Aphorismi Urbigerani

Text and Translation Policy

The parallel edition retains the historical spelling and wording while normalising long s and typographic forms of U and joining words divided only by printed line endings. Each complete aphorism remains a distinct unit with its Roman heading. Page references record where the unit occurs; a page turn does not divide an argument into an invented aphorism. The English-only EPUB retains the complete modern reading and the same stable passage targets. The historical wording can be consulted in the companion parallel edition.

The modern reading updates spelling, punctuation, and sentence construction without shortening the historical argument. Numerical qualifications, proportions, directions, warnings, and assertions remain part of that reading. The author’s we and our are retained. Statements about discovery, transmutation, health, or the efficacy of a preparation remain the author’s claims; annotations explain their vocabulary and place in the argument without adding modern procedures or independent proof of the promised results.

Latin technical names are translated where their meaning can be rendered directly and explained where they continue to name a specific historical preparation. Circulatum is rendered as a circulated preparation in the reading text, with the Latin term retained in the source, notes, and glossary. Simple and double mercury translate mercury simplex and mercury duplex. The original Latin mottos remain visible in the engraving, and their fresh English renderings are provided with the frontispiece; the postscript’s own explanation follows at its original place near the end.

The new chapter groupings and all study headings are editorial. They do not replace any original heading or aphorism. The full engraving is reproduced from the native scan, with its lettering transcribed and translated separately so that the reader can inspect both image and language. A reading inferred from an imperfect original is identified locally; an electronic transcription error is distinguished from a genuine printed irregularity. Reflective possibilities in the lexicon are modern editorial applications, not additional historical definitions.