Royal MS 12 E VIII

MEDICAL TRACTS, in Latin: a 13th cent. collection perhaps collected by a Jewish physician (see art. 17), viz.:

1. 'Incipiunt aphorismi Ypocratis': the same translation as in 12 B. XII, art. 22, but with a brief commentary written continuously with the text. Section iii and a few sentences elsewhere are omitted. The commentary on aph. i begins 'Non sit, inquit, medicus fastidiosus'. f. 1.

2. Selected chapters from the Practica dividitur or Practica medicinae of Bartholomaeus Salernitanus (cf. 12 B. XII, art. 1). The extracts begin with the ch. 'De cardiaca passione' and include most of the latter half of the work. At the end, after the ch. 'De impedimentis conceptionis', comes a ch. 'De sciatica passione', ending 'postea purgatur cum apozimate'. For the rest of the work see art. 11 below. f. 28 b.

3. 'Incipit compendium Salerni': the treatise, by a physician named Salernus (who is mentioned by Aegidius of Corbeilles as 'aequiuocus', i.e. to the city), printed in Renzi's Coll. Salernitana, v, p. 201. Imperf. by the loss of two leaves after f. 51. Renzi's last chapter is here omitted. Beg. 'Duplicicausa, socii, me cogente'; ends 'precedentium informantur'. f. 46b.

4. Treatise on human anatomy, closely connected with the Anatomia porci of Cophon (the younger?), printed among the spurious works of Galen (Venice, 1609) and by Renzi, op. cit. ii, p. 388 (cf. 12 E. XV, art. 5, 12 E. XXIII, art. .5), but less purely practical and con. siderably fuller. Beg. '[I]nteriorum membrorum omnium positiones'; ends 'uenis que in ano terminantur'. f. 52.

5. 'Ex antidotario Platearii': extracts from the work usually called Practica of [Johannes ?] Platearius (cf. 12 B. III, art. 5). Beg. 'Contra paralisim, Ab ipso principio'. f. 54.

6. Select chapters from Constantinus Africanus (monk of Monte Cassino, d. circ. 1087) De morborum cognitione et curatione (Opera, Basel, 1536, p. 1). Imperf. at beg. Begins in lib. i, cap. 10. The original order is slightly altered, lib. iv following lib. vii, cap. 8, and lib. vii, cap. 26 being placed at the end after cap. 30. Ends 'bombicinum superpone'. No title or colophon, f. 55.

7. 'Ex libro Constantini Affricani de stomachi compositione et utilitate': a similar abbreviation of the treatise printed op. cit. p. 215 and in Isaaci Opera (Lyons, 1515), pt. ii, fol. 178. Beg. 'Oportet nos intelligere quia prima actio'; ends 'omnia indigestibilia', A few interlined English glosses. f. 89.

8. Extracts from antidotaria, concerning compound medicines, apparently two distinct series, viz.:-(a) Beg. 'Diareubarbarum ualet defectioni epatis'. f. 106;-(b) An alphabetical series, beg. 'Aurea alexandrina faciens ad reuma'. f. 110. This has many articles in common with the Antidotarium Nicholai (printed with Mesuae Opera, Venice, 1602), but is not identical with that work (cf. also 12 B. XII, art. 3). At the end (f. 122) are notes on apothecaries' weights and measures, with 34 verses chiefly from Schola Salernitana on the same subject, on fevers, &c, (cf. Renzi's ed. ll. 1587-1600, 2903 seqq., &c., but there are many variations).

9. Alphabetical table of synonyms in materia medica, Beg. 'Arsenicus id est auripigmentum'. Many English glosses. f. 122b.

10. Vocabulary of medical terms of Greek origin, 'Trociscos id est forma rotunda'. f. 124. Followed (f. 124 b) by some miscellaneous medical recipes.

11. 'Incipit Practica mag. Bartholomei': the treatise of Bartholomaeus Salernitanus (cf. 12 B. XII, art. 1), with the omission of the chapters already included under art. 2. Imperf. by loss of a leaf before f. 155 and another before f. 158. Beg. 'Practica diuiditur in duo'. f. 126.

12. Recipe 'ad cancrum', beg. 'Puluis probatissimus'. f. 160.

13. 'Incipit prefatio Archimathei Salernitani': the Practica Archimathaei printed by Renzi, Coll. Sal. v, p. 350, but in a different order and with one chapter (Contra casum capillorum) omitted. Ends with the ch. 'De quodam leucoflemantico'. Preface beg. 'Cum opus quodlibet suo habeat artifici'; text, 'Dissenteria est fluxus uentris', f. 160.

14. Three extracts on the spleen and liver, the first and last without name, viz.:-(a) 'De spiene', beg. 'Due uene pertunse sunt'. f. 177 b;-(b) 'De splene, ex antidotario Cophonis', beg. 'Splen quandoque patitur'; not a verbal quotation from any of the works of Cophon printed by Renzi. f. 177 b;-(c) 'De epate', beg. 'Epar quandoque patitur'. f. 179.

15. 'Incipit liber vrinarum Constantini chassienensis (sic) monachi': the translation by Constantinus Africanus of the Arabic treatise by Isaac Judaeus (cf. 12 D. IX, art.2). Beg. 'In Latinis quidem libris nullum auctorem'. f. 181.

16. 'Incipiunt uersus mag. Egidii de iudiciis urinarum': the poem (chiefly in hexameters) of Aegidius of Corbeilles (cf. 12 D. XIII, art. 9). Contains 305 lines against 352 in Choulant's ed. (Leipzig, 1826), wanting inter alia the epilogue and the prose preface. Beg. 'Dicitur urina quoniam fit renibus una'; ends 'aggrauat et cumulat mala circumstancia culpam'. ff. 218 b-220 b, 227-228 b. The poem is interrupted by the two following articles.

17. Recipes against cancer, stone, &c. Several words are written in Hebrew characters and other cipher. f. 221.

18. A tract on uroscopy. Beg. 'Quoniam de urinarum tractaturi sumus scientia, que earum sit noticia'. Not the work of like initium by Maurus printed by Renzi, op. cit. iii, p. 2. Ends 'sedimentum non est secundum naturam'. f. 221 b.

The following notes are on the margins, &c.:-(a) Schol Salern. ll. 1969-70. f. 35;-(b) Couplet, 'Gaudet epar spodio, mace cor, cerebrum quoque musto' (see 9 F. I, f. 116, 12 B. III, f. 39); cf. Sch. Sal. ll. 2621-2. f. 53b;-(c) Couplet, 'Lac anabulla parit, catapucia semine gaudet'. f. 123 b;-(d) Recipe for an electuary in a 13th cent hand on the fly-leaf, with the note 'hec fuit medicina Willelmi Monopixidis'. f. 229.

Vellum; ff. 232. 6 in. x 4¹/₂ in. XIII cent., chiefly of the first half. Gatherings of 8 leaves (vii⁶, ix⁷, xvii⁶, xviii¹⁰, xix⁶, xx¹⁰, xxi⁶, xxii⁹, xxx⁴). Sec fol. 'sed qualis'. Initials in red, except in art. 8, where they are in colours. An initial scribbled on f. 232 b has the note 'Wamerus de Orston scripsit hanc literam', and on f. 231 b is the 15th cent. note 'Francis Dingly his booke'. Afterwards belonged to John Theyer. Theyer sale-cat. no. 270; perhaps CMA. 6624.