From the book
Heinrich Khunrath’s Magnesia Catholica Philosophorum
Heinrich Khunrath · Diotimos Editions · 2026
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At a Glance
- The wordMore-than-perfection names the condition beyond ordinary natural perfection that enables the Stone’s extraordinary effects.
- In KhunrathSilver and gold are already perfected metallic fruits when the negative argument begins.
- In this editionThe translation should retain the awkward comparative structure, because Khunrath deliberately needs a state beyond an already acknowledged perfection.
- A reading distinctionThe marginal adverb Plusquamperfectè on page 96 qualifies both the silvern/silver-making and golden/gold-making designations.
Meaning
More-than-perfection names the condition beyond ordinary natural perfection that enables the Stone’s extraordinary effects. The unusual English form is warranted by Khunrath’s own explanatory German, “more than perfection.” It cannot be replaced by very pure or fully mature without losing the distinction between a perfect metal and a metal capable of imparting its perfected kind.
Use in the book
Silver and gold are already perfected metallic fruits when the negative argument begins. That completed ordinary condition does not make them the special Stones. They must become regenerated and more-than-perfected. Pages 95–962 attach the resulting state to their silvern or golden action in medicine, plants and other metals.
The universal road makes the same distinction within first matter. Page 98 contrasts purified, perfect catholic matter with that same matter regenerated and more-than-perfected. The starting subject’s perfection as the appropriate natural ground is therefore not equivalent to completion of its artful preparation. The universal Stone is also called glorified, but the operation’s end is not reached merely by applying that elevated name to raw matter.
Pages 100–10223 explain what the higher state is meant to confer. More-than-perfected silver or gold can impart to lower metals from its own higher condition, in form and being at the root, and can multiply fruits of its own kind through projection. The language defines a surplus of communicable power, not simply a greater degree of visible metallic beauty.
The polemic against raw transmuting matter on page 159 depends on exactly this boundary. Without regeneration, more-than-perfecting and further qualification, the matter cannot already effect lasting transmutation. A claim of instant efficacy would make the substantial work named on page 160 pointless.
At the same time, the completed universal Stone is said to confer more-than-perfection on metals suddenly through fermentation. The suddenness belongs to its alleged action after its own completed preparation, not to an unrestricted promise that the initial matter requires no labour.
Places to read
- 1599 p. 61Ordinary metals are already perfected fruits, establishing the lower baseline.
- 1599 p. 96Regenerated and more-than-perfected silver and gold become specified Stones.
- 1599 p. 98Perfect catholic matter is distinguished from more-than-perfected catholic matter.
- 1599 p. 101The completed universal Stone is said to confer the higher condition suddenly.
- 1599 p. 102The condition permits communication of form and being to lower metals.
- 1599 p. 159The absence of prior more-than-perfecting invalidates the boast about raw matter.
Translation in this edition
The translation should retain the awkward comparative structure, because Khunrath deliberately needs a state beyond an already acknowledged perfection. “Glorified” is a related designation of the universal Stone, not a warrant to collapse metallic ripening, completion of preparation and theological glorification into one undifferentiated event.
Source note
The marginal adverb Plusquamperfectè on page 96 qualifies both the silvern/silver-making and golden/gold-making designations. It reinforces that the operative power belongs to their transformed condition, rather than to ordinary precious metals as such.