- Byname of:
- Philippus Aureolus Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim
- Died:
- September 24, 1541,
Salzburg
, Archbishopric of Salzburg [now in Austria]
Top Questions
What does Paracelsus’s name mean?
Paracelsus was the byname of the German-Swiss physician Philippus Aureolus Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim. About 1516 he began using the name “para-Celsus” (meaning above or beyond Celsus). His new name reflected the fact that he regarded himself as even greater than
Aulus Cornelius Celsus
, a renowned 1st-century Roman medical writer.
Where was Paracelsus educated?
Paracelsus is said to have attended the Universities of Basel, Tubingen, Vienna, Wittenberg, Leipzig, Heidelberg, and Cologne before earning a baccalaureate in medicine from the
University of Vienna
in 1510. It is believed that he then received a doctoral degree from the University of Ferrara in 1516.
What was Paracelsus like?
Paracelsus was known for his wit and for leading a colourful life. He traveled throughout Europe and beyond, embodying his maxim “A doctor must be a traveller.…Knowledge is experience.” He attacked many medical malpractices, including the use of worthless medicines, and reportedly set fire to the books of
Avicenna
.
What were Paracelsus’s accomplishments?
German-Swiss physician Paracelsus contributed substantially to the rise of modern
medicine
by pioneering treatments using new chemical remedies, including those containing mercury, sulfur, iron, and copper sulfate, thus uniting medicine with
chemistry
. He disseminated his novel ideas through lectures and publications such as
Der grossen Wundartzney
(1536;
Great Surgery Book
).
Paracelsus
(born November 11 or December 17, 1493,
Einsiedeln
, Switzerland?died September 24, 1541,
Salzburg
, Archbishopric of Salzburg [now in Austria]) was a German-Swiss physician and alchemist who established the role of
chemistry
in
medicine
. He published
Der grossen Wundartzney
(
Great Surgery Book
) in 1536 and a clinical description of
syphilis
in 1530.
Education
Paracelsus, who was known as Theophrastus when he was a boy, was the only son of an impoverished German doctor and chemist. His mother died when he was very young, and shortly thereafter his father moved to
Villach
in southern
Austria
. There Paracelsus attended the Bergschule, founded by the wealthy
Fugger family
of merchant bankers of
Augsburg
, where his father taught chemical theory and practice. Youngsters were trained at the Bergschule as overseers and analysts for
mining
operations in gold, tin, and mercury, as well as in iron, alum, and copper-sulfate
ores
.
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The young Paracelsus learned of
metals
that “grow” in the earth, watched the transformations of metallic
constituents
in
smelting
vats, and perhaps wondered about the
transmutation
of lead into gold?a conversion believed to be possible by the alchemists of the time. Those experiences gave Paracelsus insight into
metallurgy
and chemistry, which likely laid the foundations of his later remarkable discoveries in the field of
chemotherapy
.
In 1507 Paracelsus joined the many wandering youths who traveled throughout Europe in the late
Middle Ages
, seeking famous teachers at one university after another. Paracelsus is said to have attended the Universities of Basel, Tubingen, Vienna, Wittenberg, Leipzig, Heidelberg, and Cologne during the next five years but was disappointed with them all. He wrote later that he wondered how “the high colleges managed to produce so many high asses,” a typical Paracelsian
jibe
.
Rejection of traditional education and medicine
Paracelsus upset the traditional attitudes of Schoolmen. “The universities do not teach all things,” he wrote, “so a doctor must seek out old wives, gipsies, sorcerers, wandering tribes, old robbers, and such outlaws and take lessons from them. A doctor must be a traveller.…Knowledge is experience.” Paracelsus held that the crude language of the innkeeper, the barber, and the teamster had more real dignity and common sense than the dry Scholasticism of
Aristotle
,
Galen of Pergamum
, and
Avicenna
, some of the recognized medical authorities of his day.
Paracelsus is said to have graduated from the
University of Vienna
with a baccalaureate in medicine in 1510. He then went to the University of Ferrara in Italy, where he was free to express his rejection of the
prevailing
view that the
stars
and
the planets
controlled all the parts of the
human body
. It is believed that he received a doctoral degree from the University of Ferrara in 1516, and he is presumed to have begun using the name “para-Celsus” (above or beyond Celsus) at about this time as well. His new name reflected the fact that he regarded himself as even greater than
Aulus Cornelius Celsus
, a renowned 1st-century Roman medical writer.
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Soon after taking his degree, he set out upon many years of wandering through almost every country in Europe, including England, Ireland, and Scotland. He took part in the “Netherlandish wars” as an army surgeon. Later he went to Russia, was held captive by the
Tatars
, escaped into Lithuania, and went south into Hungary. In 1521 he again served as an army surgeon in Italy. His wanderings eventually took him to Egypt, Arabia, the Holy Land, and, finally, Constantinople. Everywhere he went, he sought out the most learned
exponents
of practical
alchemy
, not only to discover the most effective means of medical treatment but also?and even more important?to discover “the latent forces of Nature,” and how to use them. He wrote:
He who is born in imagination discovers the latent forces of Nature.… Besides the stars that are established, there is yet another?
Imagination
?that begets a new star and a new heaven.
Career at Basel
In 1524 Paracelsus returned to his home in Villach to find that his fame for many miraculous cures had preceded him. He was subsequently appointed town physician and lecturer in medicine at the University of
Basel
in
Switzerland
, and students from all parts of Europe went to the city to hear his lectures. Pinning a program of his forthcoming lectures to the notice board of the university on June 5, 1527, he invited not only students but anyone and everyone. The authorities were incensed by his open invitation. Ten years earlier German theologian and religious reformer
Martin Luther
had circulated his Theses on
Indulgences
. (
See
Researcher’s Note
.) Later, Paracelsus wrote:
Why do you call me a Medical Luther?…I leave it to Luther to defend what he says, and I will be responsible for what I say. That which you wish to Luther, you wish also to me: you wish us both in the fire.
Three weeks later, on June 24, 1527, in front of the university, Paracelsus reportedly burned the books of
Avicenna
, the Muslim “Prince of Physicians,” and those of Greek physician
Galen
. This incident is said to have again recalled in many peoples’ minds Luther, who on December 10, 1520, at the Elster Gate of Wittenberg, Germany, had burned a papal bull that threatened excommunication. Paracelsus seemingly remained a Catholic to his death; however, it is suspected that his books were placed on the
Index Expurgatorius
(a catalogue of books from which passages of text considered
immoral
or against the Catholic
religion
are removed). Similar to Luther, Paracelsus also lectured and wrote in German rather than in Latin.
Paracelsus reached the peak of his career at Basel. In his lectures, he stressed the healing power of nature and denounced the use of methods of treating wounds, such as padding with moss or dried dung, that prevented natural draining. The wounds must drain, he insisted, for “if you prevent infection, Nature will heal the wound all by herself.” He also attacked many other medical malpractices of his time, including the use of worthless pills, salves, infusions, balsams, electuaries, fumigants, and drenches.
However, by the spring of 1528 Paracelsus had fallen into disrepute with local doctors, apothecaries, and magistrates. He left Basel, heading first toward
Colmar
in Upper Alsace, about 50 miles north of the university. He stayed at various places with friends and continued to travel for the next eight years. During this time, he revised old manuscripts and wrote new
treatises
. With the publication of
Der grossen Wundartzney
(
Great Surgery Book
) in 1536 he restored, and even extended, the revered reputation he had earned at Basel. He became wealthy and was sought by royalty.
In May 1538, at the zenith of that second period of renown, Paracelsus returned to Villach again to see his father, only to find that his father had died four years earlier. In 1541 Paracelsus himself died in mysterious circumstances at the White Horse Inn, Salzburg, where he had taken up an appointment under the prince-archbishop, Duke Ernst of
Bavaria
.
Contributions to medicine
In 1530 Paracelsus wrote a clinical description of
syphilis
, in which he maintained that the
disease
could be successfully treated by carefully measured doses of
mercury
compounds
taken internally. He stated that the “miners’ disease” (
silicosis
) resulted from inhaling metal vapours and was not a punishment for sin administered by mountain spirits. He was the first to declare that, if given in small doses, “what makes a man ill also cures him”?an anticipation of the modern practice of
homeopathy
. Paracelsus is said to have cured many persons in the
plague
-stricken town of Stertzing in the summer of 1534 by administering orally a pill made of bread containing a minute amount of the patient’s excreta he had removed on a needle point.
Paracelsus was the first to connect
goitre
with minerals, especially lead, in drinking water. He prepared and used new chemical remedies, including those containing mercury, sulfur, iron, and copper sulfate, thus uniting medicine with chemistry, as the first
London Pharmacopoeia
, in 1618, indicates. Paracelsus, in fact, contributed substantially to the rise of modern medicine, including psychiatric treatment. Swiss psychologist
Carl Jung
wrote of him that “we see in Paracelsus not only a pioneer in the domains of chemical medicine, but also in those of an
empirical
psychological healing science.”
John G. Hargrave