The text for this web site was scanned from the third edition of Robert Boyle's collected works published in London 1743 by Thomas Birch. The original edition of Experiments and Considerations Touching Colors was published 1664.

The text was scanned and recognized by Omnipage software. Optical character recognition is extremely inaccurate for eighteenth century type, requiring extensive proofreading.

I created this electronic edition of Boyle's work for my students and myself in order to study the text in depth and subsequently make it available and searchable over the Internet.

Comments and corrections are welcomed.
Hal Glicksman, July 24, 2003 glicksman@hotmail.com

Glossary for Robert Boyle Experimental History of Colours

Adustion

The act of burning or heating to dryness, the state of being thus heated or dried. (Harvey)
"adusta nigra, fed perusta alba" Black at first from the fuliginous tincture, which being exhaled they become white, as is perceptible in ashes Sir thomas Browne Pseudodoxia Epidemica VI:xii

Atramentous

Atramental \At`ra*men"tal\, Atramentous \At`ra*men"tous\, a. Of or pertaining to ink; inky; black, like ink; as, atramental galls; atramentous spots.

Avolation

n. [LL. avolatio.] The act of flying; flight; evaporation. [Obs.]

Bise

Bice \Bice\, Bise \Bise\, n. [F. bis, akin to It. bigio light gray, tawny.] (Paint.) A pale blue pigment, prepared from the native blue carbonate of copper, or from smalt; -- called also blue bice.

brazil

The name brazil is derived from the Portuguese and Spanish word brasil, the name of an East Indian tree with reddish-brown wood from which a red dye was extracted.

Calx

The substance which remains when a metal or mineral has been subjected to calcination or combustion by heat, and which is or may be reduced to a fine powder. (Webster) Also calcium oxide quicklime.(wordnet)

Catoptricks

related to or involving a mirror or reflection (msword dictionary)

Colliquate

\Col"li*quate\, v. t. & i. [imp. & p. p. Colliquated; p. pr. & vb. n. Colliquating.] [Pref. col- + L. liquare, liquatum, to melt.] To change from solid to fluid; to make or become liquid; to melt. [Obs.]

Crocus Martis

Mars Yellow Fe2O3*H2O +Al2O3 (Sebino Pigmenti)

Cupel

- A porous cup, often made of bone ash, used in assaying to separate precious metals from base elements such as lead. 2. The bottom or receptacle in a silver-refining furnace.

Deliquium

Change of salt from a solid to a fluid state by contact with air only. British Eighteenth-Century Chemical Terms - Part 1 http://dbhs.wvusd.k12.ca.us/Chem-History/Obsolete-Chem-Terms1.html

Dephlegmate

\De*phleg"mate\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Dephlegmated; p. pr. & vb. n. Dephlegmating.] [See Dephlegm.] (Chem.) To deprive of superabundant water, as by evaporation or distillation; to clear of aqueous matter; to rectify; -- used of spirits and acids.

Dioptricks

related to the refractive power of light or the refractive measurement of lenses(msword dictionary)

Emphatical colors

Striking the sense; attracting special attention; impressive; forcible. (www.hyperdictionary.com)

Empyreuma

\Em`py*reu"ma\, n. [NL., from Gr. ? a live coal covered with ashes, fr. ? to set on fire, fr. ?: cf. empyreume. See Empyreal.] (Chem.) The peculiar smell and taste arising from products of decomposition of animal or vegetable substances when burnt in close vessels. (Websters 1913)

Excogitate

tr.v. excogitated, excogitating, excogitates To consider or think (something) out carefully and thoroughly.

Feculence

\Fec"u*lence\, n. [L. faeculentia dregs, filth: cf. F.f['e]culence.1. The state or quality of being feculent; muddiness; foulness. 2. That which is feculent; sediment; lees; dregs (Webster 1913)

Hartshorn

ammonium bicarbonate (used in baking cookies)

Indagation

\In`da*ga"tion\, n. [L. indagatio: cf. F. indagation.] Search; inquiry; investigation. [Obs.]

Lac (Laque)

(Lacca Italian)A relatively thick solution of a colorant or coating.

Lake

1.A pigment consisting of organic coloring matter with an inorganic, usually metallic base or carrier, used in dyes, inks, and paints. 2. A deep red.

Lignum Nephriticum

Two distinct woods were known as lignium nephriticum: (1) the small Mexican tree or shrub Eysenhardtia polystacha and the large Philippine tree Pterocarpus indica. In the sixteenth, seventeenth, and early eighteenth centuries, cups, powders, and dried extracts of this wood were thought to have a great medicinal powers. The infusion was flourescent. (British Eighteenth-Century Chemical Terms http://dbhs.wvusd.k12.ca.us/Chem-History/Obsolete-Chem-Terms2.html

Limbec

abbreviation of Alembic also v.t. to distill

Lixivium

\Lix*iv"i*um\, n. [L. lixivium, lixivia. See Lixivial.] A solution of alkaline salts extracted from wood ashes; hence, any solution obtained by lixiviation.

Magistery

3. (Chem.) A precipitate; a fine substance deposited by precipitation; -- applied in old chemistry to certain white precipitates from metallic solutions; as, magistery of bismuth. --Ure.

Melleous

honey colored from Mellis- honey (my presumption)

Menstruum

A solvent, especially one used to extract compounds from plant and animal tissues in preparing drugs (American Heritage 4th)

Minium

Pb3O4 Red Lead (wordnet)

Orpiment

Arsenic trisulfide, As2S3, a yellow mineral used as a pigment.

Perustum

to burn up UBC Latin Dictionary

Saccharum Saturni

Lead acetate (Pb(C2H3O2)2). British Eighteenth-Century Chemical Terms - Part 1 http://dbhs.wvusd.k12.ca.us/Chem-History/Obsolete-Chem-Terms1.html

Sad

sadder; dark-hued; somber.

Salsuginous

\sal*su"gi*nous\, a. [L. salsugo, -ginis, saltness, from salsus salted, salt: cf. F. salsugineux.] (Bot.) Growing in brackish places or in salt marshes.

Selenitis

transparent gypsum (msword dictionary)

Spagyrist

Spag"y*rist\, n. [Cf. F. spagiriste.] 1. A chemist, esp. one devoted to alchemistic pursuits. [Obs.] 2. One of a sect which arose in the days of alchemy, who sought to discover remedies for disease by chemical means. The spagyrists historically preceded the iatrochemists. --Encyc. Brit.

Superinduce

To introduce as an addition.

Verdigris

(Verdigrise) (verdigrease) A basic copper acetate (Cu(C2H3O2)2*2Cu(OH)2). Long used as a green pigment.

Vitriolate

Vit"ri*o*late\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Vitriolated; p. pr. & vb. n. Vitriolating.] (Old Chem.) (a) To convert into, or change to, a vitriol; to make into sulphuric acid or a sulphate. (b) To subject to the action of, or impregnate with, vitriol.