A Chymical Dictionary

Viltrum philosophorum

Operations instruments and practitioners · A Chymical Dictionary

At a Glance

The word. An instrument name whose qualifier changes its identification.

In the book. The example makes the dictionary’s contextual method particularly clear.

A place to read. The historical definition below, 1650 dictionary, unnumbered definition page 46; facsimile PDF page 374.

Historical Definition

Viltrum philosophorum is an alembic; taken without qualification, viltrum is a strainer.

Meaning

The definition distinguishes the philosophical compound from the unqualified word. Philosophorum gives an alembic; the word taken absolutely gives a strainer. Absolutely here means without that qualification, rather than with exceptional certainty.

Use in the Book

The example makes the dictionary’s contextual method particularly clear. The full expression must be read before choosing an instrument. An alembic and a strainer both participate in separating or handling matter, but the entry does not treat them as the same piece of apparatus.

Compare Reverberatorium, whose instrument is identified through calcination by flame. Its operative function is explicit, while the present article hinges on a change of lexical qualification. Both relations can help a reader understand what an author is asking an instrument to do.

Places to Read

Reverberatorium. A furnace defined by flame calcination.

Thamatica. The design of devices driven by air and water.

In This Edition

The form Viltrum is retained as the historical headword. The two glosses remain visibly attached to their respective expressions so that search and translation do not erase the distinction.

Historical source: 1650 dictionary, unnumbered definition page 46; facsimile PDF page 374 — Facsimile

Sources. A Chymicall Dictionary (1650), s.v. Viltrum philosophorum; 1650 facsimile PDF p. 374; compare Reverberatorium, Thamatica

See also. Reverberatorium; Thamatica