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MS 23 N 29

Catalogue of Irish Manuscripts in Royal Irish Academy

467

23 N 29

Fragmentary Medical Treatises, etc.

16th to 18th cent. Paper, various sizes. Ff. 105. Bd. in brown leather boards, tooled and lettered on back, “Irish Medical mss. Fragments.” The volume is numbered throughout in a recent hand, according to folios, 1-108. But the numeration passes by an error from 45 to 50, and inserts a 78 [a] between 78 and 79, so that the true number of folios is 105. There is also an earlier numbering by pages in a hand probably of the nineteenth century, which originally ran from 1 to 236. This has been disturbed by a recent rearrangement when the leaves were remounted and the volume rebound. A study of the old pagination reveals gaps in the numeration between 66 and 69, 120 and 123, 157 and 176, 188 and 199. The first two gaps probably indicate the loss of two leaves, but the third and fourth are due to careless numbering.

The present arrangement is faulty. Of the 23 fragments which the volume contains, viii, xi, and xiii constitute a large part of a Materia Medica; the true order of folios is 69-72, 78, 78 a, 79, 80, 62, 74, 75, 83, 81, 82, 76, 73, 86, 87, 77 (end). Fragments ix, x, and xiv are parts of one treatise; xii and xv belong to a work on urine; xvii and xxi are parts of one treatise. Ff. 27-54 are almost entirely transcribed from 466.

I. f. 1 r°. Fragment of an old treatise, interspersed with metrical quatrains. This is the only part of the ms. which O’Curry (Ac. Cat. i, 258-261) has thought it worth while to describe. He thinks it is not a translation but an original Irish treatise. The only authority referred to is the legendary Diancécht (f. i v°, 1. 12, Brasech annso do ordaigh ar n-oitde .i. Diancecht ar leic ⁊ ar cair, etc.): and the language of the tract resembles that of certain parts of 473, for which no Latin original has been found.

f. 2 v°. “Do gallraib in gaile.” f. 3 r°. Cosc ar luas eculsa (i. gaile). f. 3 v°. Cures for various diseases.

fo. 3 v. and 4r., top marg., note in a later hand: “deich caidirne ata sa leabur so agus sé fichit duilleog ata isna deich caidirnib sin.”

fo. 4 r. i: note by scribe, erased but legible: Mesi Conla mac an Lega ⁊ a Cill Athricht damh faré Tomaltach mac Cein mic Eogain iar ngerradh a chosi gu guasachtach do Cormac [mac] Briain oig hi Airt [in Lu] an iar nDomnach na Crosi naomda aníu ⁊ a cethair deg ais esga ann ⁊ naoi mbliadna ⁊ cuic ced bliadhan ⁊ mile bliadhan ais an Tigerna. Bas Diarmada mic Eoghain meic Tomaltaigh hi Gadra aníu ⁊ e ag denam an corgais ina baile budein iar mbreth buada [ó do] man ⁊ o deman. Dia dardain mandala an la anib ⁊ a Manistir atu ... ⁊ athcheo do thecht arin mbas adiur (then in red ink) ⁊ is maith d Erind uile in sain.

fo. 4 v. A Lega Banba na mbrat, 23 qq.

fo. 4 v. x. Mac in Lega na rnbreth mbog Cond auctor glan gan aonlocht, etc., 1 q.

f. 5 r°. Poem on Shannon in a very small hand, beg. Berad breth na himrisna . . . written by Tadg an Gharadh mac Egan to settle a dispute between Dermad O’Brien and Tadg mor O’Higgin. Ends f. 5 v°, 1. 5, ... O Briain iman breith. Berad. Of. 23 L 34, pp. 211-214, where there is another copy of the poem, and Tadg og O’Higgin is mentioned. Cf O’Curry in H. & S. Cat. ii, p. 424 (169).

f. 5 v°. Poem on murder of Mac Ragnaill, chief of the name, by his friends and the captain of his ship, beg. Adaigh luain casca: ends in mac rig sin a rainig. Dated “anno domini m. ccccc. II” (1502), 8 lines from below note by Diarmaid, son of Connla, the original compiler and transcriber of the book.

f. 6 r°. Continues matter of f. 4 r°. L. 17 begins cure of piles.

f. 6 v°, 1. 8. Ailment of stomach, etc. Leges gairid in gaile ⁊ na rap. L. 30, “De gallraib na narann ann so” of the kidneys, etc.

f. 7 r°, 1. 6. “Leges an madma siccni” : of rupture and its cures, L. 27, of stupes for piles.

f. 7 v°, 1. 22. “Don fualgalar ann so.” Poem beg. Secht losa arin galar fuail icas gach aon re haonuair amail ro ordig Diancecht, etc.

f. 8 v°, 1. 30. Is iat gallra in boill ferrda.

f. 9 r°. Remedies and charms against impotence, e.g. (1. 12), "Obaid ar leme annso" :tonn tonn tuinde fonn fonn fuinde Grian grian uime Sce te le tim tim tinde Terad rinde Fit fit fiat funde. A cantain a nuisgi fo.i. firtopraid ⁊ a cur a soithech ibhair ⁊ a crathad arin duine ara mbi in dochnach maiden ⁊ fescur gu cend nómaide.

f. 9 v°, 1. 9. “Do galar na mban budesta” on diseases of women, beg. Imad cuislend bis gu prap. Ends imperf. . . . ni don tsugh sin do sceirdiug na f—.

II. fo. 10 . Latin aphorisms with Irish transl. beg. . . . crisis causon terciana si urina alba uel liuida . . . mortem significat .i. in gach eslainte diob so foillsigid fual geal, etc. Ends with a saying about geometry, Rerum mensuram, etc., after which another is added by a later hand.

III. fo. 11 - 26 contain fragment of a commentary on various books of Hippocrates, beg.Si ebrius . . . (Hipp. Aph. bk. v, aph. 5). Ends imperfect, fo. 26 v. in middle of bk. i, aph. 19, His qui ... mad fiabras uilidhe ues ann.

IV. fo. 27 - 54 are in a hand of the early eighteenth century.

fo. 27 , 28 remedies for filun, transcribed from no. 466, f. 21 v-end of f. 22.

fo. 29 r°, 1.1. “Do tsubaltaibh fumus terra” = no. 466, f. 16 v. 1.

fo. 29 r°, 1.11. On psalms to be said on special occasions: Cid be thegmhus a n-eigentus: — no. 466, f. 16 v. 12.

fo. 30 r. Two Latin verses,Augurio desies, etc., copied from no. 466, p. 20. Then a treatise on plants, etc., headed "In Dei nomine amen." Beg. madh ailt an folt do casad : copied from no. 466, p. 1. Followed by short notes on blood-letting.

fo. 30 v. lower marg. Account dated May 18, 1721, “Nic Mullins debtr. to James Smith.”

fo. 31 r. to end of fo. 35 , beg. “Ag so miniugad Daniel faidh”; copied directly from no. 466, ff. 8 v.-13 v.

fo. 36 r.- 37 r. Tract on the Mass, beg. Don Aiffrinn and so ⁊ ar ttus cia dubairt an cead aiffrinn. Ends : ar son mo caired

fo. 37 r. i : “ffeb 28th 1726/27. Recd. of Mr Jon Reilly an eight groates piece.”

fo. 37 v.- 54 v. are transcribed from no. 466, ff. 25-44 : compare, e.g., fo. 51 v.. “Acacia,” with the corresponding heading in no. 466, f. 34 r. As to the transcriber’s procedure, see description of no. 466. There is a gap in the transcript after fo. 38 : the missing leaves answered to no. 466, ff. 39 r. a 13-43 v. b 8.

V. fo. 55 r.- 58 v. Heading: “Galieni m. H. Aphorismos Hypocratis liber primus interprete Nicolao Leoniceno Vencentino.” Fragment of the Aphorisms of Hippocrates with Irish translation in a 17th cent. hand. Fo. 56 should follow fo. 58. Fo. 56 v. ends with bk. ii, aph. 13, Quibus cunque crisis fit, etc.

VI. fo. 59 . Notes in English on the effect of various drugs.

VII. fo. 60 , 61 . Fragments of another translation of Hippocrates’ Aphorisms, Latin and Irish, beg. Quibus in febribm aures obsuruerint (iv. 60), and ending qua parte corporis calor aut frigus ibi morbus est .i. gidh be rann . . . Hand of 17th cent.

VIII. fo. 62 . Beg. Oleum de amigdalis. Part of a Materia Medica, see introductory remarks. Hand of 17th cent.

IX. fo. 63 . Beg. Tuig leat go ffuiled dha gne go geineralata ar an drochchomplex. In top marg.: “A n-ainm De tionsgaintear an leabhar so,” as if this had been the first leaf of a volume. (The matter is continued on fo. 88.) Same period.

X. fo. 64 - 68 . Of medicaments and doses, in same hand as fo. 63. These leaves should apparently follow fo. 89.

XI. fo. 69 - 83 . Materia Medica, ut supra : as to the proper order of the leaves see introductory remarks.

XII. fo. 84 , 85 . Part of a commentary on Aegidius De Urina, to which fo. 90, 91 also belong. The true order seems to be 91, 84, 85, 90. Hand of 17th cent.

XIII. fo. 86 , 87 . Materia Medica, ut supra.

XIV. fo. 88 , 89 : see under ix, supra.

XV. fo. 90 , 91 : see under xii, supra. At foot of fo. 91 the date “the 6th of March 1719.”

XVI. fo. 92 , 93 . Fragment of a treatise on urine, in a 17th century hand.

XVII. fo. 94 - 99 . A series of hexameters on diet, etc., with Irish commentary.

XVIII. fo. 100 . Fragment of a commentary on Hippocrates’ Aph. bk. i, in same hand as preceding.

XIX. fo. 101 . Fragment of another treatise on urine, in hand of 17th cent. Latin and Irish. Beg. Ad finem iam tendente.

XX. fo. 102 , 103 . Fragment of another commentary on Hippo­crates’ Praesagia, parts of bks. i and ii.

XXI. fo. 104 r. Continuation of the hexametric series (see xvii supra) ending Omnis homo primum proponit nobile uinum, etc. FINIS, anno domini 1592.

fo. 104 r. x. Certe in medicina inmensa profunditas est. Latin and Irish. At foot of f. 104 a scribal note, “Sin duit a Aodh,” etc.

XXII. fo. 105 . Fragment of homily on life of Christ beg. . . . ar mbanmaicchistir .i. an eucclus romanach.

XXIII. fo. 106 - 108 contain part of a BEATHA MUIRE, beg. nach roibhe gniom na hoighe a nadhaid an rechta. Cf. 23 B 3, fo. 85 r., 1. 10-fo. 88 v. and 23 C 29, pp. 148-153.