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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 DictionaryCalx permanens

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English Edition · Branch 678 of 740

Calx permanens

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A Chymical Dictionary

p. 678

Calx permanens

Qualities powers and relations · A Chymical Dictionary

At a Glance

The word. A calx classified by resistance to burning.

A place to read. The historical definition below, 1650 dictionary, unnumbered definition page 13; facsimile PDF page 341.

Historical Definition

Calx permanens, or fixa, is an incombustible matter.

Meaning

The definition identifies a property rather than naming the starting substance. Permanens and fixa are offered as alternative qualifiers, and incombustibility supplies their explanation here. The entry does not say that every fixed matter or every calx elsewhere is identical with it.

Fixatio provides a related operation word. Comparing the two can help a reader distinguish a material described as fixed from the process of making something fixed. The historical claim of incombustibility should be interpreted through the particular passage’s account, not turned into an unlimited statement about every possible condition.

Places to Read

Fixatio. An operation defined through resistance to loss or flight in fire.

Calx lignorum. A direct identification of a calx as ash from wood.

Historical source: 1650 dictionary, unnumbered definition page 13; facsimile PDF page 341 — Facsimile

Sources. A Chymicall Dictionary (1650), s.v. Calx permanens ; compare Fixatio, Calx lignorum

See also. Fixatio; Calx lignorum

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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.