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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 DictionaryAsthma

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English Edition · Branch 456 of 740

Asthma

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A Chymical Dictionary

p. 456

Asthma

Body disease and historical medicine · A Chymical Dictionary

At a Glance

The word. A historical lung condition characterized by difficult breathing.

A place to read. The historical definition below, 1650 dictionary, unnumbered definition page 8; facsimile PDF page 336.

Historical Definition

Asthma is a disease of the lungs causing difficulty in breathing.

Meaning

The definition gives an affected part and a principal effect. Those two features explain its use within the dictionary, but they do not establish that every historical case corresponds to one modern diagnostic category. A modern reader recognizes the name easily; the apparent familiarity makes attention to the historical description especially important.

If a passage adds causes, signs or remedies, those are further claims belonging to that author. The dictionary’s short gloss should not be enlarged by assuming them. It helps identify the subject of an argument without validating a particular treatment or retrospectively diagnosing a patient.

Historical source: 1650 dictionary, unnumbered definition page 8; facsimile PDF page 336 — Facsimile

Sources. A Chymicall Dictionary (1650), s.v. Asthma

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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.