rOL. X.] PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. 20^ 



minium, melted into glass, reduced into a cerusse, burnt to a litharge ; in a word, 

 tormented, torn, or burnt, as you please, it will soon rise again into genuine 

 lead, by a bare dexterous application of lixiviate salt. 



Conringius affirming, that all sorts of diseases have been cured without che- 

 mical remedies; Borrichius maintains, that the lues venerea, a confirmed dropsy, 

 and phthisis, and cancer, and several other maladies, will very rarely be cured 

 by mere Galenical medicaments. 



In the conclusion our author shows, that Paracelsus's * manners had been too 



♦ Tills extraordinary man, who assumed the pompous title of Philippus Aureolus Theophrastus 

 Paracelsus Bombast ab Hohenheim, but whose real name is said to have been Haechener, was born, 

 according to some biographers, at Einsidlen, in Switzerland, according to others in the small village 

 of Gaiss, in 1493. Very early in life he manifested a strong passion for chemistry, and travelled 

 into various parts of Europe, chiefly with a view of perfecting himself in this his favourite study. On 

 his return from his travels, he was appointed to a chemical and medical professorship at Basil, but he 

 quitted this situation two or three years afterwards, owing to a disappointment he experienced from 

 the issue of a prosecution he had instituted against one of his patients, for the recovery of a most 

 exorbitant fee, of which only a moiety was awarded him by the judges. After this he removed to 

 Alsace, where he resided a considerable time, and got into great repute for his real or pretended 

 cures. He died at Saltsburg, in ISS-i, according to some accounts ; in 1541 according to others; in 

 either case at an age rather premature for one who pretended to keep concealed, in the hilt of an old 

 sword which he constantly wore, an infallible remedy (which he termed Azoth) against all kinds of 

 diseases. It would seem that Bacchus triumphed over all his arcana j for, during some years before 

 his death, he is said to have carried his indulgence in wine to such excess, tliat he never went to bed 

 sober, nor ever took off his clothes. 



When we contemplate the conduct of Paracelsus, or look into his writings, we are astonished that 

 such a man should ever have attracted that degree of notice which he once did. But credulity was 

 the characteristic feature of the age and country in which he lived. How else could it happen, that 

 his barbarous and unintelligible jargon should pass for science ; that the sick, rich as well as poor, 

 should have faith in one, who set at nought all the labours of preceding philosophers and physicians ; 

 who pronounced anatomy useless ; who neglected to investigate the symptoms and progress of dis- 

 eases ; and instead of searching into their real nature and origin, assigned for their production certain 

 fictitious chemical agents; and, to fill the measure of absurdity, pretended to have a specific remedy 

 for all. Such, indeed, was the credulity, folly, and superstition of the age, that he made even a 

 pretension to magic, subservient to his interests. Thus he asserted, that in the portico of the infer- 

 nal regions, he had disputed with Avicenna, concerning his potable gold, &c, ; and that he could 

 produce from the seihen virile, put into a phial well corked and sealed, and subjected to a process 

 which he describes, an artificial homuncule, resembling in all respects, excepting its diminutiveness, 

 the real human offspring ! These, it is evident, are the extravagancies not merely of an impostor, but 

 of a madman; in fact, the anecdotes recorded of him by his assistant Oporinus, scarcely leave a doubt 

 that he was subject to fi^equent paroxysms of insanity. We suppose it was in some of these phrensy-fits 

 that he wrote about his familiar demon, about sylphs, and gnomes, and fairies, &c. His collected 

 worksj the greater part of which was published after his death, amount to 3 vols, folio. 



Inimical as Paracelsus was to true philosophy and science, and extravagant and empirical as he was 

 in his conduct and writings ; yet would it appear that he advantaged medicine in some degree, inas- 

 much as he weaned physicians from that too servile veneration, which, before his time was paid to the 



VOL. II. E E 



