A Chymical Dictionary

Archeius

Elements principles and the natural world · A Chymical Dictionary

At a Glance

The word. A generative agency distinguished from universal matter and from the agency of individual formation.

In the book. The latter part of the definition shifts into the language of kinds.

In this edition. A textual note records the reading of the 1650 printing and the editorial treatment.

A place to read. The historical definition below, 1650 dictionary, unnumbered definition pages 6, 7; facsimile PDF pages 334, 335.

Historical Definition

Archeius is the highest, exalted and invisible spirit, separated from bodies, exalted and ascending: the universal hidden nature, operator and physician in all things. Thus Archiatrus is Nature’s supreme physician, who secretly distributes to every thing and every member its own particular Archeius through Ares. Archeius is also first in Nature, the most secret virtue, producing all things from Iliaste and sustained by divine power. Ares is Nature’s dispenser hidden in all three principles, from which every thing has its being; it assigns each thing a particular form, shape and substance so that it may take on its own specific nature rather than another’s. To speak in the manner of the schools, one must note the natural difference among these three. Iliastes is the substance of the highest genus or kind, consisting in the first universal matter of all things, which it first disposes into three kinds: sulphur, Mercury and salt. Archeius is Nature’s first dispenser and then produces all things in their next genera or kinds. Ares comes as another dispenser of Nature, producing from kinds or genera, forms and species into individuals.

Meaning

This is one of the dictionary’s most extensive conceptual entries. It does more than give Archeius a synonym: it places several related names in an account of how natural things come to have their different forms. To follow it, keep four roles visible. Iliastes is associated with first universal matter; Archeius is a first dispenser of Nature; Ares gives determinate forms and individuality; Archiatrus names Nature’s supreme physician. The printed account overlaps some descriptions but expressly asks the reader to distinguish them.

The opening description gives Archeius several functions at once. It is invisible spirit, hidden nature, operator and physician. “Operator” emphasizes activity; “physician” emphasizes a natural ordering or care. These expressions explain agency within the historical account. They should not be reduced automatically to a single anatomical organ or a modern physiological process.

The account is also hierarchical. The highest and universal is distinguished from what belongs to each thing and member. Archiatrus distributes a particular Archeius through Ares. This means that one broad name can be used in relation to the whole of Nature and also in relation to a specific thing. A passage about “its Archeius” may therefore concern a local agency rather than merely repeating the universal description.

Use in the Book

The latter part of the definition shifts into the language of kinds. Iliastes concerns the highest genus or first matter; sulphur, Mercury and salt appear as a threefold division; Archeius concerns the next genera; Ares carries the account toward forms, species and individuals. These are stages in a description of natural differentiation. They are not presented here as a list of substances to combine in a vessel.

The final distinction is especially useful when reading Ares. Its work is not only to give a thing any form whatever, but to give the thing its own proper nature rather than another’s. This is the entry’s answer to the problem of specificity: why the product is this kind of thing and this individual rather than an undifferentiated portion of matter. A reader can follow that question even where the terminology is unfamiliar.

The two Iliaster entries elsewhere in the dictionary show why context remains necessary. One explains first matter through sulphur, Mercury and salt and the four elemental chaoses; another emphasizes the hidden virtue by which things grow and flourish. The shared vocabulary belongs to a network of explanations. It does not give every occurrence exactly the same grammatical or conceptual job.

Places to Read

Iliaster. First matter organised through three principles, four elements and a further human fourfold account.

Iliaster. Nature’s hidden efficacy described through growth, nourishment and flourishing.

Iliaster primus. The first human Iliaster described through life and its balsam.

In This Edition

The medical language should likewise be read as part of this wider natural philosophy. Calling Archeius a physician does not make the entry a description of a human medical practitioner. The power is located in Nature and in things; its action is said to be sustained by divine power. Both natural agency and theological dependence are explicit features of the source.

For use in a difficult passage, make a small role list before translating: What supplies the matter? What differentiates kinds? What gives a particular form? What is called the physician? Then match the passage’s verbs and possessives to those roles. This approach is more reliable than substituting “life force” everywhere, a phrase broad enough to conceal the distinctions the dictionary has taken pains to make.

The historical account leaves some relations compressed, especially where one name is introduced through another. Our modernised definition preserves those clauses rather than resolving their ambiguities by invention. A further claim about a particular author’s system should be supported by the work in question, not inferred solely from this compact dictionary synthesis.

Historical source: 1650 dictionary, unnumbered definition pages 6, 7; facsimile PDF pages 334, 335 — Facsimile

Sources. A Chymicall Dictionary (1650), s.v. Archeius ; compare Iliaster (first matter), Iliaster (growth), Iliaster primus, Iliaster secundus, Iliaster tertius, Arcanum, Mysterium magnum

See also. Iliaster; Iliaster; Iliaster primus; Iliaster secundus; Iliaster tertius; Arcanum; Mysterium magnum; Iliaster magnus