Guy de Chauliac, a new MS. including the Practica astrolabii / by J.A. Nixon.

  • Nixon, John Alexander, 1874-1951.
Date:
[1907]
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Guy de Chauliac, a new MS. including the Practica astrolabii / by J.A. Nixon. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    c fyillZ /fc CL^ltitryz mV* EXTRAIT de „J A N U S”. Archives Internationales pour I'Histoire de la M6decine et la Q6ographie Medicals. XIIo Annee, Ie Livr., Janv. 1907. tA GUY DE CHAl l.L\C. A new MS. including the „Prac ‘roiabii.” * By J. A. NIXON, M. B. (Cantab.), M. R. Assistant Physician to the Bristol Royal Infirmary. A mong the treasured manuscripts of the Bristol City Library is one which formed part of the collection of Matthew, Archbishop of York, who in 1615 bequeathed a portion of his books and manuscripts to the City, with which his family had long been connected. This manuscript is a work on Surgery in Latin by Guido Chauliac (Guy de Chaiiliac, 1300-1368) and the copy in Bristol was made by John Tourtier for John, Duke of Bedford between the dates 1420-1435. The book is complete and includes a preliminary treatise on astrology, while to the end of the Surgery is appended a Latin-English glossary of words. The first five double pages are occupied by the “astrology” which begins: “Practica Astrolabii. De nominibus instrumentorum astrolabii,” and ends with the usual word “explicit,” without dedication or other explanatory sentence. It deals with methods of determining the position and influence of the planets, stars, etc. After this are ten double pages blank as though perhaps the copyist had intended to include at some later date the other treatises on “Cataract” and “Hernia.” Then comes “La Grande Chirurgerie” in full, the first page being headed by two miniatures in a grey-brown ink, one representing a monk handing a scroll (? this MS.) to a nobleman surrounded by his retinue (? John Duke of Bedford): the writing begins in red ink. In dei nomine incipit inventarium seu collectarium in parte cirurg- lcali medicinae compilatum et completum anno Domini Millesimo tricentesimo sexagesimo tercio per Guidonem de Caulhiaco Cirurgicum Magistrum in medicina in preclaro studio Montispessulani. Quodquid inventarium seu collectarium fecit scribi et taliter ordinari venerabilis vir magister Johannes Tourtier Magister in Cirurgia ad requestam altissimi excellentissimique et potentis principis Domini Johannis ducis de bedford Regentis regni Francie et Protectoris regni Angliae:” After this follows in black the usual prologue: “Postquam primo gratias egero deo omnipotenti.” The seven books prefaced by an index then follow without omission