herbal tinctures

["GC" <glenclaston@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Dana,

I wonder if I might impose on you and ask you to
direct a small amount of your diligence to a
project, based on this assumption:

I begin my assumption with the idea that this
herbal is based on knowledge contained in Macer's
Herbal.  There are various reasons I make this
assumption, but it's a good middle ground either
way.

Starting with 88r we have a section of apothecary
jars, but much more information here in my
opinion.

Starting with page 89r
3 jars    3 rows of plants    3 Paragraphs
3 jars    3 rows of plants    3 Paragraphs
3 jars    3 rows of plants    3 Paragraphs
4 jars    4 rows of plants    3 Paragraphs (odd
man out)
3 jars    3 rows of plants    3 Paragraphs
2 jars    2 rows of plants    2 Paragraphs
2 jars    2 rows of plants    2 Paragraphs

Starting with 95r
4 jars    4 rows of plants    4 Paragraphs
4 jars    4 rows of plants    4 Paragraphs
2 jars    2 rows of plants    2 Paragraphs
1 jar     1 set of plants     1 Paragraph
2 jars    2 sets of plants    2 Paragraphs
3 jars    3 rows of plants    3 Paragraphs
3 jars    3 rows of plants    3 Paragraphs
3 jars    3 rows of plants    3 Paragraphs
2 jars    2 rows of plants    2 Paragraphs
2 jars    2 rows of plants    2 Paragraphs

This to me is the closest thing to a pattern I've
yet discovered in the Voynich.  If I assume that
the jar indicates a mixture of herbs, it follows
that the rows of plants are the herbs that make up
that particular mixture.  The Paragraph then is
either the method of mixing and/or the Virtues of
the mixture.  Either way, we have some knowledge
of the probable subject matter of the paragraph
and can compare that paragraph what has been
written about it in Macer or equivalents.

I am currently drawing up a list of known
compounds up to about 1560 and cross-referencing
the herbs used in these compounds.

What I would ask from you is to focus somewhat on
the herbs pictured in this section.  If we can
identify one herb, we limit the search.  Two herbs
limit it further, and so on.  The more herbs
identified, the shorter the list of possibles,
which might aid in identification of the rest of
the herbs in that section.

I wish to couple this to a list of ancient herb
names, and try to match up the names with the
herbs.  I am gleaning a list of common names (from
1490 to 1560) in Latin, English, Dutch, French,
German and Greek.  (I expect a heavy leaning on
the Latin names.)  I don't have sources for
Italian or Spanish at this point, and the French
sources are not the best.

I'm placing heavy emphasis on Macer and other
books based on Macer up to 1525, as I think this
pretty much the time period we're looking at, and
the names of plants from this period will most
probably be used.

GC