Paracelsus - Definition - Law Dictionary Home Dictionary Definition paracelsus

Definition :

Philippus Aureolus Paracelsus originally Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim also called Theophrastus Paracelsus and Theophrastus von Hohenheim Born at Maria Einsiedeln in the Canton of Schwyz Switzerland Dec 17 or 10 Nov 1493 died at Salzburg Sept 23 or 24 1541 A celebrated German Swiss physician reformer of therapeutics iatrochemist and alchemist He attended school in a small lead mining district where his father William Bombast von Hohenheim was a physician and teacher of alchemy The family originally came from Wuumlrtemberg where the noble family of Bombastus was in possession of the ancestral castle of Hohenheim near Stuttgart until 1409 He entered the University of Basel at the age of sixteen where he adopted the name Paracelsus after Celsius a noted Roman physician But he left without a degree first going to Wurtzburg to study under Joannes Trithemius Abbot of Sponheim 1462 1516 a famous astrologer and alchemist who initiated him into the mysteries of alchemy He then spent many years in travel and intercourse with distinguished scholars studied and practiced medicine and surgery and at one point attended the Diet of Worms He was appointed to the office of city physician of Basel which also made him a lecturer on medicine at Basel about 1526 where through the publisher Johan Frobenius he made friends with the scholar Erasmus and there he fulminated against the medical pseudo science of his day and against the blind adherence to ancient medical authorities such as Hippocrates Galen and Avicenna which was still the prevalent philosophy of medicine in the sixteenth century But soon in 1528 he was driven from the city by the medical corporations whose methods he had severely criticized He found refuge with friends and traveled and practiced medicine but could not find a publisher willing to print his books He preached frequently the need for experimentation in medicine He is important in the history of medicine chiefly on account of the impetus which he gave to the development of pharmaceutical chemistry He was also the author of a visionary and theosophic system of philosophy The first collective edition of his works appeared at Basel in 1589 91 Among the many legends concerning him is that concerning his long sword which he obtained while serving as barber surgeon during the Neapolitan wars It was rumored that in the hilt of the sword he kept a familiar or small demon some thought he carried the elixer of life in the sword He is buried in the cemetary of the Hospital of St Sebastian in Salzburg For more detailed information about Paracelsus there is a special project the Zurich Paracelsus Project available on the Web