Harley MS 3849, ff 62r-77v

Quaestiones medicine, including works attributed to the Salernitan physician Urso of Calabria (d. 1225). Imperfect at the beginning and at the end. Incipit: 'Ortis medicinalis iudicio difficili ad cu/mulum'. The collection includes:

1. ff. 72v-75r: Urso of Calabria, Liber de effectibus qualitatum. Incipit: 'Quoniam questionum omnium sunt solutiones equaliter ab effectibus qualitatum / sua videntur'.

For the text, see L. Thorndike and P. Kibre, A Catalogue of Incipits of Medieval Scientific Writings in Latin, rev. edn (London, 1963), pp. 334f, 1275i, 1303g; its electronic version on CD-Rom (Ann Arbor, MI, 2000), nos. 334F, 1275I, 1303G. The text differs from De effectibus qualitatum and De gradibus edited in K. Sudhoff, 'Die Salernitaner Handschrift in Breslau, ein Corpus medicinae', Archiv für Geschichte der Medizin, 12 (1920), 139-43 and 135-38. For Urso of Calabria, see also B. Lawn, The Salernitan Questions. An Introduction to the History of Medieval and Renaissance Problem Literature (Oxford, 1963), pp. 32-34; F. Wallis, 'Urso of Calabria', in Medieval Science, Technology, and Medicine. An Encyclopedia, ed. by T. Glick, S. J. Livesey and F. Wallis (New York, 2005), pp. 499-500.

2. ff. 75r-75v: Summa de saporibus. Incipit: 'Rerum nature cognitio duobus modis habetur experimento scilicet. / et ratione'. Edited in C. Burnett, 'The Superiority of Taste', Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, 54 (1991), 230-38. See also L. Thorndike and P. Kibre, A Catalogue of Incipits of Medieval Scientific Writings in Latin, rev. ed. (London, 1963), p. 1350c; its electronic version on CD-Rom (Ann Arbor, MI, 2000), no. 1350C.

3. ff. 75v-77r: De saporibus et odoribus attributed to Urso of Calabria; Incipit: 'De saporibus tractaturi videamus quid sit sapor et quot sunt / sapores'. Longer version than the text edited in F. Hartmann, Die Literatur von Früh- und Hochsalerno und der Inhalt des Breslauer Codex Salernitanus mit estmaliger Veröffentlichung zweier Traktate aus dieser Handschrift: Anonymous: De morbis quattuor regionum corporis, [Ursonis]: De saporibus et numero eorundem, samt Wiederbdruck der Schirft: De observatione minutionis. Inaugural Dissertation... (Leipzig, 1919), pp. 55-57. For the text, see S. De Renzi, Collectio Salernitana, ossia documenti inediti e trattati di medicina appartenenti alla scuola medica Salernitana, ed. by G. E. T. Henschel, C. Daremberg and S. De Renzi (Naples, 1852; new edn by Antonio Garzya, 5 vols., Naples, 2001), p. 25; L. Thorndike and P. Kibre, A Catalogue of Incipits of Medieval Scientific Writings in Latin, rev. edn (London, 1963), pp. 389l; its electronic version on CD-Rom (Ann Arbor, MI, 2000), no. 389L.

4. f. 77r: De odoribus. Incipit: 'Ostenso qualiter rerum nature comprehenduntur per sapores, ne qualiter / ex odore'. For the text, see L. Thorndike and P. Kibre, A Catalogue of Incipits of Medieval Scientific Writings in Latin, rev. edn (London, 1963), p. 1022f; its electronic version on CD-Rom (Ann Arbor, MI, 2000), no. 1022F.

5. ff. 77r-77v: Nota de coloribus, attributed to Urso of Calabria; Imperfect, incipit: 'Tractauri de coloribus primo quid sit color videamus / et quot sunt species coloris'. Corresponding to the text edited in L. Thorndike, 'Some Medieval Texts on Colours', Ambix, 7 (1959), 7-11. See also L. Thorndike and P. Kibre, A Catalogue of Incipits of Medieval Scientific Writings in Latin, rev. edn (London, 1963), pp. 1111h, 1114f, 1578e; its electronic version on CD-Rom (Ann Arbor, MI, 2000), nos. 1111H, 1114F, 1578E.

Decoration: Initials in blue.