tb PARACELSUS 



a living Adept, residing with other Adepts of the same 

 Order in a certain place in Asia, from whence he still — 

 invisibly, but nevertheless effectually — influences the 

 minds of his followers, appearing to them occasionally 

 even in visible and tangible shape. 



Paracelsus left very few worldly goods at the time of 

 his death, but the inheritance which he left in the shape 

 of his writings is rich and imperishable. This extra- 

 ordinary man — one of the most remarkable ones of all 

 times and all peoples — found many enthusiastic followers ; 

 but the number of those who envied, and therefore hated, 

 him was still greater. He had many enemies, because 

 he overthrew the customary old-fogeyism of the orthodox 

 physicians and speculative philosophers of his age ; he 

 proclaimed new, and therefore unwelcome, ideas ; and he 

 defended his mode of thinking in a manner that was 

 rather forcible than polite. 



One-sided culture could see in Parcelsus nothing else 

 but an enthusiast, a fanatic, and noise-maker ; his enthu - 

 siastic followers, on the other hand, looked upon him as 

 a god and a monarch of all mysteries and king of the 

 spirits. It was his destiny to be misjudged by his 

 friends as well as by his enemies, and each side exagge- 

 rated his qualities — the one his virtues, the other his 

 faults. He was denounced and vilified by one set of 

 ignoramuses, and his qualities extolled by another, and 

 the two camps roused each other into a frenzy by their 

 inordinate praises and vile denunciations, whose exaggera- 

 tions were evident to every one but themselves. Those 

 historians who have criticised the character of Paracelsus 

 severely, forgot to take into consideration the customs 

 and fashions of the time in which he lived, the character 

 of his surroundings, and his restless wanderings. Now, 

 as the battle of contending opinions has ceased to rage, 

 we may take a dispassionate view of the past, and after 

 studying his works and the writings of his critics and 

 ^biographers, we will arrive at the conclusion that he was 



