archeus

English

Wikipedia

Etymology

Modern Latin archaeus, from Greek ἀρχαῖος ‘ancient’.

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈɑkɪəs/

Noun

archeus (plural archei)

1. (historical) The vital principle or force believed by the Paracelsians to be responsible for the growth and continuation of all living beings.
   • 2003, Roy Porter, Flesh in the Age of Reason (Penguin 2004, p. 56)

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

   • 1662, Henry More, An Antidote Against Atheism, Book II, A Collection of Several Philosophical Writings of Dr. Henry More, p. 68:

     " […] it must be the Modus of some other Substance latitant in the fluid Matter, and really distinguishable from it; which is either the Soul, or some seminal Form or Archeus, as the Chymist calls it […] "