Who is this man? :
His name is Paracelsus, and he is one of the fathers of modern medicine. This Sixteenth Century Swiss physician, credited for being the father of modern toxicology, was also an astrologer, and alchemist. The name “Paracelsus” was a pseudonym meaning “Surpassing Celsus”, in reference to the Roman physician Aulus Celsus, who, in 1478, wrote the first European medical text.
His full name was Philippus Aureolus Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim. Yes, Von Hohenheim; all you anime fans out there will recognize that name... This guy:
The fascinating thing about this man is that there is so much we can tell about him by his name, alone. As his nom de plume would imply, he held his own Ideas in very high regard. And his middle name “Bombastus” is where we get the term “bombastic”. Indeed, the man was a fiery debater and was quite arrogant. He had few friends because he was more concerned with finding the truth than with popularity. And he sought after, and defended the truth with a vigorous passion. Even though the opposite would seem to be the case, he was a man of very little ego. His cantankerous demeanor overshadowed he relentless pursuit of the one ultimate truth. It could be argued that he was the Rush Limbaugh of his day.
He was a rather unattractive man. A squat, pear-shaped body, accompanied by a large misshapen head, and protruding lips, matched his personality well. He would not hesitate to make bold claims. The holy man of Science, himself, Pythagoras, was not immune to his harsh scrutiny. He accused Pythagoras of polluting the sciences with mere speculation, lacking any observation of nature. He charged physicians at the University of Brazil with actually killing their patients; and recommended that they burn their text books and “get off the couch and get to work” finding actual treatments. Needless to say, they nearly tarred-and-feathered him, and ran him out of town; and after that episode, he was seldom asked to come lecture anywhere again.
His methods and teachings earned him many enemies. In fact, his death in 1541, at the age of 47, occurred under “mysterious circumstances” while he was confined to a hotel room by the church, and his body was buried before a proper examination could be done. And, it had been rumored at the time, that an assassin was hired by physicians from the University of Vienna.
He was truly a man of the people. His motto was “Alterius non sit qui suus esse potest”, which translates to “Let no man belong to another who can belong to himself”. His lectures were delivered in the common German, as opposed to Latin, which was the “scholarly” practice of the time. His accomplishments and contributions are manifold. He gave us the method of clinical diagnosis illness we use to this day. Homeopathy, the practice of treating an illness with minute doses of a toxin so that the body can build up a resistance, comes directly from him (he was successfully treating people with syphilis with small doses of mercury in the 1530’s). He’s even, likely, the one who named the element Zink.
His greatest accomplishments, however, are not recognized by the “scientific” community. As above mentioned, he was an alchemist; and alchemy, in his day, was overrun by money-seeking charlatans called “Puffers”. These get-rich-quick gold-grubbers had caused the art of alchemy to fall into disrepute. The attitude toward alchemy had fallen to a place not too dissimilar to that of today. Paracelsus reinvigorated alchemy with his ideas, and brought about an alchemical renaissance. No longer, were the alchemists obsessed with producing gold; Hohenheim brought needed attention to the spiritual aspects of alchemy and its potential use in the healing arts.
Based on his writings, it is indicated that he actually succeeded in producing the fabled “Philosopher’s Stone”. It’s clear from his texts that he knew the secrets of the Stone, whether he successfully created on, or not. But, what if he had? I find it odd that a man, who has in his possession, a stone that can cure any ailment and stave off old age indefinitely could be killed so easily by poison while under house arrest. What if it was just a way “out”? What if he actually got out? What if he’s still around?
What if he’s reading this?...
