Alchemical studies produced a number of substances, which were later classified as particular chemical compounds or mixtures of compounds.
Many of these terms were in common use into the 20th century.
Metals and metalloids
Further information: Metals of antiquity
- Antimony/Stibnium – Sb
- Bismuth (German: Wismuth) – Bi
- Copper/Cuprum – associated with Venus. Cu
- Gold/Aurum – associated with the Sun. Au
- Iron/Ferrum – associated with Mars. Fe
- Lead/Plumbum – associated with Saturn. Pb
- Quicksilver/Hydrargyrum – associated with Mercury. Hg
- Silver/Argentum – associated with the Moon. Ag
- Tin/Stannum – associated with Jupiter. Sn
Minerals, stones, and pigments
- Bluestone – mineral form of copper(II) sulfate pentahydrate, also called blue vitriol.
- Borax – sodium borate; was also used to refer to other related minerals.
- Cadmia/tuttia/tutty – probably zinc carbonate.
- Calamine – zinc carbonate.
- Calomel/horn quicksilver/horn mercury – mercury(I) chloride, a very poisonous purgative formed by subliming a mixture of mercuric chloride and metallic mercury, triturated in a mortar and heated in an iron pot. The crust formed on the lid was ground to powder and boiled with water to remove the calomel.
- Calx – calcium oxide; was also used to refer to other metal oxides.
- Chalcanthum – the residue produced by strongly roasting blue vitriol (copper sulfate); it is composed mostly of cupric oxide.
- Chalk – a rock composed of porous biogenic calcium carbonate. CaCO3
- Chrome green – chromic oxide and cobalt oxide.
- Chrome orange – chrome yellow and chrome red.
- Chrome red – basic lead chromate – PbCrO4+PbO
- Chrome yellow/Paris yellow/Leipzig yello – lead chromate, PbCrO4
- Cinnabar/vermilion – refers to several substances, among them: mercury(II) sulfide (HgS), or native vermilion (the common ore of mercury).
- Copper Glance – copper(I) sulfide ore.
- Cuprite – copper(I) oxide ore.
- Dutch White – a pigment, formed from one part of white lead to three of barium sulfate. BaSO4
- Flowers of antimony – antimony trioxide, formed by roasting stibnite at high temperature and condensing the white fumes that form. Sb2O3
- Fool's gold – a mineral, iron disulfide or pyrite; can form oil of vitriol on contact with water and air.
- Fulminating silver – principally, silver nitride, formed by dissolving silver(I) oxide in ammonia. Very explosive when dry.
- Fulminating gold – a number of gold based explosives which "fulminate", or detonate easily.
- – gold hydrazide, formed by adding ammonia to the auric hydroxide. When dry, can explode on concussion.
- – an unstable gold carbonate formed by precipitation by potash from gold dissolved in aqua regia.
- Galena – lead(II) sulfide. Lead ore.
- Glass of antimony – impure antimony tetroxide, SbO4 formed by roasting stibnite. A yellow pigment for glass and porcelain.
- Gypsum – a mineral; calcium sulfate. CaSO4
- Horn silver/argentum cornu – a weathered form of chlorargyrite, an ore of silver chloride.
- Luna cornea – silver chloride, formed by heating horn silver till it liquefies and then cooling.
- King's yellow – formed by mixing orpiment with white arsenic.
- Lapis solaris (Bologna stone) – barium sulfide – 1603, Vincenzo Cascariolo.
- Lead fume – lead oxide, found in flues at lead smelters.
- Lime/quicklime (burnt lime)/calx viva/unslaked lime – calcium oxide, formed by calcining limestone
- Slaked lime – calcium hydroxide. Ca(OH)2
- Marcasite – a mineral; iron disulfide. In moist air it turns into green vitriol, FeSO4.
- Massicot – lead monoxide. PbO
- Litharge – lead monoxide, formed by fusing and powdering massicot.
- Minium/red lead – trilead tetroxide, Pb3O4; formed by roasting litharge in air.
- Naples yellow/cassel yellow – oxychloride of lead, formed by heating litharge with sal ammoniac.
- Mercurius praecipitatus – red mercuric oxide.
- Mosaic gold – stannic sulfide, formed by heating a mixture of tin filings, sulfur, and sal-ammoniac.
- Orpiment – arsenic trisulfide, an ore of arsenic.
- Pearl white – bismuth nitrate, BiNO3
- Philosophers' wool/nix alba (white snow)/Zinc White – zinc oxide, formed by burning zinc in air, used as a pigment
- Plumbago – a mineral, graphite; not discovered in pure form until 1564
- Powder of Algaroth – antimony oxychloride, formed by precipitation when a solution of butter of antimony and spirit of salt is poured into water.
- Purple of Cassius – formed by precipitating a mixture of gold, stannous and stannic chlorides, with alkali. Used for glass coloring
- Realgar – arsenic disulfide, an ore of arsenic.
- Regulus of antimony
- Resin of copper – copper(I) chloride (cuprous chloride), formed by heating copper with corrosive sublimate.
- Rouge/crocus/colcothar – ferric oxide, formed by burning green vitriol in air.
- Stibnite – antimony or antimony trisulfide, ore of antimony.
- Turpeth mineral – hydrolysed form of mercury(II) sulfate.
- Verdigris – Carbonate of Copper or (more recently) copper(II) acetate. The carbonate is formed by weathering copper. The acetate is formed by vinegar acting on copper. One version was used as a green pigment.
- White arsenic – arsenious oxide, formed by sublimating arsenical soot from the roasting ovens.
- White lead – carbonate of lead, a toxic pigment, produced by corroding stacks of lead plates with dilute vinegar beneath a heap of moistened wood shavings. (replaced by blanc fixe & lithopone)
- Venetian white – formed from equal parts of white lead and barium sulfate.
- Zaffre – impure cobalt arsenate, formed after roasting cobalt ore.
- Zinc blende – zinc sulfide.
Salts
- Glauber's salt – sodium sulfate. Na2SO4
- Sal alembroth – salt composed of chlorides of ammonium and mercury.
- Sal ammoniac – ammonium chloride.
- Sal petrae (Med. Latin: "stone salt")/salt of petra/saltpetre/nitrate of potash – potassium nitrate, KNO3, typically mined from covered dungheaps.
- Salt/common salt – a mineral, sodium chloride, NaCl, formed by evaporating seawater (impure form).
- Salt of tartar – potassium carbonate; also called potash.
- Salt of hartshorn/sal volatile – ammonium carbonate formed by distilling bones and horns.
- Tin salt – hydrated stannous chloride; see also spiritus fumans, another chloride of tin.
Vitriols
- Blue vitriol – copper(II) sulfate pentahydrate.
- Green vitriol – a mineral; iron(II) sulfate heptahydrate. (or ferrous sulfate)
- Red vitriol - cobalt sulfate.1
- Sweet vitriol – diethyl ether. It could be made by mixing oil of vitriol with spirit of wine and heating it.2
- White vitriol – zinc sulfate, formed by lixiviating roasted zinc blende.
Waters, oils and spirits
- Aqua fortis/spirit of nitre – nitric acid, formed by 2 parts saltpetre in 1 part (pure) oil of vitriol (sulfuric acid). (Historically, this process could not have been used, as 98% oil of vitriol was not available.)
- Aqua ragia/spirit of turpentine/oil of turpentine/gum turpentine – turpentine, formed by the distillation of pine tree resin.
- Aqua regia (Latin: "royal water") – a mixture of aqua fortis and spirit of salt.
- Aqua tofani – arsenic trioxide, As2O3 (extremely poisonous)
- Aqua vitae/aqua vita/spirit of wine, ardent spirits – ethanol, formed by distilling wine3
- Butter (or oil) of antimony – antimony trichloride. Formed by distilling roasted stibnite with corrosive sublimate, or dissolving stibnite in hot concentrated hydrochloric acid and distilling. SbCl3
- Butter of tin – hydrated tin(IV) chloride; see also spiritus fumans, another chloride of tin.
- Oil of tartar – concentrated potassium carbonate, K2CO3 solution
- Oil of tartar per deliquium – potassium carbonate dissolved in the water which its extracts from the air.
- Oil of vitriol/spirit of vitriol – sulfuric acid, a weak version can be formed by heating green vitriol and blue vitriol. H2SO4
- Spirit of box/pyroxylic spirit – methanol, CH3OH, distilled wood alcohol.
- Spiritus fumans – stannic chloride, formed by distilling tin with corrosive sublimate.
- Spirit of hartshorn – ammonia, formed by the decomposition of sal-ammoniac by unslaked lime.
- Spirit of salt/acidum salis – the liquid form of hydrochloric acid (also called muriatic acid), formed by mixing common salt with oil of vitriol.
- Marine acid air – gaseous form of hydrochloric acid.
Others
- Alkahest – universal solvent.
- Azoth – initially this referred to a supposed universal solvent but later became another name for Mercury.
- Bitumen – highly viscous liquid or semi-solid form of petroleum.
- Blende
- Brimstone – sulfur
- Flowers of sulfur – formed by distilling sulfur.
- Caustic potash/caustic wood alkali – potassium hydroxide, formed by adding lime to potash.
- Caustic Soda/caustic marine alkali – sodium hydroxide, NaOH, formed by adding lime to natron.
- Caustic volatile alkali – ammonium hydroxide.
- Corrosive sublimate – mercuric chloride, formed by subliming mercury, calcined green vitriol, common salt, and nitre.
- Gum Arabic – gum from the acacia tree.
- Liver of sulfur – formed by fusing potash and sulfur.
- Lunar caustic/lapis infernalis – silver nitrate, formed by dissolving silver in aqua fortis and evaporating.
- Lye – potash in a water solution, formed by leaching wood ashes.
- Potash – potassium carbonate, formed by evaporating lye; also called salt of tartar. K2CO3
- Pearlash – formed by baking potash in a kiln.
- Milk of sulfur (lac sulphuris) – formed by adding an acid to thion hudor (lime sulfur).
- Natron/soda ash/soda – sodium carbonate. Na2CO3
- Nitrum flammans – ammonium nitrate.
- Sugar of lead – lead(II) acetate, formed by dissolving lead oxide in vinegar.
- Thion hudor – lime sulfur, formed by boiling flowers of sulfur with slaked lime.
See also
External links
- Eklund, Jon (1975). The Incompleat Chymist: Being an Essay on the Eighteenth-Century Chemist in His Laboratory, with a Dictionary of Obsolete Chemical Terms of the Period (Smithsonian Studies in History and Technology, Number 33). Smithsonian Institution Press.
- Giunta, Carmen. Glossary of Archaic Chemical Terms: Introduction and Part I (A-B). Classic Chemistry.
- Giunta, Carmen. A Dictionary of the New Chymical Nomenclature. Classic Chemistry. Based on Guyton de Morveau, Louis Bernard; Lavoisier, Antoine; Bertholet, Claude-Louis; Fourcroy, Antoine-François de (1788) [1787]. Method of chymical nomenclature, proposed by Messrs. de Morveau, Lavoisier, Bertholet, and de Fourcroy: To which is added A new system of chymical characters adapted to the nomenclature by Mess. Hassenfratz and Adet. Translated by St. John, James. pp. 105-176.
References
"Vitriol | chemical compound | Britannica". www.britannica.com. 18 August 2023. https://www.britannica.com/science/vitriol ↩
Gray, Theodore (2014). Molecules. New York: Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers. pp. 27–31. ISBN 978-1-60376-396-7. 978-1-60376-396-7 ↩
Gray, Theodore (2014). Molecules. New York: Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers. pp. 27–31. ISBN 978-1-60376-396-7. 978-1-60376-396-7 ↩