From the book
A Chymical Dictionary
Gerhard Dorn and John French · Diotimos Editions · 2026
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At a Glance
- The wordFirst matter organised through three principles, four elements and a further human fourfold account.
- In the bookThe second Iliaster entry has its own definition, identifying an occult virtue of Nature through which things increase, are nourished, multiply and flourish.
- A place to readThe historical definition below, 1650 dictionary, unnumbered definition pages 26, 27; facsimile PDF pages 354, 355.
Historical definition
Iliaster, Iliastes, or Iliadum is the first matter of all things, consisting of Sulphur, Mercury and Salt. It is fourfold according to the elements: the chaos of earth, water, air and fire. There are also four human Iliastri concerning long life.
Meaning
This first Iliaster definition joins three different structures. It identifies first matter through Sulphur, Mercury and Salt; it gives a fourfold division through earth, water, air and fire; and it points to four human Iliastri concerning long life. The structures are related in the entry, but their numbers and subjects should remain distinct.
The three named principles belong to the statement about constitution. The four elements supply the following division into forms of chaos. The text does not say that there are four first principles or only three elements. Preserving the difference allows a reader to understand how the dictionary can combine the two groupings without silently correcting one to match the other.
Each elemental branch is named as chaos: the chaos of earth, then water, air and fire. The term does not receive an independent description here. The separate Chaos entry, however, explains its ordinary role as confused and unshaped matter and records particular Paracelsian uses. That cross-reference is useful precisely because the short Iliaster entry assumes a larger vocabulary.
Use in the book
The second Iliaster entry has its own definition, identifying an occult virtue of Nature through which things increase, are nourished, multiply and flourish. It is preserved separately in this edition. The second definition can illuminate the first’s larger setting, but it should not displace this account of first matter and its divisions.
Ilech crudum concerns a composition of the first matter of the three first principles. Elementum describes the corruptible and transient essence of the changeable world. These comparisons supply the surrounding account of matter and change without creating a modern material identity for Iliaster.
The final sentence about four human Iliastri receives explicit follow-up entries. Iliaster primus is the term of life, life itself, or the balsam of life in a person. Iliaster secundus concerns life received through elements and elemented things. Iliaster tertius concerns life through the quintessence of things. Iliaster magnus, also called quartus, concerns the mind or soul caught into another world, with Enoch and Elijah given as examples.
That human sequence is not simply a second recital of earth, water, air and fire. Its stated subjects are life, its sources or terms, and finally the mind or soul. The first definition announces the sequence without spelling it out; the later entries provide the distinction. Reading them together preserves a layered fourfold account rather than turning every fourth member into an elemental fire correspondence.
Places to read
- IliasterRead the complete historical definition and its commentary.
- ChaosA term ranging from unformed matter to air and first-matter vocabulary.
- ElementumThe elemental domain described through corruption, transience and change.
- Ilech crudumA composition described through first matter and three principles.
In this edition
The edition keeps the two Iliaster headwords as separate source entries because the historical book gives them distinct definitions. Search links connect them, while the original order remains available through the source locators.
No unstated substance is supplied as the first matter. The commentary explains the structures actually named: three principles, four elemental chaoses, and four human Iliastri. Those relationships are substantive enough to guide reading even where the precise material or metaphysical interpretation varies between authors.
Source note
Historical source. 1650 dictionary, unnumbered definition pages 26, 27; facsimile PDF pages 354, 355 — Facsimile