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 name with quintessence-of-fire and philosophers’ stone senses.
- In the bookQuintessentia describes a purified spiritual matter, while Lapis Philosophorum is defined as the highest virtue of earthly things, giving tincture.
- A place to readThe historical definition below, 1650 dictionary, unnumbered definition page 38; facsimile PDF page 366.
Historical definition
Phenix is the quintessence of fire; also the philosophers’ stone.
Meaning
The definition supplies two applications. Also adds the philosophers’ stone to the quintessence of fire. A reader should keep both visible rather than selecting one automatically from the headword’s familiar image.
Use in the book
Quintessentia describes a purified spiritual matter, while Lapis Philosophorum is defined as the highest virtue of earthly things, giving tincture. These fuller glosses provide the appropriate reading routes. Their comparison clarifies the dictionary’s network without claiming that every use of quintessence is the stone.
Places to read
- PhenixRead the complete historical definition and its commentary.
- Lapis PhilosophorumThe philosophers’ stone defined through supreme terrestrial power and its imparting of tincture.
- QuintessentiaA purified spiritual matter obtained from living things.
- TincturaAn agent defined by imparting color to another body.
In this edition
The article begins from the explicit equivalents in this witness. A full interpretation of phoenix symbolism in another work would need the actual passage, its image and its stated operation.
Source note
Historical source. 1650 dictionary, unnumbered definition page 38; facsimile PDF page 366 — Facsimile