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+--- Thread: [split] The Strange Thing on 116v (/thread-2163.html)
RE: [split] The Strange Thing on 116v - PeteClifford - 01-01-2026
A couple of observations on this topic, if that's OK?
1. What the drawing immediately reminds me of is an alembic still, such as this one, perhaps with a set of bellows at the base:
![[Image: Alambik1.jpg]](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/ca/Alambik1.jpg)
A still could perhaps suggest a link to alchemy or the distillation of medicines and other products from herbs? Does anyone know when the alembic came into use in Europe?
2. The suggestion that this was a depiction of the intestines of a goat struck me as bizarre, until I remembered that the words in the marginalia just to the right of the image possibly/probably read "pox leber". So, maybe not so outlandish a suggestion?
RE: [split] The Strange Thing on 116v - bi3mw - 01-01-2026
(Yesterday, 05:03 PM)PeteClifford Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.Does anyone know when the alembic came into use in Europe?
As far as I know, Taddeo Alderotti was the first person to describe an alembic in Europe. He lived from 1205/1223 to 1295/1303. In 1264, Alderotti distilled wine into brandy in Bologna. It can therefore be assumed that the alembic was invented around this time. It is, of course, possible that someone had already worked with it earlier, but there is no direct evidence of this.
RE: [split] The Strange Thing on 116v - Jorge_Stolfi - 01-01-2026
(11 hours ago)bi3mw Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.As far as I know, Taddeo Alderotti was the first person to describe an alembic in Europe. He lived from 1205/1223 to 1295/1303. In 1264, Alderotti distilled wine into brandy in Bologna. It can therefore be assumed that the alembic was invented around this time. It is, of course, possible that someone had already worked with it earlier, but there is no direct evidence of this.
The invention of the alembic has often been attributed to the Baghdad Caliphate alchemist Jabir Hayyam around 900 CE, but presumably because it became widely known in Europe from books attributed to Jabir ("Geber") that were translated to Latin first in Italy in the 1200s. And also because Jabir used the alembic to make sulfuric, hydrochloric, and nitric acids, and thus aqua regia, which dissolves gold -- which made it look like one could turn other metals into gold by alchemical operations.
But in fact the thing is much older. From Wikipedia: "Alembic drawings appear in works of You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. (3rd century C.E.), You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. (c. 300 C.E.), and You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. (c. 373 – c. 414 C.E.). There were alembics with two (dibikos) and three (tribikos) receivers.You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. According to Zosimos of Panopolis, the alembic was invented by You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view..You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view."
So the thing must have been known at least in the Eastern Roman Empire since the first centuries CE.
All the best, --stolfi
RE: [split] The Strange Thing on 116v - bi3mw - 01-01-2026
(9 hours ago)Jorge_Stolfi Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.The invention of the alembic has often been attributed to the Baghdad Caliphate alchemist Jabir Hayyam around 900 CE, but presumably because it became widely known in Europe from books attributed to Jabir ("Geber") that were translated to Latin first in Italy in the 1200s. And also because Jabir used the alembic to make sulfuric, hydrochloric, and nitric acids, and thus aqua regia, which dissolves gold -- which made it look like one could turn other metals into gold by alchemical operations.
But in fact the thing is much older. From Wikipedia: "Alembic drawings appear in works of You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. (3rd century C.E.), You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. (c. 300 C.E.), and You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. (c. 373 – c. 414 C.E.). There were alembics with two (dibikos) and three (tribikos) receivers.You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. According to Zosimos of Panopolis, the alembic was invented by You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view..You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view."
So the thing must have been known at least in the Eastern Roman Empire since the first centuries CE.
All the best, --stolfi
Yes, that's correct, but I think the questioner is referring to medieval Europe in his question. In that case, the mid-13th century is a realistic date for the introduction of the alembic.
RE: [split] The Strange Thing on 116v - vosreth - 01-01-2026
Hello dear friends,
I found an interesting passage from Hunain's Ten Treatises of the Eye (from 9th century) p. 121 [You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.]
Treatment for night-blindness (following Galen, ibid, l, IV, c. 8 (ed. Kühn, vol. XII p. 709-710) :
Bleeding at the forearm, purgation of the belly by means of medicine and clyster. Then the head must be cleared by gargling and sneezing and the veins in the inner corners of the eye must be bled, and he (the patient) must drink before a meal (water with) dry hyssop or rue. It (the eye) must be anointed with alum, rock-salt and the juice which flows from the goat's liver when it is roasted, and he (the patient) must admit to his eyes the steam rising from it during the roasting and then eat (the liver).
I am not entirely sure how a 15th century person would have collected these drops from a liver that's being roasted, but You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. features also a round shape with dots above it. The round shape might be the drops forming a pool, or then it might be the eye where the drops are being applied directly. Curiously, looking for oror sheey leads to f76v, where something like oror sheey can be found in the beginning of the line (as it appears also on f116v). This page features a nymph, holding a similarly shaped object, accompanied by similar dots and a circular shape. Might she be holding some kind of roasted goat organ that's dripping?
I can not find any mentions of goat milk unfortunately. However, at the end of the linked book, there's an excellent table with the english, greek and arabic names of different words related to treating the eye, and this list features goat's fat, goat's horn, goat's liver and goat's gall. Interestingly, Hunain also refers to the "tunics of the eye" with their greek names, for example arakhnoeidês khitôn for the arachnoïd, which presumably is where the droplets should be administered.
Curiously, the word on the next line below oror sheey on You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. looks like 8ox, but that might be a coincidence.