From the book
Heinrich Khunrath’s Magnesia Catholica Philosophorum
Heinrich Khunrath · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordStichblat occurs in the margin continuing from p. 60 to p. 61.
- In KhunrathThe body immediately denies that a preparation, however subtle, can be the universal first matter simply through the foreign waters and manipulations under discussion.
- In this editionRetain Stichblat with a contextual gloss such as “decisive piece.”
- A reading distinctionThe continuing gloss repeats in at the page turn.
Meaning
Stichblat occurs in the margin continuing from p. 60 to p. 61. Specification must be attended to because it is no negligible piece in this game. The figure reinforces the technical argument that sophisticated treatment of a specified metal has not thereby supplied catholic first matter.
Use in the book
The body immediately denies that a preparation, however subtle, can be the universal first matter simply through the foreign waters and manipulations under discussion. The marginal image marks specification as decisive rather than as a incidental label that can be disregarded after dissolution.
The supplied note gives the word's concrete sense as a sword-hilt guard-plate, while observing that the reference to a game carries the figurative force. A lexicon should preserve that editorial explanation without forcing the whole passage into a fully worked fencing or card-playing allegory. The later phrase about a similitude not holding the thrust at p. 95 is related vocabulary, but the note expressly cautions that it need not be the same figure.
The isolated word is worth retaining because its unforced translation is uncertain and its argumentative weight is not.
Places to read
- 1599 p. 60 · marginThe gloss begins by directing attention to specification
- 1599 p. 61 · marginStichblat gives specification weight within the figurative game
- 1599 p. 95 · marginA later thrust idiom limits the adequacy of biological likenesses
Translation in this edition
Retain Stichblat with a contextual gloss such as “decisive piece.” Do not present the editorial guard-plate explanation as a new laboratory implement.
Source note
The continuing gloss repeats in at the page turn. This compositor’s repetition has no significance for the metaphor and should not be expanded into a separate technical expression.