A Chymical Dictionary

Essentia quinta

Elements principles and the natural world · A Chymical Dictionary

At a Glance

The word. Quintessence described through extraction, purification and claimed incorruptibility.

In the book. Extractum defines what is extracted from bodily concretion while grossness is left behind.

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

Historical Definition

Essentia quinta, according to Paracelsus’s definition, is a matter extracted from things and purified of every kind of impurity and corruption, by which it is made incorruptible.

Meaning

Preparation structures the definition. Matter is extracted from things, purified from impurity and corruption, and thereby said to become incorruptible. The final condition belongs to the source’s claim about the success of purification; it should not be omitted merely because a modern reader may question it.

The word “things” leaves the starting subjects open. The entry does not restrict quintessence to a single metal, plant or animal material. Nor does it supply the technique by which extraction or purification is completed. A particular author’s account must identify those subjects and procedures.

“According to Paracelsus” is another important qualification. The compiler attributes this explanation to a particular body of writings rather than presenting an exhaustive account of every historical use of quintessence. That attribution should remain visible in both quotation and commentary.

Use in the Book

Extractum defines what is extracted from bodily concretion while grossness is left behind. Digestio describes a chymical operation through preparing matter into a separation of pure from impure. Arcanum gives a secret incorporeal virtue in natural things, associated with an immortal life derived from heaven. These entries connect selection, preparation and efficacy, but they are not printed as interchangeable definitions.

Elixir gives a second sense as the essence of a thing, alongside its primary account of a transformative ferment. Particular entries apply the quintessence vocabulary more narrowly: Ignis pruinus adeptus is the quintessence of vitriol rectified with tartar, while Iliaster tertius concerns life attributed to the quintessence of things. Such passages show how the general term can enter both preparation language and an account of life.

The relation between purification and incorruptibility is therefore central. The source claims more than a cleaner sample of an ordinary subject. It describes a transformed condition in which corruption has been removed. Understanding that claim is necessary for reading the argument, even where the historical material and the asserted result cannot be independently reconstructed.

Places to Read

Arcanum. A hidden virtue in natural things, capable in this account of enhancement through art.

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

Elixir. A transformative ferment, or a thing’s essence.

In This Edition

The edition retains “incorruptible” as a reported historical conclusion. It does not silently weaken the word to merely durable or strengthen the gloss into a guarantee that an actual preparation cannot decay.

A useful reading sequence is to identify the starting subject, what an author says is extracted, what counts as impurity in that passage, and what result is claimed. These questions separate the dictionary’s general definition from the additional evidence a longer text may supply. They also keep the distinction between an attributed virtue, an extracted matter and a name for essence available throughout the edition.

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

Sources. A Chymicall Dictionary 1650, s.v. Essentia quinta

See also. Arcanum; Digestio; Elixir; Extractum; Ignis pruinus adeptus; Iliaster tertius