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 liquid medium of dissolution or digestion.
- In the bookLiquor explains a frequent use of liquid names for oils.
- A place to readThe historical definition below, 1650 dictionary, unnumbered definition page 33; facsimile PDF page 361.
Historical definition
Menstruum is a liquor in which something is dissolved or digested.
Meaning
The defining relation is between a liquid and the subject treated within it. The liquor is a menstruum because something is dissolved or digested in it, not because the dictionary has assigned one universal ingredient to every such medium. The particular material and the intended operation still need to be established from the passage.
The two verbs should also remain distinct. The definition permits both dissolution and digestion; it does not say that every occurrence describes an instantaneous disappearance of solid matter. Its scope is wider than one narrowly fixed image of a solvent.
Use in the book
Liquor explains a frequent use of liquid names for oils. Liquidum de resoluto concerns a thing naturally liquid, whereas Menstruum concerns the use of a liquid in treating something else. These relations provide different ways of identifying the same physical medium in an argument.
Places to read
- MenstruumRead the complete historical definition and its commentary.
- LiquorA naming rule by which a qualified liquor can mean an oil.
- Liquidum de resolutoLiquidity belonging to a thing’s own nature.
Source note
Historical source. 1650 dictionary, unnumbered definition page 33; facsimile PDF page 361 — Facsimile
Sources. A Chymical Dictionary 1650, 1650 dictionary, facsimile PDF page 361, Menstruum