National Institutes of Health Paracelsus

7/27/2019 National Institutes of Health Paracelsus

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PARACELSUS, Five Hundred Years: Three American Exhibits.Bethesda, Maryland: Published by the Friends of the National

Library of Medicine, Inc., for the Hahnemann University Library,The National Library of Medicine, and the Washington UniversitySchool of Medicine (St. Louis), 1993.

AcknowledgementsFunding to publish this brochure was provided by the Hahnemann

University Library and by the Washington Universi ty School ofMedicine (St. Louis).

Other assistance in the preparation of the booklet and/or of therespective exhibits was provided as follows:Hahnemann University Library: Washington University:

Sandra L. Chaff (Consultant); Susan Alon (Rare BookJudith Baker, Carol Fenichel, Librarian);Randall Lowe Lilla Wechsler, PaulAnderson, Susan Crawford,

National Library of Medicine: Gerhild Scholz-Williams;Allen G. Debus (consultant); The Robert E. SchlueterGraphics: Joseph Fitzgerald Collection-St. Louisand Becky Cagle; Metropolitan MedicalHistory of Medicine Society;Division: Stephen Greenberg The Homcrest Foundation,Margaret Kaiser, Lucy Department of GermanicKeister, Jan Lazarus, Languages and LiteraturesMartha-Lucia Sierra,Amanda Sprochi, DavidVecchioli, Monique Young,James Cassedy

Single copies of this brochure may be obtained without chargeby writing to one of the sponsoring organizations.

Front cover illustration:In this portrait Paracelsus is shown surrounded by various philosophicalsymbols, including his famous sword. From Paracelsus: EtlicheTractaten, zum ander Ma/ in Truck auszgangen. Vom Podagra undseinem Speciebus (Coln, 1567). Washington University Collection.


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Introduction This booklet highlights special exhibits which,the joint observance of the along with lectures and500th anniversary of the other programs, are beingbirth of Paracelsus by three organized at these libraries.American medical libraries The intent of the variousevents is to celebrate aswell as to explain thecontributions of this majorRenaissance figure,especially those inmedicine, chemistry, andpharmacy. The brochurealso serves to drawattention to the uniquespecial collections andstrong general holdingspertaining to Paracelsusthat are held by thesponsoring institutions.The theme essay in thisbrochure has been preparedby Dr. Allen G. Debus ofthe University of Chicago,who is the leadingAmerican authority onParacelsus and hishistorical influence. Somefew of Dr. Debusspublications are cited in thelist of Some Readings onP aracelsus, which followshis essay. Also pertinent,

:T. .rs .- . . m-.-e -__-_-_-_ however, is his recent- The Hahnemann book, The FrenchUniversity Library, The Pal-acelsians, publishedNational Library of in 1991.Medicine, and The Illustrations in theWashington University brochure are from theMedical Library (St. collections of the NationalLouis). It has been Library of Medicine andprepared to accompany the Washington University.


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PARACELSUS AND THE MEDICAL REVOLUTIONOF THE RENAISSANCEA 500th Anniversary Celebration Allen G. DebusMorris Fishbein Professor of the History of Science and Medicine

The University of Chicago

Paracelsus (1493-1541), the Middle Ages. They A.D. Indeed, for manymore properly Theophrastus travelled in search of old humanists the discovery of newPhillippus Aureolus Bombastus manuscripts that might have texts seemed as exciting as thevon Hohenheim, was born in survived in isolated monasteries discovery of the new landsEinsiedeln, Switzerland in . . . and they studied Greek so being made by contemporary1493, one year after Columbus that they might translate these explorers. The result was a newfirst voyage to the New World. treasures of the ancient world. reliance on the truths of antiquityHe was a contemporary of This search for the work of and establishment medicineNicholas Copernicus, Martin ancient authors was felt first in became increasingly dependentLuther, Leonardo da Vinci and literature, rhetoric and history, upon the writings of Galen, thea host of other figures we but by the late fifteenth century Prince of Physicians. Inassociate with the shattering of there was an increasing interest short, with the correctedmedieval thought and the birth in the sciences and medicine. translations of ancientof the modem world. Astronomers and mathematiciansIn fact, Paracelsus played a sought an accuratepart in this change no less than text of Ptolemysthe others. During his lifetime Almagest and bothhe was called by some the the observations andLuther of Medicine and the the mathematics ofscientific debates of the late this text were tosixteenth century were centered form the foundationmore frequently on the inno- for Copernicus Devations of Paracelsus than they re\dutionihuswere on the heliocentric or-hium ( 1543). Inastronomy of Copernicus. medicine Galen,

Hippocrates, andRenaissance Humanism Dioscorides wereHow may we characterize the

newly translatedintellectual world in which from Greek. TheParacelsus lived? Surely a recovery of themajor factor was Renaissance medical writings ofhumanism--the fascination with Celsus was highlyantiquity in all of its aspects. influential becauseAuthors sought to write a they presented Numerous Renaissance physicians favored thestylistically pure Latin to medical terminology teachings of Hippocrates over those of Galen.replace the barbarous Latin of in the elegant Latin From Justi Cortnummii, Di morbo attonito l iberof the first century unus ad Hippocraticam . . . (Lipsiae, 1677)

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authors-and more important,the discovery of newmanuscripts lost to scholars fora thousand years-it wasthought possible to restore thereal truths of both Aristoteliannatural philosophy and Galenicmedicine.However, the recovery ofancient classics and theirtranslation was not limited tothe works of Aristotle, Galen,Ptolemy, and Dioscorides. Inaddition to the works of manylesser figures there were newareas of study made available toRenaissance scholars.Important among them was therecovery of the Co~.pusHermeticum, a group oftreatises supposedly written inEgypt by Hermes Trismegistusat about the time of Abrahamalthough they had not beencomposed until late antiquity.Authors of these treatises feltthat a magus, a true naturalmagician, would be able tounderstand man, the micro-cosm, through his study of themacrocosm since the formerwas a perfect representation ofthe latter. Some physicianswere to find this a new key totheir work. No less appealingwas the fact that this call fornew observations in naturecould be seen as an act ofdevotion. Christians shouldstudy not only Holy Scripture,but also the book of nature,clearly a second book of divinerevelation.Hermes was known notonly to the Church Fathers, butalso as one of the great figuresof alchemy. Even today we

speak of a hermetic seal inchemistry. Traditional alchemydid inc lude a belief in thetransmutation of the base metalsto gold, but more important wasthe separation by chemicalmeans of the pure essence of asubstance from its impurities.Through such processes(frequently through distillation)the true divine signaturesimpressed on earthly things bythe Creator for their proper use(and then lost at the time of theFall) might be rediscovered. Inthis fashion we would learnmore of our Creator whilerecovering His gifts through ourlabor. Surely we could expectto find substances of medicinalvalue in this way.

In short, by 1500 theimpact of the newly recoveredtexts was leading in twodirections. On the one hand thenatural philosophers andphysicians of the schools haddeveloped an increased respectfor Aristotle, Galen and otherancient authorities. On theother hand, the recovery of theCorpus Her-meticum and othermore mystical texts placed anemphasis on natural magic, therelationship of man to themacrocosm, and sought divinetruths in the study of nature.The first path led to truththrough traditional medicineand a reliance on mathematicsand the physics of motion forour understanding of nature: thesecond led to a more mysticaland religious basis ofknowledge and turned tochemistry as a key to man andnature alike.

ParacelsusWhile still a youth Paracelsusbecame aware of many of theconflicting currents of his age.His father was a physician inEinsiedeln and he practiced in anumber of mining towns. Theboy surely learned somepractical medicine at homethrough observing his father.It is likely that he learned somefolk medicine as well. He alsopicked up some alchemy fromhis father who had an interest inthe subject. And in miningtowns he would have observedmetallurgical practices as wellas the diseases that afflicted themen who worked the mines.Traditionally it has been saidthat Paracelsus was taught byseveral bishops and the occultistabbot of Sponheim, JohannesTrithemius. At the age offourteen the boy left home tobegin a long period ofwandering. He apparentlyvisited a number of universities,but there is no proof that heever took a medical degree. Asan adult, however, he picked uppractical medical knowledge byworking as a surgeon in anumber of the mercenaryarmies that ravaged Europe inthe seemingly endless wars ofthe period. He wrote that hevisited most of the countries ofCentral, Northern, and EasternEurope.It is only in the finalfifteen years of his life that therecords of his travels becomeclearer. In 1527 he was calledto Base1 o treat a leg ailment ofthe famed publisher of humanist

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Camp scene showing Renaissance period troops. From Paracelsus,Grosse Wundarznei, Erster Theil (Franckfurt am Main, 1565)

classics, Johannes Frobenius.In Base1Paracelsus also gavemedical advice to the Dutchscholar Erasmus and came incontact with some of the moreprominent scholars of thereligious Reformation. He wasappointed city physician andprofessor of medicine. Butalthough he was permitted tolecture at the University ofBasel, he had no officialappointment with the medicalfaculty there.

Almost immediatelyParacelsus became a figure ofcontention. He heaped scorn onthe conservative physicians ofthe University, and, at the St.Johns Day bonfire, threw

The Chemical PhilosophyAt the time of his deathParacelsus seems to have beenwell known as a physician, butnot as an author. He hadpublished several almanacs anda few medical works, but onlyone major text, the GrosseWundartzney (1536) which hadgone into a second edition thefollowing year. Here heappeared as a medical prac-titioner discussing wounds,ulcers, and their cure withsalves and balms. A particularlyinteresting section treats thewounds caused by gunpowder-clearly a reflection of agrowing problem in sixteenth-century warfare.

It was well over a decadeafter his death before physiciansbegan to look for his manu-scripts and to publish them-frequently with commentariesof their own. By 1570 many ofhis works were in print alongwith treatises written by agrowing number of disciples.In these works we find a strong

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Erasmus of Rotterdam 1469-l 536.Print of engraving, NLM collection

Avicennas revered Canon ofmedicine to the blaze. Then,his patient, Frobenius, died.This was followed by adisastrous lawsuit and he leftBase1 n haste, even leavingbehind his manuscripts.

The final years of his lifefind Paracelsus moving fromtown to town, and again, heoften left his manuscriptsbehind as he had in Basel. Hecomes across as an angry manwho antagonized many of thosehe met+ven those who triedto help him. In the end he wascalled to Salzburg to treat thesuffragan bishop, Ernest ofWittelsbach. There he died atthe early age of forty-eight.

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Another object of theParacelsians attack was theancient system of elements:Earth, Air, Water and Fire withtheir attendant qualities andhumors. This was a complexsystem, but a potentially fragileone, since a rejection of evenone might result in a collapse ofthe whole. The Paracelsiansargued that nowhere in HolyScripture is there reference to thecreation of fire and therefore itcannot be considered an element.Still, the four elements were notcategorically denied by all, andin the course of the seventeenthcentury a five element/principlesystem evolved in the works ofthe chemists and the chemicalphysicians.

Renaissance surgical scene. From Paracelsus, Opus chyrurgicum . . . undArtzney Buch (Franckfurt am Mayn, 1565)

challenge to the educationalestablishment and its relianceon ancient authorities. SomeParacelsians took pride in thefact that they had not gone tothe universities at all, thusavoiding the useless knowledgethey would have been subjectedto. Those who did not go to theuniversities turned instead tothe two-book theory-relianceon Holy Scripture and onpersonal observations andexperience. Here they foundchemistry particularly valuablesince it separated pure f romimpure. Beyond this, chemistrybecame a basis for explainingboth macrocosmic and micro-cosmic phenomena. Even theCreator was pictured as a divinealchemist in commentaries onthe first chapter of Genesis.

The Paracelsians differedsharply from the ancients intheir discussion of mathematics,In his summary of Paracelsianmedicine, Peter Severinusargued that Aristotles work as

well as Galens was flawed byits overemphasis onmathematical logic(1571). The use ofweights and measureswas acceptable for thephysician- and eventhe mystical use ofnumbers as one mightfind in the hermetictexts--but not thelogical-geometrical useof mathematics . Farmore acceptable was theanalogy of the greatworld and man whichmight be used as a guideto truth. Paracelsus hadwritten that everythingwhich astronomicaltheory has searcheddeeply and gravely byaspects, astronomicaltables and soforth,-this self-same Diagram illustrating the convergence ofknowledge should be a elements, humors, ana geocosmlc.-. tactors Inlesson and teaching to the thinking of Paracelsian chemicalphysicians. From Annibal Barlet, Le Vrayyou concerning the et methodique Cours de. . Chymiebodily firmament. (Paris, 1653)

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Element theory was onlyone aspect of macrocosmicinterest. If the Creation was tobe understood primarily as analchemical separation from aninitial chaos, then it seemedappropriate to use this analogyin geocosmic explanations.Distillation was the modelemployed for rain, volcaniceruptions, and the origin ofmountain streams. Indeed, theearth itself was viewed as alarge distillation flask with afiery center which heatedunderground reservoirs andlava both of which might eruptat the surface.

But if the Paracelsiansrejected much of the ancientlegacy, they remained weddedto the ancient vitalistic worldview. Metals originated in theearth from a union of an astralseed with a proper matrix. Theresultant ore matured in theearth much as a fetus in themother. And indeed, there is alife spirit that is essential forboth the organic and theinorganic worlds. By the finaldecade of the sixteenth centurythis spirit was identified as anaerial niter or saltpeter.The Medical Chemistryof the ParacelsiansAs a replacement for the worksof the ancients, Paracelsus andhis followers consciouslysought a new world systembased upon the macrocosm-microcosm analogy. Chemistrywas to be a key to this newphilosophy which man was touncover through newobservations and the search

for the divine signatures.This was unavoidable since aknowledge of the macrocosmled directly to hitherto unknownsecrets of man.

There was clearly apractical side to all of this. TheGrosse Wundartzney was abook dealing with specificmedical problems as well as thepreparation of balms andplasters that were widelyheralded-even among thosewho rejected Paracelsuscosmological views. Thechapters on the cure of woundscaused by gunshot clearly spoketo a growing problem insixteenth-century medicine.But Paracelsus was aware ofother current problems as well.In his Von der Bergsucht oderBergkranckheiten drey Biicher(1533-34) he prepared the firstbook on minersdiseases-indeed, it was thefirst book specifically on anoccupational disease. And inhis discussion of syphilis [VomHoltz Guaiaco griindlicherheylung (1529) and Von derFranziisischen kranckheit DreyBiicher (1530)] he criticizedcurrent methods of treatmentincluding the popular use ofguaiac.

Works on specific medicalproblems were less nflammatorythan concepts that seemed todirectly challenge Galenicauthority. Among the latter,Paracelsus repeated use ofchemistry and chemicalanalogies was particularlyobjectionable to the medicalestablishment. As an exampleone may turn to his convictionthat each bodily organ acted as

an alchemist separating purefrom impure. Thus, thestomach separated thenutritional part of foodstuffsfrom the dross which waseliminated through theintestines. Similarly, otherorgans had their function inmaintaining the health of thebody. Illness occurred whenthe directive force in an organfailed and poisons accumulated.Examples were the tartaricdiseases where stony pre-cipitates developed in thekidneys or the bladder or-asin the case of tuberculosis-inthe lungs.The essentially localizedseats of diseases of theParacelsians differed from thehumoral explanations of theGalenists. Utilizing the ancientconcept of the four humors(blood, phlegm, yellow andblack bile) which were associ-ated with the elements, theGalenists argued that healthderived from a proper balanceof these fluids while diseasewas the result of imbalance.The physician might note anexcess of blood from a ruddycomplexion, yellow bilethrough the yellowing asso-ciated with jaundice. black bi ethrough diarrhoea, or phlegmfrom a running nose. Evenuroscopy might be employed todiagnose an illness through asample of urine withoutexamining the actual patientsince a humoral excess wouldbe evident in the sample.

The Paracelsian rejectionof humoral medicine wasclearly a fundamental breakwith medical tradition. No less


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yi? 1 1Depiction of urine examination, Seventeenth Century. Print, Le MedecinEmpyrique, by David Teniers, II, 1610-1690, NLM collection

so was their method of cure. by the ancients, but the greatThe Galenists argued that bulk of traditional remediescontraries cure. That is, a were derived from plantdisease of a certain quality and substances. This balance was tomagnitude would be cured by a shift with the chemists whomedicine of opposed quality argued that the new and violentand magnitude. The Paracelsians diseases of their age requiredturned rather to folk tradition stronger medicines. Neither thearguing that like cures like: a medieval herbals nor the workspoison in the body would be of the ancients describedcured by a similar poison. And substances that could combatwhen the Galenists charged that syphilis and other new diseasesthe Paracelsians were a successfully. The internal useveritable legion of homicide of metals and their compoundsphysicians, the latter replied seemed essential to them. Usedthat their medicines were safe as purges and vomatives theirbecause they had been altered action was truly more violentchemically; moreover, careful than the old herbal mixtures. Inattention had been paid to some cases the new medicinesdosage. proved too strong and theThese medical reformers Galenists accused theirnot only proposed a new opponents with murder. Whenapproach to cure. they also we examine the chemical andemphasized a new class of pharmaceutical books of themateria medica. To be sure, late sixteenth and the seven-some metallic and mineral teenth centuries we seesubstances had been employed directions for the preparation of

numerous compounds ofmercury, lead, arsenic andantimony, almost all of whichwould be avoided today.The Paracelsian DebatesThe growing interest in theworks of Paracelsus in the thirdquarter of the sixteenth centuryled to an ever increasingnumber of publications,translations and commentarieson his works. At stake was thequestion of educational reform,the relation of religion toscience and medicine, and therelative value of ancientauthority to fresh observationalevidence. The role of chemistryin all of this was crucial.It would be wrong topicture the growing confronta-tion in terms of stark contrasts.To be sure, Peter Severinussought to establish thesuperiority of Paracelsism toGalenism in his important Ideamedicinae philosophicae (157 1)while Thomas Erastus upheldthe authority of Aristotle andGalen and damned the inno-vations of Paracelsus in hisDisputationes de medicina nolyaParacelsi (1572- 1574). Thesewere but the opening salvos of aconfrontational literature thatextended over more than acentury.And yet from the beginningthere were those who sought tochart a middle course.Albertus Wimpenaeus ofMunich wrote his De concordiaHippocraticorum etParacelsistarum in 1569 andhere he admitted that althoughhe followed Paracelsus in some

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matters he also followed the was the use ofancient authorities. Even more chemistry inimportant was the venerable medicine.Johannes Guinter of Andernach, In France thewho late in life, began to read internal use ofthe Paracelsian texts. In his antimony was beingmassive DC medicina veteri et promoted as anwua . . . (1571) Guinter held to effective purgativemuch of traditional medical -and specifically astheory, but he hoped to a Paracelsianconciliate the warring factions. cure-by the earlyHe wrote that Paracelsus 1560s. Thehimself was an arrogant man, conservative medicalbut Guinter felt that there was faculty of Parismuch of value in his reacted quickly,chemically-prepared remedies. charging thatHe sought to show the antimony in anysimilarities between the form was aAristotelian elements and the dangerous poisonParacelsian principles and he that should not beargued that the macrocosm- taken internally(1566). In a series Figure representing The Spirit of Sulphur.microcosm analogy had been Engraving from Leonhard Thurneisser zumemployed by some of the of decrees and court Thurn, Quinta essentia . . . und Alchemiaancients as well as Paracelsus. cases this powerfulHe also suggested that cure by body tried to forbid any use of among the younger physicians.similitude was not so different chemistry in medicine. After Louis XIV was cured withfrom that by contrariety. Nevertheless, publishers an antimony purge (1658) theThe works of Severinus, continued to print books end was in sight. An assemblyErastus, Wimpenaeus and favoring medical chemistry, and of the medical faculty in 1666Guinter give some idea of the by the early years of the new resulted in an overwhelmingrange of opinion that had century courses in the vote accepting antimony as andeveloped by the early 1570s. preparation of pharmaceutical approved purgative, and afterThe tone of the debate became chemicals were available in that time there was littlefar more bitter in the coming Paris. In the 1630s the medical resistance to the use of chemicaldecades. By 1612 John Cotta faculty forced Theophraste medicines along with moreexpressed the views of many Renaudot to close his Bureau traditional cures in France.when he wrote that the in- dAdresse where he fostered the The English reaction to thenumerable dissentions amongst use of pharmaceutical new chemical medicine wasthe learned concerning the chemicals. But in 1641 the closely related to the FrenchArabicke and Chymicke establishment of the Jardin des scene. As in France, the firstremedies at this day infinitely, plantes provided for a professor English references to Paracelsuswith opposite and contradictorie who taught chemical appear in the 1560s. In thiswritings, and invectives, operations. Although the case we find that the authorsburthen the whole- world. medical faculty won repeated had lived in exile in SwitzerlandAlthough there was some legal battles, they could do little during the harsh reign of thedebate over the more mystical to end the growing use of Roman Catholic Queen, Mary.views of the later Paracelsians, chemical remedies which But if the London College ofthe most inflammatory point became ever more fashionable Physicians was initially hostile


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to the chemists, this attitudegradually faded. By the mid-eighties the Fellows of theCollege planned an officialpharmacopoeia that was toinclude a section on chemically-prepared medicines. ThomasMoffett who had taken his M.D.at Basel, and was a friend ofPeter Severinus, was placed incharge of this section since hehad already written a defence ofchemical medicines (De Jure etPruestuntiu ChemicorumMedicumentorum, 1584).Although the project wasabandoned at that time there isevidence of an increasing interestin the value of chemistry. R.Bostocke wrote an apology forthe entire Paracelsian system in1585 and reference to specificParacelsian preparations appearin the works of a number of lateElizabethan surgeons.After the turn of thecentury, the medical faculty ofParis went on the offensiveonce more, this time againstsuch defenders of chemicalmedicine as Joseph Duchesne(Quercetanus) and TheodoreTurquet de Mayerne. Turquetultimately left the country forLondon where he revived thedormant pharmacopoeia projectof the College and pressed forthe inclusion of chemically-prepared medicines. Thepreface to the PharmacopoeiaLondinensis of 161g-surelywritten by Turquet-states that

we venerate the age oldlearning of the ancientsand for this reason we haveplaced their remedies atthe beginning, but on theother hand, we neither

The new pharmacopoeias helpedimprove the dispensing ofmedications in Renaissancepharmacies. Woodcut fromE. Feynon, Der BarmherfzigerSamariterspurn the subsidiarymedicines of the morerecent chemists and wehave conceded to them aplace and comer in the rearso that they might be as aservant to the dogmaticmedicine, and thus theymight act as auxiliaries.

In short, although interestin chemical medicine may haveoriginally been centered inGermany and Switzerland, itbecame widely known inEngland, France, and otherEuropean countries during thelate sixteenth and early seven-teenth centuries. This influencewas even to be found in theOttoman Empire where anArabic work titled the NenChemicul Medicine Invented bq

Paracelsus was completed bySalih Ibn Nasrallah Ibn Sallumno later than 1640. Therelatively large number ofmanuscript copies of this workattest to the fact that theParacelsian union of chemistryand medicine had spreadbeyond the borders of WesternEurope by the mid-seventeenthcentury.Chemistry andthe UniversitiesThroughout the sixteenthcentury the medical faculties ofEuropean universities relied onthe medical writings of theancient and Arabic physicians.Those students who wished tolearn about chemical operationswere generally forced to findprivate instruction. In ParisJean Beguin established alaboratory where he lectured onpharmaceutical preparationsand wrote the first true chemicaltextbook, the TyociniunzChymicum ( 16 10) whichbecame a model for later textswith i ts division into animal,vegetable and mineralpreparations. This text wasreprinted throughout the centuryoften with additions andcommentaries by others.However, soon there werefurther chemical texts. Thefounder of the Jardin desPlantes, Guy de la Brosse,included a lengthy discussion ofchemistry in his De la Nutur-,Vertu, et VtilitP des Pluntes( 1628), and after theappointment of WilliamDavisson we find a successionof chemical textbooks writtenfor the lecture series presented


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at the Jardin des Plantes.Davissons own textbook wasfollowed by those of hissuccessors; Nicholas Le Fitvre,Christofle Glaser and MoyseCharas. The tradition cul-minated in the Cours de chymieof Nicholas Lemery whichappeared in French in numerouseditions from 1675 to 1757 andwas translated into Latin,German, English and Spanish.However, the courses at theJardin des Plantes were onlyone source for students to learnchemistry. Throughout Europethere is evidence of privatetutors and chemical entre-preneurs who establishedcourses of their own.

With a continuallygrowing interest it was to beexpected that the universitieswould have to consider this newsubject. But although theParacelsians looked uponchemistry as a key to a totalnew philosophy of nature andman, it was the physicians whowere most concerned. As theidea of a chemically operatingmacrocosm and microcosmdeclined, interest in the medicalvalue of chemically preparedsubstances grew. The resultwas that chemical instructiongradually became established inthe medical programs ofEuropean universities while thenatural philosophy curriculumremained wedded to subjectswe would classify as thephysical sciences.

There is little doubt thatthe preparation of somechemical substances was taughtin a few universities in thesixteenth century. At

Montpellier, and elsewhere, for in 1609. The professor, Johanninstance, the authority of Hartmann was a Paracelsian inDioscorides permitted the use the broadest sense, but hisof some stones and minerals teaching emphasizedin medicine and it is in this pharmaceutical preparations.tradition that a limited number He prepared editions of theof inorganic substances were practical texts of Jean Beguinsaccepted by physicians. How- Tyrociniclm and Oswald Crol lsever, the first chain in chemical Basilica Chymica which weremedicine was created at Marburg extremely popular.

Renaissance instruction i n preparation of chemicals. From Annibal Barlet,Le Way et methodique cows de Chymie (Paris, 1653)

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Hartmanns appoint-ment was the first of many.A course in chemistry formedical students wasoffered at Jena as early as16 12 by Zacharias Brendeland this was continued firstby his son and then byWerner Rolfinck whobecame the first Professorof Chemistry in the MedicalFaculty. His long tenure atJena ensured the importanceof that university in thisfield. These teachers wrotetheir own textbooksfollowing the Frenchtradition. And during thesecond half of the seven-teenth century the medicalfaculties of many CentralEuropean universitiesestablished chairs in chemistry:Wittenburg, Helmstedt, Leipzigand Halle among them.

In the Netherlands Leidenbegan teaching in chemistry in1669 and here too the earlyinstructors published their owntexts. Both Oxford andCambridge began courses inchemistry in 1683, and even inParis the Medical Facultyestablished a professorial chairfor the teaching of bothchemical and Galenic pharmacyin 1696. In short, chemistrywas well established inEuropean universities by mid-century and it had becomealmost universal by the end ofthe century. However, theacceptance of chemistry wasthrough medicine rather thanthrough natural philosophy.

Artists conception of a mid-seventeenth-century laboratory. Print, Francois V.Mieris, 1635-l 681, NLM collectionAftermathAs chemistry became academic-ally respectable for its cures andremedies, its medical emphasisbegan to change. And as it didso, in the late seventeenthcentury, the original concepts ofthe Paracelsians were graduallymodified and diluted. One-timeParacelsians such asJean Baptistevan Helmont embraced thechemical philosophy no lessstrenuously than did Paracelsus,but they moved on to such areasas chemical physiology. Mean-while, for Robert Boyle andothers in the age of Newton, thedecline in authority of the ancientauthors made way for a newmathematical and mechanisticapproach to science andmedicine.

Yet the effect ofParacelsus on medicine wasenormous. This influenceoccurred almost entirely after

his death, partially throughhis own works and partiallythrough those of hisfollowers who codified andexpanded his views. Hisrejection of establishmentmedicine came at a timewhen many Galenic andother ancient medical textshad only recently beenrediscovered. The attack onthese texts was bound toresult in a confrontation. Aprime area of contention forthe Paracelsians was that ofthe reform of medical edu-cation. But beyond this thechemists questioned thetraditional elements, sought aprinciple of cure based onsimilitude rather than contra-riety, and demanded the

mtroduction of an armory ofnetallic based remedies. Theirrejection of humoral explanationswas anathema to the medicalzstablishment, and their frequentase of mystical and fundamen-talist interpretations stronglymixed with hermeticism set themapart from other physicians.

By the mid-seventeenthcentury there had been almost a:entury of debate, but many of:he medical views of Paracelsuswere to prevail in the end. Theacademicacceptanceofchemistry3y physicians surely was one of:he chief accomplishments ofIlis school. Beyond this, thesignificance of his opening ofnedical thought to this newapproach can be compared with;hat of the influence ofCopernicus on astronomy and1physics during the same period.

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Some Readingson ParacelsusAlthough much of the work ofParacelsus and his followers hasappeared in German, there are anumber of important studies inEnglish. Essential for back-groundmaterialisOwseiTemkinsGalenism: Rise and Decline ofa Medical Philosophy (Ithaca:Cornell University Press, 1972).Allen G. Debus has prepared ashort general introduction toRenaissance science andmedicine in his Man and Naturein the Renaissance (CambridgeUniversity Press, 1978).An enjoyable introductionto the life and work ofParacelsus is Henry Pachter,Paracelsus: Magic Into Science(New York: Henry Schumann,195 1). However, for those whowould go beyond this, a farmore authoritative work is thatof Walter Pagel, Paracelsus: AnIntroduction to PhilosophicalMedicine in the Era oj-theRenaissance (Basel: Karger,1968; second edition, 1982).Several texts, including thework on the diseases of miners,have been translated in FourTreatises of Theophrastus vanHohenheim Called Paracelsus,edited, with a preface by HenryE. Sigerist (Baltimore: The JohnHopkins Press, 1941). Selectionsfrom his writings may also befound in Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke, Paracelsus: EssentialReadings (Wellingborough:Crucible, 1990) and n Paracelsus:Selected Writings, edited withan introduction by JolandeJacobi, translated by NorbertGuterman (New York:Pantheon Books, 1951). Anumber of the alchemical andchemical works were translatedby Arthur Edward Waite in TheHermetic and AlchemicalWritings of Aureolus Phillippus

Theophrastus Bombast, ofHoheneim, Called Paracelsusthe Great (2 vols., LondonElliott and Co., 1894).The reader will WalterPagels The Smiling Spleen:Paracelsianism in Storm andStress (Base1 et al: Karger,1984) useful for many specificaspects of the Paracelsiantradition. Allen G. Debus hasdiscussed the English and theFrench scenes in The EnglishParacelsians (London: Old-bourne, 1965) and in The FrenchParacelsians: The ChemicalChallenge to Medical andScientijic Tradition in EarlyModern France (CambridgeUniversity Press, 1991). In TheChemical Philosophy.Paracelsian Science andMedicine in the Sixteenth andSeventeenth Centuries (2 vols.,New York: Science HistoryPublcations, 1977) Debusdiscussed the Paracelsiantradition up to Robert Boyle.Of considerable interest fordetailing the opposed views ofthe Paracelsian, Oswald Crolland his adversary, AndreasLibavius, is Owen HannawaysThe Chemists and the Word:The Didactic Origins ofChemistry (Baltimore andLondon: The John HopkinsPress, 1975). Bruce T. Moranhas uncovered much newmaterial related to the teachingof chemistry and chemicalmedicine at Marburg in TheAlchemical World of the GermanCourt: Occult Philosophy andChemical Medicine in theCircle of Moritz of Hessen(1572- 1632), Sudhoffs Archiv,Beiheft 29 (Stuttgart: FranzSteiner Verlag, 1991).

A.D.13


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The ParacelsusCollection atHahnemannUniversity

Hahnemann Medical College inPhiladelphia was founded in1848 as a school devoted to thehomeopathic principles ofSamuel Hahnemann (1755- 1843).It was the first successful centerfor homeopathic education inthe world. Much as Paracelsus,breaking from the authority ofGalen, taught that the basis ofmedical science should be thestudy of nature, observation ofthe patient, and experiment andexperience, so too, some 300years later, did SamuelHahnemann break with thetradition of allopathic medicinein his effort to establish a morebenign, sympathetic approachto treating medical ills.

Constantine Hering (1800-1880), a student and follower ofSamuel Hahnemann, was aphysician, chemist, and zoologist.Known as the father of homeo-pathy in America, he was one ofthe founders of HahnemannUniversity. His passion-orone of them, for he was a manof enormous curiosity and manyinterest-was to obtain aperfect collection of all theworks by or pertaining toParacelsus. He devoted nearlyhalf a century to this pursuit.The fruits of his labour formone of the principal collectionsof works by and aboutParacelsus. This collection,known as the ConstantineHering Collection, is now apart of the special collectionsof Hahnemann University.

Housing over 200 volumesdating from 1502-many inLatin and Old German-thecollection, in addition to theoriginal works of Paracelsus,includes early works on thephilosophers stone, alchemy,botany, and a first edition ofRobert Brownings poem,Paracelsus. In 188 1, acatalogue documenting thecollection was published byGlobe Publishing House and in1932, Hahnemann MedicalCollege and Hospital produceda second catalogue of theConstantine Hering ParacelsusCollection housed at theCollege.In conjunction with thecelebration of the 500thanniversary of the birth ofParacelsus, HahnemannUniversity Library will presentan exhibit of books and memo-rabilia from this collection.The Paracelsus Exhibit will runfrom October throughDecember, 1993 at HahnemannUniversity in Philadelphia. Ondisplay will be selections fromthe original writings ofParacelsus, as well as materialdocumenting the initial reactionto him and his work. Theexhibit also will trace thethinking of Paracelsus and hisphilosophical progeny throughHahnemann and Hering, withbooks and memorabilia fromthe Hering Collection.

Carol H. Fenichel

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Paracelsian Works The National Library ofMedicines History of Medicineat the Division holds an outstandingNational Library collection of works byParacelsus. The Librarysof Medicine predecessor was the Library ofthe Surgeon-General s Officeand the first Paracelsus work tobe acquired was the OperaOmnia Medico-Chemico-Chirurgica (Geneva, 1658)which appears in its 1868catalogue. By the 1880s andthe printing of the first series ofthe Index-Catalogue of theLibrary of the Surgeon-Generals Office, there were anadditional thirty entries. Today,the Librarys collection ofworks by Paracelsus continuesto grow, with five titles havingbeen acquired since 1989. Thecollection includes over 150 ofthe titles listed in Karl SudhoffsBihliographia Paracelsica. Theearliest Paracelsus work in thecollection is a copy of the 1536Ulm edition of the Gl*osseWurzd Artzlzey... which containsannotations in the hand ofKonrad Gesner. Among otherespecially noteworthy holdingsis the rare complete lo-part setof Paracelsus collected worksedited by Johann Huser andpublished in Base1 between1589 and 1591.

In addition to works writtenby Paracelsus, the Library holdsnumerous original works by hisimmediate disciples as well as

Title page from one of NLMs mostrecently acquired works byParacelsus. Paracelsus, Vomursprung und herkommen desBads Pfetiers (Basel, 1576)by authors of various countrieswho were influenced by him. Italso includes a large number ofhistorical studies of Paracelsuslife and contributions tomedicine and science. TheLibrarys collection is a richresource for the study of aninnovative and controversialfigure in the history of medicine.Access to all of these titles isprovided through CATLINE,the Librarys online bookcatalog. In addition, many ofthese titles are available onmicrofilm for loan and forpurchase.

Margaret Kaiser

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The ParacelsusCollection atWashingtonUniversity,St. Louis

The Archives and Rare BookDivision of WashingtonUniversity School of MedicineLibrary (St. Louis) contains theholdings of the Robert E.Schlueter Paracelsus Collection,on deposit from the St. LouisMetropolitan Medical Society.Of significant interest to al-chemical and early modemscholars of science and medicineis this exceptional collection,perhaps the worlds largest intactof works by, or concerning, theenigmatic German Renaissancephysician and philosopherTheophrastus Bombastus vonHohenheim. Included are morethan four hundred titles,primary and secondary sourcesdating from 1530; all materialsare now cataloged and availablethrough the OCLC database.The Schlueter collectionincludes the larger part of theoriginal writings of Paracelsusand surveys the distinct Paracel-Sian schools and revivals ofinterest that have flourished inGermany, England, France, andother countries over the pastfive centuries. The collectionconsists of six titles of the twenty-four known editions which werepublished during the life-timeof Paracelsus, that is between theyears 1527- 1.539. The earliestis the first edition of his threeworks on Syphilis, 1530, andthe latest is the third edition ofhisGreatSurgery, 1537. Thereare161 titles from the remainder ofthe sixteenth century, andseventy-seven titles from theseventeenth century.Five titles represent theimportant later editions between1549 and 1560, including sometranslations. There are 13 1 titlesof the publications between

1560-1588 which include theworks published from thepersonal manuscripts ofParacelsus. Eighty-four titlesrepresent the collected worksbetween 1589- 1658, duringwhich period there were publi-cations by Paracelsists, such asJohn Glauber, William Johnsonand Ferdinand Parkhurst,including the Huser edition ofhis complete works, 1589- 159 1,and the Latin translation(Frankfurt, 1603).In addition there are morethan one hundred newer workssuch as facsimile editions,biographies, Kolbenheyersthree dramatic works, Browningsepic poem, Waites translationof his hermetic writings, andothers. Lastly there is anextensive collection of oddpamphlets and reprints ofcomparatively recent date.Assembled in a lifetime ofdiscriminate collecting byDr. Schlueter, a distinguishedSt. Louis physician, thisunrivaled Paracelsus Collectionwas so focused and completethat it became a model for similarspecial collections which weredeveloped around other cele-brated medical pioneers in otherlibraries of the world. Thecollection is at the disposal ofany scholar desiring to utilizethe primary sources of a contro-versial, often times discredited,pioneer sixteenth centuryscientist, surgeon and physician,as we celebrate the five hundredthanniversary of the birth ofPhillippus Aureolus TheoprastusBombastus von Hohenheim,later called Paracelsus.

Susan Alon


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Renaissance chemical symbols. From Oswald Crolii, Basilica Chymica (Frankfurt, 1609)

Back cover illustration:Paracelsian-era discussions often took place within a complex frameworkof symbols such as those shown here. Woodcut in Johann Daniel Mylius,Opus medico-chymicum. . . , Vol. 1 (Francofurti, 1618-1620).

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National Institutes of Health Paracelsus

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