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Signatures and Astrology 



[CH. 



his father had been before him, and in 1527 he became 

 professor at Basle. Here he gave great offence by lecturing 

 in the vulgar tongue, burning the writings of Avicenna and 

 Galen, and interpreting his own works instead of those of 

 the ancients. His disregard of cherished traditions, and 

 his personal peculiarities led to difficulties with his colleagues, 

 and he only held his post for a very short time. For the 

 rest of his life he was a wanderer on the face of the earth, 

 and he died in comparative poverty at Salzburg in 1541. 



Text-fig. 108. Theophrastus von Hohenheim, called 

 Paracelsus (1493 — 1541) [From a medal, see 

 F. P. Weber, Appendix II]. 



The character and writings of Paracelsus are full of 

 the strangest contradictions. Browning's poem perhaps 

 gives a better idea of his career than any prose account 

 aiming at historical accuracy. His life was so strange that 

 the imagination of a poet is needed to revitalise it for us 

 to-day. His almost incredible boastfulness is the main 

 characteristic that everyone remembers — the word " bom- 

 bast " being, in all probability, coined from his name. In 



