An Excellent Salve for Burns
Transcription
<div>
<id>p103r_1</id>
<head>Contre bruslure excellent</head>
<ab>Chaufe de l<m>huile de lin</m> a foeu doulx, sans quil bouille &<lb/>
fremisse Mays co{mm}e il sera chault mects y le quart dicelle<lb/>
de la plus noeufve <m>cire</m> que tu pourras Estants fondus<lb/>
laisses les refroidir & co{mm}e ilz commanceront a se cailler remue<lb/>
tousjours avecq une spatule de <m>bois</m> noeuf <del>t</del> tant que tu mettras<lb/>
a dire <del>un</del> 9 pater noster. Et co{mm}e tu les diras lave ceste composition<lb/>
avecq de l<m>eau beniste</m> tousjours remuant Ayant dict le<add>s</add><lb/>
premier <add>9</add> pater noster, verse la premiere <m>eau</m> & y en remects<lb/>
de nouvelle & lave & remue la composition lespace que tu diras<lb/>
8 pater noster A la 3 lespace de 7 & ainsy consequem{ment}<lb/>
<del>jusques</del> tu adjousteras nouvelle eau faisant co{mm}e dessus jusques<lb/>
au dernier & seul pater noster de noeuf Lors tu auras un<lb/>
onguent blanc & doulx duquel tu oingdras la brusleure<lb/>
lespace de 9 jours Mays ny en mects pas dadvantage<lb/>
Car il te f<del>a</del>eroit surcroistre la chair Tu <del>p</del> tepenseras<lb/>
deulx foys le jour & a chasque foys tu te laveras le visaige<lb/>
avecq eau & vin mesles ensemble un peu tiedes Sans frotter<lb/>
Mays co{mm}e le pressant avecq un <m>linge</m> mouille Et tu lessuyeras<lb/>
de mesme <del>aff</del> avecq un <m>linge</m> deslie & apres mects lunguent<lb/>
Sur lequel tu pourras mectre des <pa>foeilles de lierre</pa> Cecy<lb/>
faict renaistre le poil & ne laisse poinct cicatrice Un<lb/>
<pro>pouldrier</pro> qui sestoit presque tout brusle <del>ma</del> & qui navoict<lb/>
aulcune aparence de brusleure me la enseigne</ab>
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Translation
<div>
<id>p103r_1</id>
<head>Against burns, excellent</head>
<ab>Heat <m>linseed oil</m> on a light fire, without letting it boil and simmer, but once it is hot put in a quarter as much of the newest <m>wax</m> you can. After all this has melted, let it cool. And once it begins to curdle, stir continuously with a new wooden spatula for as long as it takes you to say 9 pater nosters, and while you say them, wash this composition with <m>holy water</m>, stirring all the while. Having said the first 9 pater nosters, pour out the first <m>water</m> and put in new one, and wash and stir the composition for the time it takes you to say 8 pater nosters, and the 3rd time for as long as 7, and thus successively you will add new <m>water</m>, doing the same as above, until the last and single pater noster of nine.Then you shall have a soft white ointment, with which you shall besmear the burn for 9 days. But do not apply it any longer, since it would cause an overgrowth of flesh. You shall dress your burn twice a day, and each time you shall wash your face with water and wine mixed together, a little tepid, not rubbing but so to say pressing with wet <m>linen</m>, and you shall wipe it similarly with fine <m>linen</m>. And then apply the ointment, over which you can put <m>ivy leaves</m>. This causes hair to regrow and leaves no scar. I was taught this by a <pro>powder maker</pro> who had almost completely burnt himself but showed no sign of burns.</ab>
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Precautions and preparations
The recipe “excellent salve for burn” is one of the medical recipes that requires relatively fewer material while has much more instructions on the making process. At first, the process of the “washing” appears confusing in the translation. With the help the translator, I got a new English translation of the recipe which is much clear that the washing process needs nine cycles, from nine pater noster in the first cycle, gradually reducing one by one to one pater noster in the last cycle.
In order to start the reconstruction, several problem need to be resolved.
- What is newest wax? According to the references (See here), newest wax should be the kind that has not yet undergone any purifying process and still had its yellow color and fatty texture. The beeswax in the lab inventory meets the requirement.
- What is holy water? Holy water is the water bless by priest which is believed to have healing and exorcising power. Some modern recipes also add salt into the water. It the recipe, the use of holy water bears more religious meaning rather than material .For the purpose of this reconstruction, I decided to use distilled water.
- pater noster: Latin or French? Sing or Speak? Pater noster is one of the best-known prayers in Christianity. As the author-practitioner knew some Latin, I decided to use the Latin version of pater noster, which, presumably more efficacious in the purifying process. I also found versions of chanting pater noster online. Singing will cost approximately twice the time than speaking. It’s impossible to know whether the author-practitioner sang, spoke, or even recited in mind during the process. Singing pater noster takes two minutes, and speaking takes one. The whole process needs repeating the pater noster for 45 times. Singing will take one hour and a half. That’s too long. So I decided to speak the prayer.
- Before the experiment started, I had no idea what will happened by adding water into hot oil. Will it splash out? Will it generate a strong smell of linseed oil, which is potentially hazardous? What if they are not easily getting mixed together? What if the residue are hard to clean from the container? The melting point of beeswax ranges from 62℃ to 64℃. So I don’t need to heat the linseed oil to a high temperature in order to make the beeswax melting. I decided the highest temperature in the operation should be around 85℃, which is below the boiling point of water. All the experiment planed to be handled inside the fume hood.
Name: Xiaomeng Liu, Sasha Grabovskiy, Ludovic Touze-Peiffer
Date and Time:
2017.04.15, 1:30-3:00 pm
Location:Chandler 260
Subject: Making burn salve
- Put on lab coat, gloves, safety glasses, set up the fume hood.
- Ingredients: linseed oil, beeswax, water
- Tools
- For measurement: scale, plastic cups
- For heating and wash: hot plate, pot, wooden chopsticks, jar
- For temperature monitoring: thermal detector
- Measure 100ml linseed oil, measure 25ml wax. As space between the granules of beeswax is inevitable when measuring solid beeswax, we also conducted a test by melting 50ml solid beeswax. The result was that 50 ml solid beeswax granules is approximately equal to 30ml pure wax liquid.
- Pour linseed oil into a pot. Heat on the hot plate. Cautiously control the heat, use the thermal detector to monitor the temperature.
- Stop heating when the temperature reaches 85℃, add the solid beeswax in, wait until the wax is fully melted, then turn off the hot plate.
- There was clear yellow liquid in the pot. As instructed by the recipe, I need to wait until it starts to curdle.
- After about 10 min, the liquid started to solidifying from the periphery. It was time to add “holy water” and start the process of purification.
- Stir by a chopstick, while Ludo repeated the pater noster. Soon a surprising change occurred during the process. The oily substance in the pot started to increase, as if water and air was being stirred into its structure. The dark yellow, viscous, oily substance gradually become whiter and creamier. The volume of the oil and wax mixture was one fifth of the pot at first;after the first cycle of washing (nine pater nosters), the volume increased to one third. When pouring water out of the pot, the amount of the water had been significantly decreased.
- Then we found the whole substance was cooled down and no potential hazardous situation existed. I removed the pot and beaker from the fume hood to the counter, and continued the experiment.
- The second cycle last for 8 pater noster, the third for 7. Each cycle reduces one pater noster than the last one. Until the 9th cycle for one pater noster. The volume of the mixture continued to increase during the process. The process was similar to beating eggs or whipping cream. In the end, we got a whole pot of very light yellow, smooth, creamy, lotion-like salve with a strong smell of linseed oil.
- Then I removed the salve to a jar and sealed it up. I also notice that water kept coming out from the salve during the removing process. The physical condition of the salve is not very stable.
Name: Xiaomeng Liu
Date and Time:
2016.04.21, 3:00 pm
Location:Chandler 260
Subject: Observing the salve after about one week
After one week, more water came out, the volume of the slave shrunk about two thirds. It was no longer as creamy as before, while the light yellow color remained.
Name: (Also the name of your working partner)
Date and Time:
2016.[Month].[Day], [hh]:[mm][am/pm]
Location:
Subject:
ASPECTS TO KEEP IN MIND WHEN MAKING FIELD NOTES
- note time
- note (changing) conditions in the room
- note temperature of ingredients to be processed (e.g. cold from fridge, room temperature etc.)
- document materials, equipment, and processes in writing and with photographs
- notes on ingredients and equipment (where did you get them? issues of authenticity)
- note precisely the scales and temperatures you used (please indicate how you interpreted imprecise recipe instruction)
- see also our informal template for recipe reconstructions