From the book
A Chymical Dictionary
Gerhard Dorn and John French · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordAlchemy described through separation of pure and impure.
- In the bookSpagiria is commonly equated with alchemy, while Spagirus describes the practitioner’s ability to distinguish and separate.
- A place to readThe historical definition below, 1650 dictionary, unnumbered definition page 48; facsimile PDF page 376.
Historical definition
Ysopus is the art of alchemy: separating pure from impure.
Meaning
The definition names an art and states its characteristic activity. The separation of pure from impure is the interpretive center of the sentence. The headword is not here given as a plant identification.
Use in the book
Spagiria is commonly equated with alchemy, while Spagirus describes the practitioner’s ability to distinguish and separate. Read together, these entries supply an art name, an occupational name and a common operative emphasis.
Quintessentia describes an extracted spiritual matter raised toward purity through separation. Regulus concerns a pure metallic portion freed from dregs. These examples show how the general language of separation receives a different material subject in particular entries.
Places to read
- YsopusRead the complete historical definition and its commentary.
- SpagiriaA name commonly used for alchemy.
- SpagirusThe alchemical practitioner defined through discrimination and separation.
- QuintessentiaA purified spiritual matter obtained from living things.
In this edition
The historical headword is retained so that a reader does not substitute a familiar botanical-looking equivalent. Its actual gloss, the alchemical art and its separating action, remains explicit.
Source note
Historical source. 1650 dictionary, unnumbered definition page 48; facsimile PDF page 376 — Facsimile