The Voynich manuscript: Symbol roles revisited.

In this article, we employ simple descriptive methods in order to explore the peculiar behavior of the symbols in the Voynich Manuscript. Such an analysis reveals a group of symbols which are further analyzed for the possibility of being compounds (or ligatures), using a specifically developed method. The results suggest the possibility that the alphabet of the manuscript is a lot smaller, and steganographic type of encoding is proposed to explain the newly revealed properties.

Decoding the biological information contained in two ancient Slavonic parchment codices: an added historical value.

This study provides an example in the emerging field of biocodicology showing how metagenomics can help answer relevant questions that may contribute to a better understanding of the history of ancient manuscripts. To this end, two Slavonic codices dating from the 11th century were investigated through shotgun metagenomics. Endogenous DNA enabled to infer the animal origin of the skins used in the manufacture of the two codices, while nucleic sequences recovered from viruses were investigated for the first time in this material, opening up new possibilities in the field of biocodicology. In addition, the microbiomes colonizing the surface of the parchments served to determine their conservation status and their latent risk of deterioration. The saline environment provided by the parchments selected halophilic and halotolerant microorganisms, which are known to be responsible for the biodegradation of parchment. Species of Nocardiopsis, Gracilibacillus and Saccharopolyspora, but also members of the Aspergillaceae family were detected in this study, all possessing enzymatic capabilities for the biodeterioration of this material. Finally, a relative abundance of microorganisms originating from the human skin microbiome were identified, most probably related to the intensive manipulation of the manuscripts throughout the centuries, which should be taken with caution as they can be potential pathogens.

[Nizeivels Miez da Madaschinnas per la Bieschco d'Armontif et porcs: A manuscript from 1748 on veterinary medicine]. / Nizeivels Miez da Madaschinnas per la Bieschco d'Armontif et porcs: Eine tierheilkundliche Schrift aus dem Jahr 1748.

INTRODUCTION: A manuscript from 1748 in Rhaeto-Romanic language is discussed. It's an unfinished translation of a publication in German language from 1715 which contains elements from the standard work on household and agriculture by Johannes Coler, 1645. By comparing the manuscript with 15 contemporary publications and manuscripts from Switzerland, textual similarities were found in three publications. The manuscript contains 62 therapy instructions for cattle diseases and 7 for pig diseases. Remedies of plant origin, food of animal origin and faeces are applied. Various interventions lead to painful injuries of the animals. Most therapies have to be considered as irrational.

INTRODUCTION: On présente un manuscrit en langue romanche datant de l'année 1748. Il s'agit d'une traduction inachevée d'une publication en allemand de 1715. Il contient des éléments de l'ouvrage standard de Johannes Coler, 1645, consacré à la gestion du ménage et à l'agriculture. Une comparaison avec 15 publications et manuscrits contemporains de Suisse montre dans trois publications des similitudes textuelles. Le texte contient 62 instructions thérapeutiques pour les maladies des bovins et sept pour les maladies des porcs. Des remèdes d'origine végétale, des aliments d'origine animale et des matières fécales sont utilisés. Diverses procédures entraînent des blessures douloureuses chez les animaux et de nombreux traitements doivent être décrits comme irrationnels.

Ciencia amanuense: cultura manuscrita e historia natural en la Francia moderna (c. 1660-1830) / Scribal science: manuscript culture and natural history in early modern France (c. 1660-1830)

Si la historia de la ciencia ha pasado las últimas tres décadas desmantelando los mitos de la revolución científica y de la revolución de la imprenta, así como la feliz conjunción de ambas en la Edad Moderna, poca atención ha prestado a una de las sombras arrojadas por tales narrativas modernizadoras: la incontestable pervivencia de una sofisticada cultura manuscrita entre los practicantes del saber en tiempos de la llamada "cultura impresa". Prestaremos aquí atención a algunas prácticas amanuenses en el trabajo de la historia natural, utilizando para ello los ricos fondos del Muséum national d'histoire naturelle en París. Nos centraremos en artefactos manuscritos (diarios, excerptas, catálogos de fichas) e híbridos (herbarios), atendiendo a su función en cuatro gestos clave de la labor del naturalista: observar, leer, clasificar, archivar. Lejos de constituir una práctica secundaria, la creación y manipulación de registros manuscritos se situaba en el corazón de la vasta empresa del conocimiento de la naturaleza entre 1660 y 1830

If the history of science has spent the last three decades dismantling the myths of the scientific revolution and the revolution of print, as well as their happy conjunction in the early modern period, little attention has been paid to one of the shadows cast by those modernizing narratives: the unquestionable persistence of a sophisticated manuscript culture among knowledge practitioners at the time of the so-called "print culture". I will pay attention here to some scribal practices in the work of natural history, drawing from the rich collections of the Muséum national d'histoire naturelle in Paris. I will focus on manuscript artefacts (journals, excerpts, card catalogs) and hybrid artefacts (herbaria), as well as on their function in four key gestures of the naturalist: observing, reading, classifying, archiving. Far from being a practice of secondary importance, creating and handling manuscript records was at the core of the vast enterprise of the knowledge of nature between 1660 and 1830

Visiting Newton's atelier before the Principia, 1679-1684.

The worksheets that presumably contained Newton's early development of the fundamental concepts in his Principia have been lost. A plausible reconstruction of this development is presented based on Newton's exchange of letters with Robert Hooke in 1679, with Edmund Halley in 1686, and on some clues in the diagram associated with Proposition 1 in Book 1 of the Principia that have been ignored in the past. A graphical construction associated with this proposition leads to a rapidly convergent method to obtain orbits for central forces, which elucidates how Newton may have have been led to formulate some of his most fundamental propositions in the Principia.

Missionaries, measles, and manuscripts: revisiting the Whitman tragedy.

The missionaries Marcus Whitman, a doctor, and Narcissa Whitman, his wife, and twelve other members of the Waiilatpu Mission were murdered in November 1847 by a small contingent of the Cayuse Indians in the Oregon Territory. The murders became known as the "Whitman Massacre." The authors examine the historical record, including archived correspondence held at the Yale University Libraries and elsewhere, for evidence of what motivated the killings and demonstrate that there were two valid perspectives, Cayuse and white. Hence, the event is better termed the "Whitman Tragedy." A crucial component, a highly lethal measles epidemic, has been called the spark that lit the fuse of the tragedy.

Revisiting Avicenna's (ad 980-1037) Anatomical Concepts of the Musculoskeletal and Peripheral Nervous Systems in the Canon of Medicine

Avicenna, as he is known in the West, was a famous Persian Muslim physician and influential philosopher-scientist of the medieval Islamic world. He wrote and compiled the Canon of Medicine text, a book which was adopted as the main text of medicine at the most Persian and Western universities. The book consists of basic medical sciences, applied clinical sciences and pharmacology. In the current study, we present an analysis of the anatomy of the musculoskeletal and peripheral nervous systems as viewed by Avicenna in the Canon of Medicine, and compare them with the relevant modern literature.

The Survival of the Frater Medicus? English Friars and Alchemy, ca. 1370-ca. 1425.

This essay reinserts friars into the story of alchemy and medicine in late medieval England. Much of the evidence for the activity of friars, mostly Franciscans, is to be found in a Latin text compiled in 1416-1425, the Tabula medicine. Here friars appear as sources for remedies, and a significant number of these remedies are alchemical. The quintessence found in the writings of John of Rupescissa is used for a variety of medical complaints. Some of the alchemical remedies are selected for closer examination here. These include distillations of human blood which are recommended by brother Robert Winstanton for use in surgery, either to knit flesh together or to cut through it. Natural balsam was in very short supply in Western Europe, though it served as a panacea for multiple ailments. The friars offer a number of different recipes to make artificial balsam, ranging from comparatively simple distillations through to the use of multiple fractional distillations to produce the finest of all balsams. The friars found that distilled waters made with herbs were more effective than herbal simples without distillation in the treatment of many different complaints.

[An Interpretation of the bamboo slips of acupuncture prescriptions excavated from the Han Dynasty Tomb at Laoguanshan].

The bamboo slips of acupuncture prescriptions unearthed from the Han Dynasty Tomb at Laoguanshan include both theoretical elaborations and formulae. Specifications for diagnosis and treatment, standards for needles and a variety of acupuncture techniques are discussed. The 40 acupuncture prescriptions recorded are based on presupposed summaries of theory and experience, rather than empirical formulae. Among them, 28 have needling sites that are maishu (vessel points), with proper names and specific locations. The names of these maishu adopt the pattern of 'the name of the site + the name of one of the three yin and three yang meridians'. Needling numbers are indicated for the majority of the sites of acupuncture stimulation, no matter whether for maishu or for sites at pathological areas. These statements fully embody the distinct characteristics of Bianque acupuncture.

Medical and neuropsychiatric phenomena depicted in two Spanish medieval texts of Marian miracles.

In the history of Christianity, veneration of the Virgin Mary reached its greatest intensity in the XIII century. Her perceived impact on daily life was tremendous and not surprisingly this extended to the spheres of disease and healing. The purpose of this study is to compare the medical and neuropsychiatric findings in two XIII century Spanish texts of Marian miracles, both examples of the popular Catholicism (vs. official catholic doctrine). We analyzed the medical and neuropsychiatric events in the Cantigas de Santa Maria (Canticles of St. Mary, CSM), composed at the court of Alfonso X and the Milagros de Nuestra Señora (The Miracles of Our Lady, MNS), written by Gonzalo de Berceo. Among the 25 miracles reported in the MNS, medically relevant facts were addressed in 19 miracles with a total of 23 recorded events (including resurrection or escape from death in five) and demonic possession in three (one with witchcraft/deicide). The most common medical subjects were ergotism, obstetric-gynecological, sudden death, intellectual disability/illiteracy, encephalopathy/alcohol intoxication, suicide (with self-mutilation/castration), infanticide, infections, and absence of body decomposition after death. The 427 canticles in the CSM contain 270 medically relevant facts. Neuropsychiatric conditions were alluded to in 98 songs. Blindness and dystonia/weakness/deformities were the most common phenomena. Illuminations detailed many of the medical facts in the CSM, but not in the MNS. Medically relevant facts were described in both texts, but with more details in the CSM. Neurological conditions were more often described in the CSM, psychiatric conditions in the MNS.

Astronomy and calendar reform at the curia of Pope Clement VI: a new source.

The article introduces a previously unknown fourteenth-century treatise on computus and calendrical astronomy entitled Expositio kalendarii novi, whose author proposed elaborate solutions to the technical flaws inherent in the calendar used by the Roman Church. An analysis of verbal parallels to other contemporary works on the same topic makes it possible to establish that the Expositio was produced in the context of a calendar reform initiative led by Pope Clement VI in 1344/45 and that this anonymous text is probably identical to a 'great and laborious work' on the calendar that the monk Johannes de Termis prepared for the pope around this time. Its author strove to make an original contribution by extracting new astronomical parameters from both ancient and contemporary data, which made him arrive at an estimate of the length of the tropical year that was independent of the then-current Alfonsine Tables. With its suggestion to remove eleven days from the Julian calendar and to correct the calendar through modified leap-year rhythms and periodically adjusted sequences of lunar epacts, the proposal enshrined in the Expositio exhibits some remarkable similarities to the Gregorian reform of the calendar promulgated in 1582. Although its influence on the latter must remain a matter of speculation, the newly discovered text sheds a revealing light on the history of medieval calendar reform debates and on the mathematical sciences practiced at the Avignon court of Clement VI.

Desvelando el proceso de producción de Les Tumeurs de la Vessiede Joaquín Albarrán 125 años después de su escritura / Revealing the production process of Joaquín Albarrán's Les Tumeurs de la Vessie 125 years after its writing

Objetivo: Investigar cómo Joaquín Albarrán organizó y escribió en 1891 Les Tumeurs de la Vessie, obra impresa por Georges Steinheil en 1892. Material y métodos: Análisis del manuscrito que compila la casuística expuesta en la obra y permite entender su proceso de producción. Se analizan los contenidos del texto, y se pone en evidencia la originalidad y el valor del mismo en el tratado. Resultados: El cuaderno ordena y describe hallazgos histopatológicos realizados personalmente por el autor sobre casos intervenidos o autopsiados en el Hospital Necker entre 1868 y 1891: 28 especímenes numerados de autopsia y 67 identificados por el nombre del paciente (o en su defecto médico, cama y pabellón, y fecha de intervención). El cuaderno contiene también el diseño preliminar de algunas microfotografías impresas en el libro. Se aportan datos histopatológicos sobre la clasificación del cáncer vesical, la vía de extensión linfática, la génesis del cáncer, la heterogeneidad tumoral y algunas descripciones originales (carcinoma epidermoide, nidos de Von Brunn). Otros conceptos clínicos destacados en la obra son la semiología diagnóstica, la evaluación del pronóstico, la extirpación por talla vesical con cierre primario de vejiga y pared abdominal, el papel de la naciente extirpación endoscópica del tumor y el desarrollo experimental de la cistectomía radical con derivación urinaria. Conclusiones: Joaquín Albarrán analizó su experiencia y la de los profesores Reverdin, Guyon y Horteloup. Revisó autopsias y especímenes quirúrgicos de pacientes intervenidos y realizó el estudio histopatológico en cada caso. Se discuten las principales observaciones originales de la obra

Objective: Investigate how in 1891 Joaquín Albarrán organised and wrote his Les Tumeurs de la Vessie, a manuscript printed by Georges Steinheil in 1892. Material and methods: An analysis was conducted of the manuscript that compiles the casuistry set forth in the work, which helps us understand his production process. The contents of the text are analysed, revealing the originality and value of the text in the manuscript. Results: The book describes the author's personal histopathology findings from surgical and autopsied cases in Necker Hospital between 1868 and 1891: 28 numbered autopsy specimens and 67 identified by the patient's name (or, in lieu thereof, the physician's name, bed, ward and date of surgery). The notebook also contains the preliminary design of a number of photomicrographs printed in the book. Histopathology data are provided on the classification of bladder cancer, the pathway of lymphocytic spread, the genesis of cancer, tumoural heterogeneity and a number of original descriptions (squamous cell carcinoma, Von Brunn nests). Other notable clinical concepts include diagnostic symptomatology, prognosis assessment, extirpation by vesical height (with primary closure of the bladder and abdominal wall), the role of nascent endoscopic tumour extirpation and the experimental development of radical cystectomy with urinary diversion. Conclusions: Joaquín Albarrán analysed his experience and that of professors Reverdin, Guyon and Horteloup. He reviewed autopsies and surgical specimens from patients and performed the histopathology study in each case. The main original observations from the work are discussed

Identification of Proteinaceous Binders in Ancient Tripitaka by the Use of an Enzyme-linked Immunosorbent Assay.

Proteinaceous materials, such as ovabumin and collagen, were commonly used as binding media, and as adhesives and protective coatings. However, the identification of ancient proteinaceous binders is a great challenge for archaeologists, due to their limited sample size, complex combinations of various ingredients and reduced availability of the binder during the process of protein degradation. In this paper, an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) provides to be a particularly promising method for the detection of proteinaceous binding materials in ancient relics. The present work focused on the specific identification of proteins in archaeological binders, which was brushed on the Tripitaka. Two samples, the adhesion area (S1) and the ink area (S2), were tested by ELISA. The results showed that both S1 and S2 reacted positively when treated with an anti-collagen-I antibody. It proved the existence of proteinaceous binders in Ancient Tripitaka, and the percentage of collagen in S1 and S2 was 61.44 and 15.4%, respectively. Compared with other conventional techniques, ELISA has advantages of high specificity, sensitivity, rapidity and low cost, making it especially suitable for the protein detection in the archaeological field.

Petrus van Musschenbroek (1692-1761) on the scope of physica ad its place within philosophia / Petrus van Musschenbroek (1692-1761) en el ámbito de la physica y su lugar en la filosofía

As a supplement to John L. Heilbron’s account, I will argue that, although the label ‘experimental physics’ can be rightfully used to describe aspects of Petrus van Musschenbroek’s (1692-1761) work, the latter’s understanding of ‘physica’ is to be situated within a broader framework in which theological, philosophical and teleological considerations continued to play an important role. First, I will draw attention to Musschenbroek’s views on the scope of physica and especially to his conception of a law of nature. It will be shown that by radicalizing certain aspects of Isaac Newton’s methodological ideas van Musschenbroek no longer considered physics as the discipline that uncovered causes from effects, as Newton did, but as the discipline that studies the effects of unknown causes. In addition, I will show that van Musschenbroek endorsed the view that the laws of nature are contingent on God’s free will and that they are knowable due to his goodness. Second, it will be argued that for van Musschenbroek physics, alongside with teleology, had clear physico-theological repercussions. Along the way, van Musschenbroek’s views on the principle of sufficient reason will be discussed for the first time (AU)

Como complemento al relato de John L. Heilbron, argumentaré que aunque la etiqueta ‘física experimental’ se puede usar legítimamente para describir algunos aspectos de la obra de Petrus van Musschenbroek (1692-1761), la comprensión de la ‘physica’ de este último se ha de entender dentro de un marco más amplio en el que las consideraciones teológicas, filosóficas, y teleológicas continuaron desempeñando una función importante. En primer lugar, me centraré en la concepción de van Musschenbroek en el ámbito de la ‘physica’ y en especial en su concepto de una ley de la naturaleza. Se verá que, al radicalizar algunos aspectos de las ideas metodológicas de Isaac Newton, van Musschenbroek ya no se considera la física como la disciplina que descubre las causas de efectos, como hizo Newton, sino como la disciplina que estudia los efectos de causas desconocidas. Además, se verá que van Musschenbroek pensaba que las leyes de la naturaleza están supeditadas a la libre voluntad de Dios y que son cognoscibles debido a la bondad de Dios. En segundo lugar, argumentaré que para van Musschenbroek la física, junto con la teleología, tenía claras repercusiones físico-teológicas. En el camino, por primera vez discutirá su posición en relación con el principio de razón suficiente (AU)

Lucien Cuénot, Richard Goldschmidt y Miquel Crusafont Pairó / Lucien Cuénot, Richard Goldschmidt and Miquel Crusafont Pairó

Se analiza un texto inédito de Miquel Crusafont Pairó, correspondiente a comunicación que llevó a cabo en la Fundació Bosch i Cardellach, sobre la necrológica de Lucien Cuénot publicada por Richard Goldschmidt. La comunicación es un fuerte ataque a Goldschmidt por sus críticas a la deriva teleológica de Cuénot en los últimos años de su vida (AU)

An unpublished text, corresponding to a communication done by Crusafont Pairó is analysed. The communication is strongly critical with Cuénot’s necrology published previously by Goldschmidt, where he regrets the teleological ideas on evolution that Cuénot maintained in the last years of his life (AU)