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Alcaest
Salts solvents and liquid preparations · A Chymical Dictionary
At a Glance
The word. A disputed preparation whose meaning depends on the author’s procedure.
In the book. Tartarum and the various Mercurius entries supply the two families explicitly named here.
A place to read. The historical definition below, 1650 dictionary, unnumbered definition page 2; facsimile PDF page 330.
Historical Definition
Alcaest, or Altaest, is said to be prepared Mercury. Some take it to be tartar, but the author’s meaning is more easily understood from the description of its preparation.
Meaning
This is one of the dictionary’s clearest statements about how to read technical names. It records two proposed identifications and then gives priority to the preparation described by the particular author. The uncertainty belongs to the historical source. Removing “is said” or selecting one alternative would make the entry sound more settled than it is.
The practical reading method is to collect the passage’s stated materials, operations and outcome before choosing a sense. A word that appears to name a substance may instead distinguish a particular prepared form. The dictionary does not authorize us to identify Alcaest with every later substance bearing a similar name.
Use in the Book
Tartarum and the various Mercurius entries supply the two families explicitly named here. The cross-references are alternatives for investigation, not instructions to merge them into one preparation. Compare also Aquila, where the dictionary again preserves divergent uses.
Places to Read
Tartarum. A wine-vessel deposit whose name also serves for bodily stones or gravel.
Mercurius Crudus. Mercury described before separation from its mineral source.
Aquila. An eagle-name with more than one stated material meaning.
Historical source: 1650 dictionary, unnumbered definition page 2; facsimile PDF page 330 — Facsimile
Sources. A Chymicall Dictionary (1650), s.v. Alcaest ; compare Tartarum, Mercurius Crudus, Aquila
See also. Tartarum; Mercurius Crudus; Aquila