i66 PARACELSUS 



Nature, and built up an artificial system, whicli is fit 

 for nothing but to swindle the public and to prey upon 

 the pockets of the sick. Your safety is due to the fact 

 that your gibberish is unintelligible to the public, who 

 fancy that it must have a meaning, and the consequence 

 is that no one can come near you without being cheated. 

 Your art does not consist in curing the sick, but in 

 worming yourself into the favour of the rich, in swindling 

 the poor, and in gaining admittance to the kitchens of 

 the noblemen of the country. You live upon imposture, 

 and the aid and abetment of the legal profession enables 

 you to carry on your impostures, and to evade punish- 

 ment by the law. You poison the people and ruin their 

 health ; you are sworn to use diligence in your art ; but 

 how could you do so, as you possess no art, and all your 

 boasted science is nothing but an invention to cheat and 

 deceive ? You denounce me because I do not follow 

 your schools; but your schools can teach me nothing 

 which would be worth knowing. You belong to the 

 tribe of snakes, and I expect nothing but poison from 

 you. You do not spare the sick : how could I expect 

 that you would respect me, while I am cutting down 

 your income by exposing your pretensions and ignorance 

 to the public ? " 



This is not applicable to the medical profession of 

 our day as a whole ; not because that profession has of 

 itself risen to a higher standard, but because physicians 

 are human beings, and humanity as a whole has been 

 somewhat improving in morals. There are, however, 

 numerous well-intentioned fools in the medical pro- 

 fession, knowing nothing whatever about the real nature 

 of man, and their mistakes are not less injurious if 

 committed in ignorance than if they were intentional. 

 Moreover, their folly is the more dangerous as it is 

 protected by the authorities of the State.^ 



^ Those who study the efifects of vaccination without prejudice will 

 easily find that nothing is done in that practice except substituting a 



