Gluten

Body disease and historical medicine · A Chymical Dictionary

At a Glance

The word. Bodily viscous matter given a role in persistent disease.

In the book. Congluten is matter made viscous through putrefaction.

A place to read. The historical definition below, 1650 dictionary, unnumbered definition page 24; facsimile PDF page 352.

Historical Definition

Gluten is viscous matter in the body from which many obstinate diseases proceed.

Meaning

The definition supplies a bodily material and a causal claim. The material is viscous, and many obstinate diseases are said to proceed from it. The dictionary does not identify a single fluid or tissue, nor explain the process by which a disease arises.

“Obstinate” describes the historical judgement about the diseases’ persistence. It is not a modern classification of a named illness. The entry remains general even though its claim about disease is broad.

Use in the Book

Congluten is matter made viscous through putrefaction. Gluta names the efficacy of tenacious pitch, and Glutinis tenacitas identifies mineral resin. These links show how adhesion and viscosity organise several names across bodily and material settings, without making them one substance.

Places to Read

Congluten. Viscous matter described as the product of putrefaction.

Gluta. The power attributed to strongly adhering pitch.

Glutinis tenacitas. A phrase directly identified as mineral resin.

In This Edition

The edition reports the historical causal statement while leaving its material identification open. A modern diagnostic label would add a specificity absent from the source.

Historical source: 1650 dictionary, unnumbered definition page 24; facsimile PDF page 352 — Facsimile

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

See also. Congluten; Gluta; Glutinis tenacitas