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231-466: Paracelsus ( / ˌ p æ r ə ˈ s ɛ l s ə s / ; German: [paʁaˈtsɛlzʊs] ; c. 1493 – 24 September 1541), born Theophrastus von Hohenheim (full name Philippus Aureolus Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim ), was a Swiss physician, alchemist , lay theologian , and philosopher of the German Renaissance . He was a pioneer in several aspects of the " medical revolution " of

462-548: A Tribune to govern the local administration, perpetuating the Roman custom started in the last years of the Western Roman Empire . Between the end of the 7th century and the beginning of the 8th, a new political reform affected Venetia : like the other Byzantine provinces of Italy it was transformed into a duchy , at the head of which was the doge . Following the brief regime of the magistri militum , in 742 ducal electivity

693-506: A conspiracy for a rebellion against Venice was dismantled in Candia. The conspiracy was led by Sifis Vlastos as an opposition to the religious reforms for the unification of Churches agreed at the Council of Florence . In 1481, Venice retook nearby Rovigo , which it had held previously from 1395 to 1438. The Ottoman Empire started sea campaigns as early as 1423, when it waged a seven-year war with

924-507: A basic set of laboratory techniques , theories, and terms, some of which are still in use today. They did not abandon the Ancient Greek philosophical idea that everything is composed of four elements , and they tended to guard their work in secrecy, often making use of cyphers and cryptic symbolism. In Europe, the 12th-century translations of medieval Islamic works on science and the rediscovery of Aristotelian philosophy gave birth to

1155-465: A clean glass, let them stand in the sun for eight days, then give the sick person half a spoonful...) One of his most overlooked achievements was the systematic study of minerals and the curative powers of alpine mineral springs . 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. Paracelsus's major work On

1386-519: A clear line between genuine tradition and legend. As a physician of the early 16th century, Paracelsus held a natural affinity with the Hermetic , Neoplatonic , and Pythagorean philosophies central to the Renaissance, a world-view exemplified by Marsilio Ficino and Pico della Mirandola . Astrology was a very important part of Paracelsus's medicine and he was a practising astrologer , as were many of

1617-408: A collection of deities that are each said to represent and protect a specific body part or region. Although those who practised Neidan prioritized meditation over external alchemical strategies, many of the same elixirs and constituents from previous Daoist alchemical schools of thought continued to be utilized in tandem with meditation. Eternal life remained a consideration for Neidan alchemists, as it

1848-446: A display of his contempt for conventional medicine, Paracelsus publicly burned editions of the works of Galen and Avicenna . On 23 June 1527, he burnt a copy of Avicenna's Canon of Medicine , an enormous tome that was a pillar of academic study, in market square. He was prone to many outbursts of abusive language, abhorred untested theory, and ridiculed anybody who placed more importance on titles than practice: 'if disease put us to

2079-679: A few judges, in 1130 it was decided to place the Consilium Sapientium , which would later become the Great Council of Venice , alongside his power. In the same period, in addition to the expulsion of the clergy from public life, new assemblies such as the Council of Forty and the Minor Council were established and in his inauguration speech the Doge was forced to declare loyalty to the Republic with

2310-510: A flourishing tradition of Latin alchemy. This late medieval tradition of alchemy would go on to play a significant role in the development of early modern science (particularly chemistry and medicine ). Modern discussions of alchemy are generally split into an examination of its exoteric practical applications and its esoteric spiritual aspects, despite criticisms by scholars such as Eric J. Holmyard and Marie-Louise von Franz that they should be understood as complementary. The former

2541-424: A good explanation for the nature of medicine because each of these properties existed in many physical forms. The tria prima also defined the human identity. Salt represented the body; mercury represented the spirit (imagination, moral judgment, and the higher mental faculties); sulphur represented the soul (the emotions and desires). By understanding the chemical nature of the tria prima , a physician could discover

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2772-584: A highly influential work. In Sanskrit, rasa translates to "mercury", and Nāgārjuna Siddha was said to have developed a method of converting mercury into gold. Scholarship on Indian alchemy is in the publication of The Alchemical Body by David Gordon White. A modern bibliography on Indian alchemical studies has been written by White. The contents of 39 Sanskrit alchemical treatises have been analysed in detail in G. Jan Meulenbeld 's History of Indian Medical Literature . The discussion of these works in HIML gives

3003-458: A large fleet to support his offensive by sea. Antonio Grimani , more a businessman and diplomat than a sailor, was defeated in the sea battle of Zonchio in 1499. The Turks once again sacked Friuli. Preferring peace to total war both against the Turks and by sea, Venice surrendered the bases of Lepanto, Durazzo , Modon , and Coron . Venice's attention was diverted from its usual maritime position by

3234-516: A long poem based on the life of Paracelsus, entitled Paracelsus , published 1835. Meinrad Lienert in 1915 published a tale (which he attributed to Gall Morel ) about Paracelsus's sword. Alchemist Alchemy (from the Arabic word al-kīmīā , الكیمیاء ) is an ancient branch of natural philosophy , a philosophical and protoscientific tradition that was historically practised in China , India ,

3465-484: A more obvious connection to medicine. The philosopher's stone of European alchemists can be compared to the Grand Elixir of Immortality sought by Chinese alchemists. In the hermetic view, these two goals were not unconnected, and the philosopher's stone was often equated with the universal panacea ; therefore, the two traditions may have had more in common than initially appears. As early as 317 AD, Ge Hong documented

3696-806: A name that continued to be used until the 18th century. Starting from the 15th century, the documents written in Latin were joined by those in the Venetian language , and in parallel with the events in Italy, the Duchy of Venice also changed its name, becoming the Lordship of Venice, which as written in the peace treaty of 1453 with Sultan Mehmed II was fully named the Illustrissima et Excellentissima deta Signoria de Venexia ('The Most Illustrious and Excellent Signoria of Venice'). During

3927-711: A navy of 3,300 ships (manned by 36,000 men) and had taken over most of what is now the Veneto, including the cities of Verona (which swore its loyalty in the Devotion of Verona to Venice in 1405) and Padua. Slaves were plentiful in the Italian city-states as late as the 15th century. The Venetian slave trade was divided in to the Balkan slave trade and the Black Sea slave trade . Between 1414 and 1423, some 10,000 slaves, imported from Caffa (via

4158-541: A new element. Paracelsus largely rejected the philosophies of Aristotle and Galen , as well as the theory of humours . Although he did accept the concept of the four elements —water, air, fire, and earth; he saw them as a foundation for other properties on which to build. In a posthumously published book entitled, A Book on Nymphs, Sylphs, Pygmies, and Salamanders, and on the Other Spirits , Paracelsus also described four elemental beings, each corresponding to one of

4389-465: A new form of alchemy. Neidan emphasized appeasing the inner gods that inhabit the human body by practising alchemy with compounds found in the body, rather than the mixing of natural resources that was emphasized in early Dao alchemy. For example, saliva was often considered nourishment for the inner gods and did not require any conscious alchemical reaction to produce. The inner gods were not thought of as physical presences occupying each person, but rather

4620-462: A perfunctory practice. To him, medicine was a divine mission, and good character combined with devotion to God was more important than personal skill. He encouraged physicians to practice self-improvement and humility along with studying philosophy to gain new experiences. Paracelsus was one of the first medical professors to recognize that physicians required a solid academic knowledge in the natural sciences, especially chemistry . Paracelsus pioneered

4851-453: 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. When it came to mental illness, Paracelsus stressed the importance of sleep and sedation as he believed sedation (with sulphur preparations ) could catalyse healing and cure mental illness. The oldest surviving portrait of Paracelsus

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5082-608: A physician, attending to the medical needs of the pilgrims and inhabitants of the cloister. Paracelsus was educated by his father in botany, medicine, mineralogy, mining, and natural philosophy. He received a profound humanistic and theological education from local clerics and the convent school of St. Paul's Abbey in the Lavanttal . It is likely that Paracelsus received his early education mainly from his father. Some biographers have claimed that he received tutoring from four bishops and Johannes Trithemius , abbot of Sponheim . However, there

5313-521: A political vision close to that of the Holy Roman Empire and consequently attempted to establish feudalism in Venice as well, causing a revolt in 976 which led to the burning of the capital and the killing of the doge. These events led the Venetian patriciate to gain a growing influence on the doge's policies and the conflicts that arose following the doge's assassination were resolved only in 991 with

5544-516: A rival city of Venice in the salt trade, decided to abdicate in favor of his brother, at the time patriarch of Grado, who refused. Since there was no heir in 887 the people gathered in the Concio and elected Pietro I Candiano by acclamation. The Concio managed to elect six doges up to Pietro III Candiano who in 958 assigned the position of co-dux to his son Pietro who became doge the following year. Due to his land holdings, Pietro IV Candiano had

5775-408: A sort of liniment , opodeldoc , a mixture of soap in alcohol , to which camphor and sometimes a number of herbal essences, most notably wormwood , were added. Paracelsus's recipe forms the basis for most later versions of liniment. His work Die große Wundarzney is a forerunner of antisepsis . This specific empirical knowledge originated from his personal experiences as an army physician in

6006-431: A summary of the contents of each work, their special features, and where possible the evidence concerning their dating. Chapter 13 of HIML, Various works on rasaśāstra and ratnaśāstra (or Various works on alchemy and gems ) gives brief details of a further 655 (six hundred and fifty-five) treatises. In some cases Meulenbeld gives notes on the contents and authorship of these works; in other cases references are made only to

6237-700: A village close to the Etzel Pass in Einsiedeln , Schwyz . He was born in a house next to a bridge across the Sihl river . His father Wilhelm (d. 1534) was a chemist and physician, an illegitimate descendant of the Swabian noble Georg  [ de ] Bombast von Hohenheim (1453–1499), commander of the Order of Saint John in Rohrdorf . Paracelsus' mother was probably a native of

6468-651: A wide variety of topics including optics , comparative linguistics , and medicine, composed his Great Work ( Latin : Opus Majus ) for Pope Clement IV as part of a project towards rebuilding the medieval university curriculum to include the new learning of his time. While alchemy was not more important to him than other sciences and he did not produce allegorical works on the topic, he did consider it and astrology to be important parts of both natural philosophy and theology and his contributions advanced alchemy's connections to soteriology and Christian theology. Bacon's writings integrated morality, salvation, alchemy, and

6699-459: 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." Paracelsus called for

6930-415: 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. 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

7161-687: Is a woodcut by Augustin Hirschvogel , published in 1538, still during Paracelsus's lifetime. A still older painting by Quentin Matsys has been lost, but at least three 17th-century copies survive, one by an anonymous Flemish artist, kept in the Louvre , one by Peter Paul Rubens , kept in Brussels, and one by a student of Rubens, now kept in Uppsala . Another portrait by Hirschvogel, dated 1540, claims to show Paracelsus "at

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7392-530: Is as important a spiritual practice as Shangqing meditation. While Hongjing did not deny the power of alchemical elixirs to grant immortality or provide divine protection, he ultimately found the Scripture of the Nine Elixirs to be ambiguous and spiritually unfulfilling, aiming to implement more accessible practising techniques. In the early 700s, Neidan (also known as internal alchemy) was adopted by Daoists as

7623-475: Is closely based on the 1540 portrait by Hirschvogel (but mirrored, so that now Paracelsus's left hand rests on the sword pommel), adding a variety of additional elements: the pommel of the sword is inscribed by Azoth , and next to the figure of Paracelsus, the Bombast von Hohenheim arms are shown (with an additional border of eight crosses patty ). Shown in the background are "early Rosicrucian symbols", including

7854-453: Is generally understood to form the basis for Western alchemical philosophy and practice, called the hermetic philosophy by its early practitioners. These writings were collected in the first centuries of the common era. The dawn of Western alchemy is sometimes associated with that of metallurgy , extending back to 3500 BC. Many writings were lost when the Roman emperor Diocletian ordered

8085-477: Is no record of Trithemius spending much time at Einsiedeln , nor of Paracelsus visiting Sponheim or Würzburg before Trithemius's death in 1516. All things considered, Paracelsus almost certainly received instructions from their writings, and not from direct teaching in person. At the age of 16, he started studying medicine at the University of Basel , later moving to Vienna . He gained his medical doctorate from

8316-577: Is pursued by historians of the physical sciences , who examine the subject in terms of early chemistry , medicine , and charlatanism , and the philosophical and religious contexts in which these events occurred. The latter interests historians of esotericism , psychologists , and some philosophers and spiritualists . The subject has also made an ongoing impact on literature and the arts. The word alchemy comes from old French alquemie , alkimie , used in Medieval Latin as alchymia . This name

8547-618: Is quite peculiar to them, which in Sanskrit is called Rasāyana and in Persian Rasavātam . It means the art of obtaining/manipulating Rasa : nectar, mercury, and juice. This art was restricted to certain operations, metals, drugs, compounds, and medicines, many of which have mercury as their core element. Its principles restored the health of those who were ill beyond hope and gave back youth to fading old age. The goals of alchemy in India included

8778-494: Is still an open question whether these three strands share a common origin, or to what extent they influenced each other. The start of Western alchemy may generally be traced to ancient and Hellenistic Egypt , where the city of Alexandria was a center of alchemical knowledge, and retained its pre-eminence through most of the Greek and Roman periods. Following the work of André-Jean Festugière, modern scholars see alchemical practice in

9009-465: Is very different from the whimseys of Chymists ... whose Hypotheses ... often fram’d in one week, are perhaps thought fit to be laughed at the next; and being built perchance but upon two or three Experiments are destroyed by a third or fourth, whereas the doctrine of the four Elements was fram’d by Aristotle after he had ... considered those Theories of former Philosophers, which are now with great applause revived... And had so judiciously detected ...

9240-507: The tria prima ('three primes' or principles ): a combustible element (sulphur), a fluid and changeable element (mercury), and a solid, permanent element (salt). The first mention of the mercury-sulphur-salt model was in the Opus paramirum dating to about 1530. Paracelsus believed that the principles sulphur, mercury, and salt contained the poisons contributing to all diseases. He saw each disease as having three separate cures depending on how it

9471-676: The promissione ducale ; thus the Commune of Venice , the set of all the assemblies aimed at regulating the power of the doge, began to take shape. In the 12th century, Venice decided not to participate in the Crusades due to its commercial interests in the East and instead concentrated on maintaining its possessions in Dalmatia which were repeatedly besieged by the Hungarians . The situation changed in 1202 when

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9702-716: The Apulian ports; the king of France: Cremona; the king of Hungary : Dalmatia, and each one some of another's part. The offensive against the huge army enlisted by Venice was launched from France. On 14 May 1509, Venice was crushingly defeated at the battle of Agnadello , in the Ghiara d'Adda, marking one of the most delicate points in Venetian history. French and imperial troops were occupying Veneto, but Venice managed to extricate itself through diplomatic efforts. The Apulian ports were ceded to come to terms with Spain, and Julius II soon recognized

9933-453: The Black Sea slave trade ), were sold in Venice. In the early 15th century, the republic began to expand onto the Terraferma . Thus, Vicenza , Belluno , and Feltre were acquired in 1404, and Padua , Verona , and Este in 1405. The situation in Dalmatia had been settled in 1408 by a truce with King Sigismund of Hungary , but the difficulties of Hungary finally granted to the republic

10164-680: The Byzantine-Norman wars . The following year, Emperor Alexios I Komnenos granted Venice the chrysobol , a commercial privilege that allowed Venetian merchants substantial tax exemptions in numerous Byzantine ports and the establishment of a Venetian neighbourhood in Durrës and Constantinople . The war ended in 1085 when, following the death of the leader Robert Guiscard , the Norman army abandoned its positions to return to Puglia. Having taken office in 1118, Emperor John II Komnenos decided not to renew

10395-566: The Cretan War (1645–1669) , after a heroic siege that lasted 21 years, Venice lost its major overseas possession – the island of Crete (although it kept the control of the bases of Spinalonga and Suda) – while it made some advances in Dalmatia. In 1684, however, taking advantage of the Ottoman involvement against Austria in the Great Turkish War , the republic initiated

10626-447: The Einsiedeln region and a bondswoman of Einsiedeln Abbey , who before her marriage worked as superintendent in the abbey's hospital. Paracelsus in his writings repeatedly made references to his rustic origins and occasionally used Eremita (from the name of Einsiedeln, meaning "hermitage") as part of his name. Paracelsus' mother probably died in 1502, after which Paracelsus's father moved to Villach , Carinthia , where he worked as

10857-646: The Indian subcontinent ; and Western alchemy, which occurred around the Mediterranean and whose center shifted over the millennia from Greco-Roman Egypt to the Islamic world , and finally medieval Europe . Chinese alchemy was closely connected to Taoism and Indian alchemy with the Dharmic faiths . In contrast, Western alchemy developed its philosophical system mostly independent of but influenced by various Western religions . It

11088-652: The Metropolitan City of Venice ), during its history it annexed a large part of Northeast Italy , Istria , Dalmatia , the coasts of present-day Montenegro and Albania as well as numerous islands in the Adriatic and eastern Ionian seas. At the height of its expansion, between the 13th and 16th centuries, it also governed the Peloponnese , Crete and Cyprus , most of the Greek islands , as well as several cities and ports in

11319-602: The Morean War , which lasted until 1699 and in which it was able to conquer the Morea peninsula in southern Greece. These gains did not last, however; in December 1714, the Turks began the last Turkish–Venetian War , when the Morea was "without any of those supplies which are so desirable even in countries where aid is near at hand which are not liable to attack from the sea". The Turks took

11550-599: The Most Serene Republic of Venice and traditionally known as La Serenìssima , is a country, sovereign state and maritime republic with its capital in Venice . Founded, according to tradition, in 697 by Paolo Lucio Anafesto , over the course of its 1,100 years of history it established itself as one of the major European commercial and naval powers. Initially extended in the Dogado area (a territory currently comparable to

11781-643: The Muslim world , and Europe . In its Western form, alchemy is first attested in a number of pseudepigraphical texts written in Greco-Roman Egypt during the first few centuries AD. Greek-speaking alchemists often referred to their craft as "the Art" (τέχνη) or "Knowledge" (ἐπιστήμη), and it was often characterised as mystic (μυστική), sacred (ἱɛρά), or divine (θɛíα). Alchemists attempted to purify, mature, and perfect certain materials. Common aims were chrysopoeia ,

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12012-700: The Peace of Cremona . In 1281 Venice defeated the Republic of Ancona in battle and in 1293 a new war between Genoa, the Byzantine Empire and Venice broke out, won by the Genoese following the Battle of Curzola and ending in 1299. During the war, various administrative reforms were implemented in Venice, new assemblies were established to replace popular ones such as the Senate and in the Great Council power began to concentrate in

12243-665: The Smyrniote crusades , but its participation was suspended due to the siege of Zadar by the Hungarians. The Genoese expansion to the east, which caused the Black Death , brought the rivalry between the two republics to resurface and in 1350 they faced each other in the War of the Straits . Following the defeat in the Battle of Sapienza , Doge Marino Faliero attempted to establish a city lordship, but

12474-412: The Stato da Màr . The skirmishes between the Venetians and the Genoese resumed and in 1378 the two republics faced each other in the War of Chioggia . Initially the Genoese managed to conquer Chioggia and vast areas of the Venetian Lagoon, but in the end it was the Venetians who prevailed; the war ended definitively on 8 August 1381 with the Treaty of Turin which sanctioned the exit of the Genoese from

12705-436: The Thirty Years' War on Venice's key trade partners, and the increasing cost of cotton and silk imports to Venice. In 1606, a conflict between Venice and the Holy See began with the arrest of two clerics accused of petty crimes and with a law restricting the Church's right to enjoy and acquire landed property. Pope Paul V held that these provisions were contrary to canon law , and demanded that they be repealed. When this

12936-399: The Tiepolo conspiracy . Once the coup d'état failed and the establishment of a lordship was averted, Doge Pietro Gradenigo established the Council of Ten , which was assigned the task of repressing any threat to the security of the state. In the Venetian hinterland, the war waged by Mastino II della Scala caused serious economic losses to Venetian trade, so in 1336 Venice gave birth to

13167-406: The Treaty of Campo Formio , agreeing to share all the territory of the republic, with a new border just west of the Adige. Italian democrats, especially young poet Ugo Foscolo , viewed the treaty as a betrayal. The metropolitan part of the disbanded republic became an Austrian territory, under the name of Venetian Province ( Provincia Veneta in Italian, Provinz Venedig in German). Though

13398-497: The University of Ferrara in 1515 or 1516. "Paracelsus sought a universal knowledge" that was not found in books or faculties. Thus, between 1517 and 1524, he embarked on a series of extensive travels around Europe. His wanderings led him from Italy to France , Spain , Portugal , England , Germany , Scandinavia , Poland , Russia , Hungary , Croatia , Rhodes , Constantinople , and possibly even Egypt . During this period of travel, Paracelsus enlisted as an army surgeon and

13629-424: The Uskok War in the northern Adriatic and on the Republic's eastern border, while in Lombardy to the west, Venetian troops skirmished with the forces of Don Pedro de Toledo Osorio , Spanish governor of Milan, around Crema in 1617 and in the countryside of Romano di Lombardia in 1618. During the same period, the Spanish governor of Naples, Don Pedro Téllez-Girón , clashed against Venice for commercial disputes at

13860-405: The 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." During his time as a military surgeon, Paracelsus was exposed to the crudity of medical knowledge at the time, when doctors believed that infection

14091-408: The War of Saint Sabas ; on 24 June 1258 the two republics faced each other in the Battle of Acre which ended with an overwhelming Venetian victory. In 1261 the Empire of Nicaea with the help of the Republic of Genoa managed to dissolve the Eastern Latin Empire and re-establish the Byzantine Empire. The war between Genoa and Venice resumed and after a long series of battles the war ended in 1270 with

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14322-408: The battle of Ragusa , having previously indirectly supported Ferdinand during the Uskok War. A fragile peace did not last, and in 1629 the Most Serene Republic returned to war with Spain and the Holy Roman Empire in the War of the Mantuan Succession . During the brief war a Venetian army led by provveditore Zaccaria Sagredo and reinforced by French allies was disastrously routed by Imperial forces at

14553-402: The battle of Villabuona , and Venice's closest ally Mantua was sacked. Reversals elsewhere for the Holy Roman Empire and Spain ensured the republic suffered no territorial loss, and the duchy of Mantua was restored to Charles II Gonzaga, Duke of Nevers , who was the candidate backed by Venice and France. The latter half of the 17th century also had prolonged wars with the Ottoman Empire; in

14784-424: The co-dux , with the throne. The system brought Agnello's two sons, Giustiniano and Giovanni , to the ducal position, who was deposed in 836 due to his inadequacy to counter the Narentine pirates in Dalmatia . Following the deposition of Giovanni Partecipazio, Pietro Tradonico was elected who, with the promulgation of the Pactum Lotharii , a commercial treaty between Venice and the Carolingian Empire, began

15015-399: The coup d'état was foiled by the Council of Ten which on 17 April 1355 condemned the Doge to death. The ensuing political instability convinced Louis I of Hungary to attack Dalmatia which was conquered in 1358 with the signing of the Treaty of Zadar . The weakness of the Republic pushed Crete and Trieste to revolt, but the rebellions were quelled, thus reaffirming Venetian dominion over

15246-423: The four elements : Salamanders , which correspond to fire; Gnomes , corresponding to earth; Undines , corresponding to water; and Sylphs , corresponding to air. Paracelsus often viewed fire as the Firmament that sat between air and water in the heavens. Paracelsus often uses an egg to help describe the elements. In his early model, he claimed that air surrounded the world like an egg shell. The egg white below

15477-414: The 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. 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

15708-477: 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. Paracelsus believed that fasting helped enable

15939-466: The ... defects of former Hypotheses concerning the Elements, that his Doctrine ... has been ever since deservedly embraced by the letter’d part of Mankind: All the Philosophers that preceded him having in their several ages contributed to the compleatness of this Doctrine... Nor has an Hypothesis so ... maturely established been called in Question till in the last Century Paracelsus and some ... Empiricks, rather then ... Philosophers ... began to rail at

16170-498: The 13th century, Albertus Magnus and Roger Bacon were the most notable of these, their work summarizing and explaining the newly imported alchemical knowledge in Aristotelian terms. Albertus Magnus, a Dominican friar , is known to have written works such as the Book of Minerals where he observed and commented on the operations and theories of alchemical authorities like Hermes Trismegistus , pseudo-Democritus and unnamed alchemists of his time. Albertus critically compared these to

16401-414: The 17th century, monarchical absolutism asserted itself in many countries of continental Europe, radically changing the European political landscape. This change made it possible to more markedly determine the differences between monarchies and republics: while the former had economies governed by strict laws and dominated by agriculture, the latter lived off of commercial affairs and free markets. Moreover,

16632-406: The 19th century, Paracelsus came up with many prescriptions and concoctions on his own. For infectious diseases with fever, it was common to prescribe diaphoretics and tonics 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

16863-402: The 2nd to 5th centuries mention the transmutation of base metals to gold. According to some scholars Greek alchemy may have influenced Indian alchemy but there are no hard evidences to back this claim. The 11th-century Persian chemist and physician Abū Rayhān Bīrūnī , who visited Gujarat as part of the court of Mahmud of Ghazni , reported that they have a science similar to alchemy which

17094-552: The Book of the Master Who Embraces Spontaneous Nature (317 AD), Hong argued that alchemical solutions such as elixirs were preferable to traditional medicinal treatment due to the spiritual protection they could provide. In the centuries following Ge Hong's death, the emphasis placed on alchemy as a spiritual practice among Chinese Daoists was reduced. In 499 AD, Tao Hongjing refuted Hong's statement that alchemy

17325-502: The Byzantine Empire and other eastern states. To safeguard the trade routes, between the 9th and 11th centuries the Duchy waged several wars, which ensured its complete dominion over the Adriatic. Owing to participation in the Crusades , penetration into eastern markets became increasingly stronger and, between the 12th and 13th centuries, Venice managed to extend its power into numerous eastern emporiums and commercial ports. The supremacy over

17556-527: The Christian imagery of death and resurrection employed in the alchemical texts of Petrus Bonus , John of Rupescissa , and in works written in the name of Raymond Lull and Arnold of Villanova. Nicolas Flamel is a well-known alchemist to the point where he had many pseudepigraphic imitators. Although the historical Flamel existed, the writings and legends assigned to him only appeared in 1612. Republic of Venice The Republic of Venice , officially

17787-555: The Classical planets, Isis , Osiris , Jason , and many others. The central figure in the mythology of alchemy is Hermes Trismegistus (or Thrice-Great Hermes). His name is derived from the god Thoth and his Greek counterpart Hermes . Hermes and his caduceus or serpent-staff, were among alchemy's principal symbols. According to Clement of Alexandria , he wrote what were called the "forty-two books of Hermes", covering all fields of knowledge. The Hermetica of Thrice-Great Hermes

18018-628: The Composition of Alchemy") from an Arabic work attributed to Khalid ibn Yazid . Although European craftsmen and technicians pre-existed, Robert notes in his preface that alchemy (here still referring to the elixir rather than to the art itself) was unknown in Latin Europe at the time of his writing. The translation of Arabic texts concerning numerous disciplines including alchemy flourished in 12th-century Toledo, Spain , through contributors like Gerard of Cremona and Adelard of Bath . Translations of

18249-568: The Dalmatian cities for the reduced sum of 100,000 ducats. Venice exploited the situation and quickly installed nobility to govern the area, for example, Count Filippo Stipanov in Zara. This move by the Venetians was a response to the threatening expansion of Gian Galeazzo Visconti , Duke of Milan. Control over the northeast main land routes was also a necessity for the safety of the trades. By 1410, Venice had

18480-619: The Devil"); later portraits give a German rendition in two rhyming couplets ( Eines andern Knecht soll Niemand sein / der für sich bleiben kann allein /all gute Gaben sint von Got / des Teufels aber sein Spot ). Posthumous portraits of Paracelsus, made for publications of his books during the second half of the 16th century, often show him in the same pose, holding his sword by its pommel. The so-called "Rosicrucian portrait", published with Philosophiae magnae Paracelsi (Heirs of Arnold Birckmann, Cologne, 1567),

18711-638: The Doge Enrico Dandolo decided to exploit the expedition of the Fourth Crusade to conclude the Zara War and the following year, after twenty years of conflict, Venice conquered the city and won the war, regaining control of Dalmatia. The Venetian crusader fleet, however, did not stop in Dalmatia, but continued towards Constantinople to besiege it in 1204 , thus putting an end to the Byzantine Empire and formally making Venice an independent state, severing

18942-470: The Duchy of Venice ( Ducatum Venetiae ) and the Carolingian Empire , de facto ratified the independence of Venice from the Byzantine Empire. In the following century, references to Venice as a Byzantine dominion disappeared, and in a document from 976 there is a mention of the most glorious Domino Venetiarum ('Lord of Venice'), where the 'most glorious' appellative had already been used for

19173-529: The Greek term. The first was proposed by Zosimos of Panopolis (3rd–4th centuries), who derived it from the name of a book, the Khemeu. Hermann Diels argued in 1914 that it rather derived from χύμα, used to describe metallic objects formed by casting. Others trace its roots to the Egyptian name kēme (hieroglyphic 𓆎𓅓𓏏𓊖 khmi ), meaning 'black earth', which refers to the fertile and auriferous soil of

19404-664: The Greek texts a work as systematic as that which is presented, for example, in the Book of Seventy . Islamic philosophers also made great contributions to alchemical hermeticism. The most influential author in this regard was arguably Jabir. Jabir's ultimate goal was Takwin , the artificial creation of life in the alchemical laboratory, up to, and including, human life. He analysed each Aristotelian element in terms of four basic qualities of hotness , coldness , dryness , and moistness . According to Jabir, in each metal two of these qualities were interior and two were exterior. For example, lead

19635-402: The Greek texts shows that a very small part only was organized according to true experiments of laboratory: even the supposedly technical writings, in the state where we find them today, are unintelligible nonsense which refuses any interpretation. It is different with Jabir's alchemy. The relatively clear description of the processes and the alchemical apparati, the methodical classification of

19866-468: The Greek were mostly qualitative aspects of matter, not quantitative, as our modern elements are; "...True alchemy never regarded earth, air, water, and fire as corporeal or chemical substances in the present-day sense of the word. The four elements are simply the primary, and most general, qualities by means of which the amorphous and purely quantitative substance of all bodies first reveals itself in differentiated form." Later alchemists extensively developed

20097-500: The Jewess , Pseudo-Democritus , and Agathodaimon , but very little is known about any of these authors. The most complete of their works, The Four Books of Pseudo-Democritus , were probably written in the first century AD. Recent scholarship tends to emphasize the testimony of Zosimus, who traced the alchemical arts back to Egyptian metallurgical and ceremonial practices. It has also been argued that early alchemical writers borrowed

20328-533: The Mediterranean Sea led the Republic to the clash with Genoa , which lasted until the 14th century, when, after having risked complete collapse during the War of Chioggia (with the Genoese army and fleet in the lagoon for a long period), Venice quickly managed to recover from the territorial losses suffered with the Treaty of Turin of 1381 and begin expansion on the mainland . Venetian expansion, however, led to

20559-482: The Middle Ages. The efforts of Berthelot and Ruelle to put a little order in this mass of literature led only to poor results, and the later researchers, among them in particular Mrs. Hammer-Jensen, Tannery, Lagercrantz, von Lippmann, Reitzenstein, Ruska, Bidez, Festugière and others, could make clear only few points of detail .... The study of the Greek alchemists is not very encouraging. An even surface examination of

20790-482: The Miners' Sickness and Other Diseases of Miners ( German : 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. 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

21021-525: The Most Serene Republic of Venice ( Italian : Serenissima Repubblica di Venezia ; Venetian: Serenìsima Repùblega de Venexia ), a name by which it is best known today. Similarly, the doge was also given the nickname of serenissimo or more simply that of His Serenity . From the 17th century the Republic of Venice took on other more or less official names such as the Venetian State or

21252-770: The Nile valley, as opposed to red desert sand. According to the Egyptologist Wallis Budge , the Arabic word al-kīmiya ʾ actually means "the Egyptian [science]", borrowing from the Coptic word for "Egypt", kēme (or its equivalent in the Mediaeval Bohairic dialect of Coptic, khēme ). This Coptic word derives from Demotic kmỉ , itself from ancient Egyptian kmt . The ancient Egyptian word referred to both

21483-544: The Peripatetick Doctrine ... and to tell the credulous World, that they could see but three Ingredients in mixt Bodies ... instead of Earth, and Fire, and Vapour, Salt, Sulphur, and Mercury; to which they gave the canting title of Hypostatical Principles: but when they came to describe them ...’tis almost ... impossible for any sober Man to find their meaning. Boyle—speaking through other characters—rejected both Paracelsus' three principles (sulfur, mercury, and salt), and

21714-534: The Persian texts written by Muslim scholars. Researchers have found evidence that Chinese alchemists and philosophers discovered complex mathematical phenomena that were shared with Arab alchemists during the medieval period. Discovered in BC China, the "magic square of three" was propagated to followers of Abū Mūsā Jābir ibn Ḥayyān at some point over the proceeding several hundred years. Other commonalities shared between

21945-484: The Renaissance, emphasizing the value of observation in combination with received wisdom. He is credited as the "father of toxicology ". Paracelsus also had a substantial influence as a prophet or diviner, his "Prognostications" being studied by Rosicrucians in the 17th century. Paracelsianism is the early modern medical movement inspired by the study of his works. Paracelsus was born in Egg an der Sihl  [ de ] ,

22176-692: The Republic of Venice took on various names, all closely linked to the titles attributed to the doge . During the 8th century, when Venice still depended on the Byzantine Empire , the doge was called in Latin Dux Venetiarum Provinciae ('Doge of the Province of Venice'), and then, starting from 840, Dux Veneticorum ('Doge of the Venetians'), following the signing of the Pactum Lotharii . This commercial agreement, stipulated between

22407-582: The Roman Empire as originating from the Egyptian goldsmith's art, Greek philosophy and different religious traditions. Tracing the origins of the alchemical art in Egypt is complicated by the pseudepigraphic nature of texts from the Greek alchemical corpus. The treatises of Zosimos of Panopolis , the earliest historically attested author ( fl. c. 300 AD), can help in situating the other authors. Zosimus based his work on that of older alchemical authors, such as Mary

22638-626: The Rosicrucians, judging that "the ancient opinion that man was microcosmus " had been "fantastically strained by Paracelsus and the alchemists". "Paracelsism" also produced the first complete edition of Paracelsus's works. Johannes Huser of Basel (c. 1545–1604) gathered autographs and manuscript copies, and prepared an edition in ten volumes during 1589–1591. The prophecies contained in Paracelsus's works on astrology and divination began to be separately edited as Prognosticon Theophrasti Paracelsi in

22869-620: The Serenissima regained its mainland dominions west to the Adda River . Although the defeat had turned into a victory, the events of 1509 marked the end of the Venetian expansion. In 1489, the first year of Venetian control of Cyprus, Turks attacked the Karpasia Peninsula , pillaging and taking captives to be sold into slavery. In 1539, the Turkish fleet attacked and destroyed Limassol . Fearing

23100-637: The Taoist heavens, the ensuing deaths encouraged people to eschew this method of alchemy in favour of external sources (the aforementioned Tai Chi Chuan, mastering of the qi , etc.) Chinese alchemy was introduced to the West by Obed Simon Johnson . The introduction of alchemy to Latin Europe may be dated to 11 February 1144, with the completion of Robert of Chester 's translation of the Liber de compositione alchemiae ("Book on

23331-740: The Venetian Republic over maritime control of the Aegean, the Ionian, and the Adriatic Seas. The wars with Venice resumed after the Ottomans captured the Kingdom of Bosnia in 1463, and lasted until a favorable peace treaty was signed in 1479 just after the troublesome siege of Shkodra . In 1480, no longer hampered by the Venetian fleet, the Ottomans besieged Rhodes and briefly captured Otranto . In February 1489,

23562-467: The Venetian Republic. The republic is often referred to as La Serenissima , in reference to its title as one of the " Most Serene Republics ". The Duchy of Venice was born in the 9th century from the Byzantine territories of Maritime Venice . According to tradition, the first doge was elected in 697, but this figure is of dubious historicity and comparable to that of the exarch Paul , who, similarly to

23793-662: The Venetian possessions in the Balkans as the price of peace (18 April 1797) while France acquired the Lombard part of the state. After Napoleon's ultimatum, Ludovico Manin surrendered unconditionally on 12 May and abdicated , while the Major Council declared the end of the republic. According to Bonaparte's orders, the public powers passed to a provisional municipality under the French military governor. On 17 October, France and Austria signed

24024-443: The age of 47" ( sue aetatis 47 ), i.e. less than a year before his death. In this portrait, Paracelsus is shown as holding his sword, gripping the spherical pommel with the right hand. Above and below the image are the mottos Alterius non sit qui suus esse potest ("Let no man belong to another who can belong to himself") and Omne donum perfectum a Deo, inperfectum a Diabolo ("All perfect gifts are from God, [all] imperfect [ones] from

24255-708: The anti-Scaliger league and the Scaliger War . The following year the coalition expanded further and Padua returned to the dominion of the Carraresi . In 1338, Venice conquered Treviso , the first nucleus of the Domini di Terraferma , and in 1339 it signed a peace treaty in which the Scaligeri promised not to interfere in Venetian trade and to recognize the sovereignty of Venice over the Trevisan March. In 1343 Venice took part in

24486-506: The arrival of the Byzantine fleet and the retreat of the Franks. Following the failed Frankish conquest, Doge Obelerio was replaced by the pro-Byzantine nobleman Agnello Participazio who definitively moved the capital to Rivoalto in 812, thus decreeing the birth of the city of Venice . With his election, Agnello Partecipazio attempted to make the ducal office hereditary by associating an heir,

24717-559: 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. He did not support 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

24948-409: The body relied upon the harmony of humans ( 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,

25179-490: The body to heal itself. 'Fasting is the greatest remedy, the physician within.' 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 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

25410-572: The burning of alchemical books after suppressing a revolt in Alexandria (AD 292). Few original Egyptian documents on alchemy have survived, most notable among them the Stockholm papyrus and the Leyden papyrus X . Dating from AD 250–300, they contained recipes for dyeing and making artificial gemstones, cleaning and fabricating pearls, and manufacturing of imitation gold and silver. These writings lack

25641-509: The capital. Having taken control of the situation, the doge placed Venezia under Frankish protection, but a Byzantine naval blockade convinced him to renew his loyalty to the Eastern Emperor. With the intention of conquering Venezia in 810, the Frankish army commanded by Pepin invaded the lagoon, forcing the local population to retreat to Rivoalto , thus starting a siege which ended with

25872-419: The chrysobol of 1082, arousing the reaction of Venice which declared war on the Byzantine Empire in 1122. The war ended in 1126 with the victory of Venice which forced the emperor to stipulate a new agreement characterized by even better conditions than the previous ones, thus making the Byzantine Empire totally dependent on Venetian trade and protection. With the intention of weakening the growing Venetian power,

26103-622: The civil war of the Ottoman Interregnum and established himself as sultan . The conflict escalated until Pietro Loredan won a crushing victory against the Turks off Gallipoli in 1416 . Venice expanded as well along the Dalmatian coast from Istria to Albania , which was acquired from King Ladislaus of Naples during the civil war in Hungary . Ladislaus was about to lose the conflict and had decided to escape to Naples, but before doing so he agreed to sell his now practically forfeit rights on

26334-592: The coalition of the Habsburg monarchy , Spain and France in the League of Cambrai , which in 1509 defeated the Republic of Venice in the Battle of Agnadello . While maintaining most of its mainland possessions, Venice was defeated and the attempt to expand the eastern dominions caused a long series of wars against the Ottoman Empire , which ended only in the 18th century with the Treaty of Passarowitz of 1718 and which caused

26565-456: The competition for dominion over the Mediterranean. In 1403, the last major battle between the Genoese (now under French rule) and Venice was fought at Modon , and the final victory resulted in maritime hegemony and dominance of the eastern trade routes. The latter would soon be contested, however, by the inexorable rise of the Ottoman Empire . Hostilities began after Prince Mehmed I ended

26796-624: The consolidation of its Adriatic dominions. The situation culminated in the Battle of Motta in late August 1412, when an invading army of Hungarians, Germans and Croats, led by Pippo Spano and Voivode Miklós Marczali attacked the Venetian positions at Motta and suffered a heavy defeat. At the expiration of the truce in 1420, Venice immediately invaded the Patriarchate of Aquileia and subjected Traù , Spalato , Durazzo , and other Dalmatian cities. In Lombardy , Venice acquired Brescia in 1426, Bergamo in 1428, and Cremona in 1499. In 1454,

27027-609: The country and the colour "black" (Egypt was the "black Land", by contrast with the "red Land", the surrounding desert). Alchemy encompasses several philosophical traditions spanning some four millennia and three continents. These traditions' general penchant for cryptic and symbolic language makes it hard to trace their mutual influences and genetic relationships. One can distinguish at least three major strands, which appear to be mostly independent, at least in their earlier stages: Chinese alchemy , centered in China; Indian alchemy , centered on

27258-458: The creation of a divine body (Sanskrit divya-deham ) and immortality while still embodied (Sanskrit jīvan-mukti ). Sanskrit alchemical texts include much material on the manipulation of mercury and sulphur, that are homologized with the semen of the god Śiva and the menstrual blood of the goddess Devī. Some early alchemical writings seem to have their origins in the Kaula tantric schools associated to

27489-507: The creator and the created. Therefore, some have considered him to be a Protestant. 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 . Paracelsus invented, or at least named

27720-579: The danger brought by the eventual destruction of Venice (then the only Italian power able to face kingdoms like France or empires like the Ottomans). The citizens of the mainland rose to the cry of "Marco, Marco", and Andrea Gritti recaptured Padua in July 1509, successfully defending it against the besieging imperial troops. Spain and the pope broke off their alliance with France, and Venice regained Brescia and Verona from France, also. After seven years of ruinous war,

27951-491: The day that the city fell – 9 September 1570 – 20,000 Nicosians were put to death, and every church, public building, and palace was looted. Word of the massacre spread, and a few days later, Mustafa took Kyrenia without having to fire a shot. Famagusta, however, resisted and put up a defense that lasted from September 1570 until August 1571. The fall of Famagusta marked the beginning of the Ottoman period in Cyprus. Two months later,

28182-561: The delicate situation in Romagna , then one of the richest lands in Italy, which was nominally part of the Papal States , but effectively divided into a series of small lordships which were difficult for Rome's troops to control. Eager to take some of Venice's lands, all neighbouring powers joined in the League of Cambrai in 1508, under the leadership of Pope Julius II . The pope wanted Romagna ; Emperor Maximilian I : Friuli and Veneto ; Spain:

28413-409: The demons "the guardians of places" ( οἱ κατὰ τόπον ἔφοροι , hoi katà tópon éphoroi ) and those who offered them sacrifices "priests" ( ἱερέα , hieréa ), it is fairly clear that he was referring to the gods of Egypt and their priests. While critical of the kind of alchemy he associated with the Egyptian priests and their followers, Zosimos nonetheless saw the tradition's recent past as rooted in

28644-455: The doge, was assassinated in 727 following a revolt. Father Pietro Antonio of Venetia, in his history of the lagoon city published in 1688, writes: "The precise time in which that family arrived in the Adria is not found, but rather, what already an inhabitant of the islands, by the princes, who welcomed citizens, and supported with the advantage of significant riches, in the year 697 she contributed to

28875-412: The dose determines that a thing is not a poison." ( Sola dosis facit venenum " Only the dose makes the poison ") 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. His belief that diseases locate in a specific organ was extended to inclusion of target organ toxicity; that is, there

29106-563: The early 17th century. His prediction of a "great calamity just beginning" indicating the End Times was later associated with the Thirty Years' War , and the identification of Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden as the "Lion from the North" is based in one of Paracelsus's "prognostications" referencing Jeremiah 5:6. Carl Gustav Jung studied Paracelsus. He wrote two essays on Paracelsus, one delivered in

29337-662: The eastern Mediterranean . The islands of the Venetian Lagoon in the 7th century, after having experienced a period of substantial increase in population, were organized into Maritime Venice , a Byzantine duchy dependent on the Exarchate of Ravenna . With the fall of the Exarchate and the weakening of Byzantine power, the Duchy of Venice arose, led by a doge and established on the island of Rialto ; it prospered from maritime trade with

29568-558: The economic vitality of the Venetian Republic had started to decline since the 16th century with the movement of international trade towards the Atlantic, its political regime still appeared in the 18th century as a model for the philosophers of the Enlightenment . Jean-Jacques Rousseau was hired in July 1743 as secretary by Comte de Montaigu, who had been named ambassador of the French in Venice. This short experience, nevertheless, awakened

29799-548: The election of Pietro II Orseolo . Pietro II Orseolo gave a notable boost to Venetian commercial expansion by stipulating new commercial privileges with the Holy Roman Empire and the Byzantine Empire. In addition to diplomacy, the doge resumed the war against the Narentan pirates that began in the 9th century and in the year 1000 he managed to subjugate the coastal cities of Istria and Dalmatia. The Great Schism of 1054 and

30030-436: The element's physical properties. The elemental system used in medieval alchemy also originated with Jabir. His original system consisted of seven elements, which included the five classical elements ( aether , air , earth , fire , and water ) in addition to two chemical elements representing the metals: sulphur , "the stone which burns", which characterized the principle of combustibility, and mercury , which contained

30261-409: The emperor provided substantial commercial support to the maritime republics of Ancona , Genoa and Pisa , making coexistence with Venice, which was now hegemonic on the Adriatic Sea , increasingly difficult, so much so that it was renamed the "Gulf of Venice". In 1171, following the emperor's decision to expel the Venetian merchants from Constantinople, a new war broke out which was resolved with

30492-511: The ever-expanding Ottoman Empire, the Venetians had fortified Famagusta , Nicosia , and Kyrenia , but most other cities were easy prey. By 1563, the population of Venice had dropped to about 168,000 people. In the summer of 1570, the Turks struck again but this time with a full-scale invasion rather than a raid. About 60,000 troops, including cavalry and artillery, under the command of Mustafa Pasha landed unopposed near Limassol on 2 July 1570 and laid siege to Nicosia. In an orgy of victory on

30723-470: The faculty of appointing the Latin Patriarchate of Constantinople and the possibility of sending a Venetian representative to the government of the Eastern Latin Empire . With the end of the Fourth Crusade, Venice concentrated its efforts on the conquest of Crete, which intensely involved the Venetian army until 1237. Venice's control over the eastern trade routes became pressing and this caused an increase in conflicts with Genoa which in 1255 exploded into

30954-449: The false promises of transmutation made by pseudo-alchemists. Roman Catholic Inquisitor General Nicholas Eymerich 's Directorium Inquisitorum , written in 1376, associated alchemy with the performance of demonic rituals, which Eymerich differentiated from magic performed in accordance with scripture. This did not, however, lead to any change in the Inquisition's monitoring or prosecution of alchemists. In 1404, Henry IV of England banned

31185-486: The first time in the Pactum Lotharii and where the appellative "lord" refers to the fact that the doge was still considered like a king, even if elected by the popular assembly. Gaining independence, Venice also began to expand on the coasts of the Adriatic Sea , and so starting from 1109, following the conquest of Dalmatia and the Croatian coast, the doge formally received the title of Venetiae Dalmatiae atque Chroatiae Dux ('Doge of Venice, Dalmatia and Croatia'),

31416-400: The four classical elements, in Robert Boyle's The Sceptical Chymist , published in 1661 in the form of a dialogue between friends, Themistius, the Aristotelian of the party, speaks of the three principles as though they were meant to replace, rather than complement, the classical elements and compares Paracelsus' theory of the elements unfavourably with that of Aristotle: This Doctrine

31647-422: The frontiers of neutral Venice in pursuit of the enemy. By the end of the year, the French troops were occupying the Venetian state up to the Adige River. Vicenza, Cadore and Friuli were held by the Austrians. With the campaigns of the next year, Napoleon aimed for the Austrian possessions across the Alps . In the preliminaries to the Peace of Leoben , the terms of which remained secret, the Austrians were to take

31878-402: The grain" and "beyond wonder"), a paramiric treatise having been announced by Paracelsus as early as 1520. The great medical problem of this period was syphilis , possibly recently imported from the West Indies and running rampant as a pandemic completely untreated. Paracelsus vigorously attacked the treatment with guaiac wood as useless, a scam perpetrated by the Fugger of Augsburg as

32109-435: The hands of about ten families. To avoid the birth of a lordship, the Doge decided to increase the number of members of the Maggior Consiglio while leaving the number of families unchanged and so the Serrata del Maggior Consiglio was implemented in 1297. Following the provision, the power of some of the old houses decreased and in 1310, under the pretext of defeat in the War of Ferrara , these families organized themselves in

32340-463: The head of a child protruding from the ground (indicating rebirth). The portrait is possibly a work by Frans Hogenberg , acting under the directions of Theodor Birckmann (1531/33–1586). Paracelsus was especially venerated by German Rosicrucians , who regarded him as a prophet, and developed a field of systematic study of his writings, which is sometimes called " Paracelsianism ", or more rarely "Paracelsism". Francis Bacon warned against Paracelsus and

32571-447: The house in which Paracelsus was born at Einsiedeln in June 1929, the other to commemorate the 400th anniversary of Paracelsus's death in 1941 at Zurich. A number of fictionalized depictions of Paracelsus have been published in modern literature. The first presentation of Paracelsus's life in the form of a historical novel was published in 1830 by Dioclès Fabre d'Olivet (1811–1848, son of Antoine Fabre d'Olivet ), Robert Browning wrote

32802-470: 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." 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. He also stated that whether or not

33033-437: The idealized principle of metallic properties. Shortly thereafter, this evolved into eight elements, with the Arabic concept of the three metallic principles: sulphur giving flammability or combustion, mercury giving volatility and stability, and salt giving solidity. The atomic theory of corpuscularianism , where all physical bodies possess an inner and outer layer of minute particles or corpuscles, also has its origins in

33264-467: The influx of alchemical thought. The 11th-century St Anselm put forth the opinion that faith and rationalism were compatible and encouraged rationalism in a Christian context. In the early 12th century, Peter Abelard followed Anselm's work, laying down the foundation for acceptance of Aristotelian thought before the first works of Aristotle had reached the West. In the early 13th century, Robert Grosseteste used Abelard's methods of analysis and added

33495-408: The interest of Rousseau to the policy, which led him to design a large book of political philosophy. After the Discourse on the Origin and Basis of Inequality Among Men (1755), he published The Social Contract (1762). Following the Lombard occupation and the progressive migration of the Roman populations, new coastal settlements were born in which the local assemblies, the comitia , elected

33726-406: The island of Cyprus , previously a crusader state (the Kingdom of Cyprus ), was added to Venice's holdings. By 1490, the population of Venice had risen to about 180,000 people. War with the Ottomans resumed from 1499 to 1503. In 1499, Venice allied itself with Louis XII of France against Milan, gaining Cremona . In the same year, the Ottoman sultan moved to attack Lepanto by land and sent

33957-507: The islands of Tinos and Aegina , crossed the isthmus, and took Corinth . Daniele Dolfin, commander of the Venetian fleet, thought it better to save the fleet than risk it for the Morea. When he eventually arrived on the scene, Nauplia, Modon, Corone, and Malvasia had fallen. Levkas in the Ionian islands , and the bases of Spinalonga and Suda on Crete, which still remained in Venetian hands, were abandoned. The Turks finally landed on Corfu , but its defenders managed to throw them back. In

34188-416: The lagoon for a decade. Following his death, the Byzantines entrusted the government of the province to the regime of the magistri militum , which lasted until 742 when the emperor granted the people the appointment of a dux . The Venetians elected by acclamation Theodato , son of Orso, who decided to move the capital of the duchy from Heraclia to Metamauco . The Lombard conquest of Ravenna in 751 and

34419-444: The land of Appenzell , where he was active as lay preacher and healer among the peasantry . In the same year, he visited the mines in Schwaz and Hall in Tyrol , working on his book on miners' diseases. He moved on to Innsbruck , where he was once again barred from practising. He passed Sterzing in 1534, moving on to Meran , Veltlin , and St. Moritz , which he praised for its healing springs. In Meran, he came in contact with

34650-430: The last ties with the former Byzantine ruler. The empire was dismembered in the Crusader states and from the division Venice obtained numerous ports in the Morea and several islands in the Aegean Sea including Crete and Euboea , thus giving life to the Stato da Màr . In addition to the territorial conquests, the doge was awarded the title of Lord of a quarter and a half of the Eastern Roman Empire, thus obtaining

34881-443: The late 16th to early 17th centuries, and although his " occult " reputation remained controversial, his medical contributions were universally recognized: a 1618 pharmacopeia by the Royal College of Physicians in London included "Paracelsian" remedies. The late 16th century saw substantial production of Pseudo-Paracelsian writing, especially letters attributed to Paracelsus, to the point where biographers find it impossible to draw

35112-410: The late 7th and early 8th centuries through Syriac translations and scholarship. In the late ninth and early tenth centuries, the Arabic works attributed to Jābir ibn Hayyān (Latinized as "Geber" or "Geberus") introduced a new approach to alchemy. Paul Kraus , who wrote the standard reference work on Jabir, put it as follows: To form an idea of the historical place of Jabir's alchemy and to tackle

35343-439: The life of an itinerant physician once again. After staying in Colmar with Lorenz Fries , and briefly in Esslingen , he moved to Nuremberg in 1529. His reputation went before him, and the medical professionals excluded him from practising. The name Paracelsus is first attested in this year, used as a pseudonym for the publication of a Practica of political- astrological character in Nuremberg. Pagel (1982) supposes that

35574-421: The long process of detachment of the province from the Byzantine Empire. After Tradonico was killed following a conspiracy in 864, Orso I Participazio was elected and resumed the fight against piracy, managing to protect the Dogado from attacks by the Saracens and the Patriarchate of Aquileia . Orso managed to assign the dukedom to his eldest son Giovanni II Participazio who, after conquering Comacchio ,

35805-447: The loss of all possessions in the Aegean . Although still a thriving cultural centre, the Republic of Venice was occupied by Napoleon 's French troops and its territories were divided with the Habsburg monarchy following the ratification of the Treaty of Campo Formio . Throughout its history, the Republic of Venice was characterized by its political order. Inherited from the previous Byzantine administrative structures, its head of state

36036-665: The main importers of the wood in two publications on the topic. When his further stay in Nuremberg had become impossible, he retired to Beratzhausen , hoping to return to Nuremberg and publish an extended treatise on the "French sickness"; but its publication was prohibited by a decree of the Leipzig faculty of medicine , represented by Heinrich Stromer , a close friend and associate of the Fugger family. In Beratzhausen , Paracelsus prepared Paragranum , his main work on medical philosophy , completed 1530. Moving on to St. Gall , he then completed his Opus Paramirum in 1531, which he dedicated to Joachim Vadian . From St. Gall, he moved on to

36267-400: The means of curing disease. With every disease, the symptoms depended on which of the three principles caused the ailment. Paracelsus theorized that materials which are poisonous in large doses may be curative in small doses; he demonstrated this with the examples of magnetism and static electricity, wherein a small magnet can attract much larger pieces of metal. Even though Paracelsus accepted

36498-434: The meantime, the Turks had suffered a grave defeat by the Austrians in the Battle of Petrovaradin on 5 August 1716. Venetian naval efforts in the Aegean Sea and the Dardanelles in 1717 and 1718, however, met with little success. With the Treaty of Passarowitz (21 July 1718), Austria made large territorial gains, but Venice lost the Morea, for which its small gains in Albania and Dalmatia were little compensation. This

36729-422: The medical establishment, many of whom found them objectionable. Paracelsus in the beginning of the sixteenth century had unknowingly observed hydrogen as he noted that in reaction when acids attack metals , gas was a by-product . Later, Théodore de Mayerne repeated Paracelsus's experiment in 1650 and found that the gas was flammable. However, neither Paracelsus nor de Mayerne proposed that hydrogen could be

36960-421: 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. The dominant medical treatments in Paracelsus's time were specific diets to help in

37191-425: The monarchies, in addition to being led by a single ruling family, were more prone to war and religious uniformity. This increasingly noticeable difference between monarchy and republic began to be specified also in official documents, and it was hence that names such as the Republic of Genoa or the Republic of the Seven United Provinces were born. The Lordship of Venice also adapted to this new terminology, becoming

37422-687: The mystical aspects of this concept. Alchemy coexisted alongside emerging Christianity . Lactantius believed Hermes Trismegistus had prophesied its birth. St Augustine later affirmed this in the 4th and 5th centuries, but also condemned Trismegistus for idolatry. Examples of Pagan, Christian, and Jewish alchemists can be found during this period. Most of the Greco-Roman alchemists preceding Zosimos are known only by pseudonyms, such as Moses , Isis, Cleopatra , Democritus , and Ostanes . Others authors such as Komarios, and Chymes , we only know through fragments of text. After AD 400, Greek alchemical writers occupied themselves solely in commenting on

37653-463: The mystical, philosophical elements of alchemy, but do contain the works of Bolus of Mendes (or Pseudo-Democritus ), which aligned these recipes with theoretical knowledge of astrology and the classical elements . Between the time of Bolus and Zosimos, the change took place that transformed this metallurgy into a Hermetic art. Alexandria acted as a melting pot for philosophies of Pythagoreanism , Platonism , Stoicism and Gnosticism which formed

37884-442: The name was intended for use as the author of non-medical works, while his real name Theophrastus von Hohenheim was used for medical publications. The first use of Doctor Paracelsus in a medical publication was in 1536, as the author of the Grosse Wundartznei . The name is usually interpreted as either a Latinization of Hohenheim (based on celsus "high, tall") or as the claim of "surpassing Celsus ". It has been argued that

38115-440: The name was not the invention of Paracelsus himself, who would have been opposed to the humanistic fashion of Latinized names, but was given to him by his circle of friends in Colmar in 1528. It is difficult to interpret but does appear to express the "paradoxical" character of the man, the prefix " para " suggestively being echoed in the titles of Paracelsus's main philosophical works, Paragranum and Paramirum (as it were, "beyond

38346-404: The nascent mercantile aristocracy gathered in the Great Council , the largest assembly of the Veneciarum municipality . In the 13th century the popular assembly of the concio was progressively stripped of all its powers and, similarly to the Italian city lordships , in Venice too power began to concentrate in the hands of a small number of families. To avoid the birth of a lordship and dilute

38577-406: The naval forces of the Holy League , composed mainly of Venetian, Spanish , and papal ships under the command of Don John of Austria , defeated the Turkish fleet at the battle of Lepanto . Despite victory at sea over the Turks, Cyprus remained under Ottoman rule for the next three centuries. By 1575, the population of Venice was about 175,000 people, but partly as a result of the plague of 1575–76

38808-438: The nomination of the first Prince Marco Contarini, one of the 22 Tribunes of the Islands, who made the election". In 726, Emperor Leo III attempted to extend iconoclasm to the Exarchate of Ravenna, causing numerous revolts throughout the territory. In reaction to the reform, the local populations appointed several duces to replace the Byzantine governors and in particular Venetia appointed Orso as its doge, who governed

39039-404: The origin of alchemy's character. An important example of alchemy's roots in Greek philosophy, originated by Empedocles and developed by Aristotle, was that all things in the universe were formed from only four elements: earth , air , water , and fire . According to Aristotle, each element had a sphere to which it belonged and to which it would return if left undisturbed. The four elements of

39270-399: The other two would result in disease. 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. In his work Von den Krankeiten Paracelsus writes: "Thus, the cause of the disease chorea lasciva [ Sydenham's chorea , or St. Vitus' Dance]

39501-431: The outbreak of the investiture struggle in 1073 marginally involved Venetian politics which instead focused its attention on the arrival of the Normans in southern Italy. The Norman occupation of Durrës and Corfu in 1081 pushed the Byzantine Empire to request the aid of the Venetian fleet which, with the promise of obtaining extensive commercial privileges and reimbursement of military expenses, decided to take part in

39732-404: The population dropped to 124,000 people by 1581. According to economic historian Jan De Vries, Venice's economic power in the Mediterranean had declined significantly by the start of the 17th century. De Vries attributes this decline to the loss of the spice trade , a declining uncompetitive textile industry, competition in book publishing from a rejuvenated Catholic Church, the adverse impact of

39963-432: The practice of multiplying metals by the passing of the Gold and Silver Act 1403 ( 5 Hen. 4 . c. 4) (although it was possible to buy a licence to attempt to make gold alchemically, and a number were granted by Henry VI and Edward IV). These critiques and regulations centered more around pseudo-alchemical charlatanism than the actual study of alchemy, which continued with an increasingly Christian tone. The 14th century saw

40194-420: The privilege of lecturing at the University of Basel . At that time, Basel was a centre of Renaissance humanism, and Paracelsus here came into contact with Erasmus of Rotterdam , Wolfgang Lachner , and Johannes Oekolampad . When Erasmus fell ill while staying in Basel, he wrote to Paracelsus: "I cannot offer thee a reward equal to thy art and knowledge—I surely offer thee a grateful soul. Thou hast recalled from

40425-400: The problem of its sources, it is advisable to compare it with what remains to us of the alchemical literature in the Greek language . One knows in which miserable state this literature reached us. Collected by Byzantine scientists from the tenth century, the corpus of the Greek alchemists is a cluster of incoherent fragments, going back to all the times since the third century until the end of

40656-561: The prolongation of life. His correspondence with Clement highlighted this, noting the importance of alchemy to the papacy. Like the Greeks before him, Bacon acknowledged the division of alchemy into practical and theoretical spheres. He noted that the theoretical lay outside the scope of Aristotle, the natural philosophers, and all Latin writers of his time. The practical confirmed the theoretical, and Bacon advocated its uses in natural science and medicine. In later European legend, he became an archmage. In particular, along with Albertus Magnus, he

40887-421: The restoration of the status quo . At the end of the 12th century, the commercial traffic of Venetian merchants extended throughout the East and they could count on immense and solid capital. As in the rest of Italy, starting from the 12th century, Venice also underwent the transformations that led to the age of the municipalities . In that century, the doge's power began to decline: initially supported only by

41118-416: The rites of the Egyptian temples. Zosimos of Panopolis asserted that alchemy dated back to Pharaonic Egypt where it was the domain of the priestly class, though there is little to no evidence for his assertion. Alchemical writers used Classical figures from Greek, Roman, and Egyptian mythology to illuminate their works and allegorize alchemical transmutation. These included the pantheon of gods related to

41349-405: The shades Frobenius who is my other half: if thou restorest me also thou restorest each through the other." Paracelsus' lectures at Basel university unusually were given in German, not Latin. He stated that he wanted his lectures to be available to everyone. He published harsh criticism of the Basel physicians and apothecaries, creating political turmoil to the point of his life being threatened. In

41580-404: The shell is like fire because it has a type of chaos to it that allows it to hold up earth and water. The earth and water make up a globe which, in his egg analogy, is the yolk. In De Meteoris , Paracelsus claims the firmament is the heavens. From his study of the elements, Paracelsus adopted the idea of tripartite alternatives to explain the nature of medicines, which he thought to be composed of

41811-402: The socioreligious programs of the Anabaptists . He visited Pfäfers Abbey , dedicating a separate pamphlet to its baths (1535). He passed Kempten , Memmingen , Ulm , and Augsburg in 1536. He finally managed to publish his Die grosse Wundartznei ("The Great Surgery Book"), printed in Ulm , Augsburg , and Frankfurt in this year. His Astronomia magna (also known as Philosophia sagax )

42042-452: The stars on these particular body parts. 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. Because everything in

42273-533: The study and development of Greek alchemy in the Byzantine period. The 2nd millennium BC text Vedas describe a connection between eternal life and gold. A considerable knowledge of metallurgy has been exhibited in a third-century AD text called Arthashastra which provides ingredients of explosives (Agniyoga) and salts extracted from fertile soils and plant remains (Yavakshara) such as saltpetre/ nitre , perfume making (different qualities of perfumes are mentioned), granulated (refined) Sugar. Buddhist texts from

42504-500: The subsequent conquest of the Lombard kingdom by Charlemagne 's Franks in 774, with the creation of the Carolingian Empire in 800, considerably changed the geopolitical context of the lagoon, leading the Venetians to divide into two factions : a pro-Frankish party led by the city of Equilium and a pro-Byzantine party with a stronghold in Heraclia . After a long series of skirmishes in 805, Doge Obelerio decided to attack both cities simultaneously, deporting their population to

42735-408: The substances, mark an experimental spirit which is extremely far away from the weird and odd esotericism of the Greek texts. The theory on which Jabir supports his operations is one of clearness and of an impressive unity. More than with the other Arab authors, one notes with him a balance between theoretical teaching and practical teaching, between the 'ilm and the amal . In vain one would seek in

42966-447: The teachings of the personality of Matsyendranath . Other early writings are found in the Jaina medical treatise Kalyāṇakārakam of Ugrāditya, written in South India in the early 9th century. Two famous early Indian alchemical authors were Nāgārjuna Siddha and Nityanātha Siddha. Nāgārjuna Siddha was a Buddhist monk. His book, Rasendramangalam , is an example of Indian alchemy and medicine. Nityanātha Siddha wrote Rasaratnākara , also

43197-488: The technique to purify the human soul ). They believed in the four elements and the four qualities as described above, and they had a strong tradition of cloaking their written ideas in a labyrinth of coded jargon set with traps to mislead the uninitiated. Finally, the alchemists practised their art: they actively experimented with chemicals and made observations and theories about how the universe operated. Their entire philosophy revolved around their belief that man's soul

43428-402: The test, all our splendour, title, ring, and name will be as much help as a horse's tail'. During his time as a professor at the University of Basel, he invited barber-surgeons , alchemists , apothecaries , and others lacking academic background to serve as examples of his belief that only those who practised an art knew it: "The patients are your textbook, the sickbed is your study." Paracelsus

43659-434: The three Chymical Principles ... the Chymical Hypothesis seeming to be much more countenanc’d by Experience then the other, it will be expedient to insist chiefly upon the disproving of that; especially since most of the Arguments that are imploy’d against it, may, by a little variation, be made ... at least as strongly against the less plausible, Aristotelian Doctrine. His hermetic beliefs were that sickness and health in

43890-447: The time included the Turba Philosophorum , and the works of Avicenna and Muhammad ibn Zakariya al-Razi . These brought with them many new words to the European vocabulary for which there was no previous Latin equivalent. Alcohol, carboy , elixir , and athanor are examples. Meanwhile, theologian contemporaries of the translators made strides towards the reconciliation of faith and experimental rationalism, thereby priming Europe for

44121-465: The transmutation of " base metals " (e.g., lead ) into " noble metals " (particularly gold ); the creation of an elixir of immortality ; and the creation of panaceas able to cure any disease. The perfection of the human body and soul was thought to result from the alchemical magnum opus ("Great Work"). The concept of creating the philosophers' stone was variously connected with all of these projects. Islamic and European alchemists developed

44352-548: The true nature of the virtues is reminiscent of Aristotle's idea of the natural place of elements. To Paracelsus, the purpose of science is not only to learn more about the world around us, but also to search for divine signs and potentially understand the nature of God. If a person who doesn't believe in God became a physician, he would not have standing in God's eyes and would not succeed in their work because he did not practice in his name. Becoming an effective physician requires faith in God. Paracelsus saw medicine as more than just

44583-406: The two alchemical schools of thought include discrete naming for ingredients and heavy influence from the natural elements. The silk road provided a clear path for the exchange of goods, ideas, ingredients, religion, and many other aspects of life with which alchemy is intertwined. Whereas European alchemy eventually centered on the transmutation of base metals into noble metals, Chinese alchemy had

44814-412: 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

45045-420: 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. Paracelsus mobilized

45276-404: The university-trained physicians working at that time in Europe. Paracelsus devoted several sections in his writings to the construction of astrological talismans for curing disease. Paracelsus's approach to science was heavily influenced by his religious beliefs. He believed that science and religion were inseparable, and scientific discoveries were direct messages from God. Thus, he believed it

45507-413: The unpublished manuscripts of these titles. A great deal remains to be discovered about Indian alchemical literature. The content of the Sanskrit alchemical corpus has not yet (2014) been adequately integrated into the wider general history of alchemy. After the fall of the Roman Empire , the focus of alchemical development moved to the Islamic World. Much more is known about Islamic alchemy because it

45738-415: The unusual clarity with which they were described. By the end of the 13th century, alchemy had developed into a fairly structured system of belief. Adepts believed in the macrocosm-microcosm theories of Hermes, that is to say, they believed that processes that affect minerals and other substances could have an effect on the human body (for example, if one could learn the secret of purifying gold, one could use

45969-584: The use of gunpowder spread to Japan, the Mongols , the Muslim world, and Europe. Gunpowder was used by the Mongols against the Hungarians in 1241, and in Europe by the 14th century. Chinese alchemy was closely connected to Taoist forms of traditional Chinese medicine , such as Acupuncture and Moxibustion . In the early Song dynasty , followers of this Taoist idea (chiefly the elite and upper class) would ingest mercuric sulfide , which, though tolerable in low levels, led many to suicide. Thinking that this consequential death would lead to freedom and access to

46200-474: The use of chemicals and minerals in medicine . He was probably the first to give the element zinc ( zincum ) its modern name, in about 1526, likely based on the sharp pointed appearance of its crystals after smelting ( zinke translating to "pointed" in German). Paracelsus invented chemical therapy, chemical urinalysis, and suggested a biochemical theory of digestion. Paracelsus used chemistry and chemical analogies in his teachings to medical students and to

46431-518: The use of iron for "poor blood" and is credited with the creation of the terms "chemistry," "gas," and "alcohol". During Paracelsus's lifetime and after his death, he was often celebrated as a wonder healer and investigator of those 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

46662-451: The use of metals, minerals, and elixirs in early Chinese medicine. Hong identified three ancient Chinese documents, titled Scripture of Great Clarity, Scripture of the Nine Elixirs , and Scripture of the Golden Liquor, as texts containing fundamental alchemical information. He also described alchemy, along with meditation, as the sole spiritual practices that could allow one to gain immortality or to transcend. In his work Inner Chapters of

46893-417: The use of observation, experimentation, and conclusions when conducting scientific investigations. Grosseteste also did much work to reconcile Platonic and Aristotelian thinking. Through much of the 12th and 13th centuries, alchemical knowledge in Europe remained centered on translations, and new Latin contributions were not made. The efforts of the translators were succeeded by that of the encyclopaedists. In

47124-833: The village of Sterzing : 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

47355-436: The vocabulary of Greek philosophical schools but did not implement any of its doctrines in a systematic way. Zosimos of Panopolis wrote in the Final Abstinence (also known as the "Final Count"). Zosimos explains that the ancient practice of "tinctures" (the technical Greek name for the alchemical arts) had been taken over by certain "demons" who taught the art only to those who offered them sacrifices. Since Zosimos also called

47586-439: The work of Jabir. From the 9th to 14th centuries, alchemical theories faced criticism from a variety of practical Muslim chemists, including Alkindus , Abū al-Rayhān al-Bīrūnī , Avicenna and Ibn Khaldun . In particular, they wrote refutations against the idea of the transmutation of metals . From the 14th century onwards, many materials and practices originally belonging to Indian alchemy ( Rasayana ) were assimilated in

47817-494: The works of these predecessors. By the middle of the 7th century alchemy was almost an entirely mystical discipline. It was at that time that Khalid Ibn Yazid sparked its migration from Alexandria to the Islamic world, facilitating the translation and preservation of Greek alchemical texts in the 8th and 9th centuries. Greek alchemy was preserved in medieval Byzantine manuscripts after the fall of Egypt , and yet historians have only relatively recently begun to pay attention to

48048-428: The writings of Aristotle and Avicenna, where they concerned the transmutation of metals. From the time shortly after his death through to the 15th century, more than 28 alchemical tracts were misattributed to him, a common practice giving rise to his reputation as an accomplished alchemist. Likewise, alchemical texts have been attributed to Albert's student Thomas Aquinas . Roger Bacon, a Franciscan friar who wrote on

48279-427: The “Aristotelian” elements (earth, water, air, and fire), or any system with a pre-determined number of elements. In fact, Boyle’s arguments were mainly directed against Paracelsus’ theory as being the one more in line with experience, so that arguments against it should be at least as valid against the Aristotelian view. Much of what I am to deliver ... may be indifferently apply’d to the four Peripatetick Elements, and

48510-416: 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. Historians of syphilitic disease credit Paracelsus with the recognition of the inherited character of syphilis . In his first medical publication, a short pamphlet on syphilis treatment that

48741-417: Was afflicted, either being caused by the poisoning of sulphur, mercury, or salt. Paracelsus drew the importance of sulphur, salt, and mercury from medieval alchemy, where they all occupied a prominent place. He demonstrated his theory by burning a piece of wood. The fire was the work of sulphur, the smoke was mercury, and the residual ash was salt. Paracelsus also believed that mercury, sulphur, and salt provided

48972-594: 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. Similarly, he was the first to discover that the disease could only be contracted by contact. Hippocrates put forward the theory that illness was caused by an imbalance of the 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

49203-434: Was believed that one would become immortal if an inner god were to be immortalized within them through spiritual fulfilment. Black powder may have been an important invention of Chinese alchemists. It is said that the Chinese invented gunpowder while trying to find a potion for eternal life. Described in 9th-century texts and used in fireworks in China by the 10th century, it was used in cannons by 1290. From China,

49434-419: Was better documented: indeed, most of the earlier writings that have come down through the years were preserved as Arabic translations. The word alchemy itself was derived from the Arabic word al-kīmiyā (الكيمياء). The early Islamic world was a melting pot for alchemy. Platonic and Aristotelian thought, which had already been somewhat appropriated into hermetical science, continued to be assimilated during

49665-520: Was buried in St. Sebastian's cemetery in Salzburg. His remains were relocated inside St. Sebastian's church in 1752. After his death, the movement of Paracelsianism was seized upon by many wishing to subvert the traditional Galenic physics, and his therapies became more widely known and used. His manuscripts have been lost, but many of his works which remained unpublished during his lifetime were edited by Johannes Huser of Basel during 1589 to 1591. His works were frequently reprinted and widely read during

49896-423: Was called to Basel to the sickbed of printer Johann Frobenius and reportedly cured him. During that time, the Dutch Renaissance humanist Erasmus of Rotterdam , also at the University of Basel , witnessed the medical skills of Paracelsus, and the two scholars initiated a dialogue, exchanging letters on medical and theological subjects. In 1527, Paracelsus was a city physician ( Stadtarzt ) in Basel with

50127-743: Was compared with Martin Luther because of his openly defiant acts against the existing authorities in medicine. But Paracelsus rejected that comparison, famously stating: "I leave it to Luther to defend what he says and I will be responsible for what I say. That which you wish to Luther, you wish also to me: You wish us both in the fire." A companion during the Basel years expressed a quite unflattering opinion on Paracelsus: "The two years I passed in his company he spent in drinking and gluttony , day and night. He could not be found sober an hour or two together, in particular after his departure from Basel." Threatened with an unwinnable lawsuit, he left Basel for Alsace in February 1528. In Alsace, Paracelsus took up

50358-453: Was completed in 1537 but not published until 1571. It is a treatise on hermeticism , astrology , divination , theology , and demonology that laid the basis of Paracelsus's later fame as a "prophet". His motto Alterius non sit qui suus esse potest ("Let no man belong to another who can belong to himself") is inscribed on a 1538 portrait by Augustin Hirschvogel . In 1541, Paracelsus moved to Salzburg where he died on 24 September. He

50589-440: Was credited with the forging of a brazen head capable of answering its owner's questions. Soon after Bacon, the influential work of Pseudo-Geber (sometimes identified as Paul of Taranto ) appeared. His Summa Perfectionis remained a staple summary of alchemical practice and theory through the medieval and renaissance periods. It was notable for its inclusion of practical chemical operations alongside sulphur-mercury theory, and

50820-563: Was divided within himself after the fall of Adam. By purifying the two parts of man's soul, man could be reunited with God. In the 14th century, alchemy became more accessible to Europeans outside the confines of Latin-speaking churchmen and scholars. Alchemical discourse shifted from scholarly philosophical debate to an exposed social commentary on the alchemists themselves. Dante , Piers Plowman , and Chaucer all painted unflattering pictures of alchemists as thieves and liars. Pope John XXII 's 1317 edict, Spondent quas non-exhibent forbade

51051-419: Was externally cold and dry, while gold was hot and moist. Thus, Jabir theorized, by rearranging the qualities of one metal, a different metal would result. By this reasoning, the search for the philosopher's stone was introduced to Western alchemy. Jabir developed an elaborate numerology whereby the root letters of a substance's name in Arabic, when treated with various transformations, held correspondences to

51282-550: Was involved in the wars waged by Venice , Holland , Denmark , and the Tatars . Then Paracelsus returned home from his travels in 1524. In 1524, "[a]fter visiting his father at Villach and finding no local opportunity to practice, he settled in Salzburg " as a physician, and remained there until 1527. "Since 1519/20 he had been working on his first medical writings, and he now completed Elf Traktat and Volumen medicinae Paramirum , which describe eleven common maladies and their treatment, and his early medical principles." While he

51513-471: Was itself adopted from the Arabic word al-kīmiyā ( الكيمياء ). The Arabic al-kīmiyā in turn was a borrowing of the Late Greek term khēmeía ( χημεία ), also spelled khumeia ( χυμεία ) and khēmía ( χημία ), with al- being the Arabic definite article 'the'. Together this association can be interpreted as 'the process of transmutation by which to fuse or reunite with the divine or original form'. Several etymologies have been proposed for

51744-404: Was lifted after a year, when France intervened and proposed a formula of compromise. Venice was satisfied with reaffirming the principle that no citizen was superior to the normal processes of law. Rivalry with Habsburg Spain and the Holy Roman Empire led to Venice's last significant wars in Italy and the northern Adriatic. Between 1615 and 1618 Venice fought Archduke Ferdinand of Austria in

51975-408: Was mankind's divine duty to uncover and understand all of His message. Paracelsus also believed that the virtues that make up natural objects are not natural, but supernatural, and existed in God before the creation of the universe. Because of this, when the Earth and the Heavens eventually dissipate, the virtues of all natural objects will continue to exist and simply return to God. His philosophy about

52206-406: Was named the last Captain General of the Sea ( Capitano Generale da Mar ) of the Republic in 1784. By 1796, the Republic of Venice could no longer defend itself since its war fleet numbered only four galleys and seven galiots . In spring 1796, Piedmont (the Duchy of Savoy ) fell to the invading French, and the Austrians were beaten from Montenotte to Lodi . The army under Napoleon crossed

52437-444: Was refused, he placed Venice under an interdict which forbade clergymen from exercising almost all priestly duties. The republic paid no attention to the interdict or the act of excommunication and ordered its priests to carry out their ministry. It was supported in its decisions by the Servite friar Paolo Sarpi , a sharp polemical writer who was nominated to be the Signoria's adviser on theology and canon law in 1606. The interdict

52668-462: Was returning to Villach and while he worked on his first medical writings, "he contemplated many fundamental issues such as the meaning of life and death, health, the causes of disease (internal imbalances or external forces), the place of humans in the world and in the universe, and the relationship between humans (including himself) and God." In 1526, he bought the rights of citizenship in Strasbourg to establish his own practice. But soon after, he

52899-399: Was the doge, a position which became elective from the end of the 9th century. In addition to the doge, the administration of the Republic was directed by various assemblies: the Great Council , with legislative functions, which was supported by the Minor Council , the Council of Forty and the Council of Ten , responsible for judicial matters, and the Senate . During its long history,

53130-419: Was the last war with the Ottoman Empire. By the year 1792, the once-great Venetian merchant fleet had declined to a mere 309 merchantmen . Although Venice declined as a seaborne empire, it remained in possession of its continental domain north of the Po Valley , extending west almost to Milan. Many of its cities benefited greatly from the Pax Venetiae (Venetian peace) throughout the 18th century. Angelo Emo

53361-450: Was transferred from the Empire to local assemblies, thus sanctioning the beginning of the ducal monarchy which lasted, with ups and downs, until the 11th century. If the first stable form of involvement of the patriciate in the management of power occurred with the institution of the curia ducis , starting from 1141 with the beginning of the municipal age , an unstoppable process of limitation and removal of ducal power from part of

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