Consolidativa

Body disease and historical medicine · A Chymical Dictionary

At a Glance

The word. External surgical preparations classified by healing and drying.

In the book. Corrosiva is another class used by surgeons, but its reported action is eating away excess flesh.

A place to read. The historical definition below, 1650 dictionary, unnumbered definition page 17; facsimile PDF page 345.

Historical Definition

Consolidativa are external medicines used by surgeons in healing and drying wounds and ulcers.

Meaning

The entry states where the medicines are applied and what they are said to do. “External” distinguishes them from preparations taken inwardly; healing and drying are the paired actions through which the class is described. Neither action identifies a particular ingredient.

The historical word surgeon marks a field of use in the definition. It should not be taken as evidence that any preparation bearing the name meets present clinical standards. The entry is most useful for understanding a remedy’s intended place in a medical text.

Use in the Book

Corrosiva is another class used by surgeons, but its reported action is eating away excess flesh. Constrictiva gives a styptic class, and Incarnativa is associated with producing flesh and skin in wounds. The different actions prevent these surgical labels from being treated as interchangeable general words for healing.

Places to Read

Constrictiva. A surgical class defined through a styptic action.

Corrosiva. Surgical preparations classified by removal of excess flesh.

Incarnativa. A surgical class defined by the formation of new flesh and skin.

In This Edition

“Consolidation” may suggest bringing parts together, but the edition keeps to the definition’s actual description of healing and drying instead of adding an unmentioned mechanism.

Historical source: 1650 dictionary, unnumbered definition page 17; facsimile PDF page 345 — Facsimile

Sources. A Chymicall Dictionary 1650, s.v. Consolidativa

See also. Constrictiva; Corrosiva; Incarnativa