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 mineral term extended metaphorically to harmful bodily matter.
- In the bookThe words properly and metaphorically are therefore part of the definition’s substance.
- A place to readThe historical definition below, 1650 dictionary, unnumbered definition page 39; facsimile PDF page 367.
Historical definition
Realgar, properly understood, is the fume of minerals; metaphorically, it is any harmful matter in the human body from which swellings, ulcers or the like arise.
Meaning
This entry explicitly separates a proper sense from a metaphorical one. In the first, realgar belongs to minerals and their fume. In the second, it names injurious matter within a body. The author supplies the connection through harmful effects, rather than asserting that every ulcer contains a particular mineral.
Use in the book
The words properly and metaphorically are therefore part of the definition’s substance. They show that the dictionary’s identifications operate at different levels. A reader who assigns one material identity to every occurrence would lose the distinction the compiler takes care to state.
Compare the bodily use of Tartarum: a name for deposits in wine vessels also serves for stones or gravel in people. Both articles transfer vocabulary between domains, but the terms and comparisons remain different. Realgar is described through harmful matter and its effects; tartar through a hard deposit.
Places to read
In this edition
The historical mineral sense is retained as given. This article does not substitute a modern formula for the dictionary’s phrase or treat the metaphor as a diagnosis.
Source note
Historical source. 1650 dictionary, unnumbered definition page 39; facsimile PDF page 367 — Facsimile
Sources. A Chymicall Dictionary (1650), s.v. Realgar; 1650 facsimile PDF p. 367; compare Tartarum, Sephirus