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 instrument name whose qualifier changes its identification.
- In the bookThe example makes the dictionary’s contextual method particularly clear.
- A place to readThe historical definition below, 1650 dictionary, unnumbered definition page 46; facsimile PDF page 374.
Historical definition
Viltrum philosophorum is an alembic; taken without qualification, viltrum is a strainer.
Meaning
The definition distinguishes the philosophical compound from the unqualified word. Philosophorum gives an alembic; the word taken absolutely gives a strainer. Absolutely here means without that qualification, rather than with exceptional certainty.
Use in the book
The example makes the dictionary’s contextual method particularly clear. The full expression must be read before choosing an instrument. An alembic and a strainer both participate in separating or handling matter, but the entry does not treat them as the same piece of apparatus.
Compare Reverberatorium, whose instrument is identified through calcination by flame. Its operative function is explicit, while the present article hinges on a change of lexical qualification. Both relations can help a reader understand what an author is asking an instrument to do.
Places to read
- Viltrum philosophorumRead the complete historical definition and its commentary.
- ReverberatoriumA furnace defined by flame calcination.
- ThamaticaThe design of devices driven by air and water.
In this edition
The form Viltrum is retained as the historical headword. The two glosses remain visibly attached to their respective expressions so that search and translation do not erase the distinction.
Source note
Historical source. 1650 dictionary, unnumbered definition page 46; facsimile PDF page 374 — Facsimile