Making and Knowing
A minimal edition of BnF Ms Fr 640

[TOC] | [diplomatic]

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Horsehair sieves

They are made often in Normandy with horsetail hairy that they clean with some washing water because they pick them out with their mouth and separate short and broken ones. They do not make the thread longer than the sieve and it is round. They attach the black or white hair at the two edges of the thread, according to the piece they want to make. And the thread is woven above and below like any other fabric. And passing a small flat stick of ii or three fingers wide between two, they pass between after two bits of hair at each step strike and weave with three steps. The entire sieve is made of xvii bits of hair. They sell them by dozens and each xxx sols. They bring them to Toulouse to send them then to Spain and there, they exchange it with silk.

Excellent water against the pest by the Master of Montorsin

Take some theriac rue, dittany and good vinegar, put the whole in a glass bottle and leave it half—open and well attached. And put it in a bath for three or 4 days. Then take some of your brew from its container when you need it and pour some, when necessary, on a red hot tile and receive the vapor and also perfume your clothes. This is a very precious and proved secret.

White soporific oil

Have x or 12 Mandragore apples, put them in quarters together with some olive oil in a glass bottle which you will cook in a bain marie for two days and your oil will turn white with which you rub the sole of your feet and you will quickly feel sleepy.

Stucco

For glueing stone, some do not use poi resin & black pitch resin because it is too fatty, but take rosin & sulphur, as much as of one as the other, & as much of wax as the two, and mix it with crushed brick for greater strength. Others, white chalk or crushed & pulverized & sieved white stone.