Athanor

Operations instruments and practitioners · A Chymical Dictionary

At a Glance

The word. A spagyrical furnace whose use is not confined to one function.

In the book. Anthonor supplies a brief furnace gloss, and Reverberatorium gives another route into the specific apparatus vocabulary.

A place to read. The historical definition below, 1650 dictionary, unnumbered definition page 8; facsimile PDF page 336.

Historical Definition

Athanor, or Athanar, is a furnace in the spagyrical art, especially a reverberatory furnace, though it is sometimes used otherwise as the craftsman chooses.

Meaning

The dictionary supplies a principal association and then explicitly permits variation. It particularly connects the name with a reverberatory, while allowing the craftsman to employ it otherwise. A modern illustration of one furnace should therefore not be treated as the only possible historical referent. The stated flexibility belongs to the definition itself.

For reading, separate the apparatus name from the use described in a particular operation. The same named furnace may be employed differently, and a passage’s account of heating, vessel placement or intended result can supply the relevant distinction. The entry alone does not reconstruct the furnace’s dimensions or fuel arrangement.

Use in the Book

Anthonor supplies a brief furnace gloss, and Reverberatorium gives another route into the specific apparatus vocabulary. Balneum Mariæ describes a water-mediated arrangement. These connections are useful for comparing kinds of heating without treating every furnace as identical.

Places to Read

Anthonor. Two furnace names with a deliberately broad definition.

Reverberatorium. A furnace defined by flame calcination.

Balneum Mariæ. A water bath used to warm vessels for several kinds of work.

Historical source: 1650 dictionary, unnumbered definition page 8; facsimile PDF page 336 — Facsimile

Sources. A Chymicall Dictionary (1650), s.v. Athanor ; compare Anthonor, Reverberatorium, Balneum Mariæ

See also. Anthonor; Reverberatorium; Balneum Mariæ