Arcanum, THE GREAT. In the middle ages, the Latin word arcanum ('secret') was used of any of the most valued preparations of alchemy; but the title was especially applied, as above, to the highest problems of the science, the discovery of such supposed great secrets of nature as the grand elixir. See ALCHEMY.
Arcanum, THE GREAT.
Chambers's Encyclopaedia, Volume 1: A to Beaufort, p. 380
Source scan(s): p. 0399