FROM PARACELSUS TO HARVEY 



summed up in a single phrase he overthrew old tra- 

 ditions. 



To Paracelsus' s endeavors, however, if not to the 

 actual products of his work, is due the credit of setting 

 in motion the chain of thought that developed finally 

 into scientific chemistry. Nor can the ultimate aim 

 of the modern chemist seek a higher object than that 

 of this sixteenth-century alchemist, who taught that 

 " true alchemy has but one aim and object, to extract 

 the quintessence of things, and to prepare arcana, 

 tinctures, and elixirs which may restore tp man the 

 health and soundness he has lost." 



THE GREAT ANATOMISTS 



About the beginning of the sixteenth century, while 

 Paracelsus was scoffing at the study of anatomy as 

 useless, and using his influence against it, there had 

 already come upon the scene the first of the great 

 anatomists whose work was to make the century 

 conspicuous in that branch of medicine. 



The young anatomist Charles Etienne (1503-1564) 

 made one of the first noteworthy discoveries, pointing 

 out for the first time that the spinal cord contains 

 a canal, continuous throughout its length. He also 

 made other minor discoveries of some importance, 

 but his researches were completely overshadowed and 

 obscured by the work of a young Fleming who came 

 upon the scene a few years later, and who shone with 

 such brilliancy in the medical world that he obscured 

 completely the work of his contemporary until many 

 years later. This young physician, who was destined 

 to lead such an eventful career and meet such an 



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