Philippus Aureolus Paracelsus Paracelsus, Philippus Aureolus
(fĭlĭpˈəs ôrēōˈləs părəsĕlˈsəs) [key], 1493?–1541, Swiss
physician and alchemist. His original name Theophrastus
Bombastus von Hohenheim. He traveled widely, acquiring knowledge
of alchemy, chemistry, and metallurgy, and although his egotism
and his contempt for traditional theories earned him the enmity
of his learned contemporaries, he gained wide popularity among
the people (he lectured and wrote in German rather than Latin)
and had great influence in his own and succeeding centuries. In
Salzburg, where he died, a statue was erected to him in 1752.
His thought was colored by the fantastic philosophies of his
time and he based his medical theories on the concept of human
beings as microcosms of the universe. He was firmly opposed to
the humoral theory of disease championed by Galen, and he
advocated the use of specific remedies for specific diseases,
introducing many chemicals (e.g., laudanum, mercury, sulfur,
iron, and arsenic) into use as medici