A Chymical Dictionary

Qualitas

Qualities powers and relations · A Chymical Dictionary

At a Glance

The word. The balance of hot, cold, dry and moist qualities.

In the book. Temperatum names the corresponding condition in which no quality exceeds its proper measure.

A place to read. The historical definition below, 1650 dictionary, unnumbered definition page 39; facsimile PDF page 367.

Historical Definition

Qualitas is called a complexion, whether hot or cold, dry or moist, according to the predominance of an element.

Meaning

Complexion means a constitution or mixture characterized by predominant qualities. The four adjectives supply two pairs: hot and cold, dry and moist. An element’s predominance gives the compound its characteristic condition. The word does not describe a person’s skin color in this entry.

Use in the Book

Temperatum names the corresponding condition in which no quality exceeds its proper measure. Read together, the definitions make quality relational: a thing is understood through the balance and excess of attributes within it. Relloleum uses complexion to distinguish a plant’s manifest warmth from another, hidden virtue.

Places to Read

Relloleum. A distinction between a manifest quality and an occult virtue.

Temperatum. A balanced condition without excess in a quality.

In This Edition

Keep the historical qualities visible when translating. Replacing hot with a modern temperature measurement, or moist with a measured water content, would give a precision this definition does not supply. These qualities belong to the book’s account of natural constitution and activity.

Historical source: 1650 dictionary, unnumbered definition page 39; facsimile PDF page 367 — Facsimile

Sources. A Chymicall Dictionary (1650), s.v. Qualitas; 1650 facsimile PDF p. 367; compare Relloleum, Temperatum

See also. Relloleum; Temperatum