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 second human Iliaster associated with elemental life.
- In the bookIliaster primus gives life itself or its balsam.
- A place to readThe historical definition below, 1650 dictionary, unnumbered definition page 27; facsimile PDF page 355.
Historical definition
Iliaster secundus is the term of the balsam and of the life received through the elements and elemented things.
Meaning
The distinctive feature is life received through elements and through things constituted by elements. The older word elementated is rendered as elemented, preserving that relation without naming a particular food, medicine or material.
The definition speaks of a term of balsam and life. It does not describe a substance that can simply be separated as a second fraction from the first Iliaster.
Use in the book
Iliaster primus gives life itself or its balsam. Iliaster tertius concerns life through quintessence, and the fourth entry concerns the mind or soul caught into another world. The contrasts show different accounts of life within a sequence. They should remain distinct from the separate fourfold division into elemental chaoses under the first Iliaster definition.
Places to read
- Iliaster secundusRead the complete historical definition and its commentary.
- ElementumThe elemental domain described through corruption, transience and change.
- IliasterFirst matter organised through three principles, four elements and a further human fourfold account.
- Iliaster primusThe first human Iliaster described through life and its balsam.
In this edition
The edition retains the elemental qualification and does not replace it with an unmentioned correspondence to one specific element.
Source note
Historical source. 1650 dictionary, unnumbered definition page 27; facsimile PDF page 355 — Facsimile
Sources. A Chymicall Dictionary 1650, s.v. Iliaster secundus