Alchemical Lexicon

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Alchemical Substances
hydrochloric acid and distilling.
Butter of tin
. Hydrated stannic chloride.
C
Cadmia
, which was also called Tuttia or Tutty, was probably zinc carbonate.
Calamine
. Zinc carbonate.
Calomel
. Mercurous chloride. Purgative, made by subliming a mixture of mercuric chloride and metallic
mercury, triturated in a mortar. This was heated in a iron pot and the crust of calomel formed on the lid was ground
to powder and boiled with water to remove the very poisonous mercuric chloride.
Caustic marine alkali
. Caustic soda. Sodium hydroxide. Made by adding lime to natron.
Caustic Soda
Sodium Hydroxide
Caustic volatile alkali
. Ammonium hydroxide.
Caustic wood alkali
. Caustic potash. Potassium hydroxide. Made by adding lime to potash.
Chalk
. Calcium carbonate.
Chrome green
. Chromic oxide.
Chrome orange
. Mixture of chrome yellow and chrome red.
Chrome red
. Basic lead chromate.
Chrome yellow
. Lead chromate.
Cinnabar or Vermillion
. Mercuric sulphide.
Cinnabar
. Mercuric sulphide.
A
Aes cyprium
. Cyprian brass or copper.
Acetate
A crystaline (or liquid) oily substance extracted from metals by means of acetic acid menstrum.
Aqua tofani
. Arsenious oxide. Extremely poisonous. Used by Paracelsus.
Antimony
. From latin 'antimonium' used by Constantinius Africanus (c. 1050) to refer to Stibnite.
Archaeus
The secret inner matter of a substance.
B
Black Lion
The caput mortum or black salt which cannot be purified.
Blue vitriol or bluestone
. Cupric sulphate.
Brimstone
(from German Brennstein 'burning stone'). Sulphur.
Butter of Antimony
. White crystalline antimony trichloride. Made by Basil Valentine by distilling
roasted stibnite with corrosive sublimate. Glauber later prepared it by dissolving stibnite in hot concentrated
Cobalt
. Named by the copper miners of the Hartz Mountains after the evil spirits the 'kobolds' which produced
false copper ore.
Common salt
. Sodium chloride.
Copper glance
. Cuprous sulphide ore.
Corrosive sublimate
. Mercuric chloride. first mentioned by the Arabian alchemist Geber, who
prepared it by subliming mercury, calcined green vitriol, nitre and common salt.
Cuprite
. Red cuprous oxide ore.
D
Dragon
The philosophic Mercury-acid obtained from metals. Winged when volitile (pure) and without wings
when crude or 'fixed'.
Dutch White
. Mixture of one part of white lead to three of barium sulphate.
E
Eagle
When referring to a substance it is Philosophic Mercury. (Also sublimation.)
F
Fire Stone
A transmuting Stone made from Antimony.
Flores
Oxide of a metal
Flowers of sulphur
. light yellow crystalline powder, made by distilling sulphur.
Fulminating gold
. Made by adding ammonia to the auric hydroxide formed by precipitation by
potash from metallic gold dissolved in aqua regis. Highly explosive when dry.
Fulminating silver
. Silver nitride, very explosive when dry. Made by dissolving silver oxide in
ammonia.
G
Galena
. Plumbic sulphide. Chief ore of lead.
Glass of Antimony
. Impure antimony tetroxide, obtained by roasting stibnite. Used as a yellow
pigment for glass and porcelain.
Glauber's Salt
. Sodium sulphate.
Green Lion
The green acetate of Lead in liquid or crystal form.
Green Dragon
It is said that technically there isn't one. But it could be said to be a acetate of lead
(which not always but occassionally forms from a green oil).
Green Vitriol
. Ferrous sulphate.
Gypsum
. Calcium sulphate.
H
Horn silver, argentum cornu
. A glass like ore of silver chloride.
I
J
K
Kermes
Properly the oil of Antimony in a crude state, precipitated out of an alkaline menstrum by
neutralization through an acid. It is usually red-brown. The term might be used for any metallic oil precipitated out
of a lye (alkaline solution) by neutralization.
Kerckringius menstrum (KM)
A menstrum for extracting metalic oils made from ethyl
alcohol which has been distilled off of oil of thrice sublimated Hartshorn (NH4CL).
King's Yellow
. A mixture of orpiment with white arsenic.
L
Lead fume
. Lead oxide obtained from the flues at lead smelters.
Limatura Martis
Iron filings
Lion
Any salt or fixed substance obtained from metals. The lion is said to be red, green or black according to the
state of the fixed substance.
Litharge
. Reddish-yellow crystalline form of lead monoxide, formed by fusing and powdering massicot.
Liver of sulphur
. Complex of polysulphides of potassium, made by fusing potash and sulphur.
Lunar caustic, lapis infernalis
. Silver nitrate.
Luna cornea
. The soft colourless tough mass of silver chloride, made by heating horn silver till it forms
a dark yellow liquid and then cooling. Described by Oswald Croll in 1608.
Lye
An Alkaline menstrum. Usually a saturated solution of caustic soda.
M
Marcasite
. Mineral form of Iron disulphide. Oxidises in moist air to green vitriol.
Massicot
. Yellow powder form of lead monoxide.
Mercurius praecipitatus
. Red mercuric oxide. Described by Geber. (Fr.Albertus says solid
Mercury, amalgam)
Milk of sulphur
(lac sulphuris). White colloidal sulphur. Geber made this by adding an acid to thion
hudor.
Minium or Red Lead
. Triplumbic tetroxide. Formed by roasting litharge in air. Scarlet crystalline
powder.
Mosaic gold
. Golden-yellow glistening scales of crystalline stannic sulphide, made by heating a mixture
of tin filings, sulphur and salammoniac.
N
Naples yellow, or Cassel yellow
. An oxychloride of lead, made by heating litharge with
sal ammoniac.
Natron
. Native sodium carbonate.
Nickel
. Named by the copper miners of Westphalia the 'kupfer-nickel' or false copper.
Nitrum flammans
. Ammonium nitrate made by Glauber.
O
Oil of Vitriol
. Sulphuric acid made by distilling green vitriol.
Orpiment
. Auri-pigmentum. Yellow ore of arsenic. Arsenic trisulphide.
P
Pearl white
. Basic nitrate of bismuth, used by Lemery as a cosmetic.
Philosophers' Wool
, or nix alba (white snow). Zinc oxide made by burning zinc in the air. Called
Zinc White and used as a pigment.
Potash
Potassium Carbonate. (The salts of vegetables, particularly grape vine)
Powder of Algaroth
. A white powder of antimonious oxychloride, made by by precipitation when
a solution of butter of antimony in spirit of salt is poured into water.
Purple of Cassius
. Made by Andreas Cassius in 1685 by precipitating a mixture of gold, stannous
and stannic chlorides, with alkali. Used for colouring glass.
Pyrites
. Mineral form of iron disulphide. Stable in air.
Q
Quicklime
. Calcium oxide.
R
Realgar
. red ore of arsenic. Arsenic disulphide.
Red Dragon
In our Order it is the pure red oil of lead.
Red Lion
In our system it is the red acetate of lead in crystal form.
Resin of copper
. Cuprous chloride. Made by Robert Boyle in 1664 by heating copper with corrosive
sublimate.
Rouge, Crocus, Colcothar
. Red varieties of ferric oxide are formed by burning green vitriol
in the air.
S
Sal Ammoniac
. Ammonium Chloride. Described by Geber.
Sal volatile, Spirit of Hartshorn
. Volatile alkali. Ammonium carbonate made from
distilling bones, horns, etc.
Slaked lime
. Calcium hydroxide.
Soda ash
. Sodium carbonate formed by burning plants growing on the sea shore.
Spiritus fumans
. Stannic chloride, discovered by Libavius in 1605, through distilling tin with
corrosive sublimate.
Stibnite
. Antimony trisulphide. Grey mineral ore of antimony.
Sugar of Lead
. Lead acetate, Made by dissolving lead oxide in vinegar.
T
Thion hudor
(Zosimus refers to this as the 'divine water' or 'the bile of the serpent'). A deep reddish-
yellow liquid made by boiling flowers of sulphur with slaked lime.
Tin salt
. Hydrated stannous chloride.
Turpeth mineral
. A hydrolysed form of mercuric sulphate. Yellow crystalline powder, described by
Basil Valentine.
Tutia
Zinc Carbonate or Oxide
U
V
Venetian White
. Mixture of equal parts of white lead and barium sulphate.
Verdigris
. Cupric (copper) carbonate.
Vinegar
Could refer to either acetic acid, acid distilled or fermented out of metals or minerals.
Viride Aeris
Green of Copper (CopperChlate)
W
White arsenic
. Arsenious oxide. Produced from arsenical soot from the roasting ovens, purified by
sublimation.
White lead
. Basic carbonate of lead. Used as a pigment.
White vitriol
. Zinc Sulphate. Described by Basil Valentine. Made by lixiviating roasted zinc blend (zinc
sulphide).
Winged Lion
Sublimated salt for the PS.
Wood-ash or potash
. Potassium carbonate made from the ashes of burnt wood.
Wismuth
. Bismuth.
X
Y
Z
Zaffre
. Impure cobalt arsenate, left after roasting cobalt ore.
Alchemical Equipment and Processes
A
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