Paracelsus

                         Paracelsus

Paracelsus (born Philippus Aureolus Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim, 11 November or 17 December 1493 – 24 September 1541) was a German-Swiss Renaissance physician, botanist, alchemist, astrologer, and general occultist. He founded the discipline of toxicology. Importantly, however, he's also known as a revolutionary for insisting upon using observations of nature, rather than looking to ancient texts, in open and radical defiance of medical practice of his day. He is also credited for giving zinc its name, calling it zincum, and for the terms "gas," "chemistry," and "alcohol." Modern psychology often also credits him for being the first to note that some diseases are rooted in psychological illness.

Paracelsus was born and raised in the village of Einsiedeln in Switzerland. His father, Wilhelm Bombast von Hohenheim, was a Swabian (German) chemist and physician. His mother was Swiss; she presumably died in his childhood.He received a profound humanistic and theological education by his father, local clerics and the convent school of St. Paul's Abbey in the Lavanttal.

In 1530, at the instigation of the medical faculty at the University of Leipzig, the city council of Nürnberg prohibited the printing of Paracelsus' works.

He then wandered Europe, Africa and Asia Minor in the pursuit of hidden knowledge. He revised old manuscripts and wrote new ones but had trouble finding publishers. In 1536, his Die grosse Wundartznei (The Great Surgery Book) was published and enabled him to regain fame. Paracelsus' contributions to medicine can be seen in the context of the birth of Lutheranism. He was a contemporary of Copernicus, Da Vinci, and Martin Luther.

 He used to treat miners then e understood that real cause of disease is not some imbalance humour but an external source.. He called it ‘seeds’ which is the basic of disease causing organisms

Paracelsus pioneered the use of chemicals and minerals in medicine. His hermetical views were that sickness and health in the body relied on the harmony of man (microcosm) and Nature (macrocosm). He took an approach different 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. (Debus & Multhauf, p. 6-12).

As a result of this hermetical idea of harmony, the universe's macrocosm was represented in every person as a microcosm. According to the insights at the time, there were Seven planets in the sky, Seven metals on Earth and Seven centers (or major organs) in Man — seven was a special number. Everything was heavenly and closely interrelated .He died on 24 September 1541.

FINALLY HE MUST BE CALLED THE FATHER OF MODERN MEDICINE.