02-11-2016, 03:38 AM
(01-11-2016, 10:54 PM)Diane wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.As best I know, Rich Santacoloma was the first person to realise that the top of folio 77r shows a system of Elements.
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We don't know that this is a system of elements.
The diagram looks like elements to me too, especially since I was familiar with quite a few 5-element systems before I ever saw the VMS, but even now I don't assume that it is elements. I've even considered that what is poofing out of the artery-like tubes may represent yellow and black bile, phlegm, and blood, and that the empty one might still represent ether or spirit (or something else).
The one that most nearly looks like fire is near the male, and the one that most nearly looks like water (the bluest one) is near the female, and this could support the idea that these are elements, but even so... I don't want to jump to conclusions.
The mismatch in the number of labels is not an insignificant detail. I'm sure there's a reason for it. Either there's an extra label that perhaps summarizes or groups the others or... there's an extra label as a form of misdirection, or there's an extra label because they are not meant to be read as labels in quite the way we expect. We have to be careful not to assume the spaces are real—they might not be.