From the book
A Chymical Dictionary
Gerhard Dorn and John French · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordA class of naturally sweet substances credited with healing power.
- A place to readThe historical definition below, 1650 dictionary, unnumbered definition page 13; facsimile PDF page 341.
Historical definition
Calcinatum minus is anything naturally sweet and very healing, such as sugar, manna, honey of the wood, Nostock and similar things.
Meaning
The entry’s key distinction is natural sweetness. Sugar, manna, honey of the wood and Nostock are examples within an open category. The historical author groups them through sweetness and an attributed healing virtue rather than through one shared material origin. The statement of efficacy should be reported as that author’s claim.
Calcinatum majus defines the contrasting case: sweetness produced by spagyrical art in what was not naturally sweet. Reading the pair together makes the distinction intelligible. Minus does not simply mean that the same substance has undergone less heating; the definitions distinguish the source of the quality itself.
Places to read
- Calcinatum minusRead the complete historical definition and its commentary.
- Calcinatum majusAn art-produced sweetness contrasted with natural sweetness.
- MannaAn aerial dew and, more broadly, sweet extracted matter.
- NostochA jelly-like substance connected with the popular name falling star.
Source note
Historical source. 1650 dictionary, unnumbered definition page 13; facsimile PDF page 341 — Facsimile
Sources. A Chymicall Dictionary (1650), s.v. Calcinatum minus ; compare Calcinatum majus, Manna, Nostoch