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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 DictionaryExtractum

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English Edition · Branch 341 of 740

Extractum

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A Chymical Dictionary

p. 341

Extractum

Operations instruments and practitioners · A Chymical Dictionary

At a Glance

The word. A selected product distinguished from bodily concretion and its gross remainder.

In the book. Corpus is the subject in which virtues lie hidden.

A place to read. The historical definition below, 1650 dictionary, unnumbered definition page 21; facsimile PDF page 349.

Historical Definition

Extractum is what is extracted from a corporeal concretion, with the grossness left behind.

Meaning

The definition identifies a product through separation. Something is taken from a bodily concretion, while what is described as gross remains behind. It does not state that the starting body disappears or that the remainder has no further significance.

“Grossness” is a relative description within the work. The entry gives no measurement or analytical criterion for it. Similarly, “corporeal concretion” describes a formed bodily subject without restricting it to an anatomical body. A mineral or vegetable passage may employ the same vocabulary if the author’s context supports it.

Use in the Book

Corpus is the subject in which virtues lie hidden. Compositum is a body not separated. Essentia quinta adds a stronger account of extracted matter purified from impurity and corruption into incorruptibility. These comparisons distinguish the subject, its unseparated state, and particular kinds of selected product. Not every Extractum is explicitly called a quintessence by this dictionary.

Places to Read

Compositum. A compound body considered before separation.

Corpus. A body understood as the subject containing a thing’s hidden efficacy.

Essentia quinta. Quintessence described through extraction, purification and claimed incorruptibility.

In This Edition

The modernised definition does not add a solvent or technique. Its interpretive value lies in following what is taken, what is left and how the surrounding author evaluates the difference.

Historical source: 1650 dictionary, unnumbered definition page 21; facsimile PDF page 349 — Facsimile

Sources. A Chymicall Dictionary 1650, s.v. Extractum

See also. Compositum; Corpus; Essentia quinta

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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.