Discovered a 2000-year mysterious medicine hidden in ancient books

The first time Grigory Kessel held an ancient book over 1,000 years old, he was suspicious because he looked familiar.

The 2000-year mysterious medicine hidden in the ancient book

Dr. Kessel is a scholar specializing in Syrian studies, the University of Philipps in Marburg, Germany. He is sitting in the library of the ancient book owner, a wealthy collector, specializing in collecting rare scientific documents in Baltimore, Maryland, USA.

Workshop in Batlitmore.(Photo: NY Times)

At that time, Kessel realized that, just three weeks ago, in a library at Harvard University, he saw a book with the same pictures as this book. The book hides an ancient Syrian medical text , translating works by Galen, the Greek doctor and philosopher who died in 200 BC. The book lacks a few pages, and Dr. Kessel is suddenly driven by the thought that they are in Bostron.

" I can't even imagine how it looks," Kessel said. " When I saw the manuscript, I had only the impression that I saw it somewhere. And then I remembered, I had seen a similar page at the Harvard library."

Search

Dr. Kessel returned to the Harvard Library, retrieving the lost page. He analyzed the page size, handwriting and other factors, as well as the submerged character under the scraped skin, determined it was a page in an old medical manuscript in Baltimore. However, there are still 6 more pages missing.

He searched in 10 famous libraries, kept ancient Syrian manuscripts, by comparing them through online manuscripts, or sometimes, going to the library himself. Finally, he found another page in the Monastery of God in Mount Sinai, the most sacred mountain of religions, located on Egypt's Sinai peninsula. This is one of the oldest libraries in the world.

Another site was found in the French national library in Paris, and another in the Vatican library. However, there are still 3 missing pages.

Scientists are taking photos of the ancient Syrian manuscript at the Vatican monastery.(Photo: NY Times)

The manuscript of Dr. Kessel approached made of lambskin , a new layer of text over the old layer. Centuries ago, this was a popular form of leather recycling. For this manuscript, 11th century Syrian missionaries shaved off copies of Galen's medical text, overwriting hymns.

The scientific community is just beginning to understand a little about this manuscript, the Galen document about " Simple remedy - How to prepare and Effect ". It will help to understand the origin of the drug, and how it is transmitted to science today.

" In many ways, it is extremely important, " Peter Pormann, an expert in Greek-Arab, University of Manchester, England, led the study of spoken text.

For centuries, Galen's " simple remedy " is a mandatory medical document for doctors. It is a textbook of ancient medical knowledge, how to take care of patients and use medicinal materials. Galen describes a plant root that cure "thorny throats " disease, or introduces hemp as a medicinal herb to cure earache that " does not cause bloating ".

Much of the "Simple remedy " has been translated into Syrian Christian community in the Middle East . It is possible that the characters hidden under the scrawny sheepskin manuscript, dating from the 9th century, are copies of the first Syrian translation from the 6th century.

" Today, it seems nothing special when someone translates from one language to another. But at that time, the translation was a great achievement, " Dr. Kessel said. "He has to create vocabulary words from Syria to translate this Greek medical vocabulary."

"Simple remedy " is a big project, consisting of 11 volumes. Galen's work has been copied over many centuries, becoming a bridge for ancient Greek medical experts to Islamic society. The Arabic translations are easier to understand and translate into Arabic than the original Greek.

The manuscript in Baltimore was sold to a private collector in 2002. Later, in 2009, he loaned it to the Walters art museum. A team of experts captures the spectral images of book pages. Each page was taken with a very high resolution digital camera, maximizing the shaved characters submerged under the scraped sheep skin. In that group of experts, there was Dr. Kessel. He is a research specialist at the Dumbarton Oaks Harvard Library, Washington.

The rough manuscript at St.atherine's library, Egypt.(Photo: NY Times)

No one knows how many basic remedies are hidden under Galen's manuscript. Copies in Syrian language stored in the British Library in London are only 6-8.

Scholars are eager to compare the manuscript in Baltimore in Syrian language with a Greek copy, copied from the original Galen many centuries later. Because the text is copied many times, so changes significantly compared to the original.

A copywriter may have removed the parts they deemed unimportant, or added new knowledge, based on medical progress. Comparing a copy found in Baltimore with a copy in the British library, will help find out how the ancient Greeks cured, and how it entered the Middle East.

" Some things in it are not modern standard science ," Kessel said. Like many other ancient doctors, Galen said that health is controlled by a balance of four factors: black bile, yellow bile, phlegm and blood. All diseases in the body due to excess or lack of these factors are born.

"Galen's medical system is completely insane," said Dr Siam Bahyro, a researcher on Jewish studies at the University of Exeter. However, according to him, these are the most advanced thinking about medicine at that time.

"We can discover things that we never dreamed of, " said Dr. Pormann, who led the study of ancient manuscripts, delighted.