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Alchemical
Substances
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
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.
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
Abstraction
See sublimation or distillation.
Alembic A
type of retort. According to M.Junis a type of gas expansion
chamber which is attached in a distillation train or circulation
between the boiling flask and the condenser. The 'head' which
fits on a retort.
Athanor A
furnace for heating flasks, etc.
B
Balneum
Marie A Water bath.
C
Calcination
To burn (heat) a solid with much heat. Usually performed to
purify the solid.
Circulation To circulate a liquid over
a solid in a sealed flask. See rotation.
Coagulate To
thicken. Usually done by removing the liquid portion of a
substance.
Cohobation
Binding, mixing or joining together.
Condenser, water cooled
A tube-like piece of glassware which has a double jacket one of
which has water flowing through it. It is used to condense
vapours into liquids.
Crucible A fire proof cup shaped item
in which a substance may be heated extremely.
D
Desiccate
To dry.
Digestion To macerate a substance in a
solvent at a low temperature (usually 40oc)
Distillation
To heat a substance in a flask (attached to a condenser) or
retort so that its most volatile (pure) parts might be
separated. The substance distilled is usually a liquid, but at
times it might be a semi-solid substance (see sublimation).
Distillation train
A heat proof flask attached to a water cooled condenser attached
to a receiving flask. Used to distil liquids and solids. Modern
type (see retort)
Dulcify To sweeten.
E
Eagle
To sublimate or distil. (Also P.Mercury.)
F
Fix,
to to make solid or stable.
Flask A glass container in which
substances are stored or heated.
Fuse To melt.
G
H
Head,
a/the The top and spout/condenser of a
retort/flask .
Hermetically sealed Sealed air tight.
I
Imbibe
To add, slowly, a liquid to a solid so that the solid (salt) absorbs
the liquid.
J
K
L
Lembic
See alembic
Leach (to leach) is
to separate out pure salts from their mixture with impure salts by
dissolving the whole in water. The pure salts can then be extracted by
filtration and collected by evaporation.
M
Maceration
To soak a substance in a liquid. The liquid is usually a solvent, in order
to extract (separate) its components.
N
O
P
Pelicanization
Circulation or rotation of a liquid over a solid. In classic times this was
performed in a flask called a Pelican.
Precipitation To cause to
be deposited at the bottom of a solution. Solids precipitate out of a liquid
if they have not dissolved in that liquid.
Putrefaction To allow to
rot. Also types of calcination, maceration and fermentation are considered
to be putrefaction's. (See Golden Chain for detailed description)
Q
R
Receiver,
flask The flask which is attached to the outlet of
a condenser (or retort) that catches the distillate. (Also double-necked
receiver.)
Retort A type of distillation device. A older type
(without a water cooled condenser)
Reverbatory furnace a furnace heat to such an
extent its roars with a load sound.
Wind furnace A furnace
whose fire is aided by bellows or a wind funnel.
S
Solve
To dissolve.
Soxhlet extractor A
specialised piece of laboratory glassware used to extract tinctures
(primarily) from substances. The benefit of this equipment is that it is
quick (as opposed to a standard maceration, and does not need to be watched.
Sublimation Purification of a substance by
distillation. Usually used to describe a dry distillation (distillation or
vaporisation of a dry substance).
T
U
V
Volatize
To make volatile. See distillation/sublimation
Vitrify To turn to glass.
Vacuum, create a To draw
the air out of a closed distillation system in order to decrease the
temperature, and the time, it will take to distil a substance.
W
X
Y
Z
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