Re: herbal tinctures

[Dana Scott <dfscott@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

GC,
    I am pleased to see that you have these interests in mind. I tend to
agree with your observations. Discovery of the underlying thread will go
a long way to an understanding of the direction the VMS has taken. That
the ancients were able to associate the weather directly with the Earth,
influenced by the Sun, Moon, and Stars is most interesting; the weather
(winds, air, storms, snow, clouds, lightning, thunder,etc.) "belongs" to
the Earth but the influence comes from the Stars. Hopefully, we will see
some interesting progress by the end of the year. Keep up the good work.

Regards,
Dana Scott

GC wrote:

> Dana,
>
> I appreciate any effort, and I know it will be
> impossible to match all the herbs.  I know it?s
> quite involved, and I thank you for any time you
> might spend on this.  It is my hope that at least
> one or two of these sprigs cross reference to
> other identifiable plants in the herbal.  In the
> next few months I?ll try to give some names of
> these plants for verification, as time permits,
> which may be the better way of travelling this
> course in any event.
>
> I believe the jars to be actual jars, and here is
> some background information that I am using to
> formulate my ideas on this section at present:
>
> Apparently the medeival physician had a very
> elaborate scheme set up to determine what herbe
> and what part of the herbe was appropriate for
> certaine treatments, according to the ephemerides,
> a general astrological chart or almanac.  In
> addition each person of any account usually had a
> personal chart drawn up and stored in a safe place
> for use by the attending physician.  Any and every
> act of physike or surgery was conducted according
> to the charts, whether it be blood letting,
> surgery, or general medication.
>
> The almanac also determined the planting and
> harvesting of herbes, down to when to pick the
> flowers, harvest the bark or the stalk, or pick
> the leaves for drying, distillation or tincturing.
> According to this system, the moon is actually the
> chief mechanism, since it is the closest body to
> the earth.  The moon in its course passes through
> the zodiac and the minor constellations and
> ?conveys? their influence to the growing herb,
> just as it does to man's body.  Given the nature
> of this philosophy, it is not surprising that I
> have been left with the sense for some time that
> much of the VMS has to do with the moon?s
> influence.
>
> While the moon is the chief conveyor of the
> ?occult? properties of the Zodiac to the plants,
> each portion of the plant is influenced by the
> planets in a way that makes all parts of the herb
> usable for different and varied treatments in
> astrological physicke.
> This is from Askham?s herball:
>
> ?Also the Sonne draweth first from the roote the
> lyvely moysture, that maketh the herbe to growe, &
> wax.  Saturne holdeth the mater together in the
> roote stalke and leaves.  Jupiter geveth the
> temperature, benefete, shap, and fasshyon, and the
> ayrie humour and smell.  Mars hardeneth and gyveth
> the woody stalkes and strength.  The Sonne gyueth
> a contynual increase of lyfe, by a lively hete.
> Venus gyueth the flowers, fayreness and temperate
> humour.  Mercury geveth the leaves, the watry
> humoure.?
>
> Some of the pharmaceutical section seems to focus
> on roots, which would be pharmaceuticals dealing
> with Saturn, while another has mostly leaves, an
> influence of Mercury.  This is of course a general
> observation and without knowing the names of the
> plants it is an impression without support.
> Nevertheless my feeling is that this is indeed a
> pharmacological section, and not something simply
> drawn to look like one.  (Any remedy composed of
> Saturnian influences would of course limit its use
> to those parts of the body that were governed by
> Saturn, giving us some closer idea of the subject
> matter in the associated paragraphs.)
>
> Some of the jars also have ?labels? on them.  Many
> common herbal remedies had names assigned to them,
> taken from Macer, Pliny, etc., as well as some
> common local names for local remedies.  It?s true
> that the ingredients of these concoctions
> sometimes varied widely (like those for Aqua Vitae
> or Ignis Aqua), but the names for these remedies
> were were as common to the people then as
>  ?aspirin? is today.*  It?s also true that
> misidentification of herbs was a very common
> problem.  The herbalist usually only had a vague
> description to go on when searching for the herb
> in his neighborhood, and many times misnamed a
> local herb for one described in Pliny.  What the
> herbalist used may be one that only resembles
> Pliny?s description.  Of course Galenist theory
> roughly states that something that looks like the
> one you're looking for will have the same basic
> properties and influences, just as all green
> stones have the same influences by virtue of their
> color.
> *(See ?The Names of Herbes?, by William Turner,
> 1568, and the ?Pharmaco-Pinax? of Gordon?s
> Apothecarie, 1625 for examples.)
>
> We also have some idea why there are drawings that
> involve the sun, the moon and the winds.  A review
> of the many almanacs generated during this period
> demonstrates a belief that the position of the
> zodiac determined the direction of the winds, the
> formation of the clouds, the distribution of heat
> and cold, dry and moist, and the weather in
> general.  This system of astrology expounded by
> Messahala was so closely knit as to be one system,
> not easily divisible into separate ?sciences? of
> weather, surgery, physike, apothecarie, or for
> that matter, hunting, hawking, or even when the
> best time would be to travel.
>
> A good example of this would be that hen?s tallowe
> or duck?s tallowe are used as ingredients for
> plasters, but they must be ?harvested? according
> to the chart for the greatest effect.  Hart bones
> and antlers must be procured according to the
> chart as well.  This ties hunting and hawking in
> with the pharmacologist?s concerns.  Even eating
> the meat of these animals may be judiciously
> accomplished by the ephemerides for best effect.
> Hot and dry herbes must be harvested under hot and
> dry influences, while those that have venerial or
> lunar influences are harvested at their
> appropriate times, mostly at night during the
> waxing of the moon.
>
> I doubt very seriously that much of this was daily
> practiced by the common man or the common
> physician, but a cloistered monk who made this a
> study would rule his life by the stars.  In fact,
> there are two English candidates from this period,
> Anthony Askham, Vicar of Byrnstyn, and Thomas
> Paynell, Chanon of Martin Abbey, both acquainted
> and possibly friends.  Askham practiced as a
> physician and wrote books on herbes, astronomy and
> almanacs all associated with medicine.  Paynell
> wrote books on cures for the French Poxe, the
> causes and cures for the Pestilence, and Englished
> and augmented a book by Joannes de Mediolano
> called ?Regimen sanitatis Salerni?, the Regiment
> of Health, a guide to daily eating, drinking,
> bathing, hygiene, etc., with an emphasis on the
> teachings of Galen.
>
> There is no one section of the VMS that falls
> outside this general philosophy.  In fact, a
> better understanding of this "science" offers
> plausible explanations and meanings to many of the
> baffling drawings, charts and sketches contained
> in the VMS.  One section in itself doesn't tie
> things together, but as each section is understood
> by these teachings, the whole adds up to a
> medicinal herbal composed by a student (and
> possibly master)of this art.
>
> My tools are far too rudimentary at this point,
> but I?m trying to fine-tune for the herbal
> section.  If I am able to pull out some of the
> plant names I can progress much further, and any
> identifications would be of great help.  Your list
> of plant names for pages will be a big help as
> well for the other herbal pages.  The way this
> thing moves is extremely baffling, but by now I
> know it has a central point on which the system
> focuses, and it slides either way from there.  It?
> s my sense that the numbering scheme is based on
> some redundant astrological movement, and not
> nearly as involved as I?m currently making it out
> to be.  The more text I have the more I?ll know,
> and this section is in my estimation the best
> place to start.
>
> GC
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Dana Scott [mailto:dfscott@xxxxxxxxxxx]
> Sent: Sunday, February 10, 2002 12:37 PM
> Cc: VMS List; AFScott@xxxxxxx
> Subject: Re: herbal tinctures
>
> I will do the best that I can in an attempt to
> identify these sprigs, but
> please understand that it may be an order of
> magnitude more complex than
> identifying whole plant drawings. We have already
> seen that fruits and flowers
> might not be included in the drawings and that
> leaves may not match as
> expected. I also have a tendency to go after
> whatever strikes my fancy at the
> time. A single plant identification may easily
> take 8 hours to investigate.
> With the sprigs I am thinking an investigation
> will last around 10-15 hours
> each (total time), except in the cases where there
> is an obvious match to a
> plant already identified at another location in
> the VMS. Just for your
> information, I am not necessarily convinced that
> what look like jars are
> actually a representation of jars. Another
> possibility may be that they are
> dissected anatomical models of plants categorized
> by vascular bundles, etc.
> Once the sprigs are identified, it will no doubt
> be much easier to determine
> how they are grouped and classified. I will try to
> focus on completing the rows
> in order, unless of course I see something in
> another row that I think I can
> identify right away. Thank you for your patience.
> Any assistance will be
> greatly appreciated. It may take a while.
>
> Regards,
> Dana Scott
>
> John Grove wrote:
>
> > Small clarifications to GC's comments...
> >
> > > Starting with page 89r
> >
> > You meant 88r1?
> > > 3 jars    3 rows of plants    3 Paragraphs
> >
> > 88v1:
> > > 3 jars    3 rows of plants    3 Paragraphs
> >
> > 89r1: (Although, it appears to me that there are
> two jars for the last
> > paragraph, one in front of the other)
> > > 3 jars    3 rows of plants    3 Paragraphs
> >
> > 89r2: (so total jars for 89 r1/r2 foldout is
> possibly 8 jars with 7rows and
> > 6 paras)
> > > 4 jars    4 rows of plants    3 Paragraphs
> (odd
> > > man out)
> > Oddly, there is some rather distinctive spacing
> in the paragraphs down the
> > right side (in the half page foldout that could
> be another paragraph on its
> > own that just happens to line up with the rest
> of the text)
> >
> > 89v2:
> > > 3 jars    3 rows of plants    3 Paragraphs
> >
> > 89v1: (total for 89v foldout 5/5/5)
> > > 2 jars    2 rows of plants    2 Paragraphs
> >
> > In the photostat we have two copies of page 89v1
> > > 2 jars    2 rows of plants    2 Paragraphs
> > >
> >
> > > Starting with 95r
> > 99r?
> > > 4 jars    4 rows of plants    4 Paragraphs
> >
> > 99v
> > > 4 jars    4 rows of plants    4 Paragraphs
> >
> > 100r
> > > 2 jars    2 rows of plants    2 Paragraphs
> >
> > 100v (Could be argued that there are 3 rows of
> plants)
> > > 1 jar     1 set of plants     1 Paragraph
> >
> > 101r1/r2 must be combined and there are 3 jars
> (the bottom one follows a
> > couple of plants,
> > so the actual total for both pages is 3 jars/3
> rows of plants/3
> > paragraphs:first para only two lines of text)
> > > 2 jars    2 sets of plants    2 Paragraphs
> >
> > 101v2/v1 combined as title spreads across bottom
> of page
> > > 3 jars    3 rows of plants    3 Paragraphs
> >
> > 102r1
> > > 3 jars    3 rows of plants    3 Paragraphs
> >
> > 102r2
> > > 3 jars    3 rows of plants    3 Paragraphs
> >
> > 102v2
> > > 2 jars    2 rows of plants    2 Paragraphs
> >
> > 102v1
> > > 2 jars    2 rows of plants    2 Paragraphs
> > >