On Delaying the Effects of Old Age

Ch.

Chetham Hospital, Manchester : A. 5. 24. On parchment; written late in the fifteenth century in England; 224 x 168 mm. ; 82 leaves.

Medical works by Roger Bacon, the same as those found in manuscript B.

D.

Bodleian Library : Digby 183. On parchment ; written late in the fourteenth century in England ; 54 leaves.

1 (folio 1). [By Albertus Magnus] Treatise on Minerals. original: "Tractatus de mineralibus"
2 (folio 38). Al-Kindi, On the Rays of the Stars. original: "Alkindus de radiis stellarum." Al-Kindi was a famous Arab philosopher and scientist.
3 (folio 45). "Bacon's book on the discourse of an admirable thing." original: "Liber Bacon de sermone rei admirabilis"
Beginning: "I intend to compose a discourse on an admirable thing." original: "Intendo componere sermonem rei admirabilis"
Ends with the words: "And when it is safely likened to natural heat . . ." original: "Et cum simulatur calori naturali sane . . ." (referring to page 142, line 3 below).
4 Extracts apparently from Roger Bacon's General Principles of Natural Philosophy, which is incomplete at both the beginning and the end. original: "Communia Naturalium"

E.

Bodleian Library : e Musaeo 155 (3705). On parchment ; written early in the fifteenth century at Oxford by John 'Cokkes' ;¹ 230 x 153 mm. ; iv + 704 pages ; with an illuminated border (page 591), decorative capital letters, and other ornaments ; binding is white leather on boards with a sheepskin cover ; contemporary English work.

Scientific treatises, either by or attributed to Roger Bacon : 1 (page 1). The Third Work, divided into 75 chapters. original: "Opus Tertium" It begins: "To the most holy father, lord, and master Clement." This refers to Pope Clement IV. Original: "Sanctissimo patri domino domino Clementi" A leaf is lost after page 2. At the end is the note: "Here ends the work of Cokkes." original: "Explicit quod Cokkes"

2 (page 185). The fourth part of The Greater Work, regarding the usefulness of Mathematics, including diagrams. original: "Opus Majus" The only title is: "Part four, in which the power of the Mathematician is shown" . . . : it begins: "It is manifest that many excellent principles" original: "Manifesto quod multe preclare radices" and ends with the geographical section at "requires the principal writing" original: "requirat principalem scripturam". There is a calendar table at page 276^b. The

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¹ John Cokkes appears to have been a medical writer and teacher as well as a scribe. Manuscript 16 at King's College, Cambridge, from the fifteenth century, contains: (1) a kind of Medical Treasury arranged in alphabetical order; (2) in the same handwriting, a treatise on medicine in which these words occur: "Because I, John Cokkis, with sincere charity, offer a wealth of the first nourishment to students, and bring the secrets of my heart to my household by my own fingers." original: "Quia ego Johannes Cokkis caritate non ficta primi alimenti copiam alumpnis offero archana mei pectoris domesticis perfero digitis" The volume belonged in 1574 to Simon Forman, who created a list at the end of the authors cited by Cokkes in the second part. Compare also the Ashmole manuscripts 1432 and 1475 for recipes and other items by John Kokkes or Cokkes. It seems probable that the 'Cockes' to whom Simon Forman referred as one of his two medical authorities was not Francis Coxe, as the Dictionary of National Biography suggests, but this earlier John Cokkes. He appears to be a different person from the John Cockys of Alcester who copied several philosophical treatises in the Royal manuscript 12 B xix, which dates to the late fifteenth century.