DiotimosReading Desk

Diotimos Library · Esotericism & Spirituality Collection · English Edition

Gerhard Dorn and John French

A Chymical Dictionary

An Expanded Diotimos Lexicon of Paracelsian and Alchemical Language

Explore the Lexicon
A Chymical DictionarySerpheta

Swipe or use the arrow keys.

English Edition · Branch 565 of 740

Serpheta

Book Mode

A Chymical Dictionary

p. 565

Serpheta

Body disease and historical medicine · A Chymical Dictionary

At a Glance

The word. A remedy defined by its supposed dissolving effect on stone.

In the book. Compare Saxifraga, a class of things said to break stone or gravel.

A place to read. The historical definition below, 1650 dictionary, unnumbered definition page 42; facsimile PDF page 370.

Historical Definition

Serpheta is a medicine that melts a stone.

Meaning

The entry supplies an attributed action rather than a composition. Stone belongs to the historical medical vocabulary of hard deposits; the sentence does not identify a particular drug or preparation.

Use in the Book

Compare Saxifraga, a class of things said to break stone or gravel. The two definitions use different verbs, melting and breaking, which should remain visible in translation.

Places to Read

Saxifraga. A therapeutic class defined by the breaking of stone or gravel.

Tartarum. A wine-vessel deposit whose name also serves for bodily stones or gravel.

Historical source: 1650 dictionary, unnumbered definition page 42; facsimile PDF page 370 — Facsimile

Sources. A Chymicall Dictionary (1650), s.v. Serpheta; 1650 facsimile PDF p. 370; compare Saxifraga, Tartarum

See also. Saxifraga; Tartarum

565

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.