The Golden Chain of Homer

Short Glossary

These concise definitions explain the vocabulary as it functions in this work. The accompanying references point to representative discussions; the contextual lexicon provides longer treatment of selected terms.

Acid

Acidum. A mediating, sharp principle placed between the volatile and alkaline states. Its meaning must be read from its origin and operation in each passage; the book also treats oils and acids as transformable into one another.

Related passages: I.19, I.20, II.6.

Active Principle

Agens. That which acts upon a receptive subject. Spirit is active through water, while heaven and air form the active side of the elemental relation.

Related passages: I.2, I.4, I.10.

Air

Lufft. The intermediate element between heaven and water. It receives ascending and descending vapours and conveys the influences by which generation continues.

Related passages: I.7.

Alkahest

Alkahest Alka est. The solvent discussed in the final chapter, whose name the author also separates as Alka est. Its explanation belongs to the work’s theory of circulation and sharp mineral acid.

Related passages: II.11.

Alkali

Alcali. The fixed, receptive or bodily principle contrasted with the acid and volatile. Particular alkalis must be distinguished from the book’s universal alkali.

Related passages: I.19, I.20.

Alkalisation

Alcalisation. A change into an alkaline or fixed condition. In the author’s scheme this can alter how a subject reacts with an acid.

Related passages: I.19, II.9.

Alteration

Alteration. A change of condition or quality that can prepare a body for further dissolution or regeneration. It need not mean total destruction.

Related passages: II.4.

Anatomy

Anatomia. Examination through the separation and identification of a subject’s principles. The title applies to rainwater, animals, plants and minerals as well as to bodily things generally.

Related passages: II.5, II.7, II.8, II.9.

Anima Mundi

Anima mundi. The soul of the world. The text associates it closely with spiritus mundi while using the vocabulary of soul, spirit and body to distinguish relations and conditions.

Related passages: I.5, I.10.

Animal Kingdom

Regnum animale Animalia. One of the three terrestrial kingdoms. The book assigns it a relatively volatile character and treats its nutrition, generation, decay and operative analysis.

Related passages: I.13, I.21, II.2, II.7.

Animal Spirit

Spiritus animalis. A spirit associated with animal materials or with the inherited vocabulary of living functions. Its context determines which sense is intended.

Related passages: II.7, II.10.

Antimony

Antimonium. A mineral material placed in the author’s account of imperfect maturation and metallic generation. Historical use does not always specify the same purified substance meant by a modern chemical name.

Related passages: I.23, II.9.

Aqua Fortis

Aqua fortis Scheide Wasser. A strong mineral dissolving water. The work discusses its preparation and use within a family of corrosive mineral solvents.

Related passages: II.9.

Aqua Regia

Aqua regis Königs Wasser. A mineral dissolving water named for its relation to the royal metal. Its place in the argument concerns the interaction of mineral acids and salts.

Related passages: II.9, II.10.

Arcanum

Arcanum Geheimniß. A secret or specially prepared product whose powers are claimed to exceed those of its unprepared material. Arcanum minerale is associated with sweetening mineral corrosives.

Related passages: II.7, II.10.

Arsenic

Arsenicum. A stage and material in the account of mineral generation and calcination. Linked-circle signs are interpreted from their position in the sequence and the surrounding prose.

Related passages: I.23, II.9.

Art

Kunst. Human practice guided by knowledge of nature. Its task is to reproduce, assist or accelerate natural operations in an appropriate order.

Related passages: Author’s preface, I.22, II.5.

Artist

Artist Künstler. A practitioner of the operative art. The word includes skill in handling materials and judging processes, not merely artistic production in the modern sense.

Related passages: Author’s preface.

Ash

Asche. The fixed residue remaining after burning, from which alkaline salt can be extracted. The work distinguishes ash from charcoal, which retains an oily or sulphurous component.

Related passages: I.19, II.5.

Astral Seed

Astralischer Same. Seed described in relation to celestial influence before or during its reception in terrestrial moisture. Astral language does not alone identify a modern astronomical mechanism.

Related passages: I.5, I.6.

Attraction

Attraction Anziehung. The power by which one thing draws nourishment or another principle to itself. Salt, alkali, roots and mineral matrices are explained through such relationships.

Related passages: I.9, I.22, I.23.

Azoth

Azoth. A traditional alchemical name appearing in the chain diagram beside the vegetable stage. Its function here should be read through that diagram and its explanation.

Related passages: PRE00, PRE03.

Balsam

Balsam balsamisch. A preserving power or condition. The author contrasts the action sustaining a living form with the destructive direction assumed after that preserving activity has departed.

Related passages: II.2, II.3.

Body

Corpus Cörper Leib. The embodied or fixed subject through which spirit operates. In the three-principle vocabulary it stands in relation to spirit and soul.