Trigger Warning

It's not often that Vatican manuscripts have trigger warnings for extreme graphic content, but I would rather not know what some of the pictures in a copy of Avicenna's textbook of medicine depict.

Urb.lat.241 has just been digitized by the Vatican. According to Anthony Grafton's Rome Reborn, catalog, this unfortunate man at fol 280r has haemorrhoids.

I will spare you the diarrhoea image a few pages later. Then there is a chap (left) showing a horrified onlooker at fol. 246v something from the intestines. Don't ask.

If you get into impossible contortions to gargle, spare some sympathy for this unfortunate gentleman at fol. 389v:

Medical students tend to gaze with arms crossed and eyes wide in fascination at organs where the rest of us would rather flee the room:

I quickly turned the page after this anatomical presentation on fol. 308v:

The book is a copy dated to 1300-1310 of Gerard of Cremona's Latin translation of the medical summa by Ibn Sīnā, Abú 'Ali Al-Husain ibn 'Abd Allah (Avicenna) (d. 1037).

The Vatican Apostolic Library released nine manuscripts online last week and 75 more on September 12 for a new total of 5,437. Here is the full list:

1. Urb.lat.93
2. Urb.lat.164
3. Urb.lat.220
4. Urb.lat.239
5. Urb.lat.240
6. Urb.lat.241, Avicennae Canonis libri by Avicenna (above)
7. Urb.lat.267
8. Urb.lat.347
9. Urb.lat.401
10. Urb.lat.532
11. Urb.lat.547
12. Urb.lat.565
13. Urb.lat.566
14. Urb.lat.579
15. Urb.lat.582
16. Urb.lat.586
17. Urb.lat.596
18. Urb.lat.598
19. Urb.lat.662
20. Urb.lat.688
21. Urb.lat.706
22. Urb.lat.707
23. Urb.lat.718
24. Urb.lat.725
25. Urb.lat.731
26. Urb.lat.747
27. Urb.lat.748
28. Urb.lat.752
29. Urb.lat.753
30. Urb.lat.754
31. Urb.lat.756
32. Urb.lat.766
33. Urb.lat.768
34. Urb.lat.770
35. Urb.lat.777
36. Urb.lat.779
37. Urb.lat.786
38. Urb.lat.787
39. Urb.lat.788
40. Urb.lat.790
41. Urb.lat.794
42. Urb.lat.798
43. Urb.lat.803
44. Urb.lat.804.pt.1
45. Urb.lat.805
46. Urb.lat.814.pt.2
47. Urb.lat.815.pt.3
48. Urb.lat.816.pt.1
49. Urb.lat.816.pt.2
50. Urb.lat.817.pt.1
51. Urb.lat.817.pt.2
52. Urb.lat.817.pt.3
53. Urb.lat.820.pt.2
54. Urb.lat.820.pt.3
55. Urb.lat.822.pt.1
56. Urb.lat.822.pt.2
57. Urb.lat.823.pt.1
58. Urb.lat.823.pt.2
59. Urb.lat.824.pt.1
60. Urb.lat.824.pt.2
61. Urb.lat.825.pt.1
62. Urb.lat.825.pt.3
63. Urb.lat.826.pt.1
64. Urb.lat.826.pt.2
65. Urb.lat.828.pt.1
66. Urb.lat.828.pt.2
67. Urb.lat.829.pt.4
68. Urb.lat.830.pt.1
69. Urb.lat.830.pt.2
70. Urb.lat.831.pt.1
71. Urb.lat.831.pt.2
72. Urb.lat.832.pt.1
73. Urb.lat.835
74. Urb.lat.871
75. Urb.lat.872
76. Vat.ebr.428
77. Vat.ebr.431
78. Vat.ebr.432
79. Vat.ebr.433
80. Vat.ebr.442
81. Vat.ebr.443
82. Vat.lat.577
83. Vat.lat.882
84. Vat.lat.826

This is Piggin's Unofficial List number 68. If you have corrections or additions, please use the comments box below. Follow me on Twitter (@JBPiggin) for news of more additions to Digita Vaticana.