Activity: Reconstruction of a 16th-Century Burn Salve Recipe

The study of historical recipes or “how-to” instructions can be a powerful tool to engage with the past and to learn about daily life in a different, more tangible way than traditional textual sources. Historical reconstruction – attempting to follow or replicate the recipe – can bring the past to life and provide new perspectives for experts and students alike.

The activity sheet and resources below are intended to invite you to undertake a hands-on historical reconstruction yourself, or to provide you with what you will need to bring this activity into your classroom, studio, or even kitchen. It is recommended that the exercise be undertaken by students in middle (or secondary) school and older, due to the heating of oil and beeswax.

The Burn Salve Recipe

This medical remedy to treat burns appears in BnF Ms. Fr. 640, a late sixteenth-century manuscript of artisanal recipes compiled by an anonymous author-practitioner working in Toulouse, France.

Against burns, excellent (fol. 103r)

Heat linseed oil on a gentle fire without letting it boil & simmer, but once it is hot, put in a quarter as much of the newest wax you can. Once melted, let it cool, & once they begin to curdle, stir continuously with a new wooden spatula for as long as it takes you to say 9 paternoster, and as you say them, wash this composition with holy water, stirring all the while. Having said the first 9 paternoster, pour out the first water & put in new one, & wash & stir the composition for the time it takes you to say 8 paternoster, and the 3rd time for as long as 7, & thus you will consecutively add new water, doing the same as above, until the last & single paternoster of nine. Then you shall have a soft & white ointment, with which you shall anoint the burn for the space of 9 days. But do not apply it any longer than this, for it would cause your flesh to grow excessively. You shall bandage yourself twice a day, & each time you shall wash your face with water & wine mixed together, a little tepid, not rubbing, but as if pressing with a wet linen cloth, and you shall wipe it similarly with a fine linen cloth, & next put the ointment, over which you can put ivy leaves. This causes hair to regrow & leaves no scar. A gunpowder maker who had almost completely burnt himself & showed no sign of the burn, taught me this.

See Making and Knowing Project, Pamela H. Smith, Naomi Rosenkranz, Tianna Helena Uchacz, Tillmann Taape, Clément Godbarge, Sophie Pitman, Jenny Boulboullé, Joel Klein, Donna Bilak, Marc Smith, and Terry Catapano, eds., Secrets of Craft and Nature in Renaissance France. A Digital Critical Edition and English Translation of BnF Ms. Fr. 640 (New York: Making and Knowing Project, 2020), https://edition640.makingandknowing.org/#/folios/103r/f/103r/tl.

Reconstructing the Burn Salve

In a laboratory at Columbia University, the Making and Knowing Project reconstructed the burn salve by following the instructions provided on fol. 103r. The result is a smooth and creamy ointment that would not seem out of place in your home’s medicine cabinet!

This recipe is fully explored in Xiaomeng Liu’s essay, An Excellent Salve for Burns, which notes the juxtaposition of the complex, transformative process with the relatively few ingredients needed. The essay also highlights the ways in which this recipe is unusual among the other medical recipes in Ms. Fr. 640 because it possesses explicit spiritual dimensions (pure ingredients, holy water, and the recitation of prayers) and it provides information about its source and trustworthiness.

Liu, Xiaomeng. “An Excellent Salve for Burns.” In Secrets of Craft and Nature in Renaissance France. A Digital Critical Edition and English Translation of BnF Ms. Fr. 640, edited by Making and Knowing Project, Pamela H. Smith, Naomi Rosenkranz, Tianna Helena Uchacz, Tillmann Taape, Clément Godbarge, Sophie Pitman, Jenny Boulboullé, Joel Klein, Donna Bilak, Marc Smith, and Terry Catapano. New York: Making and Knowing Project, 2020. https://edition640.makingandknowing.org/#/essays/ann_080_sp_17. DOI: https://www.doi.org/10.7916/58dr-ns42

Reconstruction Protocol

Adapted from the original 16th-century recipe, the following protocol standardizes the process and lists all the necessary materials and tools in order to undertake the activity in a modern context.

Ingredients

• 100 ml linseed oil
• beeswax, to equal ~25 ml when melted
• 450 ml (holy) water, divided, approx. 9 x 50 ml

Note: the ingredients in this recipe do not need to be measured with great precision; amounts are approximate.

Tools/Equipment

• 500 ml tempered glass beaker or ≥500 ml pot with handle
• hot plate or stovetop
• thermometer
• wooden chopsticks
• ≥250 ml container
• spatula
• glass pint jar with lid

Procedure

1. Add the linseed oil to the 500 ml beaker (or to a small pot) and place on the hotplate
2. Gently heat the oil to 85ºC and add the solid beeswax
3. When the wax is fully melted, turn off the hot plate and remove the pot from heat
4. Wait until the mixture begins to congeal slightly and turns slightly opaque (approx. 3–5 minutes)
5. Add 50 ml water, stirring mixture with a chopstick while reciting 9 paternosters. Pour out any remaining water into container
6. Add 50 ml water, stirring with a chopstick while reciting 8 paternosters. Pour out any remaining water
7. Repeat the process of “washing” with fresh water for the duration of 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, then 1, paternosters
8. Use a spatula to transfer the salve to a lidded jar for storage

NOTE: Reciting the paternoster (“the Lord’s prayer” of Christianity, in Latin) was a common way of keeping time, similar to singing the “happy birthday” or other song to help keep time for brushing our teeth or washing our hands.

The paternoster in Latin:

Pater noster qui es in caelis sanctificetur nomen tuum adveniat regnum tuum fiat voluntas tua sicut in caelo et in terra Panem nostrum cotidianum da nobis hodie et dimitte nobis debita nostra sicut et nos dimittimus debitoribus nostris et ne nos inducas in tentationem sed libera nos a malo

Teaching Resources

• The full process of reconstructing the burn salve recipe is captured in the Reconstructing 16th-century Burn Salve Video prepared by the Making and Knowing Project team (special thank you to postdoctoral scholars Tianna Uchacz and Tillmann Taape).
• The Burn Salve Reconstruction Protocol found above can be downloaded as a standalone Activity Sheet, prepared by postdoctoral scholar Tianna Uchacz. It provides the Making and Knowing Project’s procedure for reconstructing the burn salve.
• If you do not know how to recite the paternoster (or cannot do this at the same time as preparing the salve), the Making and Knowing Project provides the paternoster audio recordings, recited by Tillmann Taape, one of the Project’s postdoctoral scholars, for each of the nine mixing steps.