Calcinatum minus

Body disease and historical medicine · A Chymical Dictionary

At a Glance

The word. A class of naturally sweet substances credited with healing power.

A place to read. The historical definition below, 1650 dictionary, unnumbered definition page 13; facsimile PDF page 341.

Historical Definition

Calcinatum minus is anything naturally sweet and very healing, such as sugar, manna, honey of the wood, Nostock and similar things.

Meaning

The entry’s key distinction is natural sweetness. Sugar, manna, honey of the wood and Nostock are examples within an open category. The historical author groups them through sweetness and an attributed healing virtue rather than through one shared material origin. The statement of efficacy should be reported as that author’s claim.

Calcinatum majus defines the contrasting case: sweetness produced by spagyrical art in what was not naturally sweet. Reading the pair together makes the distinction intelligible. Minus does not simply mean that the same substance has undergone less heating; the definitions distinguish the source of the quality itself.

Places to Read

Calcinatum majus. An art-produced sweetness contrasted with natural sweetness.

Manna. An aerial dew and, more broadly, sweet extracted matter.

Nostoch. A jelly-like substance connected with the popular name falling star.

Historical source: 1650 dictionary, unnumbered definition page 13; facsimile PDF page 341 — Facsimile

Sources. A Chymicall Dictionary (1650), s.v. Calcinatum minus ; compare Calcinatum majus, Manna, Nostoch

See also. Calcinatum majus; Manna; Nostoch