From the book
A Chymical Dictionary
Gerhard Dorn and John French · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordAn animal category covering unusual origin as well as deficiency or excess.
- In the bookPygmeæ combines artificial human beings and subterranean spirits within another compact definition.
- A place to readThe historical definition below, 1650 dictionary, unnumbered definition page 33; facsimile PDF page 361.
Historical definition
Monstra are animals which either have no proper parents and are not born from things like themselves, or have some defect or excess in Nature; for more on this, see the first book of the preceding treatise.
Meaning
The definition gives alternatives. One concerns parentage and generation from unlike things; the other concerns a defect or excess in Nature. A reader should not reduce the whole category to bodily deformity, since that would omit the first branch of the account.
The entry also points beyond the dictionary. Its preceding treatise is part of the historical volume’s arrangement, not an unspecified modern discussion. The direction is evidence that the short gloss expects a fuller account elsewhere.
Use in the book
Pygmeæ combines artificial human beings and subterranean spirits within another compact definition. Comparing the headings can help readers see that the book’s categories are not limited to ordinary reproductive and bodily descriptions.
Places to read
In this edition
The historical word Monstra is retained as a headword. The commentary describes the compiler’s classification rather than using the category as an editorial judgement about people.
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, Monstra