I did not question Alain's statement that the VMS is not a serious medical manuscript.
I can't, because we don't KNOW whether the VMS plant drawings have anything to do with medicine (it could be a garden collection, a trade collection, an astrological collection, or a magical collection). Touwaide might be right or he might be wrong.
Let me ask a question... How many "serious" medical manuscripts (by modern standards) were created in the Middle Ages? Are there any that hold up to empirical standards of modern medicine or even weak standards of modern medicine?
Marco has done some very good translations of some of the content of medieval herbals. They provide an eye-opening glimpse into how people thought in those days and are well worth reading. I think we can say that most of these remedies would be rejected by modern medicine, but they took them very seriously in the Middle Ages.
How do we define serious? By the medical efficacy of the recipes? By those standards almost none of the medieval manuscripts are "serious" medical manuscripts. Or by the intention of the creator?
What we can say about the VMS is that the plant drawings are more detailed and more extensive than many medieval books of herbs.
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I did question Touwaide's numerous statements that were specific to plants and plant drawings because I think they are incorrect or misleading (or poor choices for examples). And I don't mean just one or two of the statements, I mean most of them (if it had been just a few small problems I would not have said anything).
I can't, because we don't KNOW whether the VMS plant drawings have anything to do with medicine (it could be a garden collection, a trade collection, an astrological collection, or a magical collection). Touwaide might be right or he might be wrong.
Let me ask a question... How many "serious" medical manuscripts (by modern standards) were created in the Middle Ages? Are there any that hold up to empirical standards of modern medicine or even weak standards of modern medicine?
Marco has done some very good translations of some of the content of medieval herbals. They provide an eye-opening glimpse into how people thought in those days and are well worth reading. I think we can say that most of these remedies would be rejected by modern medicine, but they took them very seriously in the Middle Ages.
How do we define serious? By the medical efficacy of the recipes? By those standards almost none of the medieval manuscripts are "serious" medical manuscripts. Or by the intention of the creator?
What we can say about the VMS is that the plant drawings are more detailed and more extensive than many medieval books of herbs.
.
I did question Touwaide's numerous statements that were specific to plants and plant drawings because I think they are incorrect or misleading (or poor choices for examples). And I don't mean just one or two of the statements, I mean most of them (if it had been just a few small problems I would not have said anything).