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Metals minerals and metallic preparations

Asphaltum

A pitch-like bitumen identified through its earthly and watery source.

From the book

A Chymical Dictionary

Gerhard Dorn and John French · Diotimos Editions · 2026

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Orientation

At a Glance

  • The wordA pitch-like bitumen identified through its earthly and watery source.
  • A place to readThe historical definition below, 1650 dictionary, unnumbered definition page 7; facsimile PDF page 335.

Historical definition

Asphaltum is a bitumen extracted from the mud of earth and water, resembling pitch.

Meaning

The definition combines an origin account with a resemblance. Mud associated with earth and water supplies the source; pitch gives a comparison for the resulting substance. The account should be retained as historical description rather than silently replaced by a modern industrial material specification.

Bitumen is the immediate comparison entry. Together, the two show how the dictionary can describe a material through texture, source and a familiar analogue. When reading a preparation, distinguish the named bitumen from any later oil, residue or other product made from it. The present gloss does not describe those subsequent transformations.

Places to read

  1. AsphaltumRead the complete historical definition and its commentary.
  2. BitumenA pitch-like earthly material described through texture and origin.
  3. Resina terræAn earth resin name for sulphur.

Source note

Historical source. 1650 dictionary, unnumbered definition page 7; facsimile PDF page 335 — Facsimile

Sources. A Chymicall Dictionary (1650), s.v. Asphaltum ; compare Bitumen, Resina terræ