From the book
A Chymical Dictionary
Gerhard Dorn and John French · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordWeakness accompanied by a drawing together of bodily members.
- In the bookContorsio locates torment in the bowels; Contractio describes a different combination of weakness and drawing together.
- A place to readThe historical definition below, 1650 dictionary, unnumbered definition page 17; facsimile PDF page 345.
Historical definition
Contractio is a weakness of the members and a drawing of them together.
Meaning
The historical definition joins weakness to contraction rather than offering contraction as an isolated motion. “Members” is a general bodily term here. Nothing in the entry limits it to one limb or assigns a particular cause.
Use in the book
Contorsio locates torment in the bowels; Contractio describes a different combination of weakness and drawing together. Preserving those distinctions helps readers avoid assigning one modern condition to several short historical labels merely because their sounds or symptoms seem related.
Places to read
- ContractioRead the complete historical definition and its commentary.
- ContorsioSevere suffering located in the bowels.
Source note
Historical source. 1650 dictionary, unnumbered definition page 17; facsimile PDF page 345 — Facsimile