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 balance of hot, cold, dry and moist qualities.
- In the bookTemperatum names the corresponding condition in which no quality exceeds its proper measure.
- A place to readThe historical definition below, 1650 dictionary, unnumbered definition page 39; facsimile PDF page 367.
Historical definition
Qualitas is called a complexion, whether hot or cold, dry or moist, according to the predominance of an element.
Meaning
Complexion means a constitution or mixture characterized by predominant qualities. The four adjectives supply two pairs: hot and cold, dry and moist. An element’s predominance gives the compound its characteristic condition. The word does not describe a person’s skin color in this entry.
Use in the book
Temperatum names the corresponding condition in which no quality exceeds its proper measure. Read together, the definitions make quality relational: a thing is understood through the balance and excess of attributes within it. Relloleum uses complexion to distinguish a plant’s manifest warmth from another, hidden virtue.
Places to read
- QualitasRead the complete historical definition and its commentary.
- RelloleumA distinction between a manifest quality and an occult virtue.
- TemperatumA balanced condition without excess in a quality.
In this edition
Keep the historical qualities visible when translating. Replacing hot with a modern temperature measurement, or moist with a measured water content, would give a precision this definition does not supply. These qualities belong to the book’s account of natural constitution and activity.
Source note
Historical source. 1650 dictionary, unnumbered definition page 39; facsimile PDF page 367 — Facsimile