Showing posts with label alchemist. Show all posts
Showing posts with label alchemist. Show all posts

Friday, 24 January 2014

Michael Maier

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Copper engraving of Michael Maier, from the 12th page of Symbola avreae mensae dvodecim nationvm; engraving from 1617 by Matthäus Merian. His coat of arms depicts a bird, bonded together with frog by a golden chain.
Michael Maier (1568–1622) was a German physician and counsellor to Rudolf II Habsburg, a learned alchemist, epigramist and amateur composer.






Life and career[edit]


Discursus XXXI, Epigramma XXXI, from Atalanta fugiens, 1618
Maier was born in Rendsburg, Holstein. He studied philosophy and medicine at Rostock (1587), Frankfurt (Oder) (M.A. 1592), and Padua. He attained in 1596 a doctorate in medicine at Basel, and returned to Rostock to practice the medical profession. He also briefly (c. 1601) practised in Königsberg and Danzig. Around this time he became interested in alchemy. In 1608 he went to Prague, and in 1609 became the physician and imperial counsellor of Rudolf II. The interest of the emperor in the occult was the reason of his high esteem for Maier. Maier wrote a commentary on Hermes Trismegistus and was dedicated, along with the emperor, to researching the secrets of nature.

Emblem woodcut from Atalanta fugiens, 1617
Between 1611 and 1616, Maier spent time in England at the court of James I, and also served other German princes, particularly the prince of Nassau, a great protector of alchemy. His Atalanta fugiens, an alchemical emblem book, was published in 1617; alongside images, poems, and discussion, it included fifty pieces of music in the form of fugues, the form itself being a pun on Atalanta "fleeing". In 1619 he became the physician of Landgrave Moritz of Hesse-Kassel (or Hesse-Cassel). In 1620 he moved to Magdeburg to practice medicine, where he died at the age of 54, leaving a noteworthy quantity of unpublished works.
A devout Lutheran all his life, Michael Maier had a strong influence on Sir Isaac Newton. He was also involved in the Rosicrucian movement that appeared around this time, which afforded part of the matter of his Themis aurea.[1]

Influence[edit]

The 1656 English translation of Themis Aurea appeared as Themis Aurea: The Laws of the Fraternity of the Rosie Cross, and was dedicated to Elias Ashmole.[2] Under the initials N.L.T.S. and H.S. the dedicators justified their dedication over three pages; they are now identified as Nathaniel Hodges, and Thomas Hodges (either his father or his brother, both of that name).[3] Ashmole, they said, began to learn seal engraving, casting in sand, and goldsmith's work when living in Blackfriars, London, at which time he was initiated into rosicrucian "secrets" by William Backhouse of Swallowfield in Berkshire.[4] While illustrating the chain of Rosie Cross links from Michael Maier and Robert Fludd, via Backhouse to Ashmole, the details given about Ashmole's training as a craftsman could illustrate the background of the latter's acception in operative masonry.
Maier's Septimana Philosophica: Qua Aenigmata Aureola de omni Naturae genere a Solomone Israelitarum Sapientissimo Rege, et Arabiae Regina Saba, nec non Hyramo, Tyri Principe, sibi invicem in modum Colloquii proponuntur et enodatur -Francfurti Typis Hartmanni Palthenii 1620[5] has Salomon, Sheba, and Hiram of Tyre discuss on the secrets of the universe. Over six days of the week -the seventh being Sabbath day- they investigate the nature of the universe from mineral to man. Under Vegetable Life the Rose is described. White and Red, the colours for Silver and Gold: "The center of the Rose is green- an emblem of the green Lion which philosophers know well."[6] The conference on man is illustrated with a print representing a globe in a frame, supported on the one side by a masculine figure with a compass, on the other by a skeleton holding a vase with smoking contents.[7]
James Brown Craven, who gave detailed descriptions of the works above in his catalogue raissonée (1910) of Michael Maier, also included the 1654 English translation of Lusus Serius: or, Serious Passtime. A Philosophical Discourse ...wherein Hermes or Mercury is declared King of all Worldly things. The copy from the Bodleian Library described by Craven[8] was dedicated "To the Honourable Cary Dillon, Esq., Son to Robert, late Earle of Roscommon by J. de la Salle" [i.e., John Hall of Durham]. This is a fair example of the intellectual circle in which Maier's work circulated contemporary with the association of Rosie Cross with Elias Ashmole.
What Craven described as "one of the most curious and rare of Maier's books" he knew only in a 1758 French translation[9] Michael Maieri Cantilenae Intelectuales de Phoenice Redivivo; ou Chansons Intelectuelles sur la resurection Du Phenix...traduites...par M.L.L.M.. The original was first printed in Rome 1622, the translation is from the 1623 print at Rostock.
  • "The title promises much- "Nine Triads of Intellectual Songs on the Resurrection of the Phoenix: or the most precious of all medicines, the Mirror and abridgement of this Universe, proposed less to the ear than to the mind, and presented to the wise as the key of the three impenetrable Secrets of Chemistry."
The plan of the squared Triads:-
1.The names.
2.The allegories.
3.The application of the Mysteries of the Art to those of Religion.
The volume is dedicated to Frederick, Prince of Norway."
J.B.Craven in Count Michael Maier - Life and Writings Kirkwall 1910

Works[edit]

With modern editions and translations where relevant:
  • De Medicina Regina. 1609.
  • Hymnosophia.
  • Arcana arcanissima, hoc est, Hieroglyphica AEgyptio-Graeca: vulgo necdum cognita, ad demonstrandam falsorum apud antiquos deorum, dearum, heroum, animantium, et institutorum pro sacris receptorum, originem, ex uno AEgyptiorum artificio, quad aureum animi et Corporis medicamentum peregit, deductam: unde tot poetarum allegoriae, scriptorum narrationes fabulosae et per totam encyclopaediam errores sparsi clarissima veritatis luce manifestantur, suaque tribui singula restituuntur, sex libris exposita. London: Creede, 1614.[10]
  • De Circulo physico, quadrato: Hoc est, de Auro ejusque virtute medicinali, sub duro cortice instar nuclei latente, an et qualis inde petenda sit tractatus haut inutilis. Oppenheim: Lucas Jennis, 1616.
  • Silentium Post Clamores, 1617.
  • Symbola aureae mensae duodecim nationum, hoc est Hermaea seu Mercurii festa ab heroibus duodenis selectis, artis chymicae usu, sapientia et authoritate paribus celebrata, ad Pyrgopolynicen seu adversarium illum tot annis jactabundum, virgini Chemiae injuriam argumentis tam vitiosis quam convitiis argutis inferentem, confundendum et exarmandum, artifices vero optime de ea meritos suo honori et famae restituendum. Frankfurt a. M: Lucas Jennis, 1617.
  • Atalanta Fugiens, hoc est, Emblemata Nova de Secretis Naturae Chymica, Accommodata partim oculis et intellectui, figuris cupro incisis, adjectisquesententiis, Epigrammatis et notis, partim auribus & recreationi animi plus minus 50 Fugis Musicalibus trium Vocum, quarum duae ad unam simplicem melodiam distichis canendis peraptam, correspondeant, non absq; singulari jucunditate videnda, legenda, meditanda, intelligenda, dijudicanda, canenda et audienda. Oppenheim: Johann Theodori de Bry, 1617.
  • Examen Fucorum Pseudo-Chymicorum. 1617.
  • Jocus Severus. Frankfurt, 1617.
  • (ed.), Tripus Aureus, hoc est, Tres Tractatus Chymici Selectissimi, nempe; I. Basilii Valentini, Benedictini Ordinis monachi, Germani, Practica vna cum 12. clauibus & appendice, ex Germanico; II. Thomas Nortoni, Angli Philosophi Crede Mihi seu Ordinale, ante annos 140. ab authore scriptum, nunc ex Anglicano manuscripto in Latinum translatum, phrasi cuiusque authoris vt & sententia retenta; III. Cremeri cuiusdam Abbatis Westmonasteriensis Angli Testamentum, hactenus nondum publicatum, nunc in diuersarum nationum gratiam editi, & figuris cupro affabre incisis ornati opera & studio. Frankfurt a. M.: Lucas Jennis,1618.
  • Viatorium. Frankfurt, 1618.
  • Themis Aurea, hoc est, de Legibus Fraternitatis R. C. tractatus, quo earum cum rei veritate convenientia, utilitas publica et privata, nec non causa necessaria, evoluntur et demonstrantur. 1618.
  • Tractus de Volugri Arborea. 1619.
  • Verum Inventum. 1619.
  • Lusus Serius. Oppenheim, 1619.
  • Septimana Philosophica: Qua Aenigmata Aureola de omni Naturae genere a Solomone Israelitarum Sapientissimo Rege, et Arabiae Regina Saba, nec non Hyramo, Tyri Principe, sibi invicem in modum Colloquii proponuntur et enodatu. 1620.
  • Civitas Corporis Humani. 1621.
  • Cantilenae Intelectuales de Phoenice Redivivo; ou Chansons Intelectuelles sur la resurection Du Phenix. 1622.[11]
  • Ulysses. Sapientia seu intelligentia, tanquam coelestis scintilla beatitudinis, quod si in fortunae et corporis bonis naufragium faciat, ad portum meditationis et patientiae remingio feliciter se expediat. 1624. (Posthumous)

Notes[edit]

  1. Jump up ^ Hereward Tilton, The Quest for the Phoenix: Spiritual Alchemy and Rosicrucianism in the Work of Count Michael Maier (1569-1622 (de Gruyter) 2003:30ff "Spiritual alchemy, Rosicrucianism and the work of Count Michael Maier".
  2. Jump up ^ James Brown Craven, Count Michael Maier - Life and Writings Kirkwall, 1910 reprinted by photolithography Unwin Brothers 1968 SBN 7129 0335 6 pg 98
  3. Jump up ^ King, Helen. "Hodges, Nathaniel". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/66142.  (subscription or UK public library membership required)
  4. Jump up ^ Craven, 1910 pg 99
  5. Jump up ^ Craven, 1910 pg 132
  6. Jump up ^ Craven 1910, pg 136
  7. Jump up ^ Craven 1910, pg 138
  8. Jump up ^ Craven, 1910 pg 53
  9. Jump up ^ Craven, 1910 pg 146. The work (1758) is in Latin and French, in parallel pages.
  10. Jump up ^ Commented French edition Feye, 2005.
  11. Jump up ^ Modern edition with German commentaries Leibenguth, 2007.

References[edit]

  • Paul Arnold, Histoire des Rose-Croix, Mercure de France, Paris, 1955.
  • Florin-George Calian, Spiritual alchemy and the function of image : coincidentia oppositorum in Michael Maier's Atalanta fugiens, Budapest: CEU, Budapest College, 2009. [1]
  • James B. Craven, Count Michael Maier, doctor of philosophy and of medicine, alchemist, Rosicrucian, mystic 1568-1622: life and writings, Berwick: Ibis Press, 2003. ISBN 0-89254-083-4
  • Stéphane Feye (ed./transl.), Les arcanes très secrets de Michaël Maiër, Grez-Doiceau: Beya, 2005.
  • H.M.E. de Jong, Michael Maier's Atalanta Fugiens: Sources of an Alchemical Book of Emblems, York Beach: Nicolas-Hays, 2002. ISBN 0-87728-948-4
  • Erik Leibenguth, Hermetische Poesie des Frühbarock, Die 'Cantilenae intellectuales’ Michael Maiers, Edition mit Übersetzung, Kommentar und Bio-Bibliographie, Tübingen: Niemeyer, 2002. ISBN 978-3-484-36566-7
  • John Warwick Montgomery, "Lutheran Astrology and Alchemy in the Age of the Reformation", Ambix: The Journal of the Society for the Study of Alchemy and Early Chemistry, Vol. 11 (June 1963), pp. 65–86.
  • Hereward Tilton, "The Life and Work of Count Michael Maier (1569-1622): Understanding Christian Alchemy in the German Calvinist States", Theology and Religion, Vol. 1 (1999), pp. 23–42.
  • Hereward Tilton, The Quest for the Phoenix: Spiritual Alchemy and Rosicrucianism in the Work of Count Michael Maier (1569-1622) de Gruyter, 2003. [2]
  • James Brown Craven, D.D. Rector of St Olaf's Church, Kirkwall, Count Michael Maier, Doctor of Philosophy and Of Medicine, Alchimist, Rosicrucian, Mystic -1568-1622- Life and Writings William Peace & Son, Albert Street Kirkwall, 1910; reprinted 1968, Dawsons of Pall Mall SBN 7129 0335 6

External links[edit]

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Saturday, 9 March 2013

Nicolas Flamel

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Flamel as represented in 1402 on the portal of Sainte-Geneviève des Ardens (From Étienne François Villain, 1761)
Nicolas Flamel (French: [nikɔla flamɛl]; prob. Pontoise, ca 1330 – Paris, March 22, 1418)[1] was a successful French scrivener and manuscript-seller. After his death Flamel developed a reputation as an alchemist. However, these legendary accounts only appeared in the seventeenth century.
According to texts ascribed to Flamel almost two hundred years after his death, he had learned alchemical secrets from a Jewish converso on the road to Santiago de Compostela. As Deborah Harkness put it, "Others thought Flamel was the creation of 17th-century editors and publishers desperate to produce modern printed editions of supposedly ancient alchemical treatises then circulating in manuscript for an avid reading public."[2] He has since appeared as a legendary alchemist in various fictional works.

Contents

 [hide] 

[edit] Life


Tombstone of Nicolas Flamel, 1418, Paris, Musée de Cluny.
The historical Flamel lived in Paris in the fourteenth and fifteenth century and his life is one of the best documented in the history of medieval alchemy.[3] He ran two shops as a scribe and married Perenelle in 1368. She brought the wealth of two previous husbands to the marriage. The French Catholic couple owned several properties, and contributed financially to churches, sometimes by commissioning sculptures.[3] Later in life they were noted for their wealth and philanthropy.
Flamel lived into his 80s, and in 1410 designed his own tombstone, which was carved with the images of Christ, St. Peter, and St. Paul. The tombstone is preserved at the Musée de Cluny in Paris. Records show that Flamel died in 1418.[4] He was buried in Paris at the Musée de Cluny at the end of the nave of the former Church of Saint-Jacques-de-la-Boucherie.[5] His will, dated 22 November, 1416, indicates that he was generous but that he did not have the extraordinary wealth of later alchemical legend. There is no indication that the real Flamel of history was involved in alchemy, pharmacy or medicine.[3]
"Flamel was a real person, and he may have dabbled in alchemy, but his reputation as an author and immortal adept must be accepted as an invention of the seventeenth century."[3]

[edit] Nicolas Flamel in Paris

One of Flamel's houses still stands in Paris, at 51 rue de Montmorency. It is the oldest stone house in the city.[6] There is an old inscription on the wall: "We, ploughmen and women living at the porch of this house, built in 1407, are requested to say every day an 'Our Father and an 'Ave Maria' praying God that His grace forgive poor and dead sinners." The ground floor currently contains a restaurant.
A Paris street near the Louvre Museum, the rue Nicolas Flamel, has been named after him; it intersects with the rue Perenelle, named after his wife.
  • The house of Flamel in Paris, now a restaurant.
  • A closer shot of the Auberge Nicolas Flamel, June, 2008.
  • Rue Nicolas Flamel street sign in Paris
  • Plaque on home

[edit] Posthumous reputation as an alchemist


This imaginative portrait of Nicolas Flamel dates from the nineteenth century.
Legendary accounts of Flamel's life are based on seventeenth century works, primarily Livre des figures hiéroglyphiques. The essence of his reputation are claims that he succeeded at the two goals of alchemy: that he made the Philosopher's Stone, which turns base metals into gold, and that he and his wife Perenelle achieved immortality through the "Elixir of Life".
An alchemical book, published in Paris in 1612 as Livre des figures hiéroglyphiques and in London in 1624 as Exposition of the Hieroglyphical Figures was attributed to Flamel.[7] It is a collection of designs purportedly commissioned by Flamel for a tympanum at the Cimetière des Innocents in Paris, long disappeared at the time the work was published. In the publisher's introduction Flamel's search for the Philosopher's Stone was described. According to that introduction, Flamel had made it his life's work to understand the text of a mysterious 21-page book he had purchased. The introduction claims that, around 1378, he travelled to Spain for assistance with translation. On the way back, he reported that he met a sage, who identified Flamel's book as being a copy of the original Book of Abramelin the Mage. With this knowledge, over the next few years, Flamel and his wife allegedly decoded enough of the book to successfully replicate its recipe for the Philosopher's Stone, producing first silver in 1382, and then gold. In addition, Flamel is said to have studied some texts in Hebrew.
The validity of this story was first questioned in 1761 by Etienne Villain. He claimed that the source of the Flamel legend was P. Arnauld de la Chevalerie, publisher of Exposition of the Hieroglyphical Figures, who wrote the book under the pseudonym Eiranaeus Orandus.[3] Other writers have defended the legendary account of Flamel’s life, which has been embellished by stories of sightings in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and expanded in fictitious works ever since.
Flamel had achieved legendary status within the circles of alchemy by the mid 17th Century, with references in Isaac Newton's journals to "the Caduceus, the Dragons of Flammel".[8] Interest in Flamel revived in the 19th century; Victor Hugo mentioned him in The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Erik Satie was intrigued by Flamel,[9] and Albert Pike makes reference to Nicholas Flamel in his book Morals and Dogma of the Scottish Rite of Freemasonry.

[edit] Works ascribed to Flamel


First edition cover of the book of the hieroglyphic figures, not published until 1612.
  • Le Livre des figures hiéroglyphiques (The Book of hieroglyphic figures), first published in Trois traictez de la philosophie naturelle, Paris, Veuve Guillemot, 1612
  • Le sommaire philosophique (The Philosophical summary), first published in De la transformation métallique, Paris, Guillaume Guillard, 1561
  • Le Livre des laveures (The Book of washing), manuscript BnF MS. Français 19978
  • Le Bréviaire de Flamel (Flamel's breviary), manuscript BnF MS. Français 14765

[edit] In popular culture

Further information: Alchemy in art and entertainment
Flamel’s long standing reputation as a successful or immortal alchemist has led to his portrayal in numerous works of fiction. For example, he was alleged to be the eighth Grand Master of the Priory of Sion leading to his mention in The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail (1982), Umberto Eco's Foucault's Pendulum (1988), and Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code (2003). Other literary works that feature Flamel include:
Flamel has also made his way into manga, television and music as seen in Fullmetal Alchemist (2001), and Morgana Lefay’s concept album Grand Materia (2005).

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ According to Nigel Wilkins: Nicolas Flamel, des livres et de l'or, Chapter 3: 'D'arcanes et d'arcades.
  2. ^ Harkness, review of Dixon 1994 in Isis 89.1 (1998) p.a 132.
  3. ^ a b c d e Dixon, Laurinda (1994). Nicolas Flamel. His Exposition of the Hieroglyphicall Figures (1624). Garland Publishing. p. xvii.
  4. ^ Cohen, Kathleen (1973). Metamorphosis of a death symbol: the transi tomb in the late Middle Ages and the Renaissance. University of California Press. p. 98.
  5. ^ Hauck, Dennis William (2008). The Complete Idiot's Guide to Alchemy. Penguin.
  6. ^ McAuliffe, Mary. Paris Discovered: Explorations in the City of Light. Princeton Book Company, 2006. ISBN 978-0-87127-287-4
  7. ^ Laurinda Dixon, ed., Nicolas Flamel, his Exposition of the Hieroglyphicall Figures (1624) (New York: Garland) 1994.
  8. ^ Newton, Isaac. "Sententiæ luciferæ et Conclusiones notabiles". Keynes MS 56 (quoted in Westfall, Never at Rest, p. 299). http://www.newtonproject.sussex.ac.uk/prism.php?id=94&loc=5&sr=51. Retrieved May 15, 2011.
  9. ^ Wilkins 1993.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

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Paracelsus

Paracelsus

portrait by Quentin Massys
BornPhilip von Hohenheim
(1493-11-11)11 November 1493 or
(1493-12-17)17 December 1493
Egg, near Einsiedeln, Old Swiss Confederacy (present-day Switzerland)
Died24 September 1541(1541-09-24) (aged 47)
Salzburg, Archbishopric of Salzburg (present-day Austria)
Cause of deathUnknown
NationalitySwiss, German
Other namesTheophrastus von Hohenheim; Phillipus Areolus; Bombastus
OccupationAlchemist
Physician
Astrologer
Scientist
Occultist
InfluencedThomas Muffet[1]
Franciscus Sylvius[2]

Paracelsus (born Philippus Aureolus Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim, 11 November or 17 December 1493 – 24 September 1541) was a German-Swiss[3] Renaissance physician, botanist, alchemist, astrologer, and general occultist.[4] He is also credited for giving zinc its name, calling it zincum.[5][6]
"Paracelsus", meaning "equal to or greater than Celsus", refers to the Roman encyclopedist Aulus Cornelius Celsus from the 1st century, known for his tract on medicine.[7][8]

Contents

 [hide] 

[edit] Biography

Paracelsus was born and raised in the village of Einsiedeln in Switzerland. His father, Wilhelm Bombast von Hohenheim, was a Swabian (German) chemist and physician. His mother was Swiss; she presumably died in his childhood.[9] In 1502 the family moved to Villach, Carinthia where Paracelsus' father worked as a physician.[9] He received a profound humanistic and theological education by his father, local clerics and the convent school of St. Paul's Abbey in the Lavanttal.[9] At the age of 16 he started studying medicine at the University of Basel, later moving to Vienna. He gained his doctorate degree from the University of Ferrara in 1515 or 1516.[9][10]
His wanderings as an itinerant physician and sometime journeyman miner[11] took him through Germany, France, Spain, Hungary, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden and Russia.
As a physician of the early 16th century, Paracelsus held a natural affinity with the Hermetic, Neoplatonic, and Pythagorean philosophies central to the Renaissance, a world-view exemplified by Marsilio Ficino and Pico della Mirandola. Paracelsus rejected the magic theories of Agrippa and Flamel in his Archidoxes of Magic. Astrology was a very important part of Paracelsus' medicine, and he was a practicing astrologer — as were many of the university-trained physicians working at this time in Europe. Paracelsus devoted several sections in his writings to the construction of astrological talismans for curing disease, providing talismans for various maladies as well as talismans for each sign of the Zodiac. He also invented an alphabet called the Alphabet of the Magi, for engraving angelic names upon talismans.
Paracelsus pioneered the use of chemicals and minerals in medicine. He used the name "zink" for the element zinc in about 1526, based on the sharp pointed appearance of its crystals after smelting and the old German word "zinke" for pointed. He used experimentation in learning about the human body. Paracelsus was also responsible for the creation of laudanum, an opium tincture very common until the 19th century.
Paracelsus gained a reputation for being arrogant, and soon garnered the anger of other physicians in Europe. He held the chair of medicine at the University of Basel for less than a year; while there his colleagues became angered by allegations that he had publicly burned traditional medical books. He was forced from the city after a legal dispute over a physician's fee he sued to collect. In 1530, at the instigation of the medical faculty at the University of Leipzig, the city council of Nürnberg prohibited the printing of Paracelsus works.
He then wandered Europe, Africa and Asia Minor, in the pursuit of hidden knowledge. He revised old manuscripts and wrote new ones, but had trouble finding publishers. In 1536, his Die grosse Wundartznei (The Great Surgery Book) was published and enabled him to regain fame. Paracelsus' life is connected to the birth of Lutheranism, and his opinions on the nature of the universe are better understood within the context of the religious ideas circulating during his lifetime.[citation needed]
He died at the age of 48 of natural causes, and his remains were buried according to his wishes in the cemetery at the church of St Sebastian in Salzburg. His remains are now located in a tomb in the porch of the church.
After his death, the movement of Paracelsianism was seized upon by many wishing to subvert the traditional Galenic physics, and his therapies became more widely known and used.
His motto was "Alterius non sit qui suus esse potest" which means "Let no man belong to another who can belong to himself."

[edit] Philosophy

Paracelsus believed in the Greek concept of the four elements, but he also introduced the idea that, on another level, the cosmos is fashioned from three spiritual substances: the tria prima of mercury, sulfur, and salt. These substances were not the simple substances we recognise today, but were rather broad principles that gave every object both its inner essence and outward form. Mercury represented the transformative agent (fusibility and volatility); sulfur represented the binding agent between substance and transformation (flammability); and salt represented the solidifying/substantiating agent (fixity and noncombustibility). For example, when a piece of wood is burnt, the products reflect its constitution: smoke reflects mercury, flame reflects sulfur, and ash reflects salt.[7]
The tria prima also defined the human identity. Sulfur embodied the soul, (the emotions and desires); salt represented the body; mercury epitomised the spirit (imagination, moral judgment, and the higher mental faculties). By understanding the chemical nature of the tria prima, a physician could discover the means of curing disease.

[edit] Contributions to medicine

Paracelsus pioneered the use of chemicals and minerals in medicine. His hermetical views were that sickness and health in the body relied on the harmony of man (microcosm) and Nature (macrocosm). He took an approach different from those before him, using this analogy not in the manner of soul-purification but in the manner that humans must have certain balances of minerals in their bodies, and that certain illnesses of the body had chemical remedies that could cure them. (Debus & Multhauf, p. 6-12)
As a result of this hermetical idea of harmony, the universe's macrocosm was represented in every person as a microcosm. According to the insights at the time, there were Seven planets in the sky, Seven metals on Earth and Seven centers (or major organs) in Man — seven was a special number. Everything was heavenly and closely interrelated (see table below).
Diseases were caused by poisons brought here from the stars. But 'poisons' were not necessarily something negative, in part because related substances interacted, in part because only the dose determined if a substance was poisonous or not. Evil could expel evil. Therefore, poisons could have beneficial medical effects. Because everything in the universe was interrelated, beneficial medical substances could be found in herbs, minerals and various alchemical combinations hereof. Paracelsus viewed the universe as one coherent organism pervaded by a uniting lifegiving spirit, and this in its entirety, Man included, was 'God'. His views put him at odds with the Church, for whom there necessarily had to be a difference between the Creator and the created.[12]
He summarised his own views:
“Many have said of Alchemy, that it is for the making of gold and silver. For me such is not the aim, but to consider only what virtue and power may lie in medicines.(Edwardes, p. 47) (also in: Holmyard, Eric John. Alchemy. p. 170)”

Hippocrates put forward the theory that illness was caused by an imbalance of the four humours: blood, phlegm, black bile and yellow bile. These ideas were further developed by Galen into an extremely influential and highly persistent set of medical beliefs that were to last until the mid-1850s. The dominant medical treatments at Paracelsus' time were specific diets to help in the "cleansing of the putrefied juices" combined with purging and bloodletting to restore the balance of the four humours. Paracelsus supplemented and challenged this view with his beliefs that illness was the result of the body being attacked by outside agents.
Paracelsus' major work On the Miners' Sickness and Other Diseases of Miners documented the occupational hazards of metalworking including treatment and prevention strategies. He also wrote a book on the human body contradicting Galen's ideas.
PlanetMetal
SunGoldHeart
MoonSilverBrain
JupiterTinLiver
VenusCopperKidneys
SaturnLeadSpleen
MarsIronGall bladder
MercuryQuicksilverLungs
the concept of a harmony of Elements and Organs

[edit] Contributions to toxicology


Monument to Paracelsus in Beratzhausen, Bavaria

Memorial in Einsiedeln, Switzerland
Paracelsus, sometimes called the father of toxicology, wrote:[13]
German: Alle Ding' sind Gift, und nichts ohn' Gift; allein die Dosis macht, daß ein Ding kein Gift ist.
"All things are poison, and nothing is without poison; only the dose permits something not to be poisonous."
Or, more commonly
"The dose makes the poison."
That is to say, substances considered toxic are harmless in small doses, and conversely an ordinarily harmless substance can be deadly if over-consumed.

[edit] Contributions to psychotherapy

Paracelsus is credited as providing the first clinical/scientific mention of the unconscious. In his work Von den Krankeiten he writes: "Thus, the cause of the disease chorea lasciva is a mere opinion and idea, assumed by imagination, affecting those who believe in such a thing. This opinion and idea are the origin of the disease both in children and adults. In children the case is also imagination, based not on thinking but on perceiving, because they have heard or seen something. The reason is this: their sight and hearing are so strong that unconsciously they have fantasies about what they have seen or heard."[citation needed]

[edit] Legend and rumour

Many books mentioning Paracelsus also cite him as the origin of the word "bombastic" to describe his often arrogant speaking style, which the following passage illustrates:
I am Theophrastus, and greater than those to whom you liken me; I am Theophrastus, and in addition I am monarcha medicorum and I can prove to you what you cannot prove...I need not don a coat of mail or a buckler against you, for you are not learned or experienced enough to refute even a word of mine...As for you, you can defend your kingdom with belly-crawling and flattery. How long do you think this will last?...Let me tell you this: every little hair on my neck knows more than you and all your scribes, and my shoe buckles are more learned than your Galen and Avicenna, and my beard has more experience than all your high colleges.
— Paracelsus, Selected Writings [14]
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the origin of the word "bombastic" is "bombast", an old term for cotton stuffing, rather than a play on Paracelsus's middle name, Bombastus.

[edit] Works

Published during his lifetime
  • Die große Wundarzney Ulm, 1536 (Hans Varnier); Augsburg (Haynrich Stayner (=Steyner)), 1536; Frankfurt/ M. (Georg Raben/ Weygand Hanen), 1536.
  • Vom Holz Guaico, 1529.
  • Vonn dem Bad Pfeffers in Oberschwytz gelegen, 1535.
  • Prognostications, 1536.
Posthumous Publications
  • Wundt unnd Leibartznei. Frankfurt/ M., 1549 (Christian Egenolff); 1555 (Christian Egenolff); 1561 (Chr. Egenolff Erben).
  • Von der Wundartzney: Ph. Theophrasti von Hohenheim, beyder Artzney Doctoris, 4 Bücher. (Peter Perna), 1577.
  • Von den Krankheiten so die Vernunfft Berauben. Basel, 1567.
  • Archidoxa. Kraków, 1569.
  • Kleine Wundartzney. Basel (Peter Perna), 1579.
  • Opus Chirurgicum, Bodenstein, Basel, 1581.
  • Huser quart edition (medicinal and philosophical treatises), Basel, 1589.
  • Chirurgical works (Huser), Basel, 1591 und 1605 (Zetzner).
  • Straßburg edition (medicinal and philosophical treatises), 1603.
  • Kleine Wund-Artzney. Straßburg (Ledertz) 1608.
  • Opera omnia medico-chemico-chirurgica, Genevae, Vol3, 1658.
  • Philosophia magna, tractus aliquot, Cöln, 1567.
  • Philosophiae et Medicinae utriusque compendium, Basel, 1568.
  • Liber de Nymphis, sylphis, pygmaeis et salamandris et de caeteris spiritibus

[edit] Selected English translations

  • The Hermetic And Alchemical Writings Of Paracelsus, Two Volumes, translated by Arthur Edward Waite, London, 1894. (in Google books), see also a revised 2002 edition (preview only) Partial contents: Coelum Philosophorum; The Book Concerning The Tincture Of The Philosophers; The Treasure of Treasures for Alchemists; The Aurora of the Philosophers; Alchemical Catechism.
  • The Archidoxes of Magic by Theophrastus Paracelsus, translated by Robert Turner. Facsimile reprint of the 1656 edition with introduction by Stephen Skinner, Ibis Publishing, 2004.

[edit] Online bibliographies

[edit] In fiction

[edit] References

  1. ^ Geoffrey Davenport, Ian McDonald, Caroline Moss-Gibbons (Editors), The Royal College of Physicians and Its Collections: An Illustrated History, Royal College of Physicians, 2001, p.48.
  2. ^ Digitaal Wetenschapshistorisch Centrum (DWC) - KNAW: "Franciscus dele Boë"
  3. ^ "Paracelsus", Britannica, http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/442424/Paracelsus, retrieved 24 November 2011
  4. ^ Allen G. Debus, "Paracelsus and the medical revolution of the Renaissance"—A 500th Anniversary Celebration from the National Library of Medicine (1993), p. 3.
  5. ^ Habashi, Fathi (PDF). Discovering the 8th metal. International Zinc Association. http://www.iza.com/Documents/Communications/Publications/History.pdf..
  6. ^ Hefner Alan G. "Paracelsus". http://www.themystica.com/mystica/articles/p/paracelsus.html.
  7. ^ a b Read J (1961). Through alchemy to chemistry. London: Bell and Sons.
  8. ^ Celsus A Cornelius, ed. (1935). "Introduction". De Medicina (On Medicine). I (Loeb Classical Library ed.). http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Celsus/Introduction*.html.
  9. ^ a b c d Johannes Schaber (1993). "Paracelsus, lat. Pseudonym von {Philippus Aureolus} Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim". In Bautz, Traugott (in German). Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). 6. Herzberg: Bautz. cols. 1502–1528. ISBN 3-88309-044-1. http://www.bautz.de/bbkl/p/paracelsus.shtml.
  10. ^ Marshall James L; Marshall Virginia R (2005). "Rediscovery of the Elements: Paracelsus" (PDF). The Hexagon of Alpha Chi Sigma (Winter): 71–8. ISSN 0164-6109. OCLC 4478114. http://web.unife.it/centro/paracelsus/archivi/c_2005_hexagon_winter2005.pdf.
  11. ^ Conner Clifford D (2005). A peoples history of science. New York : miners, midwives, and 'low mechanicks': Nation Books. pp. 306. ISBN 1-56025-748-2. OCLC 62164511.
  12. ^ Alex Wittendorff, Claus Bjørn, Ole Peter Grell, T. Morsing, Per Barner Darnell, Hans Bjørn, Gerhardt Eriksen, Palle Lauring, Kristian Hvidt (1994) (in Danish). Tyge Brahe. Gad. ISBN 87-12-02272-1. p44-45
  13. ^ p. 435, Verkehrsmedizin: Fahreignung, Fahrsicherheit, Unfallrekonstruktion, B. Madea, F. Mußhoff, and G. Berghaus, Köln: Deutscher Ärzte-Verlag, 2007, ISBN 3-7691-0490-0.
  14. ^ Paracelsus, Selected Writings, ed. with an introduction by Jolande Jacobi, trans. Norbert Guterman, (New York : Pantheon, 1951), p. 79-80
  15. ^ "NY Times: Paracelsus". NY Times. http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/37218/Paracelsus/details. Retrieved 2009-09-13.

[edit] Further reading

[edit] External links

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