A HISTORY OF SCIENCE 



able influence. But in the end his system was des- 

 tined to pass out of existence, not very long after the 

 death of its author. Van Helmont was not only a 

 physician, but was master of all the other branches of 

 learning of the time, taking up the study of medicine 

 and chemistry as an after-thought, but devoting him- 

 self to them with the greatest enthusiasm once he had 

 begun his investigations. His attitude towards exist- 

 ing doctrines was as revolutionary as that of Paracel- 

 sus, and he rejected the teachings of Galen and all the 

 ancient writers, although retaining some of the views 

 of Paracelsus. He modified the archczus of Paracelsus, 

 and added many complications to it. He believed 

 the whole body to be controlled by an arch&us mfluus, 

 the soul by the archcei insiti, and these in turn controlled 

 by the central archeus. His system is too elaborate 

 and complicated for full explanation, but its chief ser- 

 vice to medicine was in introducing new chemical 

 methods in the preparation of drugs. In this way 

 he was indirectly connected with the establishment of 

 the latrochemical school. It was he who first used 

 the word "gas" a word coined by him, along with 

 many others that soon fell into disuse. 



The principles of the latrochemical school were the 

 use of chemical medicines, and a theory of pathology 

 different from the prevailing "humoral" pathology. 

 The founder of this school was Sylvius (Franz de le 

 Boe, 1614-1672), professor of medicine at Leyden. He 

 attempted to establish a permanent system of medicine 

 based on the newly discovered theory of the circulation 

 and the new chemistry, but his name is remembered 

 by medical men because of the fissure in the brain 



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