Tap the page, move to the top or bottom edge, swipe down, or press Tab to reveal reading controls. Use the arrow keys or swipe sideways to turn pages.
Aurum vivum
Metals minerals and metallic preparations · A Chymical Dictionary
At a Glance
The word. A “living gold” expression that can designate quicksilver.
A place to read. The historical definition below, 1650 dictionary, unnumbered definition page 9; facsimile PDF page 337.
Historical Definition
Aurum vivum is sometimes taken to mean quicksilver.
Meaning
The qualification “sometimes” is the essential reading guide. The dictionary records one permitted identification rather than declaring that every instance of the phrase must mean quicksilver. A passage that specifies gold, Mercury or a particular transformation should retain its own distinctions.
The entry also demonstrates why the first word of a compound cannot always determine its material. Aurum planatum identifies worked gold, while this entry admits quicksilver. Reading the complete expression and its stated action is more reliable than translating every Aurum term simply as ordinary gold.
Places to Read
Aurum planatum. Gold identified by being beaten into a thin form.
Mercurius Crudus. Mercury described before separation from its mineral source.
Historical source: 1650 dictionary, unnumbered definition page 9; facsimile PDF page 337 — Facsimile
Sources. A Chymicall Dictionary (1650), s.v. Aurum vivum ; compare Aurum planatum, Mercurius Crudus
See also. Aurum planatum; Mercurius Crudus