Physica - Hildegard von Bingen

...the manuscript ‘Causes and Cures’ original: Causae et curae, Hildegard’s work on the causes of diseases and their treatments. (see the introduction to the ‘Berlin Fragment’ below).

The surprising thing about the text of Books III and IV of ‘Causes and Cures’ is, however, the occasional greater detail compared to the text of the Physica manuscripts FW (and, where included, also Manuscript B and the Strasbourg early edition S). The following comparison of both texts makes this clearly evident through an example.

Example of Parallel Text in Causes and Cures (250,3ff.) and Physica (VI,63,10)

When a pustule which is called freislicha Middle High German: a "terrible" or "dangerous" eruption, often interpreted as erysipelas or a malignant carbuncle. has swollen in a person with a tumor, let them take flies and, having discarded their heads, crush them; with the crushed flies, let them make a circle around that tumor, because the venom of these flies resists the venom of that pustule so that it proceeds no further. Then let them take a red tortoise that is without a shell original: rubeam testudinem, que absque concha est. This is the medieval description for a red slug (Arion rufus)., and having crushed it, make a circle with it around the circle which they made with the flies. And its fluid original: livor, referring to the slug's slime. restrains the decay of the aforementioned tumor so that it stops, because that which is evil fights against evil This reflects the medieval medical principle of similia similibus curentur, or "like cures like.".

Afterward, let them take the juice of a lily and rub the skin which is around the circle made with the slug, because that same juice drives away the pain and brings health. Then let them take a leaf of uehedisteles Middle High German: Wehedistel, usually identifying the Milk Thistle or a similar prickly thistle. and place it over the same pustule, and making a small cake of pure flour, let them bind it with a cloth over the same leaf and over the entire tumor so that it may be softened, so that it might break open on its own, since the coldness and juice of the uehedisteles are not dangerous, but with heat, they make that hardness soft. But if it has not broken open by itself, let them break it with a dry wooden thorn or another dry splinter,

If a pustule which is called freislichaz A variation of the term used in the left column for a dangerous skin eruption. swells in a person, let them crush flies, having discarded their heads, and make a circle with them around that tumor on the outside, and it resists the venom so that it proceeds no further.

Then let them crush a red tortoise that is without a shell A red slug., and with it make a circle around the circle they made with the flies.

And afterward, let them rub the skin around the circle made with the slug with the juice of a lily.

Then let them place a leaf of uehedisteles Milk thistle. over the same pustule, and then making a small cake of pure flour, let them bind it with a cloth over the same leaf and over the entire tumor so that it may be softened, so that it might break open on its own.

But if it has not broken open by itself, let it be broken with a dry wooden thorn or another dry splinter,