Philippus Aureolus ParacelsusBorn 1 May 1493; died 24 Sep 1541 at age 48. (born Theophrastus Phillipus Aureolus Bombastus von Hohenheim) German-Swiss physician and alchemist who condemned medical teaching that was not based on observation and experience. He had travelled widely, gaining practical medical knowledge as surgeon to mercenary armies. In 1527, while a physician at Basel, he also lectured. He established the use of chemistry in medicine, gave the most up-to-date description of syphilis (1530), and was the first to argue that small doses of what makes people ill can also cure them. He introduced chemical remedies to replace traditional herbal ones, influenced the development of medicine during the Renaissance and gave alchemy a wider perspective. Paracelsus saw illness as having a specific external cause rather than being caused by an imbalance of the humours in the body (though he had an overall occultist perspective). He disputed that mental illness was caused by demons, and linked goitre with minerals in drinking water. In his major text, the Grosse Wundartzney ("Great Surgery Book", 1536) he discussed wounds, ulcers, and their cure with salves and balms, with a section on treating gunpowder wounds. His controversial views led to exile in 1538.[Sources disagree widely on day of birth. EB gives born 11 Nov or 17 Dec 1493. Enc. Occultism and Parapsychology states 24 Dec 1493. Enc. World Bio. and European Authors give 10 Nov 1493. DSB date is c.1493 or 1 May 1494(?).] |
