The manuscript is written in the following hands.

A. Diarmuid Ó Fithcheallaigh, cf. folio 1 verso.

B. Donald Beaton, cf. page 84.

C. Anonymous. Related in style to hand of Christopher Beaton, National Museum of Scotland H.MCR 40.

D. Neil Beaton, cf. pages 33-34 and Adv.MS.72.1.2, folio 65 verso.

E. Donnchadh Albannach Ó Conchubhair (1571-1647), cf. Adv.MS.73.1.22.

F. Anonymous.

G. Malcolm Beaton (flourished 1582-1603), cf. page 84 and Adv.MS.72.1.2, folio 65 verso.

H. Small neat hand, possibly a version of G.

I. Small hand, possibly another version of G.

J. Lachlann Mór Maclean of Duart (died 1598). Related in style to K.

K. Several interconnected styles. Probably all James Beaton, cf. folio 1 recto, line 9, Adv.MS.72.1.3, Adv.MS.72.1.29.

L. Anonymous, good secretary hand.

M. Anonymous.

N. Hand 54 of Adv.MS.72.1.2.

O. Anonymous.

P. Anonymous.

Q. Anonymous.

R. Cf. hands 24 and 77 of Adv.MS.72.1.2.

S. The Reverend John Beaton (circa 1640-1715).

T. Probably a version of S.

U. Anonymous.

In addition there appear the hands of Major John MacLachlan (‘Major John McLachlan / Kilbride No 2’, folio 1 verso), Donald Mackintosh (page 36), and Ewen MacLachlan (pagination, note especially pages 30, 32, 33). Ewen MacLachlan had the manuscript from 1811 to 1813. His description of it is at Adv.MS.72.3.4, page 117, with transcripts at Adv.MS.72.3.5, pages 249, 255. Of section (b), (folios 9-52) he says: “The paper is wearing out into rags from its extreme antiquity”. The condition of the paper is indeed very bad, especially at the edges. The leaves are fragile and crumbling, and much text is lost.

A single leaf, page 82ab, was restored to it in 1974 from Adv.MS.73.1.22, with which it may have temporarily fallen together in 1801.

The manuscript consists of two sections, now quite separate.

Section (a) (folios 1-8).

A calendar written circa 1538 by Diarmuid Ó Fithcheallaigh (cf. folios 1 verso, 2 recto), with additions by Beatons.

The contents are as follows.

(i) Hand K. ‘Na bhi friu, a Thaogd Mhic Domhnuill’, 2 quatrains. On the diet of the Munstermen, Leinstermen and Connachtmen. Subscribed ‘⁊ tabhair do phipe do chosg idte do nUlteach’. (Folio 1 recto.)

(ii) Hand S. “Eóin Maigbhetha est huius libri possessor. Culrathine 22 don mith April 1700”. (Folio 1 verso, line 7.)

(iii) Hand K. ‘James B’. (Folio 1 recto, line 9.)Hand A. On determining the dominical letter and golden number, beginning “Ma se fis na leitrech domhnuigh gach aenbliadhna dob ail let d’ faghbhail”. Subscribed (partly in a cipher employing symbols and letters) “Diarmuid Ó Fithcheallaigh do scribh sin”. Underneath are drawn the circular devices used to find dominical letter and golden number. Transcript: Adv.MS.72.3.5, page 249. (Folio 1 verso.)

(iv) Hand A. Calendar of the lunar cycle, etc., one month per page, written in black and red. MacLachlan (Adv.MS.72.3.4, page 118) deduced that it may relate in particular to the year 1538. Information is in six columns, labelled ‘Aures’, ‘Hore’, ‘Minuta’, ‘L. signorum’, ‘L. dom. cal’, and ‘L. kalende’, with the remainder of each page left for the insertion of feast-days. The scribe puts in many of these, while further entries are made by hands K (“Feil Ciaráin”, ‘Feil Moceallog’, ‘Feil Moliudhag’, ‘mu cuilinn in la nach dl[egar] an berrad do denam’, ‘F. Molaisi’, “F. Línaird”, ‘F. Mobeog’, etc.), N, O (‘La Colaim Cille’), and S (“La na nuille Náomh / all souls day”, ‘S Aindrais’, etc.). At the foot are notes on diet and other aspects of health relating to the month in question; those for January-February are by hand N, the rest by (?) hand A (transcript: Adv.MS.72.3.5, page 255). (Folio 2 recto.)

(v) Hand A. Tabular concordance of astronomical and astrological information, with notes and a charm(?) beginning ‘Ab dota bocardo’. (Folio 8 recto.)

(vi) (Material on this page appears in places to be palimpsest.) Hands T, M. Charm beginning ‘Bono diang b...(?) (Folio 8 verso.)

(vii) Hand 14 of Adv.MS.72.1.2. Charm beginning ‘Elsealus comedius’. (Folio 8 verso, line 7.)

(viii) Hand S. Charm beginning ‘Ebar chuir Colum Kille re suilibh a ghille’, headed ‘Orra an chinn’. (Folio 8 verso, line 9.)

(ix) Hand N. “A fuil fonamh ort apind bic so ⁊ doníodo ni fuil” (visible under ultra violet light).

(x) Hand T. ‘bhmson bvsed fndlhngs fitanmicbldign g ebbs….. pngn…..stngb bhnd sdl sngs’ (i.e. ‘...and so sis’, cf. Adv.MS.72.2.10). (Folio 8 verso, bottom of the page.)

Section (b) (pages 1-84).

The manuscript contains a ‘Pot’ watermark (16th century); not, however, the same variety as that of Adv.MS.72.2.10, a manuscript identical in page-size and displaying some textual correspondences. It is written by a number of hands, including several Beatons and an Ó Conchubhair. It consists of the poem on the calendar usually attributed to Seán Ó Dubhagáin, followed by various medical texts, with some charms and folk cures.

Pages 37-38 preserve intact a letter of 1593-1596 from MacLean of Duart to Malcolm Beaton, his physician, which is of greater importance than any part of the manuscript proper.

The contents are as follows.

(i) Hand D. Gillibeart Ó Dubhthaigh (see middle of page 7). ‘Bliaghain so solus a dath’, 80½ quatrains. On the calendar. Part transcript: Adv.MS.72.3.5, page 250, line 10. Folio 2a blank save for pen-test by hand K (‘an fein sin mar pend ⁊ mar fein go do t…’) and imitation by hand D. The verso, page 2b, is blank. Gummed to this leaf (originally for binding purposes) are two small fragments bearing traces of hand K (‘…ocht…’). Page 4 is blank. Bound between pages 4 and 5 is a strip 13 x 1.5 centimetres: recto, part of a letter (‘…..a dutifull subiect dat att Raulin the first ….’), hand L; verso, alphabet, hand K. There are traces of another such fragment gummed to page 6 (hand K). (page 1).‘Gillibeart O Dut(aigh) duinn’, 1 quatrain. Stanza of ascription for preceding poem, written three times – once by (?) hand S (a late insertion, therefore) and twice by hand K. (Page 7, middle of the page.)

(ii) Hand K. Charm beginning ‘Ex tnwm pladus ma megus’ with instructions for use. Hand S makes additions and concludes “⁊ is maith so ar glaic cléibh, no chuil .i. ar muin teinn .i. est rickets”. (Page 7, bottom of the page.)

(iii) Page 8 blank. (iv) Hand D. On anatomy, beginning ‘Adeir Galen a leabhar Anathomia gurab iad so na boill oiredho’. Cf. Adv.MS.72.2.10, page 239; Royal Irish Academy MS. 23 N 17 (996), page 139. Hand E takes over at page 27, 3rd last line, and completes the text. (Folio 9.)(Single leaf pages 31-32 is reduced to approximately 12 x 13 centimetres by perishing of upper portion.) Hand D. On digestion. Beginning (acephalous) ‘Na daoine ar a mbi…. Iotta’. (Page 31.)

(v) Hand F. ‘Da .c. marg ⁊ 6 marg ⁊ leth marg do pillule cho…. numera coronarum xx6 totaliter amen Jesus’. Partly repeated by hand K (red-brown ink). (Page 31, line 10.)

(vi) Hand K (black ink). Cure for rheumatism (‘loiny’). Beginning “Gabh finél madadh ⁊ chuach Patruig”. (Page 31, line 13.)

(vii) Hands K, Q. Pen-tests (‘an fo an pend’). (Page 32.)

(viii) Hand D. Charms and cures, chiefly for uncertain purposes (some re-inked). ‘Misi Niall’, page 33, line 8; ‘Mise Niall’, page 34, line 9. The last item, beginning ‘(E)baidh cuir Die chugam’ (page 34, line 10), is repeated twice by hand K and subscribed ‘Jesus’. It is headed ‘Ar deidigh’ by hand S. (Page 33.)

(ix) Hand S. Charms, etc. Page 35, against urinary and menstrual diseases, beginning, “Triur a dh’iath man obir”. Page 36, against boils, erysipelas and breast cancer, beginning, ‘An fheighle a chuir Muire re a mac’. Page 36, middle of the page, cure for toothache, beginning, ‘Dean caoinnil do meacurig eigin’. Page 36, bottom of the page, against toothache, beginning ‘An ebar a chuir Dia is Muire is Brighid’. Cf. Ní Shéaghdha, ‘Catalogue of Irish manuscripts in the National Library of Ireland’, volume 1, page 86.

(x) Hand M. Propositions, beginning ‘(Q)uod male incipitur, male, finitur’. Cf. Adv.MS.72.2.10, page 181; Edinburgh University Library Laing MS. III 21, folio 65. Ends page 40 ‘Finis ar Choilligeat’, i.e. Averroes’ work Colliget. With marginal notes by hand K. Folded and affixed to both sides of the leaf forming pages 37-38, to bear binding threads (the gashes remain), is a strip of paper which unfolded would measure 17.5 x 6 centimetres. It bears a letter in blue ink beginning ‘Mile benn(a)cht (o) L(oc)hl(oinn) (M)ac (Mh)ic Giolla Eoin’, written and signed by Lachlan Mór MacLean of Duart (hand J), to Malcolm Beaton, his physician, 1593-1596. See Bannerman and Black, ‘A sixteenth-century Gaelic letter’, page 56. (Page 37.)

(xi) Hand M. Regimen Sanitatis Salernitanum. Beginning ‘Anghlorum regi scripsit schola tota Salerni .i. as iat…..ni go hulide do scriou na fearsadhsa so do cum rig Saxan’. Headed ‘Tinnsgnuim an ainm.......isc m….’ See Ossian report, (1805), Appendix, page 294. Cf. Adv.MS.72.2.10, page 126. Ends page 58, without formal conclusion, at a point shortly before end of Adv.MS.72.2.10 text, i.e. page 149, line 7 of that manuscript. With marginal notes by hand K. Page 50, ‘(com)ortus’ (hand U). (Folio 41.)

(xii) Hand H. On diagnosis from urine. Beginning ‘Urina lucida sicat cornu indisposciciones’. Incomplete. Headed by hand S ‘Breitheamhnas an fhuail ann so’. Above this is an illegible line by hand H. (Folio 59.)

(xiii) Hand B. Blue-black ink. Gilles de Corbeil (Aegidius). De Urinarum Judiciis. Beginning ‘Dicitur urina quoniam fit in renibus una’. Cf. version at Adv.MS.72.2.10, page 155. There is commentary by hand C at the foot of pages 61-65, and by hand B at foot of pages 82-82b. Hand H adds occasional notes. Hand K writes ‘an ainm De ann so’ at page 78. Ends ‘⁊ an 3. uair don contenta: Finid’ as at Adv.MS.72.2.10, page 179, line 2. At page 82b, line 14 hand H adds ‘Iste 2. modus in tex deighionaigh don leabhar so ⁊ is breg an finis so thall lethamach don duilleoigsi thall’, part of which is repeated by hand K. (Folio 61.)

(xiv) Hand B. Brown ink. Table showing colours of urine and their significance. Beginning ‘Alba: mar uisage glan’. Cf. Adv.MS.72.1.2, folio 28 recto, last line; Adv.MS.72.1.27, folio 5 recto, column b, line 26; Adv.MS.72.2.10, page 179, middle of the page; Royal Irish Academy MS. 23 0 6 (464), page 7. Completed by hand P. (Page 82b, line 16.)

(xv) Hand B. Brown ink. Alternative conclusion of De Urinarum Judiciis. (cf. page 82b, line 14), beginning ‘no [ubh]all craind ⁊ da rabhaid gan comurthaiph an dil[egtha]'. Notes and commentary (page 83, bottom of the page, page 84, line 7) by hand H. Text ends (page 84, line 3) "Mise Domhnall Mac an Ollaimh & is olc an liter sin ⁊ dobo mor n…..& is romor mo tuirrsi tareis Donnchaidh Ulltaigh ⁊ Pfronsies Ulltaigh & is dursan lem nach bfuigim cunntapart do chuir an en focul o d’iomaigh siad Finid air Eghidius & me an Dun na Gall". (Page 83.)

(xvi) Hand I. “Nír airiomhsi re a h-annsi”, 1 quatrain. (Page 84, line 11.)

(xvii) On either side of an interlocking pattern hand G writes ‘Leabhair Giolla Cholaim Meigbeathadh’. (Page 84, line 13.)

(xviii) Hand R supplies first few words of the page (missing through perished corner): ‘gonghnom [?gonorrhaeam] no tromdhacht n[a] mball ng(einemhnacha)’. (Page 84, line 14.)