Menstruum

Salts solvents and liquid preparations · A Chymical Dictionary

At a Glance

The word. The liquid medium of dissolution or digestion.

In the book. Liquor explains a frequent use of liquid names for oils.

A place to read. The historical definition below, 1650 dictionary, unnumbered definition page 33; facsimile PDF page 361.

Historical Definition

Menstruum is a liquor in which something is dissolved or digested.

Meaning

The defining relation is between a liquid and the subject treated within it. The liquor is a menstruum because something is dissolved or digested in it, not because the dictionary has assigned one universal ingredient to every such medium. The particular material and the intended operation still need to be established from the passage.

The two verbs should also remain distinct. The definition permits both dissolution and digestion; it does not say that every occurrence describes an instantaneous disappearance of solid matter. Its scope is wider than one narrowly fixed image of a solvent.

Use in the Book

Liquor explains a frequent use of liquid names for oils. Liquidum de resoluto concerns a thing naturally liquid, whereas Menstruum concerns the use of a liquid in treating something else. These relations provide different ways of identifying the same physical medium in an argument.

Places to Read

Liquor. A naming rule by which a qualified liquor can mean an oil.

Liquidum de resoluto. Liquidity belonging to a thing’s own nature.

Historical source: 1650 dictionary, unnumbered definition page 33; facsimile PDF page 361 — Facsimile

Sources. A Chymical Dictionary 1650, 1650 dictionary, facsimile PDF page 361, Menstruum

See also. Liquor; Liquidum de resoluto