Paracelsus: Herald of Modern Toxicology

Abstract

“No one who can stand alone by himself should be the servant of another.” Paracelsus, Philippus Theophrastus Aureolus Bombastus von Hohenheim, the “father of chemistry and the reformer of materia medica,” the “Luther of Medicine,” the “godfather of modern chemotherapy,” the founder of medicinal chemistry, the founder of modern toxicology, a contemporary of Leonardo da Vinci, Martin Luther, and Nicholas Copernicus, was born near or in the village of Einsiedeln near Zurich, Switzerland, on 10 or 14 November 1493. His father, Wilhelm Bombast von Hohenheim, “was the impoverished scion of a noble family of Suabia.” He was a physician and an alchemist who “had married a Swiss girl and practised medicine on the pilgrims' road that leads to the Benedictine Abbey of Einsiedeln.” In 1502, following the death of his mother, the family moved to the mining town of Villach in Carinthia in southern Austria, where the father became the municipal physician and also taught chemistry. The father combined his interests in chemistry and medicine with his patients' experiences in the mines and in the smelting plants and became an expert in occupational medicine. The young Paracelsus, headstrong, stubborn, and independent, grew up in a home environment where chemistry and biology were paramount and he learned a great deal from his father, who became his role model. He decided he wanted to be a physician/chemist like his father. Paracelsus grew up during a period of Renaissance humanism when most intellectuals and scholars became enchanted with antiquity, with old manuscripts, with ancient Greek, Egyptian, and Latin writers, philosophers, physicians and scientists. Answers were sought in these old writings. There was an utter fascination with things old. Medicine turned to (rediscovered) Galen, the “Prince of Physicians.” But there was another school that was developing during this period, and this was the school of the naturalists who sought truths, including divine truths, in the study of nature and in man's relationship to the macrocosm. Which approach would be appealing to young Paracelsus? Paracelsus studied at a number of universities in Europe, receiving his baccalaureate in medicine in 1510 and his doctorate in 1516 from the University of Ferrara. It was at this time that he assumed the name Paracelsus (para: beside, beyond, and Celsus: a famous Roman physician). His stubbornness had evolved into a rebellious spirit and he began to challenge the system of medicine including teaching and practice. He was disenchanted with universities and noted that “The universities do not teach all things.” To broaden his knowledge, to learn more, and to gain experience, he traveled throughout Europe, the British Isles, Egypt, and the Holy Land; he was exposed to the latest developments in chemistry and medicine. He became an itinerant physician/surgeon. He returned to Villach in 1524 as the municipal physician and remained there until 1527. During that time, and as a result of his wanderings in search of knowledge, he contemplated many fundamental issues such as the meaning of life and death, health and 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. This led to the development of a Paracelsian approach to medicine and a unique philosophy and theology. He was a free thinker, an iconoclast, and a theosophist. He became a reformer (hence the term the “Luther of Medicine“), a scientist, and a mystic. He tried to convince the members of the medical profession and the medical faculties (who conspired against him) and the public about the importance of chemistry in medicine and other concepts, but most refused to listen. “He yelled his message at them and became more and more bitter and aggressive.” For example, in 1527, he accepted the position of municipal physician in Basle. This also involved lecturing at the University of Basle, considered then (as now) a privilege. Because of his fame, his lectures were well attended. His disenchantment with the teaching of medicine at the university and with the practice of medicine reached its climax on 24 June 1527, St. John's Day, when he publicly burned the standard medical textbooks of the day (e.g., Avicenna, Galen). He challenged the reigning medical experts and lost. This eventually led to his leaving the university and the city of Basle—a frustrated and angry free thinker and medical innovator, not understood by the students, not accepted by his medical colleagues, and not appreciated by the local gentry. He continued his travels. He was eventually called to treat the bishop of Salzburg, Ernest of Wittelsbach. Paracelsus died in Salzburg on 24 September 1541 at the age of 48, a bitter, frustrated, and angry reformer. Paracelsus' publications include several almanacs and a few medical works, but his most famous text was Grosse Wundartzney (published in 1536), whi