has noted that the texts of the _Book of
Twelve Waters_ are different in MSS, BN 6514, fol. 40 and BN 7156, fol.
145v, and in the printed _Theatrum chemicum_, III, 104. Also in Ashmole
1448, 15th century, occur two different _Books of Twelve Waters_, at
pp. 130-40, “Incipit liber de aquis qui dicitur 12 aquarum ... / ...
explicit tractatus 12 aquarum;” at pp. 193-6, “Hic incipit liber 12
aquarum Alkimie seu in Alkamica.”
[2537] In the first _liber de aquis_ in Ashmole 1448 mentioned in the
preceding note there are paragraphs numbered from 25 to 57 and more
than twelve waters are mentioned.
[2538] Digby 119, early 14th century, fols. 205-6, Liber Rasis de aquis
12 optimis, opening, “Aqua mollificatissima et nigrissima.”
Sloane 1754, 14th century, fol. 112r, “Incipit liber rasis de 12 aquis
preciosis. Libelli huius series 12 splendet capitulis. Primum de aqua
rubicunda. Secundum de aqua penetrativa. Tertium de aqua mollificanti
et ingrediente. Quartum de aqua eiusdem ponderis et magni nominis.
Quintum de aqua ignita. Sextum de aqua sulphurea. Septimum de aqua
cineris. Octavum de aqua aurea. Nonum de aqua martis de albatione.
Decem de aqua almarcaside et argenti dissolutione. Undecimum de aqua in
mercurii congelatione et conglutinatione. Duodecimum de aqua perpetua.”
In the same MS at fol. 78r-, “Incipit 12 aquarum liber. Libelli huius
series duodecim splendet capitulis. Primum de aqua rubicunda. Secundus
de rubicundo ere. 3m. de rubigine. 4m. de croceo ferreo. 5m. de
rubicundo lapide. 6 de aqua sulphurea. 7 de aqua cineris. 8 de gummi
rubicundo. 9 de aqua penetrativa, 10 de aqua marchaside in argenti
dissolutione. 11 de aqua vitrea. 12 de fermento.”
As the _Incipits_ and chapter headings suggest, the two treatises are
in portions identical, elsewhere divergent. Such is also apt to be the
case where the work occurs in different manuscripts.
[2539] Vienna 5230, 15-16th century, fols. 293-5, “Primo recapitulat
libellus ... / ... sulfuris et magnesie vocabulum assumit.”
[2540] Some MSS are:
Corpus Christi 125, 13-15th century, fols. 82-3. “Explicit liber
duodecim aquacionum.”
Corpus Christi 277, 15th century, fol. 9, Liber duodecim aquarum.
Digby 219, late 16th century, fol. 109v, “Libelli huius series 12
splendet capitulis.”
Ashmole 1485, fol. 173.
CLM 405, 14-15th century, fol. 65, Liber aquarum; fol. 160, De XII
aquis.
Bologna University Library 474, fols. 16r-19v, “Libelli huius
series....”
Savignano di Romagna 44, 15th century.
[2541] Vienna 5315, 15th century, fols. 128-33, de aqua vitae, “Inter
cetera domini Alberti magna aquarum experimenta ... / ... urina fractum
expellit.”
[2542] CLM 666, 15th century, fol. 81-, Arnoldus de Villanova de aquis.
[2543] _De virtutibus aquae vitae_, in both CLM 363, 1464-1466 A. D.,
fol. 78; and CLM 666, 15th century, fols. 129-47.
[2544] Vienna 5336, 15th century, fol. 29, “Prima recipe ysopi pulegii
... / ... natura provenientes.”
[2545] Harleian 2258, fol. 189, de aquis physicalibus.
[2546] Rawlinson C, 815, 15-16th century, fols. 25-7, “Libellus sancti
Egidii de virtutibus quarundam aquarum, quas ipse in deserto commorans
fecit.”
[2547] Such as Digby 71, 14th century, fols. 81-4, _aqua vitae_;
Rawlinson D, 251, 14-15th century, fols. 64v-72, _de virtutibus
aquarum_; etc.
[2548] Brussels, Library of Dukes of Burgundy 14746, 15th century,
Colores xii seu virtutes eorum, “Jaspis viridis et crassi....”
[2549] BN 7105, 15th century, #2, Virgilii de pictorialibus aquis pro
depingendo super linteamina vel pannos; #3, Anon. de coloribus.
[2550] _Original Treatises dating from the XIIth to XVIIIth centuries
on the arts of painting_, London, 1849, vol. I.
[2551] Some of them may prove upon examination, however, to be works by
known authors or extracts from the same.
BN 6552, 14th century, #2.
BN 6742, 17th century.
BN 6749, 1481 A. D. #9, 10.
BN 7344A, 14th century, #3.
BN 7400A, 14th century, #5, Modus faciendi colores et distemperandi;
#6, Varia experimenta chemica.
Bernard 3623, #34, de diversitate colorum.
Digby 147, 14th century, fols. 33-4, de coloribus.
Cotton Julius D-V, end of the 13th century, fol. 156-, de viridi colore
faciendo ad usum scribendi.
Julius D-VIII, fols. 77v-87, a treatise in English on colors,
medicines, etc.; following it are cooking recipes and directions for
making parchment, ink, and _si vis invisibilis fieri_.
Titus D-XXIV, fol. 127, Latin and French, de distemperandis coloribus
ad scribendum vel illuminandum.
Harleian 218, fol. 71, Experimenta bina Anglice: “For to rasone
parchement without knyffe” and “To make asure.”
Sloane 342, 13th century, fol. 132, “Quidam Lumbardus socius concessit
mihi ista de libro suo qui intitulatur liber Massia de coloribus.” In
Egerton 840A the work of Theophilus was called _tractatus Lumbardicus_.
Sloane 1698, 14th century, fols. 45-52.
Amplon. Quarto 189, 13-14th century, fols. 67-8, Notae de coloribus.
CLM 444, 14th century, fol. 214, de coloribus faciendis.
CLM 27063, 15th century, fols. 37-8, de coloribus faciendis et remedia.
Florence II-vi-54, 13th century, fols, 1-11, “Incipit de coloribus.
Simplices colorum sunt quecumque elementis consequentia ... / ...
Explicit de coloribus, incipit de mundo animalium.”
S. Marco X-55, 14th century, fols. 1-4, “Simplices colorum sunt
quicumque elementis consequantur ut igni et aeri”; apparently the same
treatise as the foregoing.
Vienna 5207, 15th century, fols. 112-6, is a treatise on colors
ascribed to Urso; “Primo videamus ... / ... et hec de coloribus
summariter dicta sufficiant secundum Ursonem.”
[2552] Rawlinson D, 252, 15th century, fol. 98v.
[2553] Sloane 314, 15th century, fol. 106v.
[2554] Or at least this part of the MS is of the early 13th century.
The MS, Amplon. Octavo 32, 11th-14th century, is in part a palimpsest.
Our experiment, which occurs at fol. 89, has been printed in Haupt’s
_Zeitschrift f. d. Alterth._, III, 190.
[2555] BN 7337, pp. 45-6, Experimentum naturale unicum (?) et
ineffabile.
[2556] HL 24:468-71. According to Christine, her father was “doctorifié
à Bologna la Grasse en la science de la Médecine.”
[2557] That is, the _Speculum astronomiae_.
[2558] Digby 86, 13th century, fols. 34, 46-8.
[2559] Digby 69, about 1300 A. D., fol. 201, Experimenta quaedam in
quibus occurrunt multa verba scripta in forma occulta omissis vocabulis.
[2560] Amplon. Quarto 301, first half of the 15th century, fol. 100.
[2561] Canon. Misc. 521, 15-16th century, fol. 37, de tubarum sonis
aliaque experimenta mathematica, partim ex Hugonis spiraminibus
confecta, figuris instructa (mutilated at the beginning).
[2562] Merton College 324, 15th century, fols. 229v-234, Libellus
experimentorum pro diversis, opening “Ad dissolvendum flemmaticos
humores.”
[2563] Additional 34111, 15th century (in English) fols. 70-, 77-,
114v-, 169-, 174-, 190v-.
[2564] Vienna 5492, 15th century, fols. 1r-2v, Vididenus (?), “Liber
septem experimentorum ad imperatorem Fridericum. Cap. 1; accipe
sanguinem draconis....” Palatine 794, 15-16th century, fols. i-xxxii,
“In nomine domini Amen. Questi sono isperimenti tratti di più libri i
quali lo ’mperadore Federigho fece scriuere, i quali sono prouati e
ueri.”
[2565] Wolfenbüttel 2189, 15th century, fols. 174-5, Quedam experimenta
Parisiis probata. Wolfenbüttel 2503, 15th century, fols. 271-82,
Experimenta collecta a magistris Parisiensibus collaudata et primo de
pulveribus/Explicit hoc opus laudabile collectum Parisius circa annos
Domini 1331 approbatum per diversos doctores eiusdem alme universitatis.
[2566] Escorial P-II-5, 14th century, fols. 69v-74, Incipiunt
experimenta Cancellarii et Cardinalis. Possibly there is some
connection with BN 7056, Experimenta magistri Gilberti Cancellarii
Montepessulani, or with Wolfenbüttel 3489, 14-15th century, fols.
83-135v, Experimenta magistri cancellarii de Monte Pessulano.
[2567] CU Trinity 1081, 15th century and later. I follow the analysis
of its contents by James, III, 54-7. CU Trinity 1109, 14th century,
with 63 items (described by James, III, 84-92), is much the same,
including various tracts of divination and astrology, and works on
waters, fires, herbs, stones, and animals, together with the more
reputable works of Sacrobosco, Jordanus, and Burley.
[2568] Sloane 483, fols. 148-59; this and all the succeeding MSS,
unless otherwise stated, are of the 17th century.
[2569] Sloane 733, fols. 1-10, “Parva experimenta empirica.”
[2570] Sloane 744, 16th century, fols. 27-31.
[2571] Sloane 1220, fols. 187-265, Novum systhema collegii
experimentalis.
[2572] Sloane 1255, fols. 36-38, 144v, 240, 241v.
[2573] Sloane 1289, fols. 80-95.
[2574] Sloane 1292.
[2575] Sloane 1317.
[2576] Sloane 1367.
[2577] Sloane 1501.
[2578] Sloane 1512.
[2579] Sloane 1731A, written about 1700, fol. 13.
[2580] Browne, _Pseudodoxia Epidemica_, II, 5.
[2581] Sloane 2039, fols. 112-14.
[2582] Sloane 2046, fols. 67-76, 141-55.
[2583] Sloane 2818, fols. 102-8, 140v-145.
[2584] Sloane 3328, fol. 17.
[2585] Sloane 3655, fol. 131.
[2586] Sloane 3824, fols. 16-21, 89-120, 141-54.
[2587] Sloane 3846, fols. 24-30, 30v, 79v-86, 93v-98.
[2588] Sloane 3847, fols. 152-9.
[2589] Sloane 3849, 15th-16th centuries, fols. 17-22, 30-38.
[2590] Sloane 3851, fols. 140-4, 144v.
[2591] Sloane 3853, fols. 3-45, “Thesaurum spirituum secundum
Robertum Turconem et Rogerum Bacon,” opens, “Haec est doctrina omnium
experimentorum;” fols. 176-219, a magic book called _Dannet_ opens,
“This is the doctryne of all experiments in generall.”
[2592] Sloane 3853, fol. 266, Experimenta quaedam magica; fols. 54-63,
70-120, Experimenta plurima magicae.
APPENDIX I
MANUSCRIPTS OF THE LIBER VACCAE
The three first MSS in the list are those which I have used.
Steinschneider (1906), p. 43, listed four MSS: Digby 71, Corpus Christi
125 and 132, and Montpellier 277. The three which I examined were
wretchedly written and full of abbreviations.
Arundel 342, 14th century, Italian hand, fols. 46r-54v.
The _Titulus_ is “Incipit liber institutionum activorum
(_sic_) Platonis in quo Humayn filius Zacarie sic loquitur
dicens.” The _Incipit_ is “Galienus cum praeparavit ut
abreviaret librum Platonis physici, qui nominatus est
liber anguemis.” The _Explicit_ is “Expletus est liber
aggregationum Anguemis Platonis cum expositione Humayn
filii Ysaach gratia Dei.”
Digby 71, 14-16th century, fols. 36r-56, Liber Vaccae,
precepta et experimenta alchemica et magica, praemisso
prologo (ut videtur) longo. Incipit prologus, “Conferat
tibi Deus mores nobiles.” Incipit liber (fol. 40v)
“Galienus cum propter amatum voluit abbreviares (_sic_)
librum Platonis philosophi qui nominatus est liber
anequems.” Ad calcem (fol. 56) “Completur liber anequems
Platonis id est liber vacce.”
Corpus Christi 125, 13-15th century, fols. 121v-141r
(141-60, according to the system of numbering which I have
followed in the foot-notes of the preceding chapter).
This MS repeats the first prologue, found in Digby 71 but
missing in Arundel 342. It ends, “Completus est liber
Anaguenis, id est, liber vaccae.”
Corpus Christi 132, 15th century, fols. 139-66, has the same
title and opening as the preceding.
CLM 22292, 12-13th century, fol. 68, Epistola de medicina,
opening, “Conferat tibi deus mores,” and ending, “Explicit
epistola Ameti” (a name which usually means the astrologer
Alfraganus); fol. 70, Prologus in librum Anguemis, of
which the text does not seem to follow, since at fol.
72 comes a commentary on the Aphorisms of Hippocrates.
In this early MS therefore we seem to have only the two
prologues.
Amplon. Quarto 188, written in 1267 A. D., 1319, and
later, fols. 103-4, Liber vacce seu liber aggregacionis
diversorum philosophorum, opening, “Primor queritur
quare risus magis sequitur titillacionem,” and closing,
“significet fleubotomia predominari et odor debet et
etiam.” From its brevity and opening and closing words
this would seem to be only a fragment of our treatise.
Schum states that it was originally followed in the MS by
another treatise on nigromancy, since torn out, and that
in the sixteenth century the two works were given the
common title, “Liber vacce nigromanticus.” But perhaps it
is only a part of the _Liber Vacce_ that has been torn out.
Florence II-iii-214, 15th century, fol. 57-, “Liber
institutionum activarum Platonis in quo Hunayn filius
Ysac sic loquitur;” fols. 59-72, “Inquit Hunayn, Galenus
dixit ... / ... completus est liber agregationis aneguemis
maioris et minoris Platonis cum expositione Unayn filii
Ysac et declaratione Galieni.”
The treatise was once found in the library of St.
Augustine’s Abbey, Canterbury, 1275, vacca platonis.
Among MSS which T. Allen had in 1622 but which are no longer
in the Digby collection was, in 16mo, Liber Anequems
Platonis, id est, Liber vaccae.
APPENDIX II
MANUSCRIPTS OF THE SECRETUM PHILOSOPHORUM
Of the following MSS I have chiefly used Additional 32622, Digby 37,
and Digby 153.
CU Trinity 1214, good hand of late 12th century, fols.
71-82, is perhaps an earlier precursor of our treatise,
judging from the following headings given by James: “De
aque ductibus, de puteis fodiendis, de probatione aque
... de fistulis organicis ... de calce ... de fabrica
ville rustice disponenda, de balneis ... de coloribus ...
de norme institutione, de horologii institutione ... de
solidamentis, de altitudine arborum sive turrium probanda,
probacio auri, de arte multiplicandi, de arte organizandi.”
Amplon. Quarto 330, mid 13th-early 14th century, fols. 1-23,
appears to be the earliest of the MSS of our treatise.
Amplon. Quarto 361, English hand of early 14th century,
fols. 27-40.
Additional 32622, small octavo written in England in early
14th century, fols. 3-84, “Iste liber quem prae manibus
habemus vocatur Secretum philosophorum, et intitulatur
isto nomine quia in eo continentur quaedam secreta quae
reputatione vulgari sunt impossibilia, apud philosophos
secreta et necessaria.”
Additional 18752, small quarto, 14-16th century, fols. 1-28,
“Secretum philosophorum,” imperfect.
Sloane 2579, fol. 2-.
Egerton 2852, mid 14th century, fols. 5v-49v.
Digby 37, 14th century, fols. 4-43, “Secretum philosophorum.”
Digby 71, 14-16th century, fols. 85-97, _Titulus_ as in
Addit. 32622, imperfect, leaving off in the midst of
“Arithmetic.”
Digby 153, 14th century, fols. 148-67v.
Rawlinson C, 7, 14th century, fols. 51-87, mutilated at
close.
Corpus Christi 132, 15th century, fols. 1-59, _Titulus_ as
in Addit. 32622 and Digby 71.
CU Trinity 1082, 15th century, fols. 1-110.
CU Trinity 1144, late 15th century, fols. 9-54v.
CU Trinity 1351, late 15th century, fols. 1-25, James gives
no general title, but his description is sufficient to
identify it with our treatise.
Gonville and Caius 413, 15th century, #4, 31 fols.