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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 DictionaryHumor vitæ

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English Edition · Branch 506 of 740

Humor vitæ

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A Chymical Dictionary

p. 506

Humor vitæ

Body disease and historical medicine · A Chymical Dictionary

At a Glance

The word. A life-related term identified with radical moisture.

In the book. Iliaster primus includes the life itself or balsam of life in a person.

A place to read. The historical definition below, 1650 dictionary, unnumbered definition page 25; facsimile PDF page 353.

Historical Definition

Humor vitæ is the radical moisture.

Meaning

The definition gives an internal naming relation and no account of a particular visible liquid. “Radical” is retained because it qualifies the moisture in a way the short entry does not independently explain. The phrase should not be replaced by a modern bodily fluid from the headword alone.

Use in the Book

Iliaster primus includes the life itself or balsam of life in a person. Balsamum is associated with preservation from putrefaction. These connections provide a vocabulary of life, moisture and preservation, while leaving the precise subject of radical moisture to the author’s wider account.

Places to Read

Balsamum. A preservative substance described in both bodily and external forms.

Iliaster primus. The first human Iliaster described through life and its balsam.

Historical source: 1650 dictionary, unnumbered definition page 25; facsimile PDF page 353 — Facsimile

Sources. A Chymicall Dictionary 1650, s.v. Humor vitæ

See also. Balsamum; Iliaster primus

506

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.