A Chymical Dictionary

Reading Route Through Materials and Preparations

Begin with Regulus, Quintessentia and Tinctura. Ask what each names: a separated portion, an extracted spiritual matter, or an agent that tinges. Then read Rubella for the relation between an extracting essence and the tincture it draws from bodies. Follow the verbs before assigning a material identity.

For a short exercise in material identification, compare Alcol, Alcool vini, Aqua celestina and Aqua Celestis. One pair distinguishes a fine powder from rectified spirit of wine; the other distinguishes a mercurial water from rectified wine. Full expressions and small spelling differences can change the material intended.

Compare Resina terræ with Resina terræ potabilis. Which added words and operations distinguish the preparation? Read Sulphur vitriolatum beside Vitriolatum to see how a shared word family can name a derived material in one place and a liquid condition in another.

Discussion questions. What does purity mean in each selected definition? Which descriptions identify an origin, and which identify a result? When does a quality such as color carry the identification? What further evidence would be needed to give a secure modern chemical name?