From the book
A Chymical Dictionary
Gerhard Dorn and John French · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordThe elemental domain described through corruption, transience and change.
- In the bookIliaster’s first definition makes an important distinction visible.
- A place to readThe historical definition below, 1650 dictionary, unnumbered definition page 20; facsimile PDF page 348.
Historical definition
Elementum, in Paracelsus, is the corruptible and transient essence of the world and of everything subject to change.
Meaning
The definition begins from change. What is elemental is described as corruptible and transient, extending to the world and to all things subject to alteration. The entry does not begin by naming a particular material. Instead, it defines the scope of an elemental domain through the condition of the things belonging to it.
“Corruptible” concerns susceptibility to corruption or passing away within this account. It should not be read only as moral corruption, or as a claim that every thing described is already rotten. “Transient” similarly indicates a condition of not remaining permanently as it is. The two terms describe a range within which generation, preparation and dissolution can be discussed.
The attribution “in Paracelsus” is part of the definition. It tells the reader that the compiler is explaining a particular philosophical usage. The entry does not attempt to settle every author’s meaning of element, nor provide a universal list of elementary substances.
Use in the book
Iliaster’s first definition makes an important distinction visible. It speaks of Sulphur, Mercury and Salt as first principles, while giving a fourfold account through earth, water, air and fire. Those two groupings should not be collapsed into one another. The difference in number is stated openly: three principles and four elemental forms of chaos enter the same account without becoming a single list.
Divertalium concerns generation made by elements. Constellatio describes impressions from higher stars upon lower bodies. Ilech crudum concerns a composition of the first matter of the three first principles. Together these entries show several kinds of explanatory relation: elemental generation, celestial impression, and composition through principles. A passage may use more than one of these relations, but the dictionary does not declare them interchangeable.
Qualitas ties a complexion to the predominance of an element and names the pairs hot and cold, dry and moist. That definition helps explain how an element can enter descriptions of a thing’s constitution. Elementum itself remains broader: it describes the changeable essence of the world rather than only one quality within a mixture.
Places to read
- ElementumRead the complete historical definition and its commentary.
- ConstellatioThe influence of higher stars understood as an impression in lower things.
- DivertaliumGeneration attributed to the elements.
- Ilech crudumA composition described through first matter and three principles.
In this edition
The modernised definition retains “essence” and the condition of change. Replacing the sentence with a familiar modern use of element would lose the philosophical account the compiler is trying to explain.
For practical reading, ask whether an author is naming an element, discussing what belongs to the elemental realm, or describing a quality attributed to elemental predominance. Those questions follow distinctions already present in the dictionary. They help preserve the text’s variety of uses without adding an unmentioned scheme of causes.
Source note
Historical source. 1650 dictionary, unnumbered definition page 20; facsimile PDF page 348 — Facsimile