Catalogue of Gaelic Manuscripts in the National Library of Scotland
© Ronald Black, 2011
Adv. MS 72.1.10
(Gaelic MS X). MEDICAL.
Mackinnon, p.26; Mackechnie, p.146.
?15th cent. Vellum. 10 ff. Large folio, 37 × 26 cms. Complete gathering, bound by thongs. The text is the most popular of the medical tracts, judging from the frequency with which parts of it appear in these manuscripts: a commentary on the Aphorisms of Hippocrates. The text-hand, crabbed in appearance, is generically similar to hand 75 of Adv.MS.72.1.2. In two columns. Capitals coloured red, but much of the pigment has dissolved and spread. A preliminary sketch has been made for a decorative initial at f. 3r. Careless trimming has caused textual loss at the top of ff. 1–2. At 2r the missing matter is supplied in the bottom margin, parts of it two or three times. Here and at 2v, 3r and 5v emendations appear in two or three hands distinct from that of the text; one is the hand of Adv.MS.72.1.14, ff. 1–8, which jots a remark about a Mac Maol-tuile at Adv.MS.72.1.26, f. 7r. At 6v a very large hand copies the words “& an teas”. It reappears at Adv.MS.72.1.14, ff. 11r and 12r, and Adv.MS.84.1.18, ff. 2v, 5r. At f. 9v, in a hand akin to one at Adv.MS.72.1.13, f. 28, is a charm consisting of symbols in three short lines with the words “Denamh croinnoghim ann so 7 a dhenamh ar seilbh in duine …..” Condition: bad. Most of the top corners are perished, apparently by the action of rodents, causing further textual loss. The manuscript was at one time folded in two, and the front, centre-opening and back have particularly suffered from rubbing and staining. Not numbered by Major MacLachlan, not listed in Mackintosh’s catalogue. Numbered 6 by Hugh Kerr, whose name or initials appear on most leaves. There is a photograph of part of 3r.b in CMJ (New Ser.) 6, follg. p.40, and in Comrie’s History of Scottish Medicine 1, p.98. Foliation modern.
f.
1r.a1 “Est auc……bon……huius libri plurimum sit apud unum quemque medicum et in meamoria eiuis. Amail adeir Ipocraid in Libro Epitimiarum go cudruma na briathra so .i. Righ Arbum Prindsa Aboali, et do raidh fos Haili andsa cead leabur don Teagusc Righa as maith as maith do gach aen arse in leabhur so Ipocraid do beith gu dearrdeach as grind a hoctha 7 a inntleachta. Et gach ni tindsgainthear a n-ainm Dhia as dingbhmhailta a crichnugud gu foirbhfi ose fein as adhbur do gach ni 7 as eochair tharbhach do gach oibriugud 7 slighi gacha dochais 7 crich gacha deag oibrighi 7 gacha toiraidh”.
1r.a15 On Hippocrates, his medical contemporaries and successors. Beg.In nomine Dei misercordia .i. a n-ainm Dia throchairi trocairi tindsgainthear an leabursa dara hainm Amprismorum 7 tuig leat gu rabadar tri haicmedha a n-aimsir Ipocraid risin leigheas.
1r.a37 On APHORISMS of Hippocrates. Beg. (V)ita brevis ars verro verro longa teampir autem acutum experimeantum, i.e. book 1, no.1. Ends incomplete “In acutis pasionibus raro et in principis farmaciis uti et hec prius bene di indicantes facere .i. As ed adeir Ipocraid as annamh dlegar an folmugud do tabairt a tosach na n-easlainte ngeara 7 da tucthar”, i.e. book 1, no.24. Authorities cited: Avicenna, Aristotle, Galen, Hali, Damascenus, Averroes, Isaac, Isidore, Rhazes, Thaddeus of Bologna (3r.a32), Serapion, Theophilus (6r.a8), Ostracus (6r.a8), Iohanisius (6v.b7), Iohannes Hispolensis (7r.a34), Constantinus (9r.a24), Geraldus de Solo (9v.b40), Iohannes de Sancto Amando (9v.b41). At 1v.a i is a brief summary of the contents of the seven books; these are found, more or less complete, in this and other Advocates’ manuscripts as follows.
Book 1, nos.1–24: Adv.MS.72.1.10.
Book 2, nos.18–25: Adv.MS.72.1.13, ff. 25–6.
Book 2, nos.24–40: Adv.MS.72.1.14, ff. 1–8.
Book 2, no.26 – book 3, no.6: Adv.MS.72.1.14, ff. 9–16.
Book 2, nos.34–41: Adv.MS.72.1.13, ff. 27–8.
Book 3, no.12 – book 7, no.61: Adv.MS.72.2.10, pp.1–56. (Abridged version.)
Book 4, no.1 – book 7, no.60: Adv.MS.18.2.11, ff. 140–70.
Book 5, no.51 – book 6, no.9: Adv.MS.72.1.21.
Book 7, nos.1–60: Adv.MS.72.1.11.