Twelve experiments with snakeskin of John Paulinus.
Frequently found in the manuscripts are twelve experiments with pulverized snakeskin which John Paulinus or John of Spain excerpted from the book in Arabic of the physician or physical scientist, Allchamus or Alchanus or Alanus or Alganus, or whatever his name may have been,[2517] a book entitled Life-Saver (Salus vitae).[2518] This work, as John further informs us at its beginning, he discovered when he “was in Alexandria, a city of the Egyptians.”[2519] Steinschneider listed this John Paulinus as a different person from the well-known twelfth century translator, John of Spain, but at least in one manuscript[2520] he is called both John of Spain and John Paulinus.[2521]
Marvelous virtues of snakeskin.
Another manuscript[2522] presents our treatise under the amusing caption, “Twelve experiments with snakeskin and some of them true.” All due credit should be given for such partial scepticism but it might well have been made more sweeping. The snakeskin is to be pulverized when the moon is in the first degree of Aries, and one manuscript adds that this must be the full moon.[2523] This powder will heal a wound in the head, or will keep the head from being wounded, if it is sprinkled on the hair. A face, washed with it and water, is terrible to foes and secures the faithful allegiance of friends. If the powder is scattered in an enemy’s house, he will be unable to remain there. To secure an attentive hearing in a council, sprinkle a little at your feet. Place some on the tip of the tongue, and you will be invincible in scientific disputations. “And this has been tested many times.” This healing and magic powder also enables one to see into the future, to learn another’s secrets, to insure the fidelity of a servant or messenger, to guard against poison, to win the love of a woman. If a leper eats some of it, his disease will grow no worse. This last experiment is perhaps suggested by Galen’s story of the cure of skin disease by drinking wine in which a viper had died.
Other treatises concerning the virtues of snakes.
At the end of these twelve experiments one manuscript adds that “John in the same book gives additional statements which Alcanus composed,” and continues with further suggestions concerning the medicinal preparation and uses of snakes and their skins and blood.[2524] Similar are Secrets concerning the Serpent, which, according to a manuscript of the fifteenth century in the Bodleian, Albertus Magnus gave to a doctor of sacred theology of the order of Friars Minor at Nürnberg,[2525] and which direct how to prepare snakes and recount their medicinal virtues. It will be recalled, too, that in our preceding chapter we treated of the Experiments of Nicholas of Poland which made considerable use of pulverized snakes or toads or scorpions, and which are sometimes found in the same manuscripts[2526] as the Twelve Experiments with Snakeskin.
Chemical experiments of Nicholas.
Perhaps this is the same Nicholas to whom chemical experiments are attributed in two Oxford manuscripts.[2527] In the fuller manuscript these experiments are numbered in the margin from one to twenty,[2528] but sometimes more than one recipe or item is found under a number.[2529] Besides some alchemistic generalizations, such as the opening sentence which states that there are seven bodies, namely, Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Sun, Venus, Mercury, and Moon, and a recipe or two for making gold and silver, the treatise consists of instructions for the preparation of such chemicals as sal ammoniac, quicksilver, arsenic, sulphur, and common salt, and of other recipes similar to those in the Book of Fires of Marcus Grecus.[2530]The author frequently cites the books and experiences of the philosophers but also speaks of his own experiments. Once, for example, he supports the assertions of the philosophers by adding, “And I, Nicholas, say that I have tested these two operations experimentally”:[2531] in another place he says of a powder recommended “by a very wise philosopher” that he has not yet experienced it himself as the operation is long and difficult.[2532]
Books of waters.
In addition to the Book of Fires of Marcus Grecus and the experiments with air in the Secret of Philosophers, we must not forget the treatises in medieval manuscripts devoted to marvelous waters, medical and chemical. We have already seen such works attributed to Aristotle[2533] and to Peter of Spain.[2534] At that time, of course, various liquid compounds and acids were known as “waters”; alcohol, for instance, was called aqua ardens; and in one manuscript some of the “waters” are really dry or solid.[2535] As in the case of the treatises ascribed to Aristotle and Petrus Hispanus, twelve seems to be the favorite number in these medieval collections of waters, but the twelve are not always the same, [2536] and sometimes, while the title says twelve, the text will include more than that number.[2537] Such a collection of twelve waters is sometimes ascribed to Rasis,[2538] and once to Vergil,[2539] but often occurs anonymously.[2540] Other treatises on waters in general and the fountain of youth in especial are ascribed to famous names, Albert Magnus,[2541] Arnald of Villanova,[2542] and Thaddeus of Florence[2543] and of the University of Bologna, a thirteenth century writer upon anatomy and medicine who lived from 1223 to 1303. We also encounter Nine Waters of the Philosophers,[2544] Physical Waters,[2545] and a Book of Saint Giles concerning the virtues of certain waters which he made while dwelling in the desert.[2546] The saint would scarcely seem to have chosen the best place for the investigation of his subject. Such are a few specimens of medieval works on waters; many more might be collected.[2547]