RE: VMS -- Botany - Vascular Bundles

["GC" <glenclaston@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

AS a point of clarification, books that correspond
to the pharmaceutical section were termed
"antidotaries", as opposed to "herbals".  Some
herbals contained antidotary sections, and some
were written separate from the herbals, the
herbals usually dealing only with the effects of a
single plant and not a preparation of several.

The Biological Section -
I am not totally sold that this section is
biological, since there are figures of a castle,
the sun, what could be clouds, fields of stars in
a spire (the sun's movement is spoken of as being
a spire), one circle with a 13 point "leaf", with
light and dark sides, indicative of the golden
number and the movement of the moon.  There is
also a drawing of the moon and another 7 point
"leaf", also an astronomical number in
pre-Copernican astronomy.

Around the castle are drawings that may be
interpreted as clouds, the element of air, the
castle standing on earth, another element, as well
as the star spire, the celestial influence, etc.,
odd things to show up in a biological drawing.

I am at once reminded of the transferance of
celestial influences, known as "fluxes", akin to
the fluxes of the body.  The drawings of the sun
and the moon are "venting" their fluxes to the
connected circles, and each one in turn is "piped"
to the next.  This strange page is immediately
followed by two drawings, one of the sun and one
of the moon.  IF this represents a continuation of
the same thought, then the preceding pages are
probably more representative of astrological
influence than biology.

I am the first to admit I haven't yet fully
grasped the astrology of the time, but I am moved
by books that treat the cause of the pestilence
and major diseases as being from celestial
influences, drawing the pestilence up from the
deep, out of the earth, or causing a spontaneous
creation of the plague in the air under certain
conditions.  I wonder that these drawings are not
an attempt at demonstrating the complex
interaction of these influences.  IF the items in
the once central circle surrounded by 8 smaller
circles are jars or mixtures, then this page would
be about the celestial influence on the
preparation of antidotaries.  Also, the use of
birds as representations of "fluxes" might have
something to do with the "airy" quality of the
fluxes.

These pages are clearly open to interpretation,
and this is simply one interpretation.  It's just
difficult for me to understand the presence or
meaning of a castle in a biological drawing.

GC


-----Original Message-----
From: Dana Scott [mailto:dfscott@xxxxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Sunday, February 17, 2002 11:01 PM
To: voynich@xxxxxxxx; AFScott@xxxxxxx
Subject: VMS -- Botany - Vascular Bundles


Having an interest in Biology, I just want to
point out what comes to
mind when viewing the foldout pages with the 9
inteconnected mandalas
and castle. When examining the top left and
central medallions in
particular, I am reminded of  biological drawings
and cross sections
such as the following:

Root cross section:
http://pc65.frontier.osrhe.edu/hs/science/rootcros
...jpg

Monocot/Dicot Roots:
http://gened.emc.maricopa.edu/Bio/bio181/BIOBK/roo
tstr.gif
http://tidepool.st.usm.edu/crswr/monovsdiroot.html

Additional Cross Sections:
http://www.pickens.k12.sc.us/phsteachers/edmunds/r
anunculus%20root1.jpg
http://www.hcs.ohio-state.edu/hcs200/images/stems&;
roots/monru.jpg
http://www.hcs.ohio-state.edu/hcs200/images/stems&;
roots/ragwst.jpg
http://www.hcs.ohio-state.edu/hcs200/images/stems&;
roots/zeast.jpg

At this point it is nothing more than a passing
observation. There are
of course major questions to be answered if there
really is a
correlation, including magnification apparatus,
staining techniques,
and some sort of slide preparation. There is
certainly a lot more in the
VMS that needs to be deciphered before going any
further down this path.

Regards,
Dana Scott