Things missing

There are certain things we might expect in the Voynich manuscript which are absent (based on the evidence of the illustrations and diagrams.) Here are some that I regard as significant:

*Fire

There is no depiction of fire anywhere in the work.

*Alcohol & distillation

I do not detect any reference or allusion to alcohol, its production or use, in the manuscript. Instead, what seems to be depicted are methods of water extraction. There are no depictions of distillation. See also the absence of fire.

*Planets

The planets do not feature in the astrology. This is very noticeable and significant. The astrology seems entirely concerned with the fixed stars and the Sun and Moon.

*Anatomy and Physiology

There is no account of human anatomy or physiology such as we might expect in a medical text. There is no system of referring planets and/or stars etc. to organs of the body. The herbalism does not seem based upon organs (for this, see also the absence of planetary astrology.)

*Diseases

Apart from one figure (which may be marginalia) there is no depiction of disease in the manuscript. The herbalism does not address specific diseases (or any diseases.)

*Glyphs and symbols

While the work seems to concern such standard features of medieval cosmology as the four elements, the traditional (and very common) symbols and glyphs used for these categories are not found in the work. Instead, the work seems have its own, unfamiliar, system of symbols and glyphs for such things.

I am inclined to think these absences are all related. There is no concern for the planets, for instance, because the work does not concern an organ-based system of herbal medicine. (Spare me the lectures about arguments based on silence; this is a pattern of omissions.) These are all things we might expect in a standard astrological herbal from the relevant period which are conspicuously absent. This is one reason the manuscript is so immediately perplexing - it does not conform to our expectations. But it is not incoherent. It is just a different system.

Many problems arise from people trying to understand the work in terms of familiar modes of herbalism. In the familiar system what usually happens is this:

 *There are parallelisms between planet = herb = organ of the body. 

 *The planets correspond to and rule the inner organs of the body (the human microcosm.)

*Medicines are alcohol-based tinctures made according to correspondences between planets and herbs. 

None of this is found in the Voynich manuscript.

R. B.