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 DictionaryCalcanthum

Swipe or use the arrow keys.

English Edition · Branch 225 of 740

Calcanthum

Book Mode

A Chymical Dictionary

p. 225

Calcanthum

Salts solvents and liquid preparations · A Chymical Dictionary

At a Glance

The word. A historical term identified with vitriol.

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

Historical Definition

Calcanthum is vitriol.

Meaning

The dictionary supplies a broad material name, not a single formula or preparation. Vitriol vocabulary elsewhere receives qualifiers and appears in products such as oils or salts. The reader should therefore retain any modifier attached to Calcanthum or its surrounding description.

Compare Attramentum, which includes copperas within a context-sensitive range, and Citrinulum, a salt made from calcined vitriol. The links help follow a material through different names and treatments. They do not mean that raw material and every product made from it are interchangeable.

Places to Read

Attramentum. A context-sensitive term ranging across copperas, ink and blacking.

Citrinulum. A vitriol-derived salt identified through transparency and preparation.

Vitriolatum. A vitriol characterized by a persistently liquid condition.

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

Sources. A Chymicall Dictionary (1650), s.v. Calcanthum ; compare Attramentum, Citrinulum, Vitriolatum, Vitriolum Novum

See also. Attramentum; Citrinulum; Vitriolatum; Vitriolum Novum

225

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.