Re: Yet another explanation for dain daiin...

[Nick Pelling <incoming@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

>         Piglia vitriolo Romano on iiij salnitrio on iij limatura achi
>         on. 1. et destilla alanbicco et piglia della prima aqua on 1/2 et po-
>         nili in essa 3 on de canfora et con questa fregate la faccia
>
>         Take 4 parts [vitriolo Romano], 3 parts saltpetre, and 1 part
>         (iron?) filings, distill in an alembic, take half the resulting
>         liquid, mix (?) it with 3 parts camphor, then rub it onto the face.

Well, my most glaring mistake is pretty obvious: "on" should be "oncia" = 
ounce. So:

       Take 4 ounces [vitriolo Romano], 3 ounces saltpetre, and 1 ounce
        (iron?) filings, distill in an alembic, take half the resulting
        liquid, mix it with 3 ounces camphor, then rub it onto the face.

If you're interested, it's a recipe marked "a leuar omne Segnio della 
faccia", ie, "to remove all marks from the face". And I guess it probably 
would. :-)

PS: there's a shop in Florence called "Experimenta", which sells a number 
of lotions and potions made to Caterina Sforza's recipes. Presumably not 
the abortifacents and the poisons, though. :-/