Chapter 94

[3031]For these works see Berthelot (1893), III, or Lippmann (1919), who follows him. I have not had access to E. Wiedemann,Zur Chemie bei den Arabern, inSitzungsberichte der physikalisch-medizinischen Societät in Erlangen, XLIII (1911); and hisDie Alchemie bei den Arabern, inJournal für praktische Chemie, LXXVI (1907), 85-87, 105-23.[3032]The full title is “Compositiones ad tingenda musiva, pelles et alia, ad deaurandum ferrum, ad mineralia, ad chrysographiam, ad glutina quaedam conficienda, aliaque artium documenta.” The MS, Bibliotheca capituli canonicorum Lucensium, Arm. I, Cod. L, was printed in Muratori,Antiquitates Italicae, II (1739), 364-87. It is described by Berthelot (1893), I, 7-22, whose comparison of it with previous treatises I follow.[3033]Berthelot (1888), I, 12, note.[3034]Text and some discussion thereof inArchaeologia, XXXII (1847), 183-244. Analyzed by Berthelot (1893), I, 23-65. On the Schlestadt MS of the 10th century, see Giry inBibliothèque de l’École des Hautes Études, XXXV (1878), 209-27.[3035]See recipes 105-93.[3036]Berthelot (1893), I, 57.[3037]Ibid., 61. Others, however, would trace the discovery of alcohol back to Hippolytus. See above, p. 468.[3038]“Accipies ad experimentum donec primitus discas non multum cum semel facias.”[3039]“Absconde sanctum et nulli tradendum secretum neque alicui dederis propheta.”[3040]Berthelot (1893), I, 303-4.[3041]Item 265.[3042]Item 290.[3043]Item 289.[3044]De coloribus et artibus Romanorum, I, iv. I have somewhat altered Mrs. Merrifield’s translation (I, 186).[3045]Ibid., I, xi; Mrs. Merrifield (1849), I, 189-91.[3046]Ibid., I, xii:“Sed vim cristalli cruor antea temperet hirciSanguis enim facilem ferro facit his adamantem.”Mrs. Merrifield (I, 194) has incorrectly rendered this passage, “But let the blood of a goat first temper it, for this blood makes the iron so hard that even adamant is soft compared to it.” What Heraclius says is,“But first let the blood of a he-goat temper the force of the crystal,For this blood makes adamant soft to the iron.”[3047]Schedula diversarum artium, III, 98.[3048]Ibid., III, 94.[3049]Ibid., III, 21.[3050]Berthelot (1893), I, 63. His French translation omits some of the Latin text as published inArchaeologia, cap. 288.[3051]“Cardan’s concentric circles,” according to Berthelot (1893), I, 64.[3052]Berthelot (1893), I, 55.[3053]II, prologus (closing passage). “Huius ergo imitator desiderans fore, apprehendi atrium agiae Sophiae conspicorque cellulam diversorum colorum omnimodo varietate refertam et monstrantem singulorum utilitatem ac naturam. Quo mox inobservato pede ingressus, replevi armariolum cordis mei sufficienter ex omnibus, quae diligenti experientia sigillatim perscrutatus, cuncta visu manibusque probata satis lucide tuo studio commendavi absque invidia. Verum quoniam huiusmodi picturae usus perspicax non valet esse, quasi curiosus explorator omnibus modis elaboravi cognoscere, quo artis ingenio et colorum varietas opus decoraret, et lucem diei solisque radios non repelleret. Huic exercitio dans operam vitri naturam comprehendo, eiusque solius usu et varietate id effici posse considero, quod artificium, sicut visum et auditum didici, studio tuo indagare curavi.” Ilg’s Latin text (1874).[3054]III, 47.[3055]I have followed Ilg’s rather than Hendrie’s text; III, 48.[3056]Hendrie (1847), pp. 432-3.[3057]Ernst von Meyer,History of Chemistry, 1906.[3058]Migne, PL 146, 583-4. Some accused the bishop of resort to magic arts:Ibid., 606.[3059]W. Stubbs, in RS LXIII, p. cix. C. L. Barnes,Science in Early England, in Smithsonian Report for 1895, p. 732. Of the alchemy ascribed to Dunstan, Elias Ashmole remarked in hisTheatrum Chemicum Britannicum, 1652, “He who shall have the happiness to meet with St. Dunstan’s workDe occulta philosophia... may therein read such stories as will make him amazed to think what stupendous and immense things are to be performed by virtue of the Philosopher’s Mercury, of which a taste only and no more.”[3060]Berthelot (1893), I, 234.[3061]Karpinski (1915), pp. 26-30; Haskins, EHR, XXX (1915), 62-5.[3062]Berlin 956, 12th century, “Hic incipit alchamia. Accipe CCCC ova gauline que generata sunt et facta in mense martii .../ ... ut recentiora sint semper et calidiora. Explicit alchamia.” The titles of the last three chapters are, “de iiii ollis, de cognitione, de observatione stestarum.” I have not seen the MS but follow Rose’s description in the Berlin MSS catalogue.[3063]I have used the edition of Marbod’s poems in Migne, PL vol. 171, which also contains a life of Marbod. Two secondary accounts of Marbod are C. Ferry,De Marbodi Rhedonensis Episcopi vita et carminibus, Nemansi, 1877; L. V. E. Ernault,Marbode, Évêque de Rennes, Sa vie et ses Œuvres, inBull. et Mém. de la Société Archéologique du dept. d’Ille-et-Vilaine, XX, 1-260, Rennes, 1889. See also V. Rose,Aristoteles De Lapidibus und Arnoldus Saxo, inZeitsch. f. deutsches Alterthum, XVIII (1875), p. 321,et seq.; L. Pannier,Les lapidaires français du moyen âge, Paris, 1882. C. W. King,The Natural History, Ancient and Modern, of Precious Stones and Gems, London, 1865.[3064]CLM 23479, 11th century, fols. 4-10, Carmina de lapidibus eadem quae Marbodo tribuuntur sed alio ordine. Of CUL 768, 15th century, fols. 67-80, “Marbodi liber lapidum,” the Catalogue says, “This Latin poem has been often printed but it does not appear that the editors have collated this MS. The order of the sections is different from all those of which Beckmann speaks in his edition (Göttingen, 1799), answering, however, most nearly to his own.”[3065]The full name of Tiberius was, of course, Tiberius Claudius Nero Caesar.[3066]Library of Dukes of Burgundy 8890, 12th century, Evacis regis. BN 2621, 12th and 15th centuries, #6, Poemation de gemmis cuius author dicitur Evax, Rex Arabiae.Montpellier 277, Liber lapidum preciosorum Evax rex Arabum.Riccard. 1228, 12th century, fols. 41-54; Incipit prologus Evacis regis Arabie ad Neronem Tyberium de lapidibus. Incipit lapidarius Evacis habens nomina gemmarum lx.BL Hatton 76 contains two letters of Evax, king of the Arabs, to Tiberius Caesar, on the virtues of stones, according to Cockayne (1864), I, xc and lxxxiv.[3067]Printed by J. B. Pitra, III (1855), 324-35.[3068]BN 7418, 14th century, fol. 116-, (D)amigeronis peritissimi de lapidibus. Since this is the sole MS known of the prose version (Rose, 1875, p. 326) and is of the 14th century, whereas we have numerous early MSS of Marbod’s poem, it would seem that this may be derived from Marbod rather than even from the earlier and fuller work which he is supposed to have used.[3069]Namely, Leo, Cancer, Aries, Sagittarius, Taurus, Virgo, and Capricorn.[3070]See page 775, note 2.[3071]King (1865), p. 7; Rose (1875), p. 335.[3072]Ferry (1887), p. 69.[3073]NH XXXVI, 56. Pliny, however, makes these statements about chelonia and not chelonitis which follows it.[3074]The stones which I have taken as examples are numbers 1, 3, 5, 18, 19, 39, and 57 respectively.[3075]See above, chapter 29, page 689.

[3032]The full title is “Compositiones ad tingenda musiva, pelles et alia, ad deaurandum ferrum, ad mineralia, ad chrysographiam, ad glutina quaedam conficienda, aliaque artium documenta.” The MS, Bibliotheca capituli canonicorum Lucensium, Arm. I, Cod. L, was printed in Muratori,Antiquitates Italicae, II (1739), 364-87. It is described by Berthelot (1893), I, 7-22, whose comparison of it with previous treatises I follow.

[3033]Berthelot (1888), I, 12, note.

[3034]Text and some discussion thereof inArchaeologia, XXXII (1847), 183-244. Analyzed by Berthelot (1893), I, 23-65. On the Schlestadt MS of the 10th century, see Giry inBibliothèque de l’École des Hautes Études, XXXV (1878), 209-27.

[3035]See recipes 105-93.

[3036]Berthelot (1893), I, 57.

[3037]Ibid., 61. Others, however, would trace the discovery of alcohol back to Hippolytus. See above, p. 468.

[3038]“Accipies ad experimentum donec primitus discas non multum cum semel facias.”

[3039]“Absconde sanctum et nulli tradendum secretum neque alicui dederis propheta.”

[3040]Berthelot (1893), I, 303-4.

[3041]Item 265.

[3042]Item 290.

[3043]Item 289.

[3044]De coloribus et artibus Romanorum, I, iv. I have somewhat altered Mrs. Merrifield’s translation (I, 186).

[3045]Ibid., I, xi; Mrs. Merrifield (1849), I, 189-91.

[3046]Ibid., I, xii:“Sed vim cristalli cruor antea temperet hirciSanguis enim facilem ferro facit his adamantem.”Mrs. Merrifield (I, 194) has incorrectly rendered this passage, “But let the blood of a goat first temper it, for this blood makes the iron so hard that even adamant is soft compared to it.” What Heraclius says is,“But first let the blood of a he-goat temper the force of the crystal,For this blood makes adamant soft to the iron.”

[3046]Ibid., I, xii:

“Sed vim cristalli cruor antea temperet hirciSanguis enim facilem ferro facit his adamantem.”

“Sed vim cristalli cruor antea temperet hirci

Sanguis enim facilem ferro facit his adamantem.”

Mrs. Merrifield (I, 194) has incorrectly rendered this passage, “But let the blood of a goat first temper it, for this blood makes the iron so hard that even adamant is soft compared to it.” What Heraclius says is,

“But first let the blood of a he-goat temper the force of the crystal,For this blood makes adamant soft to the iron.”

“But first let the blood of a he-goat temper the force of the crystal,

For this blood makes adamant soft to the iron.”

[3047]Schedula diversarum artium, III, 98.

[3048]Ibid., III, 94.

[3049]Ibid., III, 21.

[3050]Berthelot (1893), I, 63. His French translation omits some of the Latin text as published inArchaeologia, cap. 288.

[3051]“Cardan’s concentric circles,” according to Berthelot (1893), I, 64.

[3052]Berthelot (1893), I, 55.

[3053]II, prologus (closing passage). “Huius ergo imitator desiderans fore, apprehendi atrium agiae Sophiae conspicorque cellulam diversorum colorum omnimodo varietate refertam et monstrantem singulorum utilitatem ac naturam. Quo mox inobservato pede ingressus, replevi armariolum cordis mei sufficienter ex omnibus, quae diligenti experientia sigillatim perscrutatus, cuncta visu manibusque probata satis lucide tuo studio commendavi absque invidia. Verum quoniam huiusmodi picturae usus perspicax non valet esse, quasi curiosus explorator omnibus modis elaboravi cognoscere, quo artis ingenio et colorum varietas opus decoraret, et lucem diei solisque radios non repelleret. Huic exercitio dans operam vitri naturam comprehendo, eiusque solius usu et varietate id effici posse considero, quod artificium, sicut visum et auditum didici, studio tuo indagare curavi.” Ilg’s Latin text (1874).

[3054]III, 47.

[3055]I have followed Ilg’s rather than Hendrie’s text; III, 48.

[3056]Hendrie (1847), pp. 432-3.

[3057]Ernst von Meyer,History of Chemistry, 1906.

[3058]Migne, PL 146, 583-4. Some accused the bishop of resort to magic arts:Ibid., 606.

[3059]W. Stubbs, in RS LXIII, p. cix. C. L. Barnes,Science in Early England, in Smithsonian Report for 1895, p. 732. Of the alchemy ascribed to Dunstan, Elias Ashmole remarked in hisTheatrum Chemicum Britannicum, 1652, “He who shall have the happiness to meet with St. Dunstan’s workDe occulta philosophia... may therein read such stories as will make him amazed to think what stupendous and immense things are to be performed by virtue of the Philosopher’s Mercury, of which a taste only and no more.”

[3060]Berthelot (1893), I, 234.

[3061]Karpinski (1915), pp. 26-30; Haskins, EHR, XXX (1915), 62-5.

[3062]Berlin 956, 12th century, “Hic incipit alchamia. Accipe CCCC ova gauline que generata sunt et facta in mense martii .../ ... ut recentiora sint semper et calidiora. Explicit alchamia.” The titles of the last three chapters are, “de iiii ollis, de cognitione, de observatione stestarum.” I have not seen the MS but follow Rose’s description in the Berlin MSS catalogue.

[3063]I have used the edition of Marbod’s poems in Migne, PL vol. 171, which also contains a life of Marbod. Two secondary accounts of Marbod are C. Ferry,De Marbodi Rhedonensis Episcopi vita et carminibus, Nemansi, 1877; L. V. E. Ernault,Marbode, Évêque de Rennes, Sa vie et ses Œuvres, inBull. et Mém. de la Société Archéologique du dept. d’Ille-et-Vilaine, XX, 1-260, Rennes, 1889. See also V. Rose,Aristoteles De Lapidibus und Arnoldus Saxo, inZeitsch. f. deutsches Alterthum, XVIII (1875), p. 321,et seq.; L. Pannier,Les lapidaires français du moyen âge, Paris, 1882. C. W. King,The Natural History, Ancient and Modern, of Precious Stones and Gems, London, 1865.

[3064]CLM 23479, 11th century, fols. 4-10, Carmina de lapidibus eadem quae Marbodo tribuuntur sed alio ordine. Of CUL 768, 15th century, fols. 67-80, “Marbodi liber lapidum,” the Catalogue says, “This Latin poem has been often printed but it does not appear that the editors have collated this MS. The order of the sections is different from all those of which Beckmann speaks in his edition (Göttingen, 1799), answering, however, most nearly to his own.”

[3065]The full name of Tiberius was, of course, Tiberius Claudius Nero Caesar.

[3066]Library of Dukes of Burgundy 8890, 12th century, Evacis regis. BN 2621, 12th and 15th centuries, #6, Poemation de gemmis cuius author dicitur Evax, Rex Arabiae.Montpellier 277, Liber lapidum preciosorum Evax rex Arabum.Riccard. 1228, 12th century, fols. 41-54; Incipit prologus Evacis regis Arabie ad Neronem Tyberium de lapidibus. Incipit lapidarius Evacis habens nomina gemmarum lx.BL Hatton 76 contains two letters of Evax, king of the Arabs, to Tiberius Caesar, on the virtues of stones, according to Cockayne (1864), I, xc and lxxxiv.

[3066]Library of Dukes of Burgundy 8890, 12th century, Evacis regis. BN 2621, 12th and 15th centuries, #6, Poemation de gemmis cuius author dicitur Evax, Rex Arabiae.

Montpellier 277, Liber lapidum preciosorum Evax rex Arabum.

Riccard. 1228, 12th century, fols. 41-54; Incipit prologus Evacis regis Arabie ad Neronem Tyberium de lapidibus. Incipit lapidarius Evacis habens nomina gemmarum lx.

BL Hatton 76 contains two letters of Evax, king of the Arabs, to Tiberius Caesar, on the virtues of stones, according to Cockayne (1864), I, xc and lxxxiv.

[3067]Printed by J. B. Pitra, III (1855), 324-35.

[3068]BN 7418, 14th century, fol. 116-, (D)amigeronis peritissimi de lapidibus. Since this is the sole MS known of the prose version (Rose, 1875, p. 326) and is of the 14th century, whereas we have numerous early MSS of Marbod’s poem, it would seem that this may be derived from Marbod rather than even from the earlier and fuller work which he is supposed to have used.

[3069]Namely, Leo, Cancer, Aries, Sagittarius, Taurus, Virgo, and Capricorn.

[3070]See page 775, note 2.

[3071]King (1865), p. 7; Rose (1875), p. 335.

[3072]Ferry (1887), p. 69.

[3073]NH XXXVI, 56. Pliny, however, makes these statements about chelonia and not chelonitis which follows it.

[3074]The stones which I have taken as examples are numbers 1, 3, 5, 18, 19, 39, and 57 respectively.

[3075]See above, chapter 29, page 689.

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