From the book
Heinrich Khunrath’s Magnesia Catholica Philosophorum
Heinrich Khunrath · Diotimos Editions · 2026
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At a Glance
- The wordThe historical verb seihen in these passages means to sow.
- In KhunrathPage 75 describes metallic preparations sown into their watery regeneration field.
- In this editionRender the verb as sow in these contexts.
- A reading distinctionSowing is predicated of the whole metal whether its essential parts remain together or have been separately prepared, as pages 120–1212 specify.
Meaning
The historical verb seihen in these passages means to sow. It does not mean to strain the metal through a filter. The associated field, seed and apple-pip argument settle the local sense, even though the spelling can mislead a modern reader.
Use in the book
Page 75 describes metallic preparations sown into their watery regeneration field. Page 95 then speaks of metallic seed and mother or field as together in the work. The operation-word identifies their generative relation, not a disclosed mechanical handling.
The objection on pages 114–124234567891011 gives the term argumentative force. Opponents would sow a metal’s sulphur into its own other parts. Khunrath rejects that purported field and insists that the whole metallic nature must be sown into the external pri-material ground appointed for it. His apple example makes the sense concrete: pips are sown in common earth, not back in their fruit.
The term therefore belongs to the book’s technical analogy without furnishing a literal botanical process.
Places to read
- 1599 p. 75Metallic preparations are sown into the proper watery field.
- 1599 p. 95Seed and field are described as philosophically joined.
- 1599 p. 120The verb accompanies the explicit distinction of seed from field.
- 1599 p. 123Apple pips establish that sowing, rather than straining, is intended.
Translation in this edition
Render the verb as sow in these contexts. The supplied editor proposes a regional explanation of the spelling; that philological suggestion need not be accepted to establish the contextual sense.
Source note
Sowing is predicated of the whole metal whether its essential parts remain together or have been separately prepared, as pages 120–1212 specify. It is not confined to isolated sulphur.