Editing Paracelsus (section)

== Contributions to medicine ==
[[File:Einsiedeln IMG 6265.JPG|thumb|Memorial in [[Einsiedeln]], erected in 1941 on the occasion of the 400th anniversary of Paracelsus's death, on the initiative of art historian Linus Birchler, first president of the Swiss Paracelsus Society<ref>The sculpture shows an "Einsiedeln woman with two healthy children" (''Einsiedler Frau mit zwei gesunden Kindern'') as a symbol of "motherly health". A more conventional memorial, a [[:File:Paracelsus geburtsort gedenkstein.jpg|plaque]] showing the portrait of Paracelsus, was placed in Egg, Einsiedeln, in 1910 (now at the Teufelsbrücke, {{coord|47.1675|N|8.7668|E|}}).
The 1941 monument was harshly criticized as "dishonest kitsch" (''verlogener Kitsch'') in the service of a conservative Catholic "cult of motherhood" (''Mütterlichkeitskult'')  by Franz Rueb in his (generally iconoclastic) ''Mythos Paracelsus'' (1995), p. 330.</ref>]]

=== Hermeticism ===
His [[Hermeticism|hermetic]] beliefs were that sickness and health in the body relied upon the harmony of humans ([[macrocosm and microcosm|microcosm]]) and nature ([[macrocosm]]). He took a different approach from those before him, using this analogy not in the manner of soul-purification but in the manner that humans must have certain balances of minerals in their bodies, and that certain illnesses of the body had chemical remedies that could cure them. As a result of this hermetical idea of harmony, the universe's macrocosm was represented in every person as a microcosm. An example of this correspondence is the [[doctrine of signatures]] used to identify curative powers of plants. If a plant looked like a part of the body, then this signified its ability to cure this given anatomy. Therefore, the root of the [[orchid]] looks like a testicle and can therefore heal any testicle-associated illness.<ref>{{Cite book|title = The Western Medical Tradition|last = Wear|first = Andrew|publisher = Cambridge University Press|year = 1995|location = Cambridge|pages = 314}}</ref> Paracelsus mobilized the [[Macrocosm and microcosm|microcosm-macrocosm]] theory to demonstrate the analogy between the aspirations to salvation and health. As humans must ward off the influence of evil spirits with morality, they must also ward off diseases with good health.<ref name="Webster, Charles 2008" />

Paracelsus believed that true anatomy could only be understood once the nourishment for each part of the body was discovered. He believed that one must therefore know the influence of the stars on these particular body parts.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|title = The Western Medical Tradition|last = Wear|first = Andrew|publisher = Cambridge University Press|year = 1995|location = Cambridge|pages = 315}}</ref> Diseases were caused by poisons brought from the stars. However, 'poisons' were not necessarily something negative, in part because related substances interacted, but also because only the dose determined if a substance was poisonous. Paracelsus claimed in contrast to Galen, that like cures like. If a star or poison caused a disease, then it must be countered by another star or poison.<ref name=":1" /> Because everything in the universe was interrelated, beneficial medical substances could be found in herbs, minerals, and various chemical combinations thereof. Paracelsus viewed the universe as one coherent organism that is pervaded by a uniting, life-giving spirit, and this in its entirety, humans included, was 'God'. His beliefs put him at odds with the Catholic Church, for which there necessarily had to be a difference between the creator and the created.<ref>{{cite book |author1=Alex Wittendorff |author2=Claus Bjørn |author3=Ole Peter Grell |author4=T. Morsing |author5=Per Barner Darnell |author6=Hans Bjørn |author7=Gerhardt Eriksen |author8=Palle Lauring |author9=Kristian Hvidt |title = Tyge Brahe |language=da | publisher = Gad  | year = 1994 |isbn=87-12-02272-1 }} p44-45</ref> Therefore, some have considered him to be a Protestant.<ref name="Helm Winkelmann 2001 p. 49">{{cite book | last1=Helm | first1=J. | last2=Winkelmann | first2=A. | title=''Religious Confessions and the Sciences in the Sixteenth Century'' | publisher=Brill | series=Studies in European Judaism, Volume 1 | year=2001 | isbn=978-90-04-12045-7 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vZbx3O9cVHoC&pg=PA49 | access-date=4 February 2023 | page=49 | archive-date=4 February 2023 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230204173453/https://books.google.com/books?id=vZbx3O9cVHoC&pg=PA49 | url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Dorner 2004 p. 1-PA179">{{cite book | last=Dorner | first=I.A. | title=History of Protestant Theology | publisher=Wipf & Stock Publishers | year=2004 | isbn=978-1-59244-610-0 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rglLAwAAQBAJ&pg=RA1-PA179 | access-date=4 February 2023 | page=1-PA179 | archive-date=4 February 2023 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230204173452/https://books.google.com/books?id=rglLAwAAQBAJ&pg=RA1-PA179 | url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Hargrave 1951 p. ">{{cite book | last=Hargrave | first=J. | title=''The Life and Soul of Paracelsus'' | publisher=Gollancz | year=1951 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0mwwAAAAYAAJ | access-date=4 February 2023 | page= | archive-date=3 January 2024 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240103152005/https://books.google.com/books?id=0mwwAAAAYAAJ | url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Brockliss Jones 1997 p. ">{{cite book | last1=Brockliss | first1=L.W.B. | last2=Jones | first2=C. | title=''The Medical World of Early Modern France'' | publisher=Clarendon Press | year=1997 | isbn=978-0-19-822750-2 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Th9rAAAAMAAJ | access-date=4 February 2023 | page= | archive-date=4 February 2023 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230204173448/https://books.google.com/books?id=Th9rAAAAMAAJ | url-status=live }}</ref>

=== Discoveries and treatments ===
Paracelsus is frequently credited with reintroducing [[opium]] to [[Western Europe]] during the [[German Renaissance]]. He extolled the benefits of opium, and of a pill he called laudanum, which has frequently been asserted by others to have been an opium tincture. Paracelsus did not leave a complete recipe, and the known ingredients differ considerably from 17th-century [[laudanum]].<ref name="Sigerist">{{cite journal |last1=Sigerist |first1=H. E. |title=Laudanum in the Works of Paracelsus |journal=Bull. Hist. Med. |date=1941 |volume=9 |pages=530–544 |url=http://www.samorini.it/doc1/alt_aut/sz/sigerist-laudanum-in-the-work-of-paracelsus.pdf |access-date=5 September 2018 |archive-date=9 October 2022 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://www.samorini.it/doc1/alt_aut/sz/sigerist-laudanum-in-the-work-of-paracelsus.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>

Paracelsus invented, or at least named a sort of [[liniment]], [[opodeldoc]], a mixture of [[soap]] in [[ethanol|alcohol]], to which [[camphor]] and sometimes a number of [[herb]]al essences, most notably [[Artemisia (genus)|wormwood]], were added. Paracelsus's recipe forms the basis for most later versions of liniment.<ref>Michael Quinion, ''World Wide Words'', [http://www.worldwidewords.org/weirdwords/ww-opo1.htm May 27, 2006] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170331000838/http://worldwidewords.org/weirdwords/ww-opo1.htm |date=31 March 2017 }}</ref>

His work ''Die große Wundarzney'' is a forerunner of [[antisepsis]]. This specific empirical knowledge originated from his personal experiences as an army physician in the [[Ottoman–Venetian War|Venetian wars]]. Paracelsus demanded that the application of cow dung, feathers and other noxious concoctions to wounds be surrendered in favour of keeping the wounds clean, stating, "If you prevent infection, Nature will heal the wound all by herself."<ref name=":2" /> During his time as a military surgeon, Paracelsus was exposed to the crudity of medical knowledge at the time, when doctors believed that infection was a natural part of the healing process. He advocated for cleanliness and protection of wounds, as well as the regulation of diet. Popular ideas of the time opposed these theories and suggested sewing or plastering wounds.<ref name="TO MEDICAL SCIENCE AND PRACTICE J. M 1917 pp. 390-402" /> Historians of syphilitic disease credit Paracelsus with the recognition of the inherited{{clarify|date=October 2019}} character of [[syphilis]]. In his first medical publication, a short pamphlet on syphilis treatment that was also the most comprehensive clinical description the period ever produced, he wrote a clinical description of syphilis in which he maintained that it could be treated by carefully measured doses of mercury.<ref name="TO MEDICAL SCIENCE AND PRACTICE J. M 1917 pp. 390-402" /> Similarly, he was the first to discover that the disease could only be contracted by contact.<ref name=":2" />

[[Hippocrates]] put forward the theory that illness was caused by an imbalance of the [[humorism|four humours]]: blood, phlegm, black bile and yellow bile. These ideas were further developed by [[Galen]] into an extremely influential and highly persistent set of medical beliefs that were to last until the mid-1850s. Contrarily, Paracelsus believed in three humours: salt (representing stability), sulphur (representing combustibility), and mercury (representing liquidity); he defined disease as a separation of one humour from the other two. He believed that body organs functioned alchemically, that is, they separated pure from impure.<ref name=":3" /> The dominant medical treatments in Paracelsus's time were specific diets to help in the "cleansing of the putrefied juices" combined with purging and [[bloodletting]] to restore the balance of the four humours. Paracelsus supplemented and challenged this view with his beliefs that illness was the result of the body being attacked by ''outside'' agents. He objected to excessive bloodletting, saying that the process disturbed the harmony of the system, and that blood could not be purified by lessening its quantity.<ref name="TO MEDICAL SCIENCE AND PRACTICE J. M 1917 pp. 390-402">THE CONTRIBUTIONS OF PARACELSUS TO MEDICAL SCIENCE AND PRACTICE J. M. Stillman The Monist, Vol. 27, No. 3 (JULY 1917), pp. 390–402</ref> Paracelsus believed that fasting helped enable the body to heal itself. 'Fasting is the greatest remedy, the physician within.' <ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.targethealth.com/post/short-history-of-fasting|title=Short History of Fasting &#124; Jun 05, 2017|access-date=14 April 2020|archive-date=22 June 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200622052356/https://www.targethealth.com/post/short-history-of-fasting|url-status=live}}</ref>

Paracelsus gave birth to clinical diagnosis and the administration of highly specific medicines. This was uncommon for a period heavily exposed to cure-all remedies. The [[Germ theory of disease|germ theory]] was anticipated by him as he proposed that diseases were entities in themselves, rather than states of being. Paracelsus prescribed [[black hellebore]] to alleviate certain forms of [[arteriosclerosis]]. Lastly, he recommended the use of iron for "poor blood" and is credited with the creation of the terms "chemistry," "gas," and "alcohol".<ref name=":2" />

During Paracelsus's lifetime and after his death, he was often celebrated as a wonder healer and investigator of those [[Traditional medicine|folk medicines]] that were rejected by the fathers of medicine (e.g. Galen, Avicenna). It was believed that he had success with his own remedies curing the plague, according to those that revered him. Since effective medicines for serious infectious diseases weren't invented before the 19th century, Paracelsus came up with many prescriptions and concoctions on his own. For infectious diseases with fever, it was common to prescribe [[diaphoretic]]s and [[Herbal tonic|tonic]]s that at least gave temporary relief. Also many of his remedies contained the famed "[[theriac]]", a preparation derived from oriental medicine sometimes containing opium. The following prescription by Paracelsus was dedicated to the village of [[Sterzing]]:

{{Poemquote
|text=Also sol das trank gemacht werden, dadurch die pestilenz im schweiss ausgetrieben wird: (So the potion should be made, whereby the pestilence is expelled in sweat:)
eines guten gebranten weins...ein moß,  (Medicinal brandy)
eines guten tiriaks zwölf lot,  (Theriac)
myrrhen vier lot, (Myrrh)
wurzen von roßhuf sechs lot, (Tussilago sp.)
sperma ceti,
terrae sigillatae ietlichs ein lot,  (Medicinal earth)
schwalbenwurz zwei lot,  (Vincetoxicum sp.)
diptan, bibernel, baldrianwurzel ietlichs ein lot (Dictamnus albus, Valerian, Pimpinella)
gaffer ein quint. (Camphor)
Dise ding alle durch einander gemischet, in eine sauberes glas wol gemacht, auf acht tag in der sonne stehen lassen, nachfolgents dem kranken ein halben löffel eingeben... (Mix all these things together, put them into a clean glass, let them stand in the sun for eight days, then give the sick person half a spoonful...)
|author=E. Kaiser |title="Paracelsus. 10. Auflage. Rowohlt's Monographien. p. 115"  |source=''Reinbek bei Hamburg. 1090-{{ISBN|3-499-50149-X}}'' (1993)
}}

One of his most overlooked achievements was the systematic study of minerals and the curative powers of alpine [[mineral spring]]s. His countless wanderings also brought him deep into many areas of the [[Alps]], where such therapies were already practised on a less common scale than today.<ref>Natura Sophia. [http://www.naturasophia.com/Paracelsus.html Paracelsus and the Light of Nature] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131022165401/http://www.naturasophia.com/Paracelsus.html |date=22 October 2013 }}. Retrieved 26 November 2013</ref> Paracelsus's major work ''On the Miners' Sickness and Other Diseases of Miners'' ({{langx|de|Von der Bergaucht und anderen Bergkrankheiten}}) presented his observation of diseases of miners and the effects of various minerals and metals in the human organism.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Corn|first=Jacqueline K.|date=1975|title=Historical Perspective to a Current Controversy on the Clinical Spectrum of Plumbism|url=https://www.milbank.org/wp-content/uploads/mq/volume-53/issue-01/53-1-Historical-Perspective-to-a-Current-Controversy-on-the-Clinical-Spectrum-of-Plumbism.pdf|journal=[[Milbank Quarterly]]|volume=53|issue=1|page=95|pmid=1094321|type=|access-date=28 September 2021|archive-date=28 September 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210928235305/https://www.milbank.org/wp-content/uploads/mq/volume-53/issue-01/53-1-Historical-Perspective-to-a-Current-Controversy-on-the-Clinical-Spectrum-of-Plumbism.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Toxicology===
Paracelsus extended his interest in chemistry and biology to what is now considered [[toxicology]]. He clearly expounded the concept of dose response in his ''Third Defence'', where he stated that "Solely the dose determines that a thing is not a poison." (''Sola dosis facit venenum'' "[[The dose makes the poison|Only the dose makes the poison]]")<ref>Paracelsus, dritte defensio, 1538.</ref> This was used to defend his use of inorganic substances in medicine as outsiders frequently criticized Paracelsus's chemical agents as too toxic to be used as therapeutic agents.<ref name=":3" /> His belief that diseases locate in a specific organ was extended to inclusion of target organ toxicity; that is, there is a specific site in the body where a chemical will exert its greatest effect. Paracelsus also encouraged using experimental animals to study both beneficial and toxic chemical effects.<ref name=":3" /> Paracelsus was one of the first European scientists to introduce chemistry to medicine. He advocated the use of inorganic salts, minerals, and metals for medicinal purposes. He held the belief that organs in the body operated on the basis of separating pure substances from impure ones. Humans must eat to survive and they eat both pure and impure things. It is the function of organs to separate the impure from the pure. The pure substances will be absorbed by the body while the impure will exit the body as excrement.<ref name=":8">{{Cite book|last=Hanegraaf|first=W.|title=Paracelsus (Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim, 1493-1541)|publisher=Brill|year=2007|pages=509–511}}</ref> He did not support [[Hippocrates|Hippocrate's theory of the four humours]]. Instead of four humours, Paracelsus believed there were three: salt, sulphur, and mercury which represent stability, combustibility, and liquidity respectively. Separation of any one of these humours from the other two would result in disease.<ref name=":6" /> To cure a disease of a certain intensity, a substance of similar nature but the opposite intensity should be administered. These ideas constitute Paracelsus's principles of similitude and contrariety, respectively.<ref name=":6" />

===Psychosomatism===
[[File:Swiss-Commemorative-Coin-1993-CHF-20-obverse.png|thumb|180px|Swiss [[Coins of the Swiss franc|20 franc]] coin commemorating the 500th anniversary Paracelsus' birth]]
In his work ''Von den Krankeiten'' Paracelsus writes: "Thus, the cause of the disease [[chorea]] lasciva [<nowiki/>[[Sydenham's chorea]], or St. Vitus' Dance] is a mere opinion and idea, assumed by imagination, affecting those who believe in such a thing. This opinion and idea are the origin of the disease both in children and adults. In children the case is also imagination, based not on thinking but on perceiving, because they have heard or seen something. The reason is this: their sight and hearing are so strong that unconsciously they have fantasies about what they have seen or heard."<ref>{{Citation |title=The History of Psychotherapy: From Healing Magic to Encounter |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7VGgQi3NJY8C&q=their+sight+and+hearing+are+so+strong+that+unconsciously+they+have+fantasies+about+what+they+have+seen+or+heard&pg=PA200 |page=200 |isbn=9780876682807 |last1=Ehrenwald |first1=Jan |year=1976 |publisher=Jason Aronson |access-date=19 October 2020 |archive-date=3 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240103151920/https://books.google.com/books?id=7VGgQi3NJY8C&q=their+sight+and+hearing+are+so+strong+that+unconsciously+they+have+fantasies+about+what+they+have+seen+or+heard&pg=PA200#v=snippet&q=their%20sight%20and%20hearing%20are%20so%20strong%20that%20unconsciously%20they%20have%20fantasies%20about%20what%20they%20have%20seen%20or%20heard&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref> Paracelsus called for the humane treatment of the mentally ill as he saw them not to be possessed by evil spirits, but merely 'brothers' ensnared in a treatable malady."<ref name=":2" /> Paracelsus is one of the first physicians to suggest that mental well-being and a moral conscience had a direct effect on physical health. He proposed that the state of a person's psyche could cure and cause disease. Theoretically, a person could maintain good health through sheer will.<ref name=":6" /> He also stated that whether or not a person could succeed in their craft depended on their character. For example, if a physician had shrewd and immoral intentions then they would eventually fail in their career because evil could not lead to success.<ref name=":7" /> When it came to mental illness, Paracelsus stressed the importance of sleep and sedation as he believed sedation (with [[History of general anesthesia|sulphur preparations]]) could catalyse healing and cure mental illness.<ref name=":8" />