Alchemical Dictionary - H


A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

HADID
Rulandus: is Iron.
HAEMATITES
Rulandus: In Arabic Sedeneg, in German Blutstein, Bloodstone, on account of the blood colour with which it is tinged, and which it is also seen to have, which is dug up in mines, and on account of its effect in stopping the flow of blood in all kinds of bloody fluxes. Pliny distinguishes between several species according to the places in which they are found, as Lybia, Egypt, Spain, and between the Weser and Elbe in Germany; also in Saxony and Anneberg, at Sala, Goslaria, Geuro, Salfeldia, Salburg, Iona, many species occur.
Hematites may also be classified according to their degrees of hardness and softness. I am acquainted with the following species:
1. Those which are described by Dioscorides (1. 5, c. 90), and which are mined in Egypt. They have a black ground, are full of colour, and are hard, crumbling, smooth in quality, unmixed with any dross, and not encircled by zones. This species is found among the Hematites obtained from our mines, but very rarely; I have barely met with a couple, and to the vulgar they are wholly unknown.
2. A black species, found at Gossaria, which exudes a yellow fluid; very hard and unknown to jewellers. It is found, but that rarely, in the portion of the ancient Hercynian forest which filled the country between the Weser and Elbe. It is undoubtedly the black stone Medus of Albertus, which also when broken exuded a yellow fluid. There is another species of a green colour. The name Medus refers to Media whence it is brought, and it is also found near the Phasis, a river of Colchis.
3. The scissile, purple Hematite, found in many places, notably in the mines of Hassia.
4. A very beautiful variety which is dug up in Geuro, Anneberg, and Salfeld. It is much praised by goldsmiths, because it is extremely hard at the side, and is useful for polishing gems. This also is black and is like a top in shape.
5. A variety from the same places, black, but exhibiting three colours at the sides, and is probably the Trichrus of Pliny (1. 37, c. 10), an African stone which he describes as black and exuding three kinds of moisture
Rulandus: at the bottom, black; in the middle, blood-red; at the top, white. This also is top-shaped and hard.
6. There is a sixth species found between the Weser and the Elbe, in Cherusca, and in certain mountains, which generally has the shape of a bare head. This is the most beautiful of all, and its shape cannot be sufficiently admired. I have experienced its wonderful virtue in stopping bleeding at the nose. Pliny distinguishes between the Hematite and Schistos (1. 36, c. 20), and between the red-veined Hematite and the crumbling species. He also calls Hematite by the term Anthracite, a word which the Greeks gave to many things, including the carbuncle. Sotacus distinguishes five species, besides the stone Magnesia.
The Haematites of Pliny are as follows:
1. Ethiopian, good for the eyes, classed among the Panchresti, as universally useful objects. This is the grand Hematite of Pliny. It is found in Ethiopia, whence also comes the Ethiopian Magnesia, or loadstone, to which it is closely allied, even to the ruddiness of its colour. If broken, it gives forth a red and yellow fluid, but it does not attract iron like the loadstone. Great indeed is the knowledge both of loadstone and Hematite. Hematite can be made from loadstone when it has been burnt by a fiery heat.
2. Androdamanta, or Atrodamanta, of extraordinary weight and hardness, whence its name. This also is black, and exudes a blood-red fluid; it is found chiefly in Africa, and it attracts iron. To this our own Hematite from Geuro very closely corresponds, being very hard at the side, which is tri-coloured.
3. Arabian Hematite, hard, and scarcely exuding moisture on its aqueous side, sometimes similar to saffron. This answers to ours which is found at Goslar, and in the Hercynian wood.
4. Elatites, Bloodstone in the rough state; in its finished condition it is called Miles. It is useful for burns, and more so for all species of red eruptions.
5. Schistos, of which Schistos Nigrum, or Schiston, another species, is found in Africa. When broken on the aqueous sides a black-coloured moisture exudes from the root, and a yellow from the other portion. For the rest, consult Pliny and Dioscorides on the virtues and efficacies of these species; where is also to be found the method of burning and corrupting Hematite ; also where Hematite is chiefly found, namely, in red Sinopis, and how it may be made from loadstone fiercely burnt by an artificial fire, or by the heat of the earth. Where loadstone exists it is most likely that Hematite will be also found, and vice versa, which is the case in iron mines where loadstone is found. Dioscorides also states in the same place that Hematite is produced naturally among metals in Egypt, which is found to take place also in the mines of the Bohemian mountains. For the rest, consult Serapion on the Hematite, s.v. Sedeneg. The ancients consecrated the Hematite to Mars.
HAEMORRHOIDES
Rulandus: A flux of Blood from the Anus.
HAGS
Rulandus: is Stone.
HAL
Rulandus: is Salt.
HAL
or
HOL
Rulandus: is Vinegar.
HALCYON, ALCION, ALCEDO, ORNIS ACTAE
Rulandus: Sea-fowl, Cerylus, Ice-bird.
HALCYONIUM
Rulandus: The Halcyon Birds, beloved by the goddess Tethaeos. See Pliny (1. 10, c. 32; 1. 2, c. 49; 1. 18, c. 26) as to the manner of their pregnancy, the mode in which they prepare their nests, and their appearance. Compare the very elegant fable in the eleventh metamorphosis of Ovid, and other writers who have treated concerning these birds. Deservedly indeed did these most beautiful Halcyon birds partake of the pleasures of the Nereides, as our Virgil and Theocritus tell us. From these same Halcyons we derive the name Halcyonium Ceycum from Ceyce, Kingfisher. It is simply congealed seafoam, internally brittle, stimulating to throat and eyes. It is at this day called Spuma Maris, Sea-foam, in the workshops. But it is not the Spuma Salis, or Maris, of which we have before spoken, though it is related thereto. Spuma Salis, or Froth of Salt, is a wool or fibre of sea-foam congealed into stones. But Halcyonium is a concrete, scissile, and spongy Sea Spume. It is so called because the Halcyons make their nests floating on a calm sea from this spongy and spumous substance, as the poet says; and Dioscorides (1. 5, c. 8) enumerates five species. Today we have barely two. There is the Halcyonium Spissum, thick, and of astringent taste, with a spongy surface, and a foul, fishy smell. It is found upon the seashore and at Havel, where there are Halcyons, called by the inhabitants Spur-winged Water-hen, but improperly, and also more correctly, Kingfisher, because it builds its nest in the cold winter, and also hatches its young. By the latter name also another bird is signified. The second species of Halcyon is like the lashes of the eye, spongy, full of holes like pipes, light, and smelling like sea-weed. These two first species are included as ingredients in the purifying medicine of women. In De Medusa Facie, Ovid tells us: Add medicines taken from the nests of quarrelsome birds. These banish pimples; they are called Halcyons. The third species is similar to a worm in shape; it approaches purple in colour, and is called Milesius. It promotes the flow of urine. The fourth species is not unlike the wool shorn from a sheep, but still hanging together. It is light, and honeycombed like a sponge. The fifth species has the appearance of a fungus, without any repellant odour; it is found in the Sea of Marmora, near the island of Besbica, and on account of its place of origin, because it is salt and bitter, they call it Halosachnem. It is useful for cleansing the teeth, and is used in purifying medicine and depilatory unguent. For the rest, after what manner Halcyonium is prepared by fire and cleaned, consult Dioscorides and Bulkasis. Pliny (l. 32, c. 5) affirms that Halcyonium is made from the nests of the Halcyon or Kingfisher, or from a gross spumous refuse, or from lime, or from sea-wool. He enumerates four species: (1) thick, ashen, and coarse smelling; (2) soft, lighter, and with an odour of sea-weed; (3) whiter and worm-shaped ; (4) that which is called Milesius, and is the best kind; it is porous, like rotten sponge, and approaches purple in colour. Consult Pliny and Serapion on the virtues of these various species. Also the third tractatus of Almansor in the chapter on Sea Spume. All these species are said to be hot and dry. Later authorities have affirmed that Halcyonium is not Sea Spume, but the manufactured substance which is called Adarca and Sea Flesh.
HALIMAR
Rulandus: is Copper.
HALINITRUM
Rulandus: is Saltpetre.
HARA
Rulandus: is juniper.
HARMAT
Rulandus: is the Berry of the Juniper.
HARMEL
Rulandus: is Seed of the herb Rue. Also Grains of Silver remaining on the hearth.
HARO
Rulandus: is a Fern like the Polypody, or Wall-fern.
HARPAGO
Rulandus: A Hooked or Crooked Instrument.
HARPAGO PRAEGRANDIS
Rulandus: A Hooked Or Crooked Instrument of large size.
HARTWERCH
Rulandus: A kind of copper or Brazen Loaves.
HASACIUM
Rulandus: Sal Ammoniac.
HEINRICUS RUBEUS
Rulandus: Vitriol calcined to the Red.
HEL
Rulandus: is Honey.
HELEBRIA
Rulandus: is a species of black Verarrius (? Weratrum, Hellebore), putting forth red flowers.
HELLE
Rulandus: Viscidity.
HELIOTROPIUM
Rulandus: is the Melissa (Bee) of Paracelsus; the Root of the Sun; the Dandelion; the Balm of Paracelsus.
HELIOTROPIUM
Rulandus: is a Gem found in Ethiopia, Africa, and Cyprus, of a leek-green colour, similar to the emerald, but distinguished by its red speckles. It is called Heliotrope because, if thrown into a vessel of water and exposed to the sun, it changes to blood colour, and this is especially the case with the Ethiopian variety. Concerning the Heliotrope, the impudence of sorcerers affirms that the unguent made from the sap of an herb so named will make the person using it invisible. The Heliotrope is also said to bring riches and good name; it is a safeguard against poisonous reptiles and bloody fluxes. (See Albertus Magnus and Pliny, 1. 37, c. 10).
HELNESED
Rulandus: is Coral.
HELUNHAT
Rulandus: is the Ring of Solomon which figures in Necromantic Art.
HEMICYCMUM, HADE
Rulandus: A mining term.
HESMIC
Rulandus: The fourth part of a pound.
HIDUS
Rulandus: Flower of Copper.
HINNICULA, GENICULA, GUMICULA
Rulandus: The medicinal root, Valerian. The variations I conclude to be mistakes of transcribers.
HISMAT
Rulandus: is Froth Or Scum of Silver.
HISPANICUM VIRIDE
or
HYSPALENSIS
Rulandus: is Verdigris.
HOLSEBON, HELSATON, HELSEBON
Rulandus: Names for prepared Common Salt.
HOMO FUNEM IN BRACHIUM VEL PECTUS INVOLENS
Rulandus: A man carrying a rope twined round his arm or waist.
HOMUNCULI IMAGUNCULAE
Rulandus: The Minute Image of a Man or Homunculus, the invisible sidereal man made in the likeness of man. Diminutive men who have within them the invisible, sidereal man.
HORIZON
Rulandus: Mercury or Quicksilver of Gold.
HUNC
or
HUCCI
Rulandus: is Jupiter, or Tin.
HUMOR VITAE
Rulandus: Vital Moisture, which prevents all living things from becoming dry, the Radical Humour, the Food and Nourishment of the Natural Heat.
HUMORIS RECEPTACULUM
Rulandus: A Receptacle of Moisture.
HYACINTHUS
Rulandus: A Gem which differs from the amethyst, the violet which is so conspicuous in the latter being paler in the former, pleasing at first sight, but seeming to grow pale before the eye is satisfied, fading more quickly than the flower which bears its name (see Pliny, 1. 37, c. 9, and Solinus, c. 33). Hyacinthus and Chrysolites are brought from Ethiopia, India and Arabia. The Arabians distinguish three species-of a, red, citrine and antimony-colour, i.e., silver-white. Albertus makes two species of this class, the first showing white in saffron, watery in red, which he calls humid; the second sapphiric, which is very yellow and translucid, and is called the Ethiopian Sapphire Hyacinth. The Hyacinth has the virtue of promoting sleep; it preserves against poisoned arrows; it raises the spirits of men; and it fortifies the heart. I omit other qualities which seem to me magical. In conclusion, the ancients dedicated the Hyacinth to Jupiter.
1. Hyacinth showing reddish in golden.
2. Golden.
3. Approaching amber.
4. Rough.
5. Manufactured and falsified.
HYARITH
Rulandus: is Luna.
HYDROMANTIA
Rulandus: is an Art of Divination derived from the astrology of water or from the stars which rule the water and which make known to men the approach of unusual inundations, high floods, and other phenomena.
HYDROPHOBIA
Rulandus: Dread of water, a stye in the eye.
HYDROPIPER
Rulandus: Red Water-pepper, or Persicaria.
HYPOGLOSSUM
Rulandus: Hippoglossum, Epiglossum, Epiphyllocarpon, Uvularia, Boni facia, Lingua Pagana, Bis Lingua
Rulandus: Names of plants, the Laurel, the Campanula, the Uvulum, the Gypsophila.

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