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Diotimos Library · Esotericism & Spirituality Collection · English Edition

Gerhard Dorn and John French

A Chymical Dictionary

An Expanded Diotimos Lexicon of Paracelsian and Alchemical Language

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A Chymical DictionaryMinium

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English Edition · Branch 151 of 740

Minium

A Chymical Dictionary

p. 151

Minium

Metals minerals and metallic preparations · A Chymical Dictionary

At a Glance

The word. A precipitated lead preparation with an explicit correction of terminology.

In the book. Calx Saturni leads to Minium, joining the planetary name of lead to this prepared product.

A place to read. The historical definition below, 1650 dictionary, unnumbered definition page 33; facsimile PDF page 361.

Historical Definition

Minium is the mercury, or rather the crocus, of lead precipitated.

Meaning

The phrase or rather is part of the definition’s reasoning. The compiler first offers mercury and then prefers crocus as the description of the precipitated lead material. The two words should not be presented as equally unqualified names after that correction has been removed.

Use in the Book

Calx Saturni leads to Minium, joining the planetary name of lead to this prepared product. Orizeum præcipitatum also uses crocus-language in a definition concerned with a treated metal, but its subject is gold.

Places to Read

Calx Saturni. A Saturn-qualified calx identified as minium.

Orizeum præcipitatum. A gold preparation described through the obscure printed form cros.

In This Edition

The correction and the operation of precipitation are both retained; the edition does not replace them with a modern formula.

Historical source: 1650 dictionary, unnumbered definition page 33; facsimile PDF page 361 — Facsimile

Sources. A Chymical Dictionary 1650, 1650 dictionary, facsimile PDF page 361, Minium

See also. Calx Saturni; Orizeum præcipitatum

151

About This Reading Edition

The complete 706 historical definitions of the 1650 English dictionary, modernised and accompanied by expanded Diotimos commentary, reading routes, 15 textual notes and complete linked indexes.

Historical Text

A Chymicall Dictionary, London 1650, English version associated with John French, based on Gerhard Dorn’s Dictionarium Theophrasti Paracelsi. The containing volume also prints Sendivogius and Paracelsus; neither neighboring work changes this dictionary’s attribution.

About This Edition

Complete 706 definition paragraphs with new introduction, commentary, reading guides and indexes; Diotimos Editions, 2026.

Rights

The historical 1650 English text is in the public domain. New introduction, commentary, reading guides and indexes are © 2026 Diotimos Editions and published with the site owner’s authorization.