archeus

plural archei · alternative archaeus

1. alchemyThe vital principle or force believed by the Paracelsians to be responsible for alchemical reactions within living bodies, and hence for the growth and continuation of life.

   But Paracelsus' theory of the archeus and the alchemy of life inevitably led him into deeper waters.

   2006, Philip Ball, The Devil's Doctor, Arrow, published 2007, page 250

   2 more examples

   [T]o acknovvledge any other Archeus, being inextricable difficulties along vvith it. For vvhere, ſay they, vvere all the Archei vvhich ſhap'd the VVaſps out of an Horſes Carcaſe? Are they parts of the Horſes Soul, or nevv intruding gueſts upon the old ones being ejected?

   1653, Henry More, chapter XI, in An Antidote against Atheisme, or An Appeal to the Natural Faculties of the Minde of Man, whether There Be Not a God, London: […] Roger Daniel, […], →OCLC, book III, page 372

   Willis rejected not just scholasticism's ‘substantial forms’ but Paracelsus's ‘archeus’ doctrine as well.

   2003, Roy Porter, Flesh in the Age of Reason, Penguin, published 2004, page 56