Translated from Latin by Cormac Mac Duinnshléibhe
Translated from Irish by H. Cameron Gillies
Electronic edition compiled by Ruth Murphy, Beatrix Färber
Funded by University College, Cork and
Professor Marianne McDonald via the CELT Project, formerly CURIA
2. Second draft.
Extent of text: 37610 words
Distributed by CELT online at University College, Cork, Ireland.
Text ID Number: G600010
Availability [RESTRICTED]
Available with prior consent of the CELT project for purposes of academic research and teaching only.
CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts
The present text represents pages 1–82 of the volume: Introduction 1-16; Plates [unnumbered] and Transliterated Texts: Regimen Sanitatis, 17.1-30.7; on cupping, 30.8-23; dosage symbols, 30.24; Capsula Eburnea, 30.25-z (with text continuing at col. 29.1-2, printed below plate [f. 15r]); definition of strangury, col. 29.3-5 (printed below plate [f. 15r]); Translations: Regimen Sanitatis, [31]-53.27; on cupping, 53.28-54.16; dosage symbols, 54.17; Capsula Eburnea, 54.18-55.9; definition of strangury, 55.10-12; Miscellaneous notes: to passage on cupping, 55.13-17; to Capsula Eburnea, 55.18-57.31; regarding note at Introduction [pp. 3.28-4.2], 57.32-58.z; Main notes: to Regimen Sanitatis, 59-81.17; to passage on cupping, 81.18-21; to Capsula Eburnea, 81.22-82.3; Further notes 82.4–z. Notes are integrated into the electronic text as footnotes, including a reading by Standish Hayes O'Grady. The column numbering is taken from the printed edition.
As Professor Aoibheann Nic Dhonnchadh points out, 'Gillies mentions the first post-script and the second post-script, viz. the tract on cupping, and the Capsula Eburnea. He translates the line on dosage but says no more about it [...] His 'post-scripts' comprise four independent texts, viz. [a] an anonymous treatise on cupping, f. 14va11-b3; [b] three dosage symbols, f. 14vb4; [c] Capsula Eburnea (incomplete), f. 14vb5-15ra2; [d] a definition of strangury [from Bernard of Gordon, 'Lilium medicine', bk 6.14], f. 15ra3-6.'
Text has been checked and proofread twice. All corrections and supplied text are tagged.
The electronic text represents the edited text. Text supplied by the editor is marked sup resp="HCG". Where the transliteration in the electronic edition was edited for consistency's sake, this is tagged reg orig="", with the original retained in the orig attribute.
Quotation marks are rendered q.
Soft hyphens are silently removed. Words containing a hard or soft hyphen crossing a page-break have been placed on the line on which they start. Notae augentes -sa, -se, -si have been hyphenated off.
div0=the tract; div1=the text; paragraphs and page-breaks are marked; milestones are marked mls unit="MS page/column" n="n/n". The foreword and the introductions are contained in the front matter, outside the div0.
Dates are not tagged.
Names of persons are tagged as name type="person" and capitalized. The reg attribute of the name tag contains a regularized form of the name to facilitate searching.
This text uses the DIV1 element to represent the Section.
Created: This version was copied by Aodh Ó Cendamhain from earlier materials. (1563)
Beatrix Färber (ed.)
Beatrix Färber (ed.)
Beatrix Färber (ed.)
Beatrix Färber (ed.)
Beatrix Färber (ed.)
Beatrix Färber (ed.)
Beatrix Färber (ed.)
Beatrix Färber (ed.)
Julianne Nyhan (ed.)
Peter Flynn (ed.)
Beatrix Färber (ed.)
Beatrix Färber (ed.)
Ruth Murphy (ed.)
Pádraig Bambury (ed.)
This digital edition of the Regimen Sanitatis, edited by H. Cameron Gillies, and published 1911 by Glasgow University Press, is the first Irish medical text published by the Corpus of Electronic Texts (CELT) on the Internet.
It is based on British Library MS Add. 15582 and was copied in 1563 by Aodh Ó Cendamhain whose scribal signature is on f. 11rbz. Professor Aoibheann Nic Dhonnchadh has pointed out to me that 'there were at least three scribes, Aodh Ó Cendamain, Cairbre, and Daibhí Ó Cearnaigh', and that there is no certainty if Aodh copied the whole text, until the distribution of MS hands is re-examined again.
Gillies' edition was chosen for various reasons: It touches on the interconnections between the Gaelic world of Ireland and Scotland with continental science and scholarship in that pivotal transition period from the late Middle Ages to the emerging Renaissance. It throws light on the process of transmitting, translating and adapting Latin medical tracts into a West European vernacular, undertaken by hereditary physicians from medical schools. It is of interest for the social history of the era, of great interest for lexicography, and it is one of the few edited texts of this vast manuscript body. Moreover, Gillies' edition is in the public domain.
In the printed edition, Gillies' transliteration is accompanied by reproductions of the MS, described by him as ‘quite legible’ (p. 1). There are no digital images of this MS available yet, but digital images of a late 15th century or early 16th century vellum manuscript containing the same text, National Library of Ireland G 12, are available on the ISOS Project website: http://www.isos.dcu.ie/nli/home.html).
In preparing the edition, our intention has been to make the major part of the text available, including introduction, transliteration, translation, and editor's notes. The /SGML/XML master file contains structural and content encoding (regularized forms, corrections, deletions, etc.). From the master document a number of smaller files and a single file containing the whole text in HTML format are derived for display in web browsers. The single HTML file contains markedly less encoding than the master file. The HTML file is the basis for the plaintext format, which in turn is stripped of all encoding and notes. There is a small number of Greek characters and apothecaries' symbols, such as 'ounce', 'dragma' and 'scruple' which, regrettably, are not supported yet and cannot be displayed.
CELT is switching from SGML to XML as its markup language. There are far-reaching implications for text processing and display quality:
(1) XML supports all unicode characters; (2) conversion of text to static HTML versions, and the related loss of encoded information will be a thing of the past. The XML master file will be underlying source for creating HTML files 'on the fly' each time a page is loaded in the browser. An XSLT stylesheet acts as intervening instance controlling the manner in which the underlying information is transformed into HTML. It is possible, with multiple XSLT stylesheets for the same master document, to create customised HTML versions, for instance one showing the transcribed text, and another showing the edited text. In the case of variant readings (which we do not have for this edition) there could be an XSLT stylesheet showing the different readings of each manuscript separately.
The transliteration was left as it is apart from slight editorial changes. These include capitalizing proper names, and providing regularized name forms using the reg attribute inside the name markup for easier searching.
Gillies' rendering of expressions such as 'dothabhairt', 'gominic', 'afhis', 'intan', etc. was brought in line with general usage by writing them separately. The forms used by Gillies in the edition are retained in the master file in the 'reg' (regularization) tag which has an 'orig' (original) attribute: reg orig="gominic"go minic/reg. An unexpected difficulty presented itself in cases where his rendering in the orig tag differed from the MS original, whether through MS misreadings or typographical errors.
Gillies' remarks on letters marked by the 'punctum delens', and his notes dealing with textual emendations are integrated into the encoding. His other notes are integrated into the main text, and displayed as popup windows in the HTML file (such as the note to col. 17 l. 32; col. 20 l. 9, l. 24; col. 26 l. 31). A few notes not containing relevant material were omitted, such as col. 19 l. 9, col. 17, l. 26; and 'Further Notes' under col. 29.) Readers will note that the spelling of words and phrases in the notes sometimes differs from that shown in the transliteration: such as col.7 t'singcoipis(n) — tshingcoipis(t); col.8 fundamínt(n) — fundamint(t); col.9 caindighect na nithead(n) — caindighecht na neithead(t); col.10 linadh tadhbais(n) — línadh tadhbais(t), foirbhearteos, to name but a few. Overall, he tends to expand the many MS abbreviations of the Early Modern Irish manuscript in the Scottish Gaelic manner.
In cross-references within his notes, he refers to column and line of the manuscript. Since the digital edition allows text search, this should not present any problem.
Gillies himself calls his translation 'stilted', but very literal, as ‘the diction of the old medical Empirics [...] is [...] in concept wholly unintelligible to the mind of the present day’ (13) and he perceives an ‘immeasurable and irreconcileable difference between the Gaelic and the English idioms’ (14). His aim has been ‘to conserve as much of the flavour of the original’ (14) as possible.
Finally it is my pleasure to record my thanks to Professor Aoibheann Nic Dhonnchadh from the School of Celtic Studies, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, for reading the SGML file, and for her generous and invaluable help in correcting errors, and offering suggestions to improve this edition.
Beatrix Färber, CELT
This tract Regimen Sanitatis or the Rule of Health is from a Gaelic Medical Manuscript which I found at the British Museum. The MS. (catalogued as Add. 15582) consists of sixty-two vellum folios, the same size as is here reproduced. The cover is skin-covered board ornamented by simple straight-line devices. The front board has two sides of the original pair of silver clasps still attached, the other parts are wanting. The vellum is in a very fair state of preservation, and the writing, as may be seen from the photographic reproduction, is quite legible. Without doubt this book belonged to John MacBeath, one of the very remarkable family of that name who were hereditary physicians to the Lords of the Isles and to the Kings of Scotland for several centuries. The volume remained in the MacBeath family for many generations, but how it found its way into England, I fear, cannot now be surely known. The only indication is that it was ‘purchased of Thos. Rodd 9th August 1845’ — by the Museum — but how it came into Rodd's hands is not known. There is another MacBeath book also lying here (catalogued as Add. 15403), a smaller vellum treating of Materia Medica. It also was got through Rodd, a well-known London bookseller who took up his father's business in 1821, and died 1849. In this volume, on inserted paper leaves in the front, occur these statements: (1) ‘Presented by Sir Wm. Betham [to the Duke of Sussex?] May 24th 1827 — MS. on Botany in the Irish character’; (2) ‘Purchased at the Sussex Sale 31st July 1844 by Thorpe and of him (through Rodd) for B.M. 10 Aug. 1845.’ It is very likely that the two volumes came by the same way, so
The only methodical attempts as yet made to endeavour to get the long history of this family into anything like order have been (1) by Professor Mackinnon in two valuable articles written to the Edinburgh Medical Journal in 1896, (2) by myself in an essay written for the Caledonian Medical Society in 1902, published in the Society's Journal for April of that year, and (3) by Professor Mackinnon again upon ‘The Genealogy of the MacBeths or Beatons of Islay and Mull’, which was published in the same Journal ( C.M.J.) in July of the same year. I here summarise these efforts, and try to get them into such order as I may be able to — with any additional facts I may have lately culled. This will give a more direct and intelligent interest to the text than could be possible without it. It will also serve as a basis for further investigation and addition.
The name MacBeath (as I here prefer it) is very variously written in the old manuscripts and in books. It is Mac-bead, Book of Deer 11th cent., M'Betha 1408, Beatone 1511, Meg Beth 1563, Micbhethadh 1587, MacBeath 1609, Beatoun 1638, M'Bethadh 1657, Betonus 1674, Bettounus 1677, Beda 1680 — but older far — Maigbheta 1701, Maig Bhetha 1708. In the MSS. of the Advocates' Library the dates of which are not yet fixed, it occurs as Betune II, Meigbetadh IV, Maigbheta V, Magbeta XX, Makbetathe, M'Veagh Beattoun and Beattounne XXI. It has become Peudan (Peden) in Skye and Biotun in Mull. Bethune also occurs associated with the MacBeaths, but as this
The true forms of the family name, such as Bead, Beda, Macbheatha and Macbheathadh, mean ‘Son of life’, following a very old form of Gaelic naming, perhaps the oldest, many others of which remain with us to the present day.
Other important facts relating to this family are, in —
1379. Farquhar (medicus regis) had a grant from Prince Alexander Stuart (The Wolf of Badenoch) of the lands of Melness and Hope, and in —
1386. Ferchard Leiche, ‘Farquhar the physician’, got in heritage from King Robert II. the islands of Jura, Calwa, Sanda, Ellangawne, Ellanwillighe, Ellanrone, Ellanehoga, Ellanequochra, Ellanegelye, Ellaneyefe, and all the islands between Rowestorenastynghe and Rowearmadale — Rudh' a' Stóir an Assaint and Rudh' Armadail.
1408. Fercos Macbetha witnesses, and almost certainly draws, a deed of land-grant in Islay to Brian Vicaire Mhag-aodh from McDomhnaill — the Macdonald of the Isles who led the Highlanders at the battle of Harlaw, 24th July, 1411. His father, John, Lord of the Isles, was married to Lady Margaret Stuart, daughter of Robert II. This deed is reproduced in Nat. MSS. Scot. Vol. ii. No. lix., and in The Book of Islay, and in the C.M.J. for April, 1902. The lands here granted are situated in the Oa extending across from Kilneachtoin to Laggan Bay.
1511. Donold M'Donachy or M'Corrachie (simply the same name mis-written because most likely mis-spoken), ‘descendit frae Farquhar Leiche’, resigned the lands of Melness and Hope and all the lands of Strathnaver, in favour of the Chief of the Mackays. Donnachadh (Duncan) was a favourite name with the MacBeaths, and the M'Donachy, M'Corrachie (for MacDhonnachaidh) and the Connachers of Lorn are one and the same name. Donchad M'Meic Bead occurs in The Book of Deer.
Duncan Conacher wrote a medical work at Dunollie in this same year, which is still extant.
In 1511 a David Beatone was among the Nomina incorporatorum of the University of Glasgow, and from that time onwards through three centuries the Roll contains such names as Johannus Beatonus, Fergus Betonius, Duncan Beatonus, Donaldus Beatonus, etc.
1563. Another Tract of this same MS., mostly surgical, was written for John MacBeath by David O'Kearny. It was published, C.M.J. April, 1902.
1587. Under this date there is a Gaelic entry in the Laing MS. (Adv. xxi.) that the book then belonged to Gilcolum son of Gilanders son of Donald MacBeath.
In Adv. iii. (which I have at the B.M., by the courtesy of the Directors, for the purpose of reference) there occurs on the second folio from the end, in the top margin, ‘Misi Gilla Colaim I am Gilla-colum’.
1598. The MS. was in possession of James MacBeath at Tain. It was evidently lent him by John, the real owner, whose mother had in that year made a journey to Islay. — C.M.J.
1609. James VI. confirms to Fergus M'Beath by charter certain lands in the Oa of Islay which his family had held from the Lords of the Isles in virtue of their office as hereditary physicians ‘ab omni hominum memoria’. The full text of the charter is given in the C.M.J.
1629. These lands were sold by John the son of Fergus to the Lord Lorne of the time and the charter found its way to Inveraray, where it is preserved.
1638. A James Betoun, ‘doctor of physicke’, made a ‘voyage’ from Edinburgh to Islay professionally twice, as would seem, in this year. In the Accounts of Colin and George Campbell — brothers and curators successively of John Campbell Fiar of Calder (1638-1653) — there appears an item of payment to the said James of £266 13s. 4d. for his first journey ‘as his ticket of reseate bearis’, and of £178 8s. for the second, and a further
1657. The Laing MS. then belonged to a Donald MacBeath as an entry shows.
1657. John, a distinguished member of the Mull branch — the famous Ollamh Muileach, died. He was buried in Iona, where Donald Beaton in 1674 placed a slab to his memory bearing the inscription Joannes Betonus, Maclenorum familie medicus qui mortuus est 19 Novembris 1657.
1671. ‘Ioannus Bettonnus’ possessed the MS. Adv. iii., for he says ‘egrape to cheir autón’, 1671, evidently intended to mean 'written with his own hand', and E M'B appears in a small circular mended patch on the inside of the cover.
1700. Martin wrote his Travels, where he makes interesting references to the Beatons. He states among other things that ‘Dr. Beaton the famous physician of Mull’ was sitting on the upper deck of the Florida, one of the vessels of the Spanish Armada, when it was blown up in the bay of Tobermory in 1588, but that he escaped unhurt.
1701. A John MacBeath possessed the MS. Adv. v.
1708. This MS. (15582) was in the possession of John MacBeath. His name is written under 25th May of that year.
1710. The same name is written under ‘20 die Junii’. Although the writing of this name and that of 1708 are very different, it is almost certainly that of the same John.
1778. The Rev. Thomas White of Liberton who married a Miss Bethune of Skye wrote a pamphlet giving a genealogy of the Skye branch from a manuscript to which he had access. This was reprinted by Mackenzie of Glasgow in 1887 for a Mr. Kenneth Maclennan.
1784. The Rev. Donald Macqueen gave a Gaelic copy of the Lilium Medicinae, which belonged to the Beatons ‘for five generations before’, to the Society of Antiquaries.
Even if this book may not add very much to the sum of our present medical knowledge it is nevertheless of extreme interest from the human and historical aspect as well as from the point of view of the physician and the scholar. To find men in the far North and in the Western Isles of Scotland who, in those early centuries, were familiar with, and had well digested all that was best in the medical literature of Greece and Rome and Araby is more than, let us say, Lord Macaulay would give them credit for; and it would surely surprise Samuel Johnson to find that there was a great mass of Gaelic scientific writing lying unknown, for long ages, before he declared that there was not one page in the language beyond a hundred years old. It was so, however, even if Dr. Johnson did not know, and even if Lord Macaulay to his utter discredit did not want to.
The generalisations of the first chapter are so completely comprehensive and yet so extremely precise and logical, that we may doubt if they have ever been, or can be, improved upon. Conservatiuum, Preservatiuum, and Reductiuum round the whole duty of man regarding his health in the most perfect way, and perhaps in the very best form of words. Conservatiuum is the duty of those in health; or, as we might say, an intelligent understanding of the conditions of health and life, and a rightly careful application of this most useful and saving knowledge, to conserve the healthful state, is the first and highest duty of everyone. That is what Conservation means, or as Dr. Standish O'Grady has put it with almost a stroke of genius, ‘Keep as you are’.
Preservatiuum, again, is for those who know by any signs that they are departing from the fully healthy state and are going into unhealth and weakness ‘that is proper and necessary’ for them, and very urgently so, if they are to save themselves from a much worse state.
Reductiuum is for those who, failing to apply their common sense in the earlier, easier positions, must now be led back, through suffering and sorrow and loss and expense, the same way as that by which they ignorantly or foolishly came down — back to and through the Preservatiuum or ‘fore-seeing’ position where they could have saved themselves before, and up to the position at which Conservatiuum would have made their decline and dis-ease impossible — that is, if they ever get back there again. How very often do we hear a man say, ‘Since that last illness, I have not been myself at all; I find I must be careful now.’ This is the very essence of wisdom, but it has been dearly bought — perfection through suffering surely, for very much less 'care' at the proper time would have saved him from the whole catastrophe. Much more rarely we hear, ‘Since that last illness I have been a new man.’ This simply means that a man who has been drawing too much upon his life and health has been ‘pulled up’, and through long and careful Reductio he has been led back fortunately to his first position of apparently good health. Conservatiuum is the position for thoughtful, sensible men. Preservatiuum is the position at which natural warnings show themselves and should be understood and obeyed. Reductiuum is the whip-lash of compulsion which comes really to save and not to destroy, but which even in the best event can only attain, through suffering and sore uphill travail, to the position of less or more of the health which with some sense should never have been lost or departed from.
The sensefulness of this single chapter alone, if people would only understand and act upon it, would fully justify the labour and expense entailed by this work, apart altogether from its aim in other directions.
I do not analyse the contents of the Tract. It will reveal itself. It is full of wisdom — the filtrate, so to say, of a thousand years of very clear thought, and the essence of writings that are permanent. The very admirable morning ‘toilet’ of the Third Chapter is, however, commended to the attention
John MacBeath (and I here use his name as representative of the whole family, others of them doubtless contributing also) kept a Note Book, a Vade Mecum, in which he stored the sum and essence of his reading, compiled and translated from the many ancient authors which we know he had in his possession. He added pertinent comments and observations of his own, based upon his necessarily wide experience. All this was set down in the Scottish Gaelic of the time, which really did not differ very much from the Irish language of the same period. The compilation was not intended for publication, but was simply a practical memoriola such as many thoughtful physicians keep even in our day and place, when it is not nearly so necessary as it was in the MacBeaths' time and circumstances. He gave his manuscripts over to a professional Irish scribe in order that the substance might be written in the best and most compact form, and that is how we have them now. This Tract was written by Aodh O'Cendainn, as is shown in the last line of column xiv. of the text. A Cairpre O'Cendamhainn wrote at least part of the Laing MS. (Adv. xxi.). These may have been brothers. A similar thing happens in the case of another Tract in this same book which was written by two O'Kearneys — David and Cairpre (C.M.J. April, 1902). That these men were mere copyists knowing little or nothing of Medicine or its terminology is abundantly evident from the numerous miswritings that occur throughout all their work. It is also clear that they had their materials before them in Scottish Gaelic form, because we frequently find that when they take their eye off the ‘copy’ they
The MacBeath knowledge by reading seems to have included all the best that was available in their time. Martin ‘Gent’, himself a man of Skye, the interesting, observant, and very intelligent traveller, writing in 1700, states that ‘Fergus Beaton in South Uist possessed the following MSS., namely Avicenna, Averroes, Joannes de Vigo, Bernardus Gordonus, and several volumes of Hippocrates.’ These names and many others of the medical classics meet us constantly in the MacBeath writings. John might have sat for his portrait to Chaucer of his ‘Doctour of Phisik’ in the fourteenth century, for
- Wel knewe he the olde Esculapius
And Dioscorides and eke Rufus,
Olde Ippocras, Haly and Gaylen,
Serapion, Razis and Avycen,
Averrois, Damascien and Constantyn,
Bernard and Gatesden and Gilbertyn.
It will be helpful to understand the remoter origins. ‘Peritisimus omnium rerum Ippocras’ says the postscript, column xxviii, and we may trace from this point and by this way the history of medical knowledge more directly and more appreciably than by any other path. To Hippocrates, Aristotle, and Galen, and the whole immense power of the Greek intellect, medicine was always a close branch of philosophy. It is not so with us now, but not long hence it must surely be so again.
The disturbing but awakening power of the Macedonian conqueror led to the founding of Alexandria and its great University. This was a University in the truest sense, for it was international and catholic without restraint. It had no test but knowledge and ability. Gentile, Jew, and Christian were alike equal. From this great centre through commercial and intellectual contact the Greek philosophy spread into Arabia and Persia and as far as India, and it had a further disseminating impulse from the banishment of the ‘heathen’ philosophers by
In the early part of the present millennium there came a great return wave which struck along the northern coasts of the Mediterranean, where many schools of learning were founded upon the Arabian models, and were greatly influenced by Arabian teachers. Of these Monte-Casino, Salerno, and Montpellier were the most famous.
The monastery of Monte-Casino, nearly half-way between Naples and Rome, was founded by St. Benedict himself A.D. 529, as is said upon the old site of a temple of Apollo. Centuries later with the return of learning an infirmary was added and a school of medicine.
Monks from foreign lands came there for instruction, and eminent invalids from foreign parts for treatment. The most famous teacher of the School was Constantinus Africanus of Carthage (1018–1087). He introduced Arabic science and learning into Italy and Europe, and because of his universal travel and influence he was called ‘Orientis et Occidentis Doctor’. He taught for some time at Salerno, and then became monk at Monte-Casino, where he continued his work of translating from Arabic into Latin. Among his works of this kind was Hali's compendium, which he rendered under the title of Pantegni. It is frequently referred to in our text.
Salerno (old Salernum) on the bay of the same name, some thirty miles south of Naples, was founded as a school of Philosophy and Medicine A.D. 1150, and was for five hundred years at the top of medical schools in Europe. It was for this reason that it was nick-named ‘Civitas Hippocratica’. It was a practical University, studying the symptoms of disease, diet, materia medica,
- Anglorum regi scribit schola tota Salerni.
Si vis incolumem, si vis te vivere sanum
Curas tolle graves, irasci crede profanum.
Parce mero, caenato parum, non sit tibi vanum
Surgere post epulas. Somnum fuge meridianum.
- Ne minctum retine. Ne comprime fortiter anum.
Haec bene si serves tu longo tempore vives.
Si tibi deficiant medici, medici tibi fiant
Haec tria, mens laeta, requies, moderata dieta.- Sex horis dormire sat est juvenique senique
Septem vix pigro, nulli concedimus octo.- Ex magna coena stomacho fit maxima poena.
Ut sis nocte levis sit tibi coena brevis.
Post coenam stabis aut passus mille meabis.
Montpellier, the chief town of the province of Herault in Southern France on the Gulf of Lyons, was, like Salerno, a school of general learning, with Medicine as perhaps its highest feature. The University was established by papal bull in 1289; the sexcentenary was celebrated in 1890. Gilbert the Englishman was taught here, as was also John of Gaddesden, the author of the Rosa Anglica, upon part of which our Text is based. Bernard Gordon also, a Scot born in France, was a teacher here in the early years of the fourteenth century. He wrote the Lilium Medicinae which the MacBeaths possessed and rendered into Gaelic. A copy of this work was presented to the library of the Society of Scottish Antiquaries in 1784, where it now lies. It came from Farchar Beaton of Husabost ‘five generations ago’ — according to the Rev. Donald Macqueen of Kilmuir who presented the book.
Montpellier was strongly under the Arabic influence, which explains how we find so many Arabic terms in such of our Manuscripts as came by this way — especially in the names of medicinal plants and in Materia Medica generally.
This very short statement of the old Schools taken with the Personal Notes will enable the reader to understand the history of the Text fairly well.
The extension of the Text which is arranged to face the photographs is as correct and exact as it possibly can be made. I have copied the errors of the scribe with even more care than the correct writing. I am exceedingly indebted to my affectionate friend Standish H. O'Grady, LL. D. — a Grádhach truly in act as in name. He compared my rendering of the MS. with the original, ‘letter for letter’ as he expressed it — yes, and dot for dot. This exact rendering will make the text much more valuable from the scholar's point of view, and to the student it will be always of interest to observe the many difficulties and the very frequent pitfalls which the pioneer in this kind of work had to overcome and to avoid.
I have not brought the various Contractions together in one place as might have been done. I thought it would be sufficient to refer to them, as they occurred, in the Notes. In my Essay, which is deposited at the Library of the Society of Scottish Antiquaries, there are some ten pages of the contractions given, and a special page is given to the more important in the Caledonian Medical Journal for April, 1902. The novice, however, in this study will do well to make a list of them for himself; it will be easy to do so with the extension facing the original MS. writing.
The English rendering of the Text is very stilted — for several reasons. The diction of the old Medical Empirics which occupies the great part of the earlier chapters, and colours all the others, however simple the words may appear, is yet in concept wholly unintelligible to the mind of the present day. All that could be done then was to give a rigidly literal but naked translation. Then again, there is the immeasureable and
This can be arrived at, but at best only approximately, by the following ways, namely:
By the earliest expressed date given in, or as part of, the Text. We find in this same MS., and in what would seem to be a later tract than that of our Text, ‘Ocus do bi aois an tigerna antan do sgriobhadh an leabar so .i. mile bliadan ocus cuig céd ocus tri bliadna ocus tri fithid and the age of the Lord the time this book was written was one thousand years and five hundred and three years and three score — 1563.’
It is not drawing too much upon possibility nor even upon probability if we give our Text a century of existence as the handbook of the MacBeath family before it was given by this John to the Irish scribe O'Cendainn to copy, or the other and later tract to the O'Kearneys.
The form and style of the handwriting is another aid, but still only approximately. The writing of Leabhar na hUidhre in its contractions and other graphical peculiarities does not differ very strongly from our Text, and its date is taken as fixed — about 1470. The same may be said of The Book of Lismore, and it is accepted as being of the latter part of the fifteenth century. This also is in confirmation of my deduction so far.
Then there is the developmental stage of the language to be considered, and this again in the matter of Eclipsis and other grammatical peculiarities, points to the same period.
Finally, there is the fact that the Rosa Anglica, upon which our Text is based, was published in the early years of
The form of the language in the Text is also of interest. If compared with the form of modern Scottish Gaelic, several points come out clearly. First, the root essentials have been, are, and remain the same — always — though other things vary and differ very much. The Eclipsis of the Strong initial Consonants c, p, t and even of the Medials g, b, d which has been so definitely developed in the later Irish language did not belong to the old language at all. It is an effort to follow and to express a physiological actuality but for which expression there is really no linguistic need. We had the process fully developed in our older Scottish Gaelic, but it has most sensibly been done away with altogether, and we have no eclipsis now. In my copy of the Confession of Faith, printed at Glasgow in 1725, such forms as a mbpeacadh ‘the sin’, na ngcriostaidh ‘of the Christians’, na ndtrocair ‘of the mercies’ are met with, where the whole vocal gamut is logically, even if unnecessarily, expressed. The Irish people never went this whole logical length. It was too much to introduce a word by mbp, ngc, ndt — but
The terminal inflections are fairly well preserved, but without precision or regularity — as may be seen. They are carelessly and perhaps ignorantly shown and done; still they are not without interest. As in the matter of eclipsis, there is in these also an apparent seeking after phonetic expression, regardless of the historical continuity of form.
Aspiration of the consonants again is here only partly developed. This is now complete both in Irish and in Scottish Gaelic. The process has certainly deformed written Scottish Gaelic especially, which writes h after the consonant where Irish only uses the very much neater over-dot.
All these expediences follow the ‘otiose’ or lazy development which is manifest in all languages. In fact, as the late Dr. Macbain put it to me, it is not unlikely that mankind in days to come may be able to get along with only a few grunts. The tendency is strongly in that direction. The speech of man is losing its bone and its strength, in the same way and perhaps for the same reasons as the race is losing its hair and its teeth — because it does not fully use them.
P.S. — On 13th July, 1641, William Earl Mareschal borrowed from James Beatoune of Nether Tarbett, Doctor of Medicine, and Janet Goldman, his spouse, the sum of 4000 merks upon the security of some lands in the parish of Fetteresso, for repayment of which and arrears of interest the said Mr. James Beatoune raised against the Earl a successful process of apprising on the said lands before the Commissioners for the Administration of Justice on 3rd January, 1654. ( C.M.J., Jan., 1911).
It is surely interesting that where I consulted the Museum authorities as to the best man to photograph this text, they at once said ‘Mr. Macbeth’, and his name is John!
REGIMEN SANITATIS est triplex .i. ataid tri gneithi ar follamhnughadh na slainte. 1 Conseruatiuum .i. coimed ocus preseruatiuum .i. rem-coimed ocus reductiuum .i treorugadh mar foillsighius Galen 2 sa treas partegul do Tegni. Conservatiuum do na daoinibh slána is imcubidh e. Preseruatiuum don droing bhis ag dul an eslainti no dolucht na neimnechtarda dlighear e. Ocus reductiuum do lucht na heslainti dlighear. Gidhedh gairther presiruatiuum do seruatiuum uair and mar adeir Hali sa treas partegul do Thegni 3 sa seathadh coimint dég ocus dá fitheat. Maseadh adeirim gurub o neithibh cosmhaile do niter in coimed mar adeirur san inadh cétna ‘Si uis conseruare crasim quam accepisti similia similibus offeras’ .i. madh áil let an coimplex dogabuis cugat do coimet tabhair neithi cosmuile. 4 Maseadh is neithi cosmuile go huilidhi a céim ocus a foirm dligher do tabhairt don corp mesardha ocus in corp claonus do claonadh nadurdha o measurdacht dligher neithi cosmuile do réir foirme ocus ni do réir céime do tabuirt dó arson na togra ata aige cum tuitme mar adeir Aueroys 5 sa seathadh leabur do Collegett. Et da n-abairsi nach gabann ní gnímh ona cosmailius cuige mar adeir Auicina 6 a caibidil comhar(tha) {MS page/column 1/2} (n)a coimplex sa dara fén don cét leabur mar an abair gurub o thota species gnimaighitt na baill ar in biadh. Adeirim-si gurub o thota species 7 an baill do niter an dileaghadh ocus on tes mar indstruimint mar adeir Aueroys sa cuigedh leabur do Collegett do gaile an éin renaburthar struccio gurub ullma an aimsir ina leaghtur iarann mór ann o thota species na sa teine ocus is mar sin and sa cás so. No adeirim nach gabtur gním ona cosmailius anns na neithibh bis gan anum gidheadh féttur a denamh go maith is na neithibh ambi anum. Maseadh na cuirp claonas on mhesurdhacht follamhnaighter o neithib cosmuile do réir fhoirme iad in tan bit sa measurdhacht dilighter doibh ocus gan am beith cosmhail do réir chéime oir dlighidh an céim beith nis ísle sa biadh na sa corp da tabartur da oilemhain e ocus dlighear in drong so d'oileamhain le biadh leighiseamail oir is le biadh is biadh 8 dlighear an coimplex mesardha d'follamnughadh. ‘Uerbi gracia’ .i. adir Hali sa treas partegul do Theighni a coimint an texa so ‘calidiora calidioribus et cetera’ 9 condlighear an corp tesaighi do shír no an corp claonas o cuttromacht 10 a dhá céim d'follamhnughadh le neithibh tesaidhi sa cét céim ocus is neithi fuara gaires dibh sin oir in teas iseal is fuaradh am bél an lega e ocus is uime sin a deirit drong go seachranach ag tuigsin an texa sin gurup le neithibh fuara dligher na cuirp tesaighi do coimhed ocus is brég sin gidhegh féttur a remh-choimhed no a tesargadh re neithibh fuara is isle a céim
Caindigeact in bídh 15 .i. condlighear a chaitimh in tan tochluightear e oir adeir Arustotul16 in Epistula ad Alexandrum ‘Dum adhuc apetitus durat manum retrahe’ .i. tarruing do lamh chugatt ocus in tochlughadh ar marthain agut. Ocus adir Auicina sa caibidil laburus d'follamhnughadh na neithedh itther ocus ibhter ‘Ita comede quod sint reliquie desiderii’ .i. gurub amhlaidh caithfir fuighlech tochluighthi do beith agut oir is ferr na huaire d'imdughadh na in cainndigecht mór ocus is ferr began do caitimh fadhó na móran an én uair oir in biadh caithear an éinfhecht améidh móir ni héidir a dhileaghadh ocus seachrainughi brigh dileaghthach an gaili annsin ocus in sechran doniter sa chét dileaghadh in tan is mór e ni certaighter sa dara dileaghadh mar adeir comentator damasenus sa cét partegul sa seathadh comint dég ocus is uime sin nach oilenn se go dlistinach annsin ocus is ar in adhbur sin adeir Auicina sa treas leabhur nach fhásaidh na daoine ginacha. Et fós an biadh thosgaighes a méid andlistinaigh doní duinte ocus is cúis sin don mhorgadh17 tre esbhuigh an indfhuartha18 do réir Hali sa tres partegul do Thegni. Et is e is comurtha go caithind neach go leór in tan nach tig o caithem an bhídh méid and sa puls na loighett and san anail oir ni thegmhand so acht arson go cumhgaighind an gaile ar in sgairt ocus is uime sin bis an anail beg minic ocus do beir égintus innfhuartha in croidhi19 an puls do médughadh o nach bi anmfhaindi ar in mbrigh. Comhurthaighi eile gan claochlogh do beith ar in fual na ar in feradh ocus gan na hindedhi go háirighthi ypocondria
D'Órd in Dieta no Caithme in Bhidh43 — is e so e .i. in tan éireochas neach sa mhaidin sínedh ar tús a lamha ocus a mhuinel ocus cuiredh aedaighi go glan uime ocus indarbadh ainnsein imurcracha in cét dileaghtha ocus in dara dileagha ocus in treas dileaghtha le seiledh ocus le himurcrachaib na sróna ocus na bráighedh oir is iad so imarcracha an treas dileaghtha ocus aindsein coimleadh an corp44 da mbia aimsir imcubidh aige arson fhuighill an alluis ocus in luaithrigh bis air in croicind oir ata in croicinn poiremhail ocus tairngidh cuigi gach ní bis angar dó doréir Galen sa cét leabur de simplici medicina. Et aindsein círeadh a chend ocus indladh a lamha ocus a aighiadh a huisgi fhuar sa t'shamradh ocus a huisgi the sa geimhregh ocus nigheadh a shúili le huisghi arna congmhail sa bhél ocus arna theghadh and ocus ar tuma an méir tanuisti and oir indurbidh sin tursgar na súl45 ocus glanaidh iat. Et coimleadh aindhsein a fhiacla le duille urcuill isin t'samhradh ocus le croicinn an ubhaill buidhe sa geimhredh. Et aindsein aburadh a trátha muiri no a ní eili bhus dúthracht lis. As a h'aithle sin denadh saothar ocus siubhal mesarrdha an inaduibh árda glana ocus ullmuigter a biadh indus congabha biadh a cét oir déis an thsaothair sin in tan tinnsgnus a thochlugadh go nadurdha ocus na gabhadh roimhe ocus na cuireadh afaill46 oir adeir Auicina sa caibidil labhrus do ní ithter ocus ibhter go {MS page/column 5/10} tabair fulang ocaruis tar a gnathughadh an gaili do línadh do lenduibh morguighthi47 ocus tic in tan sin línadh tadhbais o lind ruadh48 arna tarruing cum béil an ghaili indus nach éidir an biadh do caithim lis in thochlugadh ainmhidhe49 ge madh áil e ocus ni dligheann neach a sháith do caitimh mar adubhramar roimhainn ocus ni dlighinn acht énbhiadh do caithimh ar aon bórd oir adeir Auicina san inadh th'shuas ‘Nichil deterius quam cibaria multiplicare et in eis temporibus prolongare’50 .i. ni fuil ní is measa na na biadha d'imdhughadh ocus aimsir d'faidiughadh ag a caithimh ocus is uime sin adeir an deiradh caibidilech de regimine cibi gur leór lis na sendaoinibh feoil amhain do caithimh sa maidin ocus aran amhain ar a suiper ocus ni gabdhaois biadha examhla an éinfheacht51. Gidhedh da caithter biadh imdha ar énchuid is ferr na neithi seimhe do tabairt ar tús ocus na neithi remhra ainnsein na a contrarda sin oir in tan caithter in biadh seimh déis an biadh remair diligher go luath e ocus ni dentar an biadh remhur ocus bidh se in tan sin ag iarraidh sligheadh amach ocus ni fhaghann on biadh remhar do beith an íchtar ocus tic de sin go comuisgter ris e ocus go truaillter uile iat. Gidheadh da mbeith a fhis ag neach in biadh do meadughadh52 ris in ghaili do budh cóir oireat in méid is teó íchtar an ghaili na a uachtar do tabairt don biadh remhur ar tús. Gidhedh ni héidir no ni h'urusa sin do denamh ocus o nach féduruis cad is indenta53 claon aleith na seimhe mar adir Auicina a caibidil leighis in quartana ocus sa dara partegul do Regimenta Acutorum. Item na gabhadh biadh omh ar
‘Nec minctum retinere uelis nech82 cogere uentrem’ .i. narub áil let th'fual do congmail na do meadhon d'éigniughadh .i. tar an aimsir ina beitter go maith e ocus is uime sin nach maith beith gu ro-fadha ar in camra na fásgadh éigneach do denamh ocus is uime sin is sea huaire is maith in fual do tabairt sa ló co n-oidchi83 oir is e sin in lá nadurda ocus in feradh fa dhó no fa thrí san aimsir cétna mar adeirit na ferrsadh so ‘In die minctura fit sexies naturali tempore bis tali uel ter sit egestio pura’ .i. in cetruma caibidil don aimsir.
Don aimsir .i. dleghur aimsir na bliadhna do féchuin oir is cóir ni éigin do tabairt d'aire do leith na haoisi84 ocus in fhuind ocus na h'aimsiri mar adeirur sa chéd partegul, d' Aforismorum. Maseadh taburtur biadh remur a méid móir sa gheimredh oir adirur san inadh cétna ‘Uentres hieme et uere calidissimi sunt natura’ .i. ataid na cabain inmedhonach 85 ro-the do réir nadura sa geimredh ocus san errach ocus bidh in codladh ro-fhada gurb uime sin dlighear móran in bidh do tabuirt ocus ni dlighear na proinndighi do beith minic oi86 ni bfuil an tes gearr ann mar bis san tsamhradh acht mór do réir shínti tre imad na spirut. Gidhegh bidh in tes beg isin tsamradh a gabail thesa arson cuirp the nis sa mó do réir shínte an édluis87 no in disgaoilti ocus ni do réir shínte na cainndighechta acht do réir áirde ocus dlighi an biadh bheith a claonadh cum88 tesa an tan sin ocus is folluis as sin cred is inraidh re tes nan daoine óg ocus na macam.
San earrach, umorro, dlighear an biadh bheith mesurrdha89 acht a claonadh cum méide bige arson an línta do rinnedh sa geimredh roimhe.
Sa tsamhradh, umorro, dlighi an biadh bheith seimh{MS page/column 8/16} ag dul a bfuaire ocus is seimh ina cainndighecht sin .i. began do tabhairt an éinecht de oir bidh substaint in tesa beg in tan sin arna cnaoi ocus arna disgaoileadh on tes foirimeallach ocus da tucaoi biad seimh ina shubstaint do loisgfidhe on tes teinntighe e ocus is uime sin adeir Galen sa canoinsí ‘Uentres hieme et cetera’ go téid an tes a bfoirimill sa tsamradh a gabail luthgaire re na cosmailius gurub uime sin anbfuinnighter go hinnmeonach e. San bfoghmar, umorro, tabhair an biadh a gcainndighecht big ocus dlighi beith ag dul a tesoighecht ocus a bflichidacht ocus ataid fersadha air so ‘Quantum uis sume de mensa tempore brune’90 caith an mhéid is áil leat don biadh an aimsir in geimridh. ‘Tempore sed ueris cibo moderate frueris’ gnathaigh biadh go mesurrdha91 an aimsir an erraich. ‘Et calor estatis dapibus nocet in moderatis92’ do ní tes an tsamraidh urchoid do na biadoibh mí-mesurrdha ‘Autumpni fructus extremos dant tibi luctus’ do berid toirrthi an foghmhair caoinedh dermair duit.
In cuigeadh caibidil — d'uairib in proinnighthi. Is i uair in proinnighthi in tan bhis an t'ocarus fírinneach ann mar adubhrumar sa treas caibidil t'suas ocus is i uair is fearr sa tsamradh an uair is fuaire .i. roimh an teirt93 ocus an uair na hespartan ocus is i uair an éigentuis94 in tan is éider le nech biadh d'faghbhail ocus is uime sin adeir Galen in libro De regemine sanitatis nach eidir le nech95 d'follamnacha na slainti do congmail acht a nech bes gan toirmisg o aon gnodugh
In seiseadha caibidil — don ghnathughadh96. Dlegar gnathugh in dieta do congmail muna ba ro-olc e ocus madegh dlighear a treigen go mall ocus is uime sin in gnathughadh aontuighius leis na neithi nadurda dlighear a congmail ocus da tosgaigh e began uatha dlighear a chongmail fós. Gidegh mad mór in tosgaghadh dlighear a treorughadh tar a ais ocus ni go hobonn mar adubrumar. Gidhegh tabhradh lucht an droch fhollamhnuighthi anair riu oir gin gon airgid ar an lathair e aireochuid fós go maith mar adeir Auicina ocus is uime sin an drong adeir gur línadar iad fein do biadh go minic ocus nach derrna én urchoid doibh tabhradh an aire riu oir goirteochar iad óir da ndernadh dia dighultus in gach én pecadh a cét oir déis a dhénta ni bheith duine na bethaidh ocus mar ata in nadur uilidh97 .i. dia is mar sin ata a náduir rannaighthi sa duine nach dénonn dighultus an cét uair acht a gcinn aimsire. Item bidh drong ann chaitheas nisa mó do thorrthuibh na do biadhaibh eile ocus is sechranach do níd sin oir do ní gach uile thoradh98 fuil{MS page/column 9/18} uisgemail mítarbhach somorgtha. Gidheagh dlighear torrtha stipeghdha do chaithemh déis an bídh da mbia an medon lactach mar ataid péiredha ocus coctana ocus úbhla. Gidhedh lagaid na húbla rósdaighthi roim an chuid lucht lenna ruaidh99 ocus istipeda100 na húbla omha ocus ni comór ata gach gné dibh mar sin oir is lugha istipeda na húbla millsi ocus is mó na húbla goirti. Na bolais, umorro, ocus na risineadha ocus na figedha is roim in cuid dlighur an gabhail mar adeir Ysaac101 In dietis particularibus. Gidhedh ata in gnathughadh coitcind ina aighidh so gu h'olc oir donit so duinti ona meithi ocus is uime sin dlighear a caithimh maille sinnsir oir cathaighidh re gach uili truailleadh tic ona toirthibh do réir Auicina. Gidhedh is ferr na toirrthi uile do tregin ocus is uime sin innisis Galen a leabur follamhnaighti na slainti go raibhi a athair fén cét bliadhan ina bhethaidh arson nar chaith toirrthi. Item, bidh drong ann le nab inmain irboill nan ainmintigh nisa mó na an chuid ele ocus drong ele a gcinn ocus drong ele a a gcnamha102 ocus mar sin do na ballaibh ele. Ocus is uime sin adeir an fersa-so ‘'Pisces et mulieres sunt in caudis meliores uel dulciores’103 is inan errannaibh is ferr no is millsi na héisg ocus na mná ocus ni bfuil ann sin ac gurub lugha is fuar in tiasg inanerr arson in gluasachta na sa cuid eile dhe. Gidhedh is usa na boill eile do dileaghadh.
Don taobh as an dlighear a ligen,123 umorro, adeir in fersaigtheoir ‘Estas uer dextras autumpnus iempusque sinistras’ .i. na lamha desa san errach ocus sa tsamradh ocus na lamha clé san fogmhur ocus sa geimredh ocus adeir fós do leith in ré124 mar so ‘Luna uetus ueteres iuuenes noua luna requirit’ .i. a ligen do na sean-daoinibh in tan is arrsuigh in ré ocus do na daoinibh óga in tan is nua e. Don diet d'áithli na cuislindi. 125 Dlighear a fhis co ndentur sechran mór and sin oir bit daoine ann ler b'áil móran d'ól ocus d'ithi in tan sin do geinemuin fhola arís maseadh cad far ligettur126 i ocus is uime sin dlighitt began d'ól ocus d'ithi. Gidhedh dlighitt nis mó d'ól d'fhín an aithfeaghadh in begain bid127 sin na mar do clechtattur oir{MS page/column 11/22} is usa línadh na dighe na línadh an bidh128. Maseadh sechnadh cáisi in tan sin ocus feoil remhar ocus iasg sailti ocus toirrthi ocus ferg ocus gluasacht ocus na biodh go gar do theine ocus na denuid coimhriachtain129 ocus na denuid acht super beg ocus is uime sin is maith an fersa so ‘Prima dies uene moderacio sit tibi sene’ .i. bidh do shuiper mesarrdha an cét lá don chuislinn. Gidhegh is brégach na fersada eile churtar ar in gluasacht ocus ar in coimhriachtain ocus mad áil a fios ca huair thinnsgnuid aimsira na bliadhna do gabtur isna fersadhuibh-si iat ‘Uer petre detur estas et innde sequetur quam dabis urbano autumpnum simphoreano’ .i. in t'errach a Féil Peaduir130 ocus in samhradh a Féil Urbanus ocus in fhoghmar a Féil Simphoreanus.131 ‘Festum clementis iemis caput est orientis’ .i. Féil Clemint ina cend do tinnsgaint an geimhrigh ocus is do réir nan astroluighedh-so132 noch cuires na haimsira go cutroma ocus ni mar sin do na léghiubh acht gairit errach d'aimsir measurdha na bliadhna ocus mairidh sin uair and re mí ocus uair eili ni luigha ocus uair eili nis mó. An saimradh, umorro, aimsir ro-te e ocus infoghmhur uair and te ocus uair eili fuar fo examhlacht uairedh a laetheadh133 ocus in geimredh ina aimsir ro-fhuair go huilidhi. Tuilleadh eili .i. dlighear a fis go comfurtachtaoidh na h'uighi ocus a caibhdel134 135 in drong bis déis cuislinn da mbia in gaili glan. Gidhedh da faghaid in soigtech nemh-glan truaillter ga ro-urusa iad ocus is amhlaid is follaine iat am briseadh an uisgi. Tuilleadh eili
In Sechtmadh caibidil don aois ocus don coimplex.147 In aois ocus in coimplex is beag nach le neithibh cosmaili follamhnuighter iat. Gidhegh is mó dileaghaid na daoine óga na neithi remhra ocus na neithi cruaidi ocus na sen-daoine on tsendacht ocus na macaoimh148 na neithi flicha .i. na neithi maotha no boga maseadh dlighidh an diet beit athnuaighitech ocus dlighitt beagan do caitimh go minic. Et dlighear lucht an sduideir d'follamhnuighedh mar na sen-daoinibh oir tirmuighi an sduideir iad. Maseadh caithid neithi seimhe do réir fulaing noch indtuighter go luath149 a fuil ro-maith. Lucht an tsaothair, umorro, caithid neithi róstaigthi remra oir is iat sin is mó cathaighius ris in saothar oir ge flichi na neithi róstuighthi naid na neithi beirbtur an uisghi o fhlichigecht tsubstainntigh go h'inmeadonach. Gidheagh bit tirim go forimillach150 ocus is daingne go huílidhi iad ocus is uime sin is decra an dealughadh on tes ocus trit sin is deacra an díleaghadh. Na neithi beirbtur
‘Parce mero scenare caue nec sit tibi uamum pergere post epulas sompnum fuge meridianum’ .i. coigill fíon ocus sechain suiper ocus nar bu dímaoin let céimniughadh déis na coda157 ocus sechain codhladh in medoin-láe. ‘Non teneas minctum nec cogas fortiter anum’ .i. na conaim ar th'fual ocus na héigingh go láidir do shuigi158. Et ataid fersadha eili ar in fín ‘Dat uinum purum tibi ter tria comoda primum’ .i. ataid naoi socamhuil do beir in fíon glan duit159. ‘Uires muiltiplicat et viscera plena relaxata’ .i. imdaighi na brígha ocus lagaid na hinde línta. ‘Confortat stomacum ceribrum cor dat tibi letum’ .i. nertaighi an gaili ocus in inchinn ocus do bir in croidhi subaltach ocus do ni dánacht ocus togairmigh an t'allus ocus geuraigi in t'indtlecht ocus do ni foirbhearteos160 do na cáirdib. Gidhedh bit misur mailli ris conach truaillter a oipriugh oir teid an dimaoinus gach ní dibh so an égmais an misuir. Et o ibter an fíon uair and go deighinech bit an fersa so agut ‘Potus tarde datus multos facit cruciatus’ .i. do-beir in deoch ibter go deiginech piana imda. Item, gnathaighter cainel go minic oir do bir an bél go deghbalaidh ocus foghnuidh an aghaidh in remafhuar ocus coimheduigh ar truailledh na leanna anntu ocus is uime sin adeirur ‘Non morietur homo commedens sepe
Nott let gu ruba sea hinduibh dlighear an adharc do cur maille fuiliughaidh. In cét inadh a clais cúil incinn ocus folmaighe si ona ballaibh ainmidhi ann sin ocus fóiridh tinneas in cind go háirighi ocus eslainti na súl ocus glantur (ocus) salchur na haighchi ocus do ní inadh na cuislinni ren aburtar sefalica. In dara inadh .i. itir in dá slinnen ocus folmaighe si ann sin ona ballaibh spirutalta ocus do ní comfhurtacht an disnía ocus an asma ocus an ortomia ocus do ní inadh na cuislinni renabur mediana. In treas inadh ar bunuibh in righthigh ocus folmaighe si ann sin ona lamhuibh ocus fóiridh in seregra bis inntu. In ceathramadh h'inadh itir na háirnibh ocus in leasrach ocus folmaighi si ann sin ona ballaibh oilemneacha ocus do ní inadh na cuislinni re nabur basilica. In cuigedh h'inadh ar lár na sliastadh anagaidh lipra ocus brotha na sliasadh ocus brotha in cuirp go huilidhi ocus ar galardha fuail mar ata stranguria ocus an agaidh gach uile eslainti da mbia is na ballaibh ichturuca. In seiseadh inadh .i. ar lár na colpad ocus folmuighi ona {MS page/column 14/28} cosaib and sin ocus do ní inadh na cuislinni renabur sofena ocus togairmidh in fuil místa.
* .i. unsa; * .i. dragma; * .i. sgruball.
PERITISIMUS OMNIUM rerum Ipocras et cetira .i. eochair gach uile eólais Ipocras164 ocus ro-urail eólus ocus aithi báis ocus betha nan uile corp dosgríbhadh in betha degindaigh ocus a cur a comhraigh leis fein ocus d'órdaigh a cur fona cinn san alucadh ar eagla na fellsamh ele d'fhaghail dirradais a ruine ocus secired a chroidhi.
Et a cinn móirain dh'aimsir 'na dhiaidh sin tainic in t'impir .i. sesar ocus ro-fhurail an uaigh ocus in t'allucadh d'oslucadh d'iarraigh indmuis .i. óir no leag no seod mbuadha. Et as e ní do frit and bogsa cumdaidh ocus do togbadh he ocus do hosluccad he ocus is e ní fuair and cairt ina roibe dirradus Ipocrais ocus do fhurail an t'ímpire a tabairt do liagac a cuirp ocus a colla fein ocus Amustosio a ainm an leagha do chídis na pubail dó ocus do leag an cairt ocus ar na tuigsin do foillsid don ímpire gurab e dirradus ipocrais do bi ann ocus tasgelta báis ocus bethid an cuirp daena. Et do labair Ipocras ar tús do comarib báis do leth an cind. Et do raghi do bia tinnus sa cheann ocus at a pull na sróna sin galur sin bás sa ceathramh la dhég ar fhithit. Item an neach ar a bidh frenisis
[The following is printed below the last MS plate.]
da mbidh a gruadh dearg maille h'atcomlacht san aigid ocus re terc dileagtha sa ghaile ...Stranguria interpretatur guttatim urine emissio .i. is edh is stranguria ann ionnarbadh an fhuail ina bhraonaibh ni beg sen Domhnall mic bethadh do scriobh so.165
REGIMEN SANITATIS EST TRIPLEX, that is, there are three aspects of the Regulation of the Health. Conseruatiuum, that is, guarding, or maintaining the healthy state; and Preseruatiuum, that is, fore-seeing; and Reductiuum, that is, guiding backwards restoration as Galen shows in the third Particle of his Tegni. Conseruatiuum to the healthy men, it is right. Preseruatiuum to those who are going into unhealth and to those of debility, it is a duty. And Reductiuum to such as are in illness, it is necessary. Nevertheless Seruatiuum is called Preseruatiuum sometimes as Hali says in the third Particle of his Tegni in the sixth Comment and ten and two twenties the fifty-sixth Comment. And yet I say that it is from things similar that the conservation is made, as is said in the same place, ‘Si uis conseruare crasim quam accepisti similia similibus offeras’, that is, if you wish the Complexion which thou hast taken to thee to be retained give things similar. And so, it is things similar altogether in degree and in form that should be given to the moderate abstemious body; and the body that declines by natural disposition away from moderation, things similar should be given to him according to form and not according to degree because of the desire disposition he has towards falling as Averrhoes says in the sixth book of Colleget. And if you say that inaction is not taken to him from the similars as Avicenna says in the chapter upon {MS page/column 1/2} the Signs or indications of the Complexion in the second Section of the first Book where he says that it is from tota species the members act upon the food, I say that it is from tota species of the member
The Quantity of the Food, that is, it should be eaten when it is desired, for Aristotle says in Epistula ad Alexandrum, ‘Dum adhuc apetitus durat manum retrahe’, that is withdraw thy hand towards thee and while the appetite is yet remaining with thee. And Avicenna says in the chapter which speaks of the regulation of the things to be eaten and drunken that is Concerning Food and Drink ‘Ita comede quod sint reliquie
It is therefore I say, briefly, that the wine may be given in small quantity after the meal and not in great quantity, and that it should be given to a person accustomed to it and to a person after blood-letting — and not to give it to any other person except in time of great thirst and in the other cases put stated in the chapter which speaks of the regulation of the water and the wine. And when he says that the wine is not right with the food I say {MS page/column 4/8} that it is thus the words of Avicenna should be understood when he says that it is after the meal the drink should be drunk and not upon it, that is, that it is after the mouthful bite is swallowed and not while it is in the mouth that it should be drunk, for to drink while food is eaten causes a glut — and that is what Avicenna calls quantity. The food is more effectual more nourishing by that a person should not drink upon the meal anything that puts the food in motion forces it forwards or anything that puts it too quickly in motion, otherwise it the food is separated from the stomach and it is put a-swim. Nevertheless a little may be drunk after the meal so that the food may be co-mixed and stirred about
Of the Order of Diet or the Eating of Food. This is it, that is, when a person rises in the morning let him stretch first his hands arms and his chest and let him put clean clothes on and let him then expel the superfluities of the first digestion and of the second digestion and of the third digestion by the
ITEM, let the urine and the faeces be voided expelled
‘Nec minctum retinere uelis nec cogere uentrem’, that is, do not desire to hold thy urine nor to force thy middle uentrem, that is, beyond the time in which it is right; and it is therefore that it is not well to be on the stool too long and not well to make forced squeezing. And it is therefore that the urine should be given passed six times in the day with the night for that is the whole natural day — and the evacuation of the bowel twice or thrice in the same time as these verses say. ‘In die minctura fit sexies naturali tempore bis tali uel ter sit egestio pura’.
Regarding the time, that is, the time of the year ought to be observed for something of heed should be given to the age and the country and the time as is said in the first Particle of the Aphorisms. And yet let fat food be given in full quantity in the winter because it is said in the same place ‘Uentres hieme et uere calidissimi sunt natura’, that is, the internal cavities are very hot by nature in the winter and in the spring, and the sleep will be very long. It is therefore that plenty food should be given and the times of eating should not be frequent for the heat is not short as in the summer but long great according to the extension through abundance of the spirits. Nevertheless the heat will be small in the summer taking warmth for the warm body more. ‘maior extensiue extensione raritatis sed non extensione quantitatis’. And the food should incline towards hotness in that time, and it is apparent from that what is well said regarding the heat of the young men and youth generally.
In the spring however the food should be moderate but
Yet, in the summer the food should be mild {MS page/column 8/16} going into inclining towards coldness and that is means mild in quantity, that is, only a little should be given at one time for the substance the sum of the bodily heat will be small in that time being spent and dissipated because of the external heat. And if food mild in its substance is given it will be burned from the fiery heat. And it is therefore that Galen says in the Canon ‘Uentres hieme et cetera’ that the heat will go external in the summer to co-rejoice with the similars and it is therefore it is weakened diminished internally.
In the autumn, again, give the food in small quantity and it should be inclined towards warmth and moistness, and there are verses upon this ‘Quantam uis sume de mensa tempore brune’ eat the quantity you wish of food in the season of winter, ‘Tempore sed ueris cibo moderate frueris’ but use food moderately in the season of spring, ‘Et calor estatis dapibus nocet inmoderatis’ in summer evil is made comes of the immoderate foods. ‘Autumpni fructus extremos dant tibi luctus’ the fruits of autumn will give thee sore weeping.
The time of eating the proper time is when there is true hunger as we have said in the third chapter above. And it is better in the summer to choose the time that is cooler, that is, before sunrise and at the time of vespers — in the evening. And the time of need when it is really necessary is the time in which food should be taken, and it is therefore that Galen says in libro De regemine sanitatis that no person should be compelled to observe the Rule of Health but the person who is not prevented from following it from any other compulsory
{MS page/column 9/17}
cause and who has his desire choice free in every one thing a man
The habit of diet should be maintained unless it is very bad unless it disagrees or is injurious and if it is so it ought to be departed from slowly not too quickly and therefore the habit which conforms with natural things should be maintained. And if it should depart only a little from them it should still be continued. Nevertheless if the departure from nature is great it should be directed back and yet not suddenly, as we have said. And yet let those of bad regulation habit take heed to themselves for though it does not show on their countenance even if the effect is not immediately apparent it will yet show later on very effectively — they shall feel it — as Avicenna says. And therefore, those who say that they can fill themselves often with food and that no hurt comes to them let them take heed to themselves for they shall be hurt; for if God took revenge upon every one sin the first time after it was committed that is immediately there would not be a single man in life, and as is all Nature, that is, God, it is so that Nature is ordered in man, that revenge restitution is not made the first time or immediately but after a season. Item, there are some people who eat more of fruits than of other foods, and they do so wrongly, for every fruit makes {MS page/column 9/18} a watery blood unprofitable innutritious and it is corrupted. Nevertheless astringent fruits should be eaten after food if the middle intestines is relaxed — as are pears and coctanas and apples. But the roasted apples before a meal will relax those of red humors of choleric temperament, and the
Nevertheless I say of the nuts here, that there is not among all the fruits, after the figs and the raisins, a any fruit that is better than them, and it is therefore the verse says ‘Dic auellanas epati semper fore sanas’, that is, say that the nuts are always healthy for the livers.
Furthermore I say, namely, that such as would desire to indulge in co-reaching should not do so with the middle stomach full but after the finishing of the first digestion and the second digestion and half of the third digestion, and I say that it should not be indulged in made often, for that greatly weakens the stomach and the whole body, and it hurts the sight very greatly for it puts the eyes into great depth it causes them to sink greatly {MS page/column 10/20} clearly.
Of the Blood-letting, indeed, it should be understood that it should not be over-practised, for Avicenna says in the chapter Of Blood-letting that the too frequent blood-letting causes apoplexy, and Galen says in the ninth chapter of his Megathegni ‘Minucio ceteris euacuacionibus uirtuti maiorem debilitatem infert’ the regulation or practice of blood-letting more greatly weakens the vitality of than all other practices, and the reason for that is that red blood is more akin to the nature of man than all other humors fluids. It is therefore that its practice in the time it is excessive most greatly weakens, unless the man is young and has a complexion of red blood has a ruddy complexion and he is resting and using of flesh meat and of other foods which nourish well for that condition demands that blood should be let more seldom less often for fear of Quinsy and internal ulcers — than would be the case in another person of different temperament. And the rule which Damascenus gives in his own Aphorisms in the second Particle and in the nine and fortieth Comment should be observed; that is, if a person in his youth practised to let blood four times a year it should only be let thrice in the year at the end of the fortieth year and once only at the end of sixty years, and after ten and three score or four score years it should not be let at all. Notwithstanding, it is the mediana vein that should be let at the end of sixty years and the basilica at the end of forty years for it is not right to let the cephalic vein {MS page/column 11/21} beyond the end of forty years at the outside, for that will blind a person and it will pervert the memory.
The chosen time of the year, indeed, for the blood-letting, that is, the spring and the autumn. But the blood-letting of the spring is the better, for there is not one thing which preserves a person against the diseases of summer as the blood-letting of the spring does, according to Avicenna. Yet it is in two portions the time of the whole year is divided according to the people, that is, the summer and the winter. And the blood-letting should not be in a very cold time nor in a very hot time. And it is therefore that those err who would wish to let blood about the feast of Stephen and about the feast of John Baptist through because of the coldness of the one time and through the heat of the other time. But it should some times be let about Christmas to save from the illnesses which come of the filling the excess accustomed to be done commonly in that season.
Concerning the side on which it should be let, indeed, the versifier says ‘Estas ver dextras, autumpnus iempusque sinistras’, that is, the right hands in the spring and in the summer, and the left hands in the autumn and in the winter. And he says also as regards the Moon thus, ‘Luna uetus ueteres iuuenes noua luna requirit’, that is it should be let for in the case of old men when the moon is old and to the young men when it is new.
Regarding the diet after blood-letting. It should be understood that great error is then often made, for there are men who would like to drink and to eat a great deal in that time to make the blood again which they have lost, and it is therefore that only a little should be drunken and eaten. Yet more of wine should be drunk in place of to make up for the less food then, or as they were accustomed to,{MS page/column 11/22} because it is easier to satisfy with drink than it is with food. Yet, avoid cheese in that time and fat flesh and salt fish and fruits and anger and exertion and be not close to a fire and do not make co-reaching and do not make but a small supper and it is therefore this verse is good ‘Prima dies uene moderacio sit tibi sene’, namely, let thy supper be moderate the first day of after
And if you wish to know what time begins the proper seasons of the year they are found in these verses ‘Uer petre detur estas et innde sequetur quam dabis urbano autumpnus simphoreano’, that is, the spring in at at the feast of Peter and the summer at the feast of Urban and the autumn at the feast of Simphorean. ‘Festum clementis iemis caput est orientis’, that is, the feast of Clement is the head of the beginning of winter. And this is according to the astrologers who always put the seasons to evenness who divide the seasons rigidly and not so the physicians but they call the moderate time of the year spring, and it lasts sometimes during a month, but one time it is less and another time more. The summer, indeed, it is a very hot season, and the autumn it is sometimes hot and another time cold according to different weather, and the winter is a very cold season altogether. Furthermore, namely, it should be understood that the eggs and their custard benefit such as are after blood-letting if the stomach is clean. Nevertheless, if they are got in an unclean vessel they are very easily fouled, and they are the more healthy if broken into water. Furthermore, you should know that the right time to eat this pottage is at the commencement of the meal; and it is made, in the winter, of 'kale' and of mallow and of sage and of parsley or of the white heads of leeks boiled and strained and mixed with milk of almonds. And I say that the almonds are an excellent fruit eaten whole, as they are, or with the skin taken off them, and given to the men who have had blood let and to those who are wasting and to those of phthisis. In the summer, indeed, a pottage of borage and of bugloss and of violet and of mercurial and of spinache and of patience and of lettuce and of the tops of fennel and parsley with the like — is proper, and it is well to put avens into it if the stomach is cold. The pea, however, should not be eaten except with cumin; and let not beans or peas be eaten new or old except with salt and cumin; and those
The Age and the Complexion — it is almost entirely by things similar that they are regulated nourished. Nevertheless, the young men will digest more of fat things and of hard things than the old men because of their agedness and the sons or youth generally the moist things, that is, the tender or soft things, for the diet should be renewing restorative and only a little should be eaten but that frequently. And those given to study should be nourished like old people, for the studying dries them; so let them eat tender things according to their sufferance as they can bear them so that their blood is replenished quickly and well. Those who labour, however, let them eat roasted fat things for these are the things that resist the waste of labour. For though the roasted things are moister
Make a note that it is in six positions the horn should be put in bleeding cupping. The first position — in the furrow at the back of the head, and it will empty draw from the animal parts there, and it will relieve headache especially, and diseases of the eyes, and the filth of the night upon the eyes shall be cleansed, and it will serve or deplete the region of the vein called
that is Ounce; that is Dragma; that is Scruple.
PERITISIMUS OMNIUM RERUM Hippocrates et cetira, that is, the key of all knowledge is Hippocrates, and he commanded that the knowledge and the prognostics of the death and the life of all human bodies should be written at the end of his life and that this should be placed along with himself in the coffin, and he ordered that it should be put under his head in the burial, for fear the other philosophers might get his Arcanum and the secret of his heart.
At the end of much time after that, the Emperor came, that is, Caesar; and he ordered the tomb to be opened — seeking treasure, that is, gold or gems or precious jewels. And the thing he found there was a shapen box which being lifted and opened what was found in it was a document on which was the Arcanum of Hippocrates. And the Emperor ordered it to be given to the physician of his own body and flesh and Amustosio was the name of the physician. He saw the people, and he read
Stranguria is to be interpreted as the emission of the urine in drops and that is not a trifling small matter. Donald MacBeath wrote this.
The first post-script beginning in Col. 27 would seem to be a personal MacBeath note based upon practical experience and observation — for I have not been able to trace its origin otherwise. It would seem also to be in the same handwriting as the text, so far.
The second post-script introduced by Peritisimus omnium rerum Ipocras is in a new hand without doubt, and most probably that of one of the MacBeaths themselves. At the middle of the fourteenth line down, another and coarser hand takes the same incompleted matter up. This is almost certainly that of James MacBeath, whom we find making other additions to the manuscript in the year 1598 — and long after the O'Cendains and the O'Kearneys had finished their work — when
In a collection of classic, medical, Latin tracts called Articella, which was, I think, first published at Venice about the middle of the fifteenth century, the piece Capsula Eburnea appears along with tracts from the works of Phylaretus, others of Hippocrates, Johannus Damascenus, Galen, Celsus, Avicenna the Cantics, and others. It is headed ‘Liber Hippocratis dictus Capsula Eburnea qui in ejus sepulchro inuentus fertur’. My edition was printed in London in the year 1519.
The Tract is introduced as follows — Peruenit ad nos quod cum Hyppocrates morti appropinquaret percepit ut uirtutes iste scripte ponerentur in capsa eburnea et poneretur capsa cum eo in sepulchro suo ne aliquis eam detegeret. Cum ergo uoluit Cesar uidere sepulchrum Hyppocratis peruenit ad ipsum: aspexit ipsum: erat aut valde percepit ipsum renouari et fabricari et corpus ejus si integrum inueniret deferri sibi quidquam foderet sepulchrum inuenta est in eo hec capsa eburnea: et in ea iste uirtutes: delata est ergo Cesari: qui in ea aspiciens: Misdos amico suo fideli traditit’’
— from which, when compared with the Gaelic rendering, it may be seen that the parallel is not very even between the two.It would seem that the MacBeaths attached some importance to this tract; and it is surely very interesting, if its history is true, even if it is of no meaning to us in this time. There was a desire to continue it, but James was certainly not the man to do it. It has, however, been done. It was used as base for a Chapter in another Gaelic MS. which lies at the Museum (Egerton, 159), and as it must be of interest for purposes of comparison, I give here a part of it which more than covers the post-script.
‘Tionnsgainter dirydus ypo. ann so. Peritisimus omnium rerum ypocras et cetera .i. eochair gach uile eoluis ypr. rofurail
The tract is translated in full (Eg. 159), but it does not follow the Latin very closely, especially in the matter of 'critical days'. The forms of the language are distinctly nearer to those of our own time, and the writing is in many respects like that of Adv. III. Both are almost certainly of the late sixteenth or the early seventeenth century.
Since I finished my work on this text, I have examined MS. Adv. LX, and I find that my note, p. 3, — 1511, must be corrected. The MS. was. written at Dunolly, Argyll, in the end
I here give the whole of the First Chapter from the Latin text of 1501 for purposes of comparison with the Gaelic.
Regimen Sanitatis est triplex, Conseruatiuum, Preseruatiuum et Reductiuum ut innuit Hali tertia particula Tegni can. 19. Conseruatiuum competit sanis, Preseruatiuum neutris, Reductiuum egris. Sed Preseruatiuum nominatur Conseruatiuum ut dicit Haly tertia particula Tegni (téchnés) commento 55. Dico ergo quod Conseruatio fit per similia — unde tertia particula Tegni Si vis conservare crasim qualem concepisti similia similibus offeras. Corpori ergo temporato debent dari omnia similia in gradu et forma. Sed corpori lapso lapsu naturali debent dari similia in forma sed non in gradu propter inclinationem quam habent ad lapsum ut dicit Auicen. 6.o Colliget ultra medium lib. cap. de regimine complexionum malarum. Si dicas similia non patiuntur a similibus sibi dicit Auicen. libro primo, fen 2.a capitu de signis complexionis Dico quod membra agunt a tota specie in cibum et ideo dico quod digestio fit a toto specie membri per calidum tanquam per instrumentum sicut dicit Auer. 5.o Colliget de stomacho structionis quod in minori tempore dissolvitur ferrum quam in igne a toto specie. Sic dico in proposito vel dico quod a similia non fit passio in rebus inanimatis sed in rebus animatis bene potest fieri. Corpora ergo lapsa regantur cum similibus in forma quando ipsa sunt in temperamento eis debito sed non in gradu quia gradus debet esse remissior in cibo quam in corpore nutriendo. Et debit talis regi per cibum medicinalem quia per cibum absolute complexio temperata absolute regi debet dicit Haly tertia particula Tegni in commento illius Calidiora calidioribus indigent adjutoriis quod lapsum corpus vel calidum ab equalitate per duos gradus debet regi cum calidis in primo gradu vocat frigidum, quia calidum remisse frigidum est in ore medici. Et ideo aliqui errando dicunt ex Haly quod calida debent conservari