From the book
A Chymical Dictionary
Gerhard Dorn and John French · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordAlum described through a form and an alternative preparation.
- In the bookMercurialis seva is the water of alum, while Sal aluminosum is a salt extracted from alumen plumosum.
- A place to readThe historical definition below, 1650 dictionary, unnumbered definition page 21; facsimile PDF page 349.
Historical definition
Entali is flaked alum; sometimes it is made spagyrically from rock salt.
Meaning
The first clause identifies flaked alum. The second adds that the named material is sometimes made spagyrically from salt gemme, rendered here as rock salt. “Sometimes” matters: the alternative origin should not replace the first identification or be treated as the only way the word is used.
The definition gives no steps of preparation and does not explain how a product made from that starting material is to be judged. It supplies a historical relationship of naming and manufacture, rather than an analytical identity.
Use in the book
Mercurialis seva is the water of alum, while Sal aluminosum is a salt extracted from alumen plumosum. These are distinct descriptions of form, origin or extraction. The common alum vocabulary makes the entries worth comparing without merging their preparations.
Places to read
- EntaliRead the complete historical definition and its commentary.
- Mercurialis sevaA mercurial name directly equated with alum water.
- Sal aluminosumA salt named through the material from which it is extracted.
In this edition
The modernised wording clarifies a material name but preserves the qualification and the claimed spagyrical origin. It adds no chemical composition.
Source note
Historical source. 1650 dictionary, unnumbered definition page 21; facsimile PDF page 349 — Facsimile