Is f85v3 about air?

[nablator]

Any comments?

I like it.

My understanding, that I posted before, is that we are seeing quite obvious movements (flows) and transformations in the cycle of water (that was a mystery at the time) and in the medieval mind nothing moves unless it is pushed (according to Aristotle's law of motion), so there just had to be some invisible beings in action, whether they were seen as allegories for the forces of nature or actual beings. The ambiguity was used as an excuse to re-vitalize Pagan mythology that became quite popular in the Renaissance. It's not anachronistic at all, inserting Pagan references everywhere was all the rage, see Christine de Pizan for an example of writing contemporary with the C14 date of the VMS.

There is nothing biological in Q13, it's all about the circulation of air and water, and their elemental transformations.

For f86v3 and some of the pools in Q13 there are possible links to alchemy, again it's about the transformation of liquids: distillation, condensation, etc. Alchemy in the 15th century and earlier was all about the wet way, the dry way became popular later. The dry/wet/hot/cold qualities of everything were very important in medieval science, mentioned on the first line in medicinal herbals. Radical humidity, a forgotten medieval concept, was used in medicine as well as alchemy. Knowing the actual medieval concepts and the associated illustrations is very useful. The concept of energy, that you see thrown around in interpretations of the VMS, for example, is completely anachronistic.

The description of the chameleon as the only animal that neither eats nor drinks, and has no other food than air comes from Pliny's Historia naturalis, the leading authority in medieval Europe on a wide range of subjects. Most of Europe had never seen a chameleon: according to this map, it lives in the most southern parts of Europe and in northern Africa. No idea if the geographic distribution was the same in the 15th century. You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.

I don't know if there are any 15th century illustrations. These are older (13th century): You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.

In this article, the earliest is dated 1534:

To create the 1534 illustration (fig. 1), the artist had to follow Pliny's description as faithfully as possible, thereby proving that he had never seen the animal: in his depiction, the chameleon becomes a small monster with a scaly fish-like body, long, stiff legs with sharp claws, a pig's head, and a bizarrely spiraled tail. In this last instance, it is clear that the illustrator misinterpreted Pliny's comparison to a coiled viper's tail.

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Andreae Alciati Emblematum libellus (1534) You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.

Note the scaly body.

{51.} L  Africa almost alone does not produce stags, but Africa also has the chameleon, although India produces it in greater numbers. Its shape and size were those of a lizard, were not the legs straight and longer. The flanks are joined on to the belly as in fishes, and the spine projects in a similar manner. [121] It has a snout not unlike a pig's, considering its small size, a very long tail that tapers towards the end and curls in coils like a viper, and crooked talons; it moves rather slowly like a tortoise and has a rough body like a crocodile's, and eyes in a hollow recess, close together and very large and of the same colours as its body. It never shuts its eyes, and looks round not by moving the pupil but by turning the whole eye. [122] It holds itself erect with its mouth always wide open, and it is the only animal that does not live on food or drink or anything else but the nutriment that it derives from the air, with a gape that is almost terrifying, but otherwise it is harmless. And it is more remarkable for the nature of its colouring, since it constantly changes the hue of its eyes and tail and whole body and always makes it the colour with which it is in closest contact, except red and white. When dead it is of a pallid colour. It has flesh on the head and jaws and at the junction tail in a rather scanty amount, and nowhere else in the whole body; blood in the heart and around the eyes only; its vital parts contain no spleen. It hibernates like a lizard in the winter months.

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