Note: I will not be studying this topic further; I’m simply sharing this idea in case it is useful to someone who works on Voynich research.
I would like to share a personal hypothesis about the Voynich Manuscript that may offer a different perspective on its content.
After examining the botanical section and the so-called balneological section, I propose that both may be connected through a single conceptual framework:
a hydro-phytotherapeutic system—an attempt to understand and replicate the healing properties of medicinal plant roots through networks of flowing water.
This idea comes from two main observations:
- Unusually detailed and prominent root illustrations.
In the Voynich Manuscript, roots are depicted with exceptional detail and visual emphasis compared to the typical medieval herbal tradition. This suggests that medicinal properties may have been attributed primarily to the roots rather than to the full plant.
- The balneological section shows networks of pipes, channels, vessels, and flowing water.
These structures do not resemble anatomical diagrams or realistic bath installations. Instead, they appear to represent idealized hydraulic systems. Some of them connect symbolically to human figures, as if illustrating therapeutic baths or processes involving water circulation.
Based on this, I hypothesize that
the author might have been attempting to conceptualize a water-circulation system whose structure imitates the functional properties of plant roots. The idea would be that, just as roots absorb, transform, filter, and distribute substances, a designed hydraulic network could produce “healing water” either without using the herbs directly or in combination with them, using the water system as an enlarged artificial “stem.”
In modern terms, it resembles a
pre-scientific, proto-hydrotherapy or proto-spagyric concept, where the geometry and flow of water play a therapeutic role inspired by botany.
I’m not claiming that this hypothesis is correct or verifiable. I simply haven’t found prior research exploring this exact connection between root morphology and hydraulic systems as a unifying conceptual model. If anyone working in Voynich studies—historians, botanists, linguists, cryptographers, or independent researchers—finds this idea interesting, I would be honored if they explored it with more academic rigor.