From the book
A Chymical Dictionary
Gerhard Dorn and John French · Diotimos Editions · 2026
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At a Glance
- The wordTin described as impure and resistant to working.
- In the bookBismutum is elsewhere classified by the dictionary as a kind of lead, whereas this Wismodt entry explicitly supplies tin and its stated defects.
- In this editionA textual note records the reading of the 1650 printing and the editorial treatment.
- A place to readThe historical definition below, 1650 dictionary, unnumbered definition page 47; facsimile PDF page 375.
Historical definition
Wismodt is tin that is impure and unmalleable, and cannot be worked. 1
Meaning
The historical identification is with tin, qualified by its condition. Foul is rendered as impure, and immalleable means that it cannot be shaped by the working implied in the definition. The final clause reinforces that lack of workability.
Use in the book
Bismutum is elsewhere classified by the dictionary as a kind of lead, whereas this Wismodt entry explicitly supplies tin and its stated defects. The comparison shows why a resemblance between historical names should not be used to revise one of the glosses silently. Zarfa gives a direct, unqualified tin identification.
Places to read
In this edition
The original prints “in Tin” where the sentence requires a copula. The modernised definition reads “is tin”; the historical defective reading is recorded in the textual note. Unmalleable is used in the ordinary sense of resistant to hammering or shaping.
Source note
1. The original prints “in Tin” where a copula appears to be intended. The modernised definition reads “is tin.”
Historical source. 1650 dictionary, unnumbered definition page 47; facsimile PDF page 375 — Facsimile
Sources. A Chymicall Dictionary (1650), s.v. Wismodt; 1650 facsimile PDF p. 375; compare Zarfa, Bismutum