THE LIFE OF PARACELSUS Vf 



boasting of his own superiority, although no such motive 

 may prompt him. And as Paracelsus was not slow to 

 criticise the ignorance of the " learned," it was necessarily 

 supposed by the vulgar that he looked upon himself as 

 more learned than all others, and they had not the 

 capacity to know whether or not he was justified in such 

 an estimate of himself. He was, however, far superior 

 in medical skill to all his colleagues, and performed 

 apparently miraculous cures among many patients that 

 had been pronounced incurable by the leading doctors — 

 a fact that has been proved by Erasmus of Rotterdam, a 

 most careful and scientific observer. Among such patients 

 were not less than eighteen princes, on whom the best 

 physicians had tried their arts and failed. In his thirty- 

 third year he was already an object of admiration for 

 the laity, and an object of professional jealousy for the 

 physicians. He also incurred the wrath of the latter by 

 treating many of the poorer classes without pay, while 

 the other physicians unrelentingly claimed their fees. 

 The most common reward for his labour was ingratitude, 

 and this he earned everywhere, not only in the houses of 

 the moderately wealthy, but also among the rich ; for 

 instance, in the house of the Count Philippus of Biiden, 

 whose case had been given up as hopeless by his physicians. 

 Paracelsus cured the count in a short time, who in return 

 showed great penuriousness towards him. Moreover, the 

 ingratitude of that prince caused great joy to the enemies 

 of Paracelsus, and gave them a welcome opportunity to 

 ridicule and slander him more than ever. 



Accusations of a different order are brought against 

 him, referring to the bluntness of his style of writing, 

 which was not always refined or polite. It should, how- 

 ever, be remembered that such a style of speaking and 

 writing was universally used in those times, and objec- 

 tionable expressions were adopted by all, not excluding 

 Luther, the great Reformer, who, in spite of his genius, 

 waa a mortal man. Paracelsus was a great admirer of 



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