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Glowing and quenching metals

candefac; candefiant; candentes; candefacere; extingue; extinguere; restinguantur; restinguere; Candefacere

Glowing and quenching structure the accounts of iron crocus and burnt copper.

From the book

Nine Books on the Nature of Things

Attributed to Paracelsus · Diotimos Editions · 2026

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Meaning

Glowing and quenching structure the accounts of iron crocus and burnt copper. The copper passage expressly distinguishes making the plates glow from allowing them to melt; its repeated cooling also releases scales from the surface. Extinguere can elsewhere mean extinguishing fire, but with a heated metal as its object it names quenching. The object of the verb determines the operation.

Places to read

  1. Book 5 · Death · Passage 11Latin“laminae ita candentes”