From the book
The Golden Chain of Homer
Anonymous (traditionally attributed to Anton Joseph Kirchweger) · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordAlum is a specified mineral salt and a representative subject of the white mineral grouping.
- In the Golden ChainIt parallels vitriol without becoming interchangeable with every universal salt.
- TranslationThe English distinguishes alum from a more generally aluminous state or taste.
- A place to readB1C23S015–016: aluminous mineral matter and white metallic subjects.
Meaning
Alum belongs to the specified mineral kingdom, where it is placed beside vitriol and distinguished from the universally present double seed of nitre and salt. Its importance is partly representative: the author says that white minerals are concentrated in alum, while red ores and stars are concentrated in vitriol. This gives it an organizing position within mineral analysis and reduction (B1C22S035; B1C23S007).
The related word aluminous has a broader descriptive reach. A corrosive spirit acting upon earth may produce a vitriolic or aluminous condition according to the earth involved. The author expressly qualifies his use of vitriol by taste and constitution rather than always meaning ordinary green merchant’s vitriol. Alum and aluminous therefore must remain connected but distinct: one names a material, the other can characterize a stage or quality (B1C23S010; B1C23S015).
Use in the book
White metals such as lead, tin, and silver are said to show relatively little yellow burning sulphur and more white arsenic and aluminous vitriol or alum in their anatomy. The observation is offered as evidence for successive mineral degrees and for the difference between the generative body and the final metallic grain. It does not give alum the status of an independent primordial element or identify every white mineral as a single modern chemical compound (B1C23S016).
Alum also helps distinguish universality from specification. The author claims that nitre and salt can associate with all three kingdoms in suitable measure, whereas vitriol, alum, and arsenical materials are contrary to ordinary animal and vegetable nature. His appeal includes harmful examples that need not be repeated as experiments. Their argumentative purpose is to deny that all salts are equally universal merely because they share a saline name or are obtained from earth (B1C23S006–007).
Book Two carries the parallel between alum and vitriol into the account of solvents. A mineral’s own aluminous or vitriolic moisture can be assisted by universal spirits when insufficient, and an aluminous menstruum is associated with white subjects. The author says this distinction can be used without making it absolutely necessary to every successful reduction. A resulting mineral liquor still requires further transformation before the author considers it suitable to another kingdom. These medicinal conclusions remain historical claims, not evidence that ordinary alum or an alum-derived preparation is safe to consume (B2C09S003; B2C09S008; B2C09S012–016).
Places to read
- Book I · Ch. 22 · §35Alum is the representative centre of white mineral powers.
- Book I · Ch. 23 · §7Alum and vitriol are specified mineral salts, distinguished from universal nitre and salt.
- Book I · Ch. 23 · §15Vitriolic and aluminous taste qualifies the language of early mineral matter.
- Book I · Ch. 23 · §16White metals are associated with aluminous matter and white arsenic.
- Book II · Ch. 9 · §8The aluminous menstruum parallels the vitriolic one for white subjects.
Translation in this edition
Alaun is the German name; Alumen and the inflected Alumine occur in the mixed Latin and German exposition. The translation’s aluminous preserves a relation without claiming exact identity with every material named alum. Likewise the white and red mineral groupings are the author’s technical classifications. They should not be converted into modern mineral families or reduced simply to the visible colour of a refined metal (B1C22S035; B1C23S015–016; B2C09S008).