I would like to see if your theory can address the following
two points:
1) I have always thought that a herbal or a book on
medicines would contain stereotyped phrases such as "pick the flowers in the
dark of the moon" or "steep in boiling water for half an hour". The VMS
does not, afaik, contain such repeated phrases
2) if this book were the
personal creation of a single medieval physician/scientist/scholar, why was
there so much effort spent on right-justifying the manuscript
lines?
1) If
this is in cipher as some of us believe, you wouldn't be able to know
that there are repeating phrases until you solve the thing. (Well,
that's not precisely true, but I don't know anyone who's done pattern
recognition tests on the VMS.)
2)
I question the very basis of your question
here. The VMS right justification, while noticeable, is nothing as
precise as that exhibited in many medieval manuscripts. If this author
were schooled in penmanship or worked someplace that placed a high priority on
right justification, it certainly doesn't show in this manuscript. We
can say that an attempt was made, but if you view many of the medieval
manuscripts on line that are right justified, you'll see that their ruling and
accuracy are far more professional that the VMS lines. If this were the
author's intent, his efforts were amateurish.
GC