He is known as Paracelsus, although his real name was Theophrastus Philippus Aureolus Bombastus von Hohenheim (Sánchez, 2019). He stood out as one of the most fascinating personalities in the history of medicine and science in general. Some people considered him a bit eccentric, visionary, and undoubtedly extremely ingenious. He was characterized by his intellectual ambition. He is remembered as a fervent seeker of the philosopher's stone, a mysterious substance believed to have the ability to transform lead into gold. In correspondence with Sánchez (2019), he also aspired to discover the elixir of eternal youth and worked tirelessly to achieve it.
During his adventures, he became an exceptional researcher (Sánchez, 2019). For some, he was a science revolutionary and a pioneer in pharmacology and modern medicine, but for others, he never ceased to be an esoteric figure (Gargantilla, 2021). His life was filled with controversial moments, including questioning and even burning classical texts on medicine and science, belittling scientific figures considered untouchable, and breaking with traditional practices (Bertran, n.d.). All of this contributed to making him a legend in the field of medicine. Additionally, according to Bertran (n.d.), he was not only a precursor in the development of what is now known as "medicines," but he was also the first to describe the symptoms of some infectious diseases, establish the connection between the mind and body, and develop treatments for diseases considered incurable.
Biography
Born on November 10, 1493, in Einsiedeln, a town in central Switzerland (Bertran, n.d.), he hailed from a family with a tradition in medicine, including his father, which sparked his interest in the discipline (Sánchez, 2019). After the death of his mother when he was young, his father moved to Villach, in southern Austria (Hargrave, 2021). There, he attended Bergschule, an institution founded by the merchant banking family Fugger from Augsburg, where his father taught theory and practical chemistry. At Bergschule, young individuals were trained to be supervisors and analysts of gold, tin, and mercury mining operations, as well as iron, alum, and copper sulfate minerals (Hargrave, 2021). It was here that he developed a profound passion for nature and science in general (Bertran, n.d.). Bertran (n.d.) mentions that due to this, and because his family enjoyed a good social standing, he received a solid education in astronomy, music, arithmetic, grammar, among other disciplines.
During his youth, he worked as an analyst in the mines (Sánchez, 2019). In this environment, he learned about metals "growing" in the earth, observed the transformations of metallic components in smelting furnaces, and possibly pondered the transmutation of lead into gold, a conversion believed possible by alchemists of the time (Hargrave, 2021). In correspondence with Hargrave (2021), these experiences allowed him to understand metallurgy and chemistry, likely laying the groundwork for his later discoveries in the field of chemotherapy.
In 1506, he enrolled at the University of Basel to continue his studies in chemistry and medicine (Bertran, n.d.). It is believed that he obtained his medical degree from the University of Vienna in 1510 (Hargrave, 2021). Later, he went to the University of Ferrara in Italy, where he expressed his rejection of the prevailing opinion that the stars and planets controlled all parts of the human body. It is believed that he received the title of doctor from the University of Ferrara in 1516 and presumably started using the name "para-Celsus," meaning above or beyond Celsus. According to Hargrave (2021), his new name reflected the fact that he considered himself even more important than Aulus Cornelius Celsus, a renowned Roman medical writer of the 1st century.
After receiving his doctorate, he decided to embark on a 12-year pilgrimage that took him to numerous countries, including England, Spain, Turkey, and Egypt (Bertran, n.d.). During this extensive journey, he began to gain followers by sharing his ideas on how philosophers and scientists were wrong in their approach to medical studies. Contrary to popular belief, he was convinced that diseases arose from external factors, not internal changes. Consequently, he deemed it impossible to cure diseases with herbs, ointments, let alone with purges and other traditional "treatments." Instead, according to Bertran (n.d.), he argued that the cure for all these ailments lay in nature, not in plants, but in minerals. For this reason, everything explained up to that point was considered incorrect.
After this pilgrimage, he returned to Switzerland, where he was appointed a professor at the University of Basel in 1526 (Bertran, n.d.). In this city, he dedicated much of his professional life to dismantling classical medicine and trying to demonstrate that the solution to medical problems lay in minerals and chemistry. To combat classical medicine, he even publicly burned the books of some of the most distinguished philosophers and scientists in history. It is believed that he managed to burn some texts of Hippocrates, considered the father of medicine. He published various works combining alchemy and medicine, in which he argued that each disease should have its own treatment, meaning universal remedies could not exist. He described how to create "medications" by combining different types of chemicals and metals. However, according to Bertran (n.d.), it is clear that he made many enemies, both among physicians and "pharmacists."
Because of this, he was forced to leave Basel in 1528 and return to different countries, repeatedly changing his residence (Bertran, n.d.). During this time, he continued to challenge classical medicine and advocate for a new vision in which he argued that chemistry would provide the answer to how to cure the diseases that had plagued the world. Although he made incredible advances in the field of medicine, not all of his research turned out to be valid. Among them, he claimed that surgery was useless because human anatomy had no significance in the development of diseases. In this, he was mistaken, but in his progress as an alchemist lies the origin of modern medicine (Bertran, n.d.). Finally, in May 1538, he returned to Villach to see his father but discovered that he had died four years earlier (Hargrave, 2021). According to Hargrave (2021), in 1541, he died under mysterious circumstances in Austria, where he had assumed a position under the Prince-Archbishop, Duke Ernest of Bavaria.
The "Tria Prima"
Paracelsus developed a hypothesis in an attempt to explain the nature of medicine (Gargantilla, 2021). According to his theory, all substances from the mineral, animal, and vegetable realms were composed of the "tria prima," namely, sulfur, mercury, and salt. These elements combine in different proportions but always in a stable manner. He considered mercury to be the principle of liquidity and volatility; sulfur represented heat and combustion, and salt was to be understood as the principle of resistance to fire. When, for some reason, the proportions of tria prima in the organism were altered, diseases would arise. According to Paracelsus, these conditions could be cured by ingesting certain chemicals that would restore balance. As per Gargantilla (2021), an overdose of mercury could trigger paralysis and melancholy; an excess of sulfur could lead to heat and fever in patients, while an imbalance toward salt could result in dropsy and diarrhea.
Development of the First Pharmaceuticals
Paracelsus, despite his controversial figure, is undoubtedly recognized as a person ahead of his time (Bertran, n.d.). Like those who leave a mark, he dared to question the foundations of everything. One of his significant contributions was confirming that, although sometimes treatments for diseases can be found in plants, as a general rule, one had to resort to minerals and chemicals, something that was considered inconsistent until then. Thanks to his knowledge in alchemy, Paracelsus developed various preparations using salts, iron, mercury, antimony, lead, sulfur, among others. This laid the groundwork for modern pharmacology. Finally, in line with Bertran (n.d.), he was the first to consider that certain poisons, in the right doses, could cure diseases.
Clinical Description of Diseases
Up to that moment, diseases and their nature were an absolute enigma (Bertran, n.d.). Paracelsus was one of the pioneers in proposing that diseases did not originate from internal changes in the individual but rather came from the external environment. This approach represented a complete paradigm shift, contradicting existing beliefs (Bertran, n.d.). Among Paracelsus's most notable contributions to medicine of his time are the first clinical descriptions of syphilis and goiter, as well as the introduction of new treatment methods based on minerals such as lead or mercury (Bertran, n.d.; Fernández & Tamaro, 2004). However, some of his writings resembled homeopathy more than conventional medicine (Bertran, n.d.). Recently, in line with Hargrave (2021), he asserted that the "miner's disease," or silicosis, resulted from inhaling metallic vapors and was not a punishment for sins committed.
Denial of Universal Remedies
Until that moment, the belief in the existence of universal remedies capable of curing a wide variety of diseases persisted (Bertran, n.d.). However, Theophrastus Philippus Aureolus Bombastus von Hohenheim was the first to contradict this notion. This pioneer argued that each disease was unique, and therefore, the remedy to cure it should be equally specific. According to Bertran (n.d.), this assertion has been thoroughly validated.
Defense of Experimentation as a Scientific Method
Theophrastus Philippus Aureolus Bombastus von Hohenheim, renowned for his staunch defense of experimentation as the only way to advance in medicine and science in general, is a perfect example of the application of the scientific method, which remains absolutely valid to this day (Bertran, n.d.). In accordance with Bertran (n.d.), he maintained that the only way to make genuine discoveries was to formulate a theory and then experiment to confirm or refute it.
Defense of the Union Between Mind and Body
Theophrastus Philippus Aureolus Bombastus von Hohenheim, known for pioneering the connection between the emotional and the physical, advocated the idea that emotions and mental state can play a crucial role in determining an individual's susceptibility to developing diseases (Bertran, n.d.). At the time, in correspondence with Bertran (n.d.), this idea was considered incoherent; however, nowadays, it is widely accepted that the body and mind are intimately connected.
References
Bertran, P. (2021). Paracelso: biografía y resumen de sus aportes a la ciencia. Medicoplus.com. Recuperado 27 October 2021, a partir de https://medicoplus.com/biografias/paracelso}Fernández, T., & Tamaro, E. (2004). Biografia de Paracelso. Biografiasyvidas.com. Recuperado 27 October 2021, a partir de https://www.biografiasyvidas.com/biografia/p/paracelso.htm
Gargantilla, P. (2021). Paracelso, el alquimista rebelde que revolucionó la farmacología. abc. Recuperado 27 October 2021, a partir de https://www.abc.es/ciencia/abci-paracelso-alquimista-rebelde-revoluciono-farmacologia-202109120038_noticia.html
Hargrave, J. (2021). Paracelsus. Encyclopedia Britannica. Recuperado 27 October 2021, a partir de https://www.britannica.com/biography/Paracelsus
Sánchez, E. (2019). Paracelso, biografía de un alquimista y soñador. La Mente es Maravillosa. Recuperado 27 October 2021, a partir de https://lamenteesmaravillosa.com/paracelso-biografia-de-un-alquimista-y-sonador/
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