(b. Einsiedeln, near Zürich, 1493; d. 1541)
A Swiss alchemist and physician, Paracelsus (‘after Celsus’) was an impious, low-brow drinker. Browning wrote a poem which makes some parallels with Merlin. Paracelsus went on a European tour in search of knowledge, apparently evading German cities. He returned in 1524 during the Lutheran Reformation.
He was the town physician in Bâle, and a neologist like Thomas More. He was a neoplatonist, and sought a holistic ‘theory of everything’. He believed all natural phenomena were alchemical processes, ie Creation was the separation of materials (fluids). He also sought self-consistent explanations – ie the rational over the superstitious.
The alchemist is the stomach, separating ‘good’ and ‘bad’ elements (of food). Cf. Alchaeus.
Galenists (treat the patient) vs. Paracelsians (treat the disease).
Notes from a presentation by Philip Ball, author of The Devil’s Doctor.
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