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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 DictionaryCarbunculus

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English Edition · Branch 468 of 740

Carbunculus

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A Chymical Dictionary

p. 468

Carbunculus

Body disease and historical medicine · A Chymical Dictionary

At a Glance

The word. A historical lesion term with a pestilential qualification.

A place to read. The historical definition below, 1650 dictionary, unnumbered definition page 14; facsimile PDF page 342.

Historical Definition

Carbunculus is an abscess or pestilential ulcer.

Meaning

The entry offers two related descriptions, one general and one qualified by pestilential character. It supplies no unique cause or diagnostic criterion. The historical adjective should remain visible without being converted automatically into the name of one present-day disease.

Cambuca gives a similar pair of lesion words but specifies the groin instead. Reading the entries together shows why qualifiers and locations matter in historical medical vocabulary. An editor can clarify the descriptive language while leaving a precise retrospective diagnosis unresolved.

Places to Read

Cambuca. A localized condition described through an abscess or ulcer.

Exitura. An abscess characterised by discharging matter.

Historical source: 1650 dictionary, unnumbered definition page 14; facsimile PDF page 342 — Facsimile

Sources. A Chymicall Dictionary (1650), s.v. Carbunculus ; compare Cambuca, Exitura

See also. Cambuca; Exitura

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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.