(12-08-2016, 11:17 PM)R. Sale wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.I agree with the general assessment and to quote from JKP: "there doesn't appear to be an obvious correspondence between the two." However from some perspectives, it seems strange that a medical formulation of such significance and with such strong historical connections should be found to be altogether absent from the VMs. Especially if it is suggested that the VMs makes much use of other ties to classical history. Or if the VMs is proposed to be a record of pharmaceutical formulations, why would this most valuable, universal antidote not be included?
I've done virtually nothing with the VMs plants and will accept any corrections. However I recall that it has been suggested that opium, pepper and perhaps a few other spices identified in the VMs illustrations are also found in the list of theriac ingredients. Clearly opium, in sufficient dosage, is going to have an observable effect. And whatever else is in the theriac formulation and what it does remains to be seen.
It was certainly bad news for the vipers. Is there a viper in the VMS? Or perhaps there were no vipers to be found.
There is a seedhead that resembles the poppy seed capsule and there aren't many seed capsules in the plant world that resemble poppy which are also large like poppy capsules. Anemones have a similar seed capsule, but it's rarely as large. The opium poppy is a common wildflower and is included in many herbal manuscripts, so it would not be a surprise to find it in the VMS. What's puzzling about the VMS "poppy" is that the leaves don't look like poppy leaves even though a fair amount of attention has been given to leaves in the VMS in general.
There are some snaky creatures in the VMS, but not one that seems to explicitly be a viper. The snakes that do appear give the feeling they are more mneumonic than stand-alone but... it's hard to be certain.