The Michigan Medical Codex: P. Mich. Inv. 21 - Corso di Papirologia

142 L.C.Youtie
In Gal. XIII, 524-534 are thirty consecutive recipes, all ?TouXwTLXuL.
In all except one, at least two or three metals are among the ingredients,57)
and in five of the recipes there are five metals.58) It would seem therefore
that our two lacunae in lines 8 and 10 ought to have held the names of metals.
In the thirty recipes XL9aPyUPOU is found most often (25 times); WLLUa'LOU is
next with 18 occurrences; x6>c6toc is found in 7 recipes, as also xcLx1LTECOc;
while cumnflTp'cL0C occurs in 6, Xcodofo in 5, and 68LpUyo0c in 4.59)
8. [xca58iEjCLoc: also possible is [8Lppu]yoGc and perhaps xoLXaL ] ewc. cTum
rnptac is too long. For xc6iLoa cf. Dsc. V 74; Gal. XII 219; and for its oc
currence in papyri, Marganne, p. 361. In the introduction to his 6roXWTL)L{cL,
Galen has the following (XIII 523,10): E vc5VaL 6&E XPT' TI5V 6V66EWV (pOP'ov
& TnLPaL rLdcLv 6T1T axVTQL, TO le 65LO. acL56l?LOLc 1{aLL 1O 8LO6 TOO Xo.66.vou Wp401iov
dPLCTOV ?LC 6rTOUXcCLV. O rapci rLctL 6? TOVC taLcpOLC 1 TLOV 4LyvUiTV.vv &rtEX6V
(ap1&Xicv, 6LOX6YflTCLL cUU Lp6LO. "It is necessary to know that of the highly
esteemed medications which are approved by all physicians, that with calamine
and that with ladanum are the best applications for promoting cicatrization.
Not-agreed upon by all physicians are the proportions of the individual in
gredients to be mixed in."
8-9. XcLpvoL U?[uXaijvouL nOTalaLOU (-a LoL), nom. for gen.: cf. Dsc. II
10; Gal. XII 356. River crabs are not found in any of the thirty 'ETouxcTL)L(L
of Galen mentioned above.60) The closest parallel to our text which I have
been able to locate is that of Archigenes in Paul. IV 26, 4 ( = Gal. XIII
733,9ff.): 61 ApXLyVOUC rpOC XapxLVc,6fl ictuL XaXOT)nET1 EXAxfl. ){LpXLV&V o0TcL4LWV
XsuiEvQv iVCtL Xct6v,cac CcQ XEZo. La ELTEccE, fl TT1V CrLo6OV TCIV uCPXVCiV VETa
Xnp(lTTC crLTILXXL. "The recipes of Archigenes for cancerous and malignant
ulcers. Rub to a powder equal parts of burnt river crabs and calamine and
sprinkle on. Or, apply (as a plaster) the ashes of the crabs mixed with a
cerate." A cerate was essentially a combination of wax and oil, with the ad
dition of resin, fat, or other medicinal ingredients.
Other recipes of the medical writers which contain river crabs are, e.g.,
Dsc. Eupor. I 145,4, which has 1OLp.x1LVOL TLOTcqLLOL X6X{cU1LVOL cUv 1l>EXLTL, a
remedy for XoLpt6Ec (scrofulous swellings on the glands of the neck); 193,1,
which has the same ingredients and is a remedy for novnpeuo6iiva EXuI iXcL
cxXIpictc XCL1X0ofiLc (malignant ulcers and malignant indurations). Cf. also
57) In the recipe on p.531,9, only one metal, litharge, is called for.
58) 2 metals, 11 times; 3, 11 times; 4, 3 times; 5, .5 times.
59) Several other metals are found fewer times.
60) There is, however, one instance of unp'uxwv usuaU46v&v (trumpet shells),
which are combined with 1X,&apyi5pou, kImitUMoU, rnpoQU, eXa'LoU, TEpl1LvDvfnc,
XL3&vou, and u6a-.oc (532, 14ff.).
61) I owe this reference to Prof. Ann Ellis Hanson, who scoured the
computerized Galen at Princeton for instances of xcxpixvoc, crab, weeding
out the references for xapiCVoc, cancer. She discovered that crabs seem to
have been much used only in antidotes, especially for poisonous bites and
stings. Cf., e.g. Gal. XIII 436,4; XIV 169,2; 170,7; 172,7; 195,16.