I9Q Paracelsus . [April, 
contributions to the theory and practice of medicine, and to 
other departments of thought and knowledge, I must now 
briefly notice. As already remarked, the chief practical 
service of Paracelsus was his application of chemical pre- 
parations to medicinal purposes, in lieu of the vegetable 
decodtions which had previously been in use. Though he 
repeatedly gives directions for the transmutation of the base 
into the noble metals, yet in intervals of sobriety or sincerity 
he recognises the fallacy of this pseudo-science, and ex- 
pressly states that “ the province of alchemy is not to make 
gold, but to prepare medicines.” It is certain that he gave 
a great impetus to the study of chemistry, and that after 
his time it became a necessary branch of medical education, 
and was taught in schools and colleges.* The new force 
thus brought into play counts for a great deal more than the 
aCtual remedies which he has bequeathed to us, though these 
are of great importance. Among them are preparations of 
mercury, lead, antimony, sulphur, blue vitriol, iron, and 
arsenic. His so-called “ laudanum ” was not opium, but 
a compound of mercury or antimony with other drugs. 
The physiological and pathological theories of Paracelsus 
were of course crude, and yet showed a certain advance upon 
his predecessors. All bodies, he taught, including the human 
frame, consist of three elements — salt, sulphur, and mercury. 
The just equilibrium of these is health ; the excess or defeCt 
of any, disease. This seems at first sight something like 
nonsense ; but let us examine a little further. The names 
of these three elements were not specific, but generic ; that 
is, there were many sulphurs, many salts, many mercuries. 
Salt represented the principle of fixity, sulphur that of com- 
bustibility, and mercury that of volatility. When a substance 
burns, vapour is given off, aflame is seen, and ashes remain. 
Nothing could be more natural than to conclude that the 
substance was made up of three parts, — vapour, flame, and 
ash, — or, a volatile, a combustible, and a fixed ingredient. 
Excess of the first in the human body caused insanity ; of 
the second, fever; of the third, stiffness of the joints, and 
diseases accompanied by the deposition of calculi, which 
Paracelsus generalised under the name of tartareous dis-^ 
orders, from a supposed analogy with the precipitation of 
tartar during vinous fermentation. The vegetable and 
mineral worlds were subject to similar maladies. Gold was 
the only metal in which the elements were mixed in true 
* Alchemy must be regarded not as a mere medley of dreams and fables, 
but as an early stage in the history of Chemistry, which was no creation either 
of Boyle or of Lavoisier. 
