Paracelsus a pioneer of emergency medicine and surgery, the father of toxicology and pharmacology, the precursor of homeopathy and chemotherapy

Abstract

In the entire constellation of doctors, pharmacists, physicists, alchemists, anatomists, pioneers of medicine, there are few who have left as much controversy behind as Paracelsus did. Paracelsus' real name was Theophrastus Philippus Aureolus Bombastus von Hohenheim and he was essentially an alchemist, physicist, astrologer and practiced the occult. His medical practice introduced numerous revolutionary treatments for that time, although many contemporaries considered his works to be a collection of superstitious and repulsive folk remedies. He wrote: "If you prevent the infection, nature will heal the wound on its own." This treatment brought him fame in the circles of Western medicine. He was also the first to introduce the use of various chemicals and minerals in treatment o illnes, the first to give the name zinc and introduced tin powder as an anthelmintic. In long ago 1530 Paracelsus wrote a clinical description of syphilis, in which he claimed that the disease could be successfully treated with orally, carefully measured doses of mercury compounds. During his stay in the mines holles, he wrote that the "miner's disease" (silicosis) was caused by inhaling metal fumes and that it was not a punishment for the sin used by mountain spirits. The first stated that, if given in small doses, "what makes a person sick also cures him" - expectation of the modern practice of homeopathy. It was written that Paracelsus cured many plague-stricken people in the city of Stertzing in the summer of 1534 by giving an oral tablet made of bread and secretion from the pustule. Paracelsus is often referred to as the father of toxicology. In that sense, his sentence is especially significant: "All things are poisonous and nothing is without poison; it's just the dose that makes a thing not poison." This remains the basic principle of toxicology to these days. Although he is often called a quack doctor, he is rightly among the 100 most influential scientists in all of human history.

Keywords

• paracelsus
• homeopathy
• alchemist