COxNCERNING THE BADIANUS MANUSCRIPT. AX AZTEC 



HERBAL, " CODEX BARBERINI, LATIX 241 " 



(VATICAN LIBRARY) 



Bv EMILY WALCOTT EMMART 

 The Johns Hopkins University 



(With Four Plates) 



The Badianus manuscript is a sixteenth century Mexican Herl:)al 

 composed in the year 1552 in the famous College of Santa Cruz at 

 Tlaltelolco, Mexico City. This beautiful manuscript has long been in 

 the possession of the Vatican Library, where its real identity has been 

 obscured by the title " Codex Barberini, Latin 241 ". Except for a 

 few scholars/"^ it was practically unknown until 5 years ago, when, 



'In a personal communication (Mar. 16, 1930) to Dr. C. L'. Clark, Mrs. Zelia 

 Nuttall suggests that " Codex Barberini, Latin 241 " might be the " small book " 

 sent by Munoz Camargo to King Philip. It contained a " demonstracion. pro 

 pinturas y colores de sus formas y hechuras y propriedades " of the flowers 

 esteemed by the Indians (Munoz Camargo, Historia de Tlazcala, edition issued 

 in Tlazcala, Imprento de Gobierno, 1870). 



^ Thorndyke, Lynn, Vatican Latin Manuscripts in the History of Science and 

 Medicine. Isis, vol. 13, 1929-30. 



" This sixteenth century manuscript is a work on medicinal herbs of the 

 Indias which an Indian physician of the College of Holy Cross composed, taught 

 by no reasons, but by experience only, in the year 1552. 



" There is a dedication by Martin de la Cruz to Francisco de Mendoza, and 

 the work closes with a letter of John Badianus, the Latin translator, to the 

 reader. 



" Barberini 241, paper, 63 fols., Libellus de Medicinahbus Indorum Herbis 

 quern quidam Indus Collegii Sanctae Crucis medicus composuit, nuUis rationibus 

 doctus, sed solis experimentis edoctus Anne Domini Servatoris 1552." 



In a personal communication from Dr. C. U. Clark, the author is informed 

 that Dr. Gabrieli, of the Corsini Library in Rome, discovered a copy of the 

 Badianus manuscript, in Italian hand, in the Royal Library at Windsor Castle. 



Gabrieli, G., Due codici iconografici di piante miniate nella Biblioteca Reale 

 di Windsor. A proposito di Cimeli Lincei. Rend. Ace. Lincei, ser. 6, vol. 10, 

 2 sem., fasc. 10, November 1929. 



Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections, Vol. 94, No. 2 



