Publications/Jun 02, 2015

On the Mixtures and Powers of Simple Drugs

On the Mixtures and Powers of Simple Drugs lead image

Spectral imaging of an ancient manuscript leaf at St. Catherine's.

Mark Schrope’s article “Medicine’s Hidden Roots in an Ancient Manuscript” in The New York Times (June 1, 2015) recounts the history of a Syriac translation of Galen’s “On the Mixtures and Powers of Simple Drugs.” An Arabic colophon indicates that the eleventh-century manuscript once belonged to St. Catherine’s Monastery, where one of seven missing leaves from the manuscript was discovered.