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 selected product distinguished from bodily concretion and its gross remainder.
- In the bookCorpus is the subject in which virtues lie hidden.
- A place to readThe historical definition below, 1650 dictionary, unnumbered definition page 21; facsimile PDF page 349.
Historical definition
Extractum is what is extracted from a corporeal concretion, with the grossness left behind.
Meaning
The definition identifies a product through separation. Something is taken from a bodily concretion, while what is described as gross remains behind. It does not state that the starting body disappears or that the remainder has no further significance.
“Grossness” is a relative description within the work. The entry gives no measurement or analytical criterion for it. Similarly, “corporeal concretion” describes a formed bodily subject without restricting it to an anatomical body. A mineral or vegetable passage may employ the same vocabulary if the author’s context supports it.
Use in the book
Corpus is the subject in which virtues lie hidden. Compositum is a body not separated. Essentia quinta adds a stronger account of extracted matter purified from impurity and corruption into incorruptibility. These comparisons distinguish the subject, its unseparated state, and particular kinds of selected product. Not every Extractum is explicitly called a quintessence by this dictionary.
Places to read
- ExtractumRead the complete historical definition and its commentary.
- CompositumA compound body considered before separation.
- CorpusA body understood as the subject containing a thing’s hidden efficacy.
- Essentia quintaQuintessence described through extraction, purification and claimed incorruptibility.
In this edition
The modernised definition does not add a solvent or technique. Its interpretive value lies in following what is taken, what is left and how the surrounding author evaluates the difference.
Source note
Historical source. 1650 dictionary, unnumbered definition page 21; facsimile PDF page 349 — Facsimile