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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 DictionaryBalneum Mariæ

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English Edition · Branch 313 of 740

Balneum Mariæ

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A Chymical Dictionary

p. 313

Balneum Mariæ

Operations instruments and practitioners · A Chymical Dictionary

At a Glance

The word. A water bath used to warm vessels for several kinds of work.

In the book. Balneum roris changes the relation between the vessels and water by describing a vapour arrangement.

A place to read. The historical definition below, 1650 dictionary, unnumbered definition page 10; facsimile PDF page 338.

Historical Definition

Balneum Mariæ, or Maris as many call it, is a distilling furnace containing water. Chemical vessels are placed in the warm water for putrefying the matter they contain, for separation, and for operations involving such moist ascents.

Meaning

The arrangement distinguishes the water that transmits warmth from the matter inside the chemical vessels. The vessels are placed in warm water; their contents undergo the intended process. Confusing those levels would turn an apparatus description into an instruction to mix water directly with the matter.

The entry lists several purposes, including putrefaction and separation, rather than making the bath the name of one operation. “Moist ascents” belongs to the description of the work carried on in that arrangement. The dictionary gives a configuration and a range of uses, not a single standardized temperature or vessel design.

Use in the Book

Balneum roris changes the relation between the vessels and water by describing a vapour arrangement. Comparing the two entries makes their spatial differences visible and helps a reader follow a historical heating description.

Places to Read

Balneum roris. A vapour-heated arrangement distinguished from the water bath.

Digestio. Preparation understood through digestion and the separation of pure from impure.

Cucurbita. A gourd-shaped vessel.

Historical source: 1650 dictionary, unnumbered definition page 10; facsimile PDF page 338 — Facsimile

Sources. A Chymicall Dictionary (1650), s.v. Balneum Mariæ ; compare Balneum roris, Digestio, Cucurbita

See also. Balneum roris; Digestio; Cucurbita

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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.