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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 DictionaryCalx lignorum

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English Edition · Branch 390 of 740

Calx lignorum

A Chymical Dictionary

p. 390

Calx lignorum

Plants animals and natural materials · A Chymical Dictionary

At a Glance

The word. A direct identification of a calx as ash from wood.

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

Historical Definition

Calx lignorum is wood ash.

Meaning

The starting material is explicit, making this a useful anchor within the broad Calx vocabulary. Here the term does concern ash, whereas other compounds in the dictionary identify spirits, precipitates or different prepared materials. Read the complete expression rather than assume one meaning for every Calx.

Alcali provides the next operational connection: salts can be extracted from ashes or calx in its account. The ash and the salt obtained from it remain distinct materials or stages, even when one leads to the other.

Places to Read

Alcali. Salt defined through extraction from ash or calx.

Cinificatum. A material reduced to ash by burning.

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

Sources. A Chymicall Dictionary (1650), s.v. Calx lignorum ; compare Alcali, Cinificatum

See also. Alcali; Cinificatum

390

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.