Pagel - Paracelsus | An Introduction to Philosophical Medicine in the Era of the Renaissance (Karger, 1984)

WALTER PAGEL

PARACELSUS An Introduction to Philosophical Medi('ine in the Era of the Renaissance 2nd, revised edition

PARACELSUS

WALTER P_AGEL

PARACELSUS An Introduction to Philosophical Medicine in the Era of the Renaissance 2nd, revised edition

Basel· Miinchen ·Paris· London· New York· Tokyo· Sydney· 1982

Table of Contents Preface . . . . . . . .

National Library of Medicine, Cataloging in Publication Pagel, Walter, 1898Paracelsns, an introduction to philosophical medicine in the era of the Renaissance/Walter Pagel. - 2nd, rev. ed. Basel; New York: Karger, 1982 1. Philosophy, Medical - biography 2. Paracelsns, 1493-1S41 WZ 100 P221PR ISBN 3-80SS-3Sl8-X

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be translated into other languages, reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, microcopying, or by any information storage and retrieval system, withont permission in writing from the publisher.

©

Copyright 1982 by S. Karger AG, P.O. Box, CH-4009 Basel (Switzerland) Printed in Switzerland by Buchdruckerei Gasser & Cie Aktiengesellschaft, Basel ISBN 3-80SS-3Sl8-X

XI

General Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . .

I

The individual "Savant" and his "World" as the focal point of the investigation . Paracelsus: Interdependence and fusion of the scientific and non-scientific elements

2 3

The Life of Paracelsus

S

Name, birth and family . . Formative years . . . . . Early journeys (1Sl7-IS24) Attempts at settling down. Reasons for frustration . Relationship between medicine and surgery (a) Salzburg. . . . . . . . . (b) Strassburg . . . . . . . . The reformers at Strassburg (c) Basie . . . . . . . . . . The second set of journeys. . . . . (a) Colmar, Esslingen, Nuremberg. The work on Syphilis (b) Beratzhausen and the "Paragranum" . . • . . . . (c) St. Gall and the "Opus Paramirum" . . . . . ; • (d) Appenzell, Innsbruck, Sterzing. "On the miners' disease" (e) Meran, St. Moritz, Pfiifers and the foundation of Balneology (f) Augsburg and the "Great Surgery" • . . . (g) Bavaria and Bohemia. "Philosophia Sagax:" . . . . . . (h) Pressburg and Vienna . . • • . . . . . . . . • . . . (i) Carinthia. The "Klimtner Trilogie". The End at Salzburg Johannes Oporinus and his pen portrait of Paracelsus . . . . . The Literary Remains. Short notes on the Bibliography of Paracelsus Paracelsus as a figure of the Renaissance and Humanism • . . . . . Paracelsus as a religious and social thinker and preacher. Paracelsus in the Era of the Reformation. Sebastian Franck and Paracelsus . . • . • . . . . • . . . . Paracelsus and popular criticism of Doctor and Patient in the Pre-Reformation Era. The "Narragonian" sermons . • . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

s 8 13 14 IS 17 18 18 19 22 23 24 2S 2S 26 26 27 27 27 29 31 3S

40 44

The Philosophy of Paracelsus

so

Paracelsus' general system of correspondences and the position of scientific elements therein. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . • . . • . . . . . . . . . Paracelsns' approach to Nature. Empirical search for the divine seals in nature. God and Nature . . . . . . . . • . . • . . . The uncreated virtues and the created objects . . . • . . . . . . . . .

S3 S4 S4

so

VI

Table of Contents

The futility of snperstitious practices and the Devil . . . . . . . . . . . The."True Signs" as revealed to research into Nature . . . . . . . . . . Experience (" Erfahrung ") versus pseudo-knowledge based on reasoning (" Logica ") . . • . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Censure of Aristotle and Avicenna . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Theory of Knowledge. "Experientia" and "Scientia" through identification of the mind with the internal "knowledge" possessed by natural objects in attaining their specific aims. "Ablauschen" (overhearing) of this "knowledge" which is immanent in the objects of research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Union with the object as the ultimate aim of the naturalist ("philosopher") and physician . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . "Derived" as against "inborn" knowledge of the elements. Man and the "Sagani" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Magia Naturalis: Its religious background; its protoscientific significance; its purport in medicine. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The analogies between Macrocosm and Microcosm and the role of the Stars: Astrology and" Astrosophy" Man as microcosm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Limitations of astral "powers". . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cosmis correspondences as against astral influx (inclination) as the power conferring specificity and destination . . . . . . . . . . . . . Correspondences between the astral firmament and parts of the hnman organism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Correspondences between the Astrum and the Seat of Disease . . . . . . . Astral concordance is the power of remedies which it directs to the diseased organ . . . . . . . . . . . · · . · · · · · Celestial bodies and wounds . . . . . . . . . . Inconsistencies in the doctrine of correspondences Paracelsus' conception of Time . . . . . . . . . . The ancient conceptions of Time. "Empty" numerical (astronomical) time as against "qualified" time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Paracelsus and the astronomical notion of Time.· I ts "qualification" . . . . Qualitative determination of Time. Time as determined by changing events and "Astra" as the vector of specificity Time, qualitatively determined, and Medicine . . Biological ideas in Paracelsus' conception of Time Biological time and the "Astra" . . . . . . Theological aspects of Time . . . . . . . . . . The "Elements" and the "Three Principles" (Sulphur, Salt and Mercury): General considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The "Elements" . . . . . . . . . . . . Earth and Water as "Mothers". Their offspring. Earth, the "Mother" of man. . . . . . . Water the matrix most productive of natural objects The role of water and earth in the composition of natural objects Water as the main substance ("flesh") of plants . . . . . . . . Water as the common virtue in the ground(" earth"), forming the raw material of objects - without accounting for specificity . . . The "Predestined Element" and "Quinta Essentia" . . . . . . . . . . . Sulphur, Salt and Mercury. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Macro-Microcosm theory in conflict with the concept of specificity. The astral origin of specificity. Archens and Iliaster . The Archeus. Vulcan. The Iliaster . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Table of Contents

SS S6 S6 58

S9

60 61 62

6S 6S 66 67 67 68 69 71 71

72 72 73 74 75 77

80 80 82 89 9S 96 96 97 97 97 98 100 104 lOS

VII 106 107 107 108

The Archens as the principle resident in the stomach . . . . . . . . . The role of the Archeus in disease . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Archeus as the individualising principle in the elemental "Matrix". Archeus and Monads. The Archei in organs . . . . . . . . . . . . . Archei in external objects and inside man. Their correspondence and Interaction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . · . . . . . . . . The Physician himself an Archens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Archeus acting by "Imagination", "Magia" and astral forces lliaster . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Prime, intermediate and ultimate matter The Cagastrum. . . . . . . ·; Generation and pntrefaction Life, soul, spirit, astral body and air The astral body . . . . . . . The Power of Imagination Imagination, semen and contagium

109 109 111 112 112 113 llS 117 120 121 123

Medicine

126

Introduction. Paracelsus' Fame as based on his development of chemical therapy. Ancient Medicine and Paracelsus opposition to it in general terms. . . . . . . . The "Elements", "Matrices" and the "Tria Prima" ("Salt", "Sulphur" and "Mercury") . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Iliadus. Diseases as "Fruits" of the human "Iliadns" . Motivation of Paracelsns' opposition to Hnmoralism . . . The action of Mercury, Sulphur and Salt in causing disease Man as a Mine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Localisation of Disease. Its local "Seats and Causes" . . . . . Chemical Considerations: The "Salia" and their "Anatomy" ( "Anatomia Elementata ") . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Microcosmic Theory and Organic Pathology . . . . . . . . · The "ontological" view of Disease (" Anatomia Essata ") The "Oportet" and Disease . . . . . . . . . . . . . Aetiology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . • . . . . . . The "seeds" of Disease. Air as the Vector of the Disease Agent. The M. M. (Mysterium Magnum). The role of Air . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . "Ens Substantiae" - "Poison" - versus complexion (i.e. humours and qualities) as inducing Disease . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Aetiological and Specific Therapy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The invention of remedies through a study of the cosmos . . . . . . . . . Specificity in the relationship between the organ (seat of disease), the disease and its remedy . . . . . . . . . . . The Principle of Pharmacy . . . . . . . . . "Poison" as a remedy - Mercury its prototype The homoeopathic principle . . . . . . . . . Minerals as "homoeopathic" agents cansing and curing the same disease The homoeopathic principle as a consequence of the "Anatomy" of the Arcanum . . . . . . . . • . . . . . . . . . . . . . · . · · · · The Treatment of Wounds. Its golden precepts in close proximity to superstitions injunctions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The "Signatures" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Disease and the Stars. The "Animal in man" and Lunacy. The Psychiatry of Paracelsus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

126 129 130 131 133 134 134 134 137 137 139 140 140 141 141 143 143 144 14S 146 147 147 148 148 150

VIII

Table of Contents

Special Pathological Theories. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Diseases due to "Tartar" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Localism and Specificity as based on Paracelsus' concept of digestion and "Tartarus" formation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . • . . . . Tartar of the various organs. I ts volatility (like "alcohol"). The nutritive centre of an organ; its "stomach". . . . . . . . . . . . . . • • . . Summary of the Pathology of Paracelsus as emanating from the concept of Tartar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Appendix. New ideas in the physiology of gastric digestion and the excretion of albumen in the urine as associated with "Tartarus" . . . . . Van Belmont's criticism of the Doctrine of Tartar. . . . . . . • • . . Paracelsus' version of the ancient Doctrine of "Catarrh" and the Causes of Epilepsy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Traces of catarrh theory in Paracelsus' chemical and symbolistic specu· lations on Epilepsy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Spirit of Life as the" ascendant" causing Epilepsy . . . . . . . . Survey of Paracelsus' Ideas on Epilepsy in the light of Ancient and XVII th Century Pathology (Localism versus Catarrh) . . . . . . . . . . . . "Obstruction" as a primary and local change causing Disease. Its divorce from" catarrh" and its role as a further germ cell of" Localism". . . . . Paracelsus on Plague. The Influence of Ficino. Traditional Plague Theories and Paracelsus' "Anthropocentric" Doctrine. Its further Development in Van Belmont's" Tomb of the Plague" . . . . . . . • . . . . . . . . . . Traces of a suggested quantitative and chemical analysis of urine to replace mediaeval uroscopy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mediaeval uroscopy . . . . . . . . . . . . • . . . . . . . . • . Paracelsus' demand for a chemical examination of urine. Chemical "uroscopy" and "dissection" ("Anatomy") of urine by Paracelsists. Assessment of the specific gravity of urine by Van Belmont. Thurneisser zum Thurn's "Probierung der Harnen" James Hart's criticism of chemical uroscopy . . . . . . . Van Belmont's criticism of chemical uroscopy . . . . . . . Progressive aspects of Paracelsus in Medicine and their limitations .

Table of Contents 153 153 154 155 157 158 161 165 167 168 168 170

172 189 189

190 195 196 198 200

The Sources of Paracelsus (Ancient, Mediaeval, Contemporary)

203

Paracelsus and the ancient, mediaeval and Renaissance sources . Paracelsus and Gnosticism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Gnostic concept of microcosm . . . . . . . . . . Mediaeval sources of Gnostic speculation and Paracelsus. The Cabalah . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Paracelsus and Neoplatonism. The influence of Marsilio Ficino. Ficino's ideal of the "Magus" as Priest-Physician. Paracelsus and the Philosophy of Plotinus. . . . . Was Paracelsus really a Neoplatonist? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The "Prime Matter" of Paracelsus as foreshadowed by the philosophy of Salomo ibn Gebirol (Avicebron) and the "Popular Pantheism" of the Middle Ages. Giordano Bruno. The anonymous "Introduction to the Philosophy of Life" (1623). . . . . Ancient ideas as transmitted by Salomo ibn Gebirol . . . . . . . . . . . Gebirol's Prime Matter as fundamental to popular pantheism in the Middle Ages and Reformation . . . . . . . . . . . . • Giordano Bruno . . • • • . . . • . . • • . • . . • The "Introductio in Vitalem Philosophiam" (1623) .

203 204 204 210 213 218 226

227 229 230 232 232

The Microcosmic Pattern as reflected by the Womb and the Earth. Leonicenus, Cesalpino and Aristotle. . . . . . Paracelsus and Ramon Lull . . . . . . . . . . . . . Paracelsus and Arnald of Villanova . . . . . . . . . Independence of thought. Use of empirical remedies Naturalism and Empiricism . . . . . . . . . . . The quest for medical reform in a new age Religious ideas and motives in medical theory and practice Influence of the Stars . . . ·. . . . . . . . . . . . . Specificity of objects (including diseases) and the Stars . Arnald and Humoralism. . . . . . . . . . . . . Paracelsus and Alchemy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The New Precious Pearl on the Philosophers' Stone. Arnald of Villanova and John de Rupescissa Comment. General appraisal . . . . . . . . . . . Paracelsus' achievement in pure and medical Chemistry . Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Paracelsus' work in the chemical laboratory and its results in detail. Paracelsus' System of Chemistry. The "Archidoxis" . . . . . . . Detoxication and medicinal use of chemicals. . . . . . . . . . . Spiritus vitrioli and its narcotic action - a probable predecessor of ether, and an example of Paracelsus' advanced medical chemistry. Conclusion. . . . . . . . . . Paracelsus and Nicolaus Cusanus . . Paracelsus and Pico della Mirandola Pomponazzi and Paracelsus . . . . Paracelsus and Johannes Reuchlin . Agrippa ofNettesheym's "Occult Philosophy". The Occult Virtues, the World Soul, the Spirit (Quinta Essentia) and Sympathy Agrippa on Air . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Power of Imagination in Agrippa's Occult Philosophy . . . . . . . . . Middle XVIth Century opposition to Galen. Johannes Argenterius and Paulus Mazinus Arvernus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Opposition to the traditional doctrine of the Elements in the middle of the XVI th century . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mazinus, Femel and Paracelsus . . . . . . . Paracelsus and the "Occult Qualities" ofFemel Erastus' Censure of Paracelsus . . . . . . . . . . The character, attainments and methods of Paracelsus Paracelsus' views of creation . . . . . Paracelsus as a restorer of Gnostic heresy Belief in Miracles. . . . . . . . . . The Power of Imagination. . . . . . . Fascination - Incantation - Contagion . Natural Magic - The Neoplatonic fallacy Nature and the Chemical Art Amulets and Augury . . . . . . . . . The "Power" of Words. . . . . . . . Magnetic action - the pattern of Natural Magic The Devil and Witchcraft . Matter and the Elements The Semina . . Quinta Essentia . . . .

IX 238 241 248 249 250 252 253 254 256 257 258 259 263 266 273 273 274 27 5 275 276 278 279 284 289 290 295 297 298 300 301 305 305 310 311 313 315 315 315 316 317 317 318 318 318 319 319 319 322 323

x

Table of Contents

Generation Microcosm Disease . . The Locus of Disease . The role of diet in Disease Therapy . . . . . . . . The cures of Paracelsus . · Epilepsy . . . . . . . Dropsy and Podagra . . Comment . . . . . . . Daniel Sennert's Critical Defence of Paracelsus The chequered Life and dubious character of Paracelsus. Criticism of the Microcosm theory . . . . . . . . . Sympathy and Antipathy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Criticism of Paracelsus' Methods . . . . . . . . . . . Prime Matter, Mysterium Magnum, Elements, Semina . On Life and the Three Principles (Salt, Sulphur and Mercury) On Generation . Pathology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

323 323 324 324 326 326 327 327 329 330 333 333 335 336 336 337 338 341 341

Final Assessment

344

Addenda and Errata

351

Collation ofloci quoted from Huser with the standard edition of Sudhoff List of Illustrations . General Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

375 378 380

Preface Who does not know Doctor Paracelsus, renowned reformer of medicine, chemist and naturalist, philosopher and theologian, lay preacher and protagonist of social justice, believer in natural magic and effusive diviner? Indeed, something is known everywhere of each of these aspects offered by what appears to us as an erratic block in a period of renascent progress. Little, however, if anything is known of the link which must have forged such disparate trends into the mould of a savant at once unified and unique in himself. To-day their unification in a single personality does not easily make sense - at a time of transition they were not incompatible. Their very synthesis had a share in the development of modern naturalism, science and medicine in the 16th and 17th centuries. In Paracelsus it was a consistent philosophia naturalis based on a medical view of man and world, in many ways archaic and in others surprisingly modern. Understanding it requires an effort to make oneself contemporary with him, an arduous task which of necessity will remain short of completion and full satisfaction. An attempt at achieving it as far as possible is the burden of the present hook. It was first published a quarter of a century ago. It met with unexpectedly wide approval and, unobtainable as it has been for some time, with persistent demand. No further monograph comparable in style and scope has come to light in the meantime, hut a large number of new facts and views have. The author's own continued research concerned Paracelsus' debt to occult tradition from neo-Platonic and Gnostic sources as perpetuated in mediaeval literature. Preliminary results are found in 'Das medizinische Welthild des Paracelsus, seine Zusammenhiinge mit Neuplatonismus und Gnosis' (Wiesbaden 1962); it opened as volume 1 the new series 'Kosmosophie', edited by Kurt Goldammer. This was followed by a number of papers in 'Amhix ', various historical-medical journals and more recently in the 'Salzhurger Beitriige zur Paracelsusforschung ', edited by Sepp Domandl. Little if any doubt remains about the great significance of the neo-Platonic and Gnostic pieces studied - they are organic components of genuine Paracelsian texts and doctrines; they are not merely quotations adduced from outside to embellish them or to show off his

XII

Preface

erudition. Other students of Paracelsus have contributed importantly in correcting traditionally repeated unrealistic data and views concerning uncharted areas in Paracelsus' life, the dating of his treatises, his journeys and religious ideologies, as revealed in first editions of his religious and social-political writings from manuscripts under the aegis of K. Goldammer. All this justifies re-publication of the book with correction of errors and amplification of contents bringing it up to the present standard of our knowlege and understanding of Paracelsus. This has now been provided in the form of a comprehensive appendix of' Addenda and Errata' referring to their appropriate places in the original text which thereby could be preserved in its entirety. It also offers a collation of all loci quoted from Huser with the standard edition of Sudhoff. The author remains indebted to the W ellcome Trust - ever since, under the auspices of the late Sir Henry Dale, O.M. F.R.S., it has supported his publications in various ways up to the present day. He gratefully remembers the help in all problems scientific and personal extended to him by the late Dr. F.N.L. Poynter, F.L.A., librarian, founder and director of the Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine. He also provided most of the illustrations of the present book. Of his staff and his successor's, E. Freeman, the author enjoyed cooperation with Marianne Winder and Renate Burgess, as also bibliographical information given to him by John Symons. Unfailing personal support and encouragement he received from Dr. William F. Bynum. Dr. Bernard E.J. Pagel corrected and revised the text. As in the production of two books on Harvey (1967 and 1976) the author wishes to record special thanks to the publishers, Dr. Fritz Karger and Dr. h.c. Thomas Karger, for their courteous and highly efficient work in publishing the present edition of 'Paracelsus'. He cannot conclude without remembrance of Magda Pagel-Koll (M.D. Cologne, 26.6.1894 to 22.8.1980). She dedicated 57 years of her own life to indefatigable protection and maintenance of his life and literary activities taking more than a full share in these in addition to her own studies in mediaeval art and surgery. The present book with all its sequels is essentially indebted to her co-operation.

General Introduction Much of modern medicine developed in the XVIth and XVIIth centuries against a background of trends of thought that were not purely or mainly scientific. The main purpose of the present writer's historical enquiries since 1926 has been to place scientific and medical discoveries in the to us less comprehensible philosophical and religious setting in which they first appeared. The lion's share of the foundation of scientific medicine in the XVIIth century goes to Harvey (1578-1657). However, credit must be given to Van Helmont (1579-1644) for establishing the chemical outlook in biology and medicine. Both Harvey and Van Helmont combine mastery of quantitative scientific method with a philosophical insight which was strongly influenced by Aristotle in one case and religious mysticism in the other, and which helped to inspire some of their scientific discoveries. For Harvey can be seen as the life-long thinker on the mystery of circular phenomena: the circulation of the blood on the one hand and the cycle of generations on the other, both forming the microcosmic copy of a cosmological pattern. To Van Helmont each object of nature follows a specific plan of form and function infused into it by the Creator and contained in the material vector of specificity, a substance of finest corporality - this is his new concept of "Gas". Van Helmont is well known to have made a careful study of the work of Paracelsus (1493-1541) - some of whose ideas gave him profound inspiration while he completely rejected others. However, the detailed comparison between the ideas of Paracelsus and Van Helmont that would be required for a complete understanding of the thought and scientific discoveries of the latter has never been attempted; nor indeed does there exist a precise account of Paracelsus' own philosophy and medicine that could be used as a starting point for such a comparison. It is partly for this reason and partly in order to provide the Paracelsean background for medicine in general that the present book has been written. Our purpose here is rather different from that of the multitude of books and essays on Paracelsus that have appeared and that are mainly concerned

2

General Introduction

with biography, bibliography, literary criticism and the personal part played by Paracelsus in general and medical history. A turbulent and paradoxical figure in his life-time, Paracelsus has remained controversial ever since. Admired by many, despised by yet more, he has discouraged patient objective scholarship by the violence and inconsistency of his voluminous writings. He appeals to us in certain brilliant and progressive aphorisms, but so far no hope has been held out to us of understanding how they were arrived at and how they emerge from a unified pattern of thinking. Indeed, the very possibility of doing any such thing has been denied, not perhaps without reason. Nevertheless, without being able to do anything like justice to the vast Corpus of Paracelsus' work, it does seem possible to find certain basic concepts from which an appreciable and in our opinion characteristic portion can be presented as a coherent view of the universe from which some of the details follow.

The individual "Savant" and his "World" as the focal point of the investigation The approach attempted in the present work is based on an analysis of the savant as an individual person. He is taken as the centre of a world which he has built up, and this in tum is composed both of those views, doctrines and observations which died with the savant himself and of others which became the common property of humanity and thus have remained immortal. Taken as a whole, however, this world is not a sum of transient and permanent elements, but a world unique and peculiar to one man; it is without continuity - that is to say it has neither predecessors nor successors. It is this whole and the emergence from it of scientific and medical theories and facts which forms the subject of the present work. The present volume mainly contaj.ns an account of XVIth century philosophical medicine. Its centre is Paracelsus, and it falls into three main parts. In the first we discuss Paracelsus ·as a representative figure of the Renaissance and his general ideas, such as the position of man in the cosmos, and the access he has to truth and nature. The second part treats of Paracelsus' new Medicine, whilst the third is devoted to the ancient, mediaeval and contemporary sources of Paracelsus - concluding with a short account of the arguments of his antagonists. Clearly a monograph such as this cannot come anywhere near to being an exhaustive treatment; an attempt has merely been made to discuss

Paracelsus: Interdependence and fusion of the scientific and non-scientific elements

3

those features of Paracelsus' work that appear to the writer to be at the same time the most accessible and the most characteristic. It is hoped to discuss XVIIth century philosophical medicine and its Paracelsean background in a separate book.

Paracelsus: Interdependence and fusion of the scientific and non-scientific elements Among all the erratic figures of the Renaissance, Paracelsus is singled out for the restlessness of his life and for the inconsistency of his opinions and doctrines. In the study of his biography, fact has been gradually separated from fancy; but no agreement has been reached as to the nature and purport of his teaching. He is seen by many as a reformer of Medicine. Others praise his achievements in Chemistry and even regard him as the founder of "Biochemistry". He appears in the ranks of early XVIthcentury scientists and reformers such as Vesalius, Copernicus, Agricola, and thus is seen as a "modern". On the other hand, he has always enjoyed the "Aura" of a mystic and even the shady reputation of a magician. For centuries his work has been criticised as non-scientific, phantastic and bordering on insanity. Moreover, his originality has been questioned in the very field in which he had seemed to be a harbinger of light and progress, namely the introduction of chemical remedies. There is a further side to Paracelsus, to all appearances divorced from science and medicine. Many of his works are purely religious, social and ethical in character. As more of these works become accessible, they seem to reveal new and additional facets of this multicoloured personality. Hoefer's summing up of 1843 seems still to hold good: «Figurez-vous un homme qui, dans de certains moments, fait preuve d'une penetration admirable, et qui, dans d'autres, radote le plus pitoyablement du monde; un homme qui, tantot devoue au progres de la Science, proclame l'autorite absolue de !'experience ... et qui, tantot comme un aliene, semble converser avec les demons ... un homme enfin qui, a jeun le matin et ivre le soir, enregistre exactement toutes les idees dans l'ordre dans lequel elles se presentent a son esprit.»1 This aptly summarises the impression which Paracelsus' writings make on the average modern reader: the Faustian "two souls'', a mind split by 1

Histoire de la Chimie. Paris 1843, vol. II, p. 9.

4

General Introduction

tendencies and convictions which contradict each other. However, to explain an historical figure today in terms of the "two souls" of Doctor Faustus would be merely to resort to a well-worn cliche. What seems to be contradiction and inconsistency to the modern mind was not necessarily incomprehensible four hundred years ago. The historian must search more deeply. The attempt to interpret a savant in modern terms erects barriers to a true historical understanding of the hero as a unified personality and a unique figure. Our task is not to show that Paracelsus was either a magician or a scientist (actually he deserves neither of these designations). Nor will it suffice to present these different aspects side by side and be satisfied with their mere existence. Nor, finally, does the modern historian of science contribute to our knowledge of Paracelsus if he constructs a line of development in which Paracelsus is seen as a landmark on the highway leading from Magic into Science for there is n_o such thing in the life, work and ideas of Paracelsus himself. The problem which really does confront us is that of specifying the manner in which mystical, magical and scientific elements are all blended together into a single doctrine.

The Life of Paracelsus (1) Name, Birth and Family The large volume of extant books and papers on the life of Paracelsus is out of proportion to the scarcity of well documented facts. Even the few data which seemed solid enough to be transmitted from book to book for centuries have recently been challenged for good reasons. We are not even on safe ground when quoting the famous names: Philippus Aureolus Theophrastus Paracelsus. The latter, by which he is commonly known, was a nickname giv~n to him at a later period of his life. That he used it himself at any time cannot be demonstrated. It first appears as a pseudonym for the -author- oCa -"Praciica" of political-astrological character, printed in 1529 at Niirnberg, where it may have been used to distinguish the astrological from the medical author who was simply called "Theophrastus of Hohenheim". Not until 1536/7 does the name: "Doctor Paracelsus" appear on a medical treatise, namely the "Grosse Wundarznei" - one of the few works printed before his death and at a time when he was widely known as "Paracelsus".2 None of the interpretations of the meaning of this name has been satisfactory. It is mostly taken as a translation of "Hohenheim" (the family estate in Swabia), or to signify "surpassing Celsus" (the Roman writer on medicine or possibly Celsus, the enemy of the Church). It has been convincingly suggested that the name was not invented by Paracelsus himself, who was averse to such humanistic practices as the latinization or graecification of names, but by his circle of "combibones" at Colmar (1528). 3 It was to convey (at the same time) .his superiority to Celsus and the paradoxical character of his writings and speeches. It does not seem to be accidental that later, on the title of his main works "Paramirum" and "Paragranum" the syllable "Para" was accorded a conspicuous place. 2

Bittel, K.: Para - und Paracelsus. Paracelsus-Museum, Stuttgart. Paracelsus-Dokumentation. Referat-Bllitter. A 44 Januar 1943, pp. 7-8. a Bittel: loc. cit.

(I) Name, Birth and Family


6

However, a "paramiric" work had been promised by Paracelsus already in his earliest treatise of about 15204, and the "Volumen Medicinae Paramirum" ("Von den Fiinf Entien") is usually regarded as an early prelude to the Opus Paramirum of 1531, also written about 1520.5 From all this it is fair to say that the invention of the name, though probably not due to Paracelsus himself, was prompted by a verbal creation of his own. The name Theophrastus is not documented prior to his Strassburg period (1526)6 and the programme to his lectures at Basie in 1527 7 • He is first called Philipp on his tombstone. 8 His year of birth, normally given as 1493, is uncertain: 1494 has been suggested as correct and the first of May as the probable hirthday9 • His birth place - Einsiedeln - is uncontested. Nothing is known, however, about the house in which he was horn, and the romantic tradition surrounding the famous house at the "Devil's Bridge" over the Sihl near Einsiedeln is fictional. Paracelsus was the son of a physician, Wilhelm of Hohenheim, who was of the family of the Banhasts or Bombasts. The name Bomhastus of Hohenheim is the best documented designation of Paracelsus. "Bombast" has nothing to do with "bombastic" in the sense of "turgid language" or "tall talk"lO. It indicates descent from a very old and noble Swabian family which had their original seat at Hohenheim near Stuttgart.11 Etliche (Elf) Tractaten ...von der Wassersucht. Ed. Sudhoff, vol. I, pp. 5 and XXXVI. Sudhoff; correcting his former dating of this treatise at 1530 (Paracelsus-Forschungen, 1887, I, p. 67 as against his edition of 1929 where it appears in vol. I, p. 163. See Bittel: loc. cit. p. 1). 6 The Strassburg town register has the entry: "Theophrastus von Hohenheim, der Artzney Doctor" under December 5th, 1526 (R. H. Blaser: Neue Erkenntnisse zur Basler Zeit des Paracelsus. Nova Acta Paracels. 1953, VI [supplem.], p. 9). In the diary of Nicolaus Gerbelius, secretary to the chapter of Strassburg cathedral, Paracelsus appears as "Theophrastus" in several places (Blaser loc. cit., pp. 10 seq.). Bittel. Karl: Zur Genealogie der Bombaste von Hohenheim. Miinch. med. Wschr. 1942, lxxxix, 359. s Bittel, K.: Korrekturen zur Paracelsus-Biographie. Hippokrates 1943, xiv, pp. 30-32. 9 Bittel, K: Ist Paracelsus 1493 oder 1494 geboren? Med. Welt 1942, xvi, 1163. This was challenged by J. Strebel in his edition: Theophrastus von Hohenheim: Samtliche Werke, vol. I. St. Gallen 1944, p. 38. Sudhoff (Paracelsus. Ein deutsches Lebensbild aus den Tagen der Renaissance. Leipzig. Bibliographisches Institut 1936, p. 11) came to the conclusion that Paracelsus was born in the last third. of 1493. 10 See Sigerist, H. E.: The word "Bombastic". Bull. Hist. Med. 1941, x, 688. This term derives from the Greek Bombyx, silkworm, and designates its product silk and later cotton and cotton wadding. The first metaphorical use of the word ("the swelling bumbast of a ... blank verse") is documented for 1589. 11 Bittel, K.: Miinch. med. Wschr. 1942, .No. 16, published important material relating

7

Two traits stand out as characteristic in the life of Paracelsus: restlessness and aggressive criticism. Both these traits are recognisable in the life of his paternal grandfather George (J6rg) Bombast of Hohenheim. He is known as a Knight of the Order of St. John (1453-1496) and must have been a real knight-errant for he accompanied his sovereign Eberhard the Pious (or "in the Beard" - "Rauschehart") on an adventurous journey to Palestine (1468). In 1489 he had to tender a public and solemn apology for an irate speech in the Diet. Moreover, we know of at least one illegitimate child which he had produced - the father of Paracelsus. This was Wilhelm Bombast de Riett, so called because he was brought up at Riet in Wiirttemherg on the estate of his paternal uncle. It is tempting to correlate the temperament, "Wanderlust" and chequered career of Paracelsus with the character of his grandfather. In contrast to the latter, Paracelsus' father seems to have been a scholar of a quiet and retiring • disposition. He had studied at Tiihingen, matriculated as a pauper12 and must have been at a disadvantage because of his illegitimacy. Thus there was reason enough for him to leave his native country - which he significantly did shortly after his father's disgrace. He settled at Einsiedeln in Switzerland where he married. The identity of his wife has been the subject of controversy hut it can he assumed that Paracelsus' mother was a native of Einsiedeln.13 Here he

4

5

12

13

to the history of the Banbasts (Baumbasts, Bombasts) of Hohenheim (Hohenhain) one of the oldest families of the Swabian nobility. - On the genealogy of Paracelsus see Strebel, J.: Vererbungsstudien an Paracelsus. Schweiz. med. Wschr. 1943, p. 1582, and about "Hohenheim" - the family name and the fate of its estate: Strebel, J.: Historische Glossen zum Namen "Hohenheim". Praxis 1951, 1075. Hohenheim was situated near Plieningen on the highway from Stuttgart to Tiibingen. He appears in the roll of the students under the 11th January, 1481, aged 24, as a "pauper" who "dedit pedello unum solidum" (Strebel: loc. cit. 1943). He was penniless by statute, namely as the son of a knight of a Holy Order. She is said to have been a serf of the Benedictine monastery. That she was the daughter of Ruodi Ochsner and his wife Els has been largely inferred from the arms displayed in a picture supposed to be the portrait of Wilhelm of Hohenheim as a bridegroom. The authenticity of this portrait, however, is no longer tenable (see footnote later). It has been noted that the Paracelsus house on the "Kielwiesli im Wiesengrund" above what is today the "Krone" was in 1501 in the possession of the Griitzer family from which Paracelsus' mother possibly originated (B. Lienhardt, Medizingeschichtliches aus Einsiedeln 1941, p. 24, and Bittel: Korrekturen, loc. cit. 1943, p. 31). Of other families that of Wesener has also been mooted. All this is quite uncertain. From his iconographic studies Strebel concludes that Paracelsus' head showed characteristic Swiss traits. This, according to Strebel, applies in particular to the authentic and rightly famous portrait of 1538 by Augustin Hirschvogel and also to the Holbein portrait of 1526 of "a young man with slouch hat". This has been claimed to be a portrait of young Paracelsus, as it apparently formed the model for Wenzel Hollar's Paracelsus portrait which belongs to the early XVIlth century. All this is highly con-

8


(2) Formative years

practised as doctor and student of chemistry until - in 1502 - the Swabian wars made him transfer to Villach. Here he lived and practised in undisturbed peace and with all civic honours for thirty-two yearsl
It is of special interest that Paracelsus' early teachers were churchmen.is This indicates that his education was not exclusively on naturalist lines, but rather encyclopaedic or "pansophic". Trithemius was called "Pansophiae splendor magnus". 19 Aiming at a "universal art" which enables the "adept" to arrive at universal knowledge by the tabulation and ·permutation of symbols, he thus seems to belong to the "kabbalistic" tradition which leads from Lull to Picus, Reuchlin, Agrippa of Nettesheym, Bruno, Alstedius, and Leibniz. The work of Paracelsus has an encyclopedic and "pansophic" character; he himself is intent on unravelling the occult _ "kabbalistic" and symbolical - meaning of phenomena by visualising concordances everywhere. All this is very much on the lines of the Lullian tradition and may well have been inspired by the example and the work of Trithemius. 20 "Philosophia adepta", as Paracelsus calls it, can be interpreted as encyclopedic rather than merely naturalistic knowledge and the "arts" to which Paracelsus refers embrace such "magic" as the '"power" enshrined in words and the letters of the alphabet.21 All these are familiar tra.it~ in the w~rk of Paracelsus. Moreover, his profound knowledge of rehg10n and philosophy is well explained by the youthful impressions received from his clerical preceptors.22

(2) Formative years Beyond the scanty notes met with in Paracelsus' own wntmgs we know nothing about his early life and education. It is likely that in the tutoring which he received from his father natural history and mining took precedence. Paracelsus himself says that "from early childhood" the transmutation of metals had occupied his mind. 16 His teachers, he adds, had been profound experts in "adepta philosophia" and the related "arts". Prominent among those that he remembers are Wilhelmus of Hohenheim, his father, "who has never forsaken me" and then a great number of tutors of whom he only mentions by name four bishops and one abbot. The latter is the abbot "of Spanheim" - to all intents and purposes the famous Johannes Trithemius of Sponheim, later at St. Jacob, Wiirzburg.17

14

15

16 17

9

Paracelsus knew Latin, but he was no logician, no orator, no jurist, no humanist. His preference for the vernacular German and for utility rather than elegant Latin seems to be in line with his character and not to Gesch. Med. 1953, xxxvii, 234, and Paracelsus-Studien. Klirnten 1954, pp. 7-41, on the Trithemius problem pp. 27-29 and 35-40. . Trithemius nowadays enjoys a better and historically more realistic reputation a fact which in itself is, of course, irrelevant to the assessment of his relationship with Paracelsus. 18 For biographical detail and much detective work in the attempted integration of these men with the life story of Paracelsus see Goldammer: loc. cit., 1953 and 1954. 19 Goldammer: loc. cit. 1954, p. 39. 20 See later our discussion of the Lullian traits in the work of Paracelsus. 21 ~ol.~am1!!er,:, l?c. cit. 1954, ~· 26, is inclined to see in "Philosophia adepta" and the ~unste : die mo~er?e W1s~enschaf~ der grossen Erneuerungszeit, 'Philosophie' im hochsten damals moglichen Smne, keme mysterii:ise Geheimtradition, sondern kritisches E~kenntnisstre~~n und gelliutertes Wissen auf allen Wissensgebieten." In other w?rds, It meant leg1Umate, logical and metaphysical speculation on the lines of Nicolaus Cusanus and Enea Silvio. This is borne out by the lack of actual alchemical work am?ng the wr.itings.of Trithemius, as Partington's careful analysis has shown: J.R.P~:ungton: .T~1themms and Alchemy. Ambix 1938, 11, 53-59. On "Philosophia Adepta as the mam purport of Paracelsus' doctrine see W. E. Peuckert, Theophrastus P.aracelsus. Stuttgart and Berlin 1943, p. 375 and passim; also Spunda, F., Das Welt· b1ld des Paracelsus. Wien. 1941, p. 226. 22 Goldammer: loc. cit. 1953, p. 235, with reference to Netzhammer: Theophrastus Paracelsus. Einsiedeln 1901, p. 23.

jectural and sounds somewhat wishful. Strebel, J.: Neue Beitrlige zur Ikonographie von Paracelsus. Gesnerus 1952, 8, 236. Testimonial issued by the "Richter, Raht und der gantz Gemain der Statt Villach" on May 12th, 1538, and handed to Paracelsus with his possessfons on the Sunday Jubilate. The evidence is summarised by Rob. Herrlinger: Das vermeintliche Portrlit Wilhelms von Hohenheim. Dtsch. med. Wschr. 1954, p. 1937. Herrlinger chiefly refers to E. Buchner: Das deutsche Bildnis der Splitgotik und der friihen Diirerzeit. Berlin 1953. For criticism antedating Buchner's discovery of the inauthenticity of the arms he refers to Bittel, K.: Echte und Unechte Paracelsus-Bildnisse. Referatbllitter zum Leben und Werk des Theophrastus von. Hohenheim. Referat B 1: Ikonographie. Paracelsus· Museum, Stuttgart. August 1942. Silber, M.: Das Bildnis Wilhelms von Hohenheim. Salzburger Museumsbllitter 1941, xx, No. 1-4. Grosse Wundartznei (1536), tract. III, ed. Sudhoff, vol. x, p. 354. Towards the end of the XIXth century Trithemius had a bad press. He was regarded as a "windbag" who deliberately gave the impression of possessing the magic arts. This must be the reason for Sudhoff's passionate and purely emotional denial of his tutorship of Paracelsus (Paracelsus. Leipzig 1936, pp. 13 seq.). This, however, is the unmistakable meaning of Paracelsus' own testimonial - see the critical examination of this question by Goldammer, K.: Die bischi:iflichen Lehrer des Paracelsus. Arch.

f

I

10


(2) Formative years

reflect a neglected education. The mining school of the Fuggers at Hutenberg near Villach offered to Paracelsus, father and son, a broad field for chemical and medical observation and speculation. Here and as an apprentice in the mines of Sigmund Fueger at Schwaz he must have received the direction towards his life work. His was a practical and at the same time a contemplative - religious mind, intent on discovering truth. Thus he was bound to be repelled by the largely eristic treatment of medicine at the universities which he visited as a vagrant journeyman-scholar from the age of fourteen onwards. Paracelsus mentions many of the famous German and Italian and also French and Spanish universities. 23 It is not certain that he visited, let alone studied at them. He possibly read, between 1509 and 1511, for the bachelor's degree at Vienna where the Swiss humanist and friend of Zwingli, Joachim Vadian, was Rector. Between 1513 and 1516 Paracelsus journeyed and studied in Italy, notably at Ferrara. Here, possibly together with Wolfgang Thalhauser, later municipal physician of Augsburg, and Christoph Clauser, town physician at Ziirich, he seems to have sat at the feet of Johannes Manardus (1462-1536), a critical adversary of astrology in medicine. 24 He probably also heard Nicolaus Leonicenus (1428-1524), the medical humanist and critic. There is no proof of Paracelsus' graduation which has been assumed to have taken place at Ferrara. This assumption was entirely based on Paracelsus' own deposition during his law suit against an ungrateful patient at Basle. 25 It has not been possible to verify it from a documentary search. 26 It is noteworthy that

23

24

26 26

11

loannes Man~rdusi.

See the synoptic tables compiled by Telepnef, B. de: Verzeichnis der von Paracelsus wahrend seiner Studienjahre und spiiter auf seinen grossen Wanderungen durch Europa besuchten Universitiitsstlidte. Nova Acta Paracels. Basel 1946, III, 173. Manardus refers to the spirited refutation of astrology by Picus and Savonarola. Avicenna did not really believe in it, nor did Hippocrates. Moreover, the "astrological pest is a virus" highly offensive to the Christian religion. - Nor is it of any use or necessity to the physician. Epidemics such as plague and syphilis break out at any time of the year, nor are they likely to be transmitted by the air - the reputed vehicle of astral influence. , Manardi, Jo. Medici Ferrariensis: Epistolae Medicinales. Argentorati 1529, fol. 23 seq. Cornelius of Lichtenfels - for detail see later p. 22. Ghibellini, I.: Le mie ricerche sulla Laurea di Paracelso, Gesnerus 1952, ix, 149-153, came to an entirely negative conclusion after having searched the local university rolls at Ferrara and elsewhere. - As Blaser (loc. cit. Arch. Gesch. Med. 1957, xli, 146, and before Nova Acta Paracels. VI, suppl. loc. cit. 1953, p. 32; 66 footnote 57) pointed out, Paracelsus used the specific title of "Doctor in utraque medicina" - the degree awarded exclusively by the universities of North-Italy and unknown at Basie uutil 1594. - Blaser suggests, this may provide a piece of circumstantial evidence that Paracelsus possessed the degree after all.

0 A N N E s Madardus FtrrarieoGs~ in Pannonia Vfaditlao Regc nu:dcndi arccm exttcuit,eandemquedcmum ibgymoa.fio Ferrari<\? profdfus.Eputolarum librurn edidic:, quo magna medentibus,& phai:macopolis vciUtas paratur.quii tcrrre frugi buslodicisquc pr~fmim in tnedidnz vfum adoptatis,obfolc.. to antiquo oomioe,&incena viiiu~potdl:ate perob"uriscruditam darit~•

',,

Fig. 1. Port. of Manardus. From Giovio Elogia 1577, p. 152 (125).

when he settled down at Strassburg in 1526 he was not enrolled in the guild of doctors, but in that of grain merchants - which may of course have been a more expedient way to comply with the formalities of admission. We also

I

(3) Early Journeys (1517-1524)


12

That he became municipal physician and professor of medicine at Basie does not prove his previous graduation as a doctor. He did, however, possess a profound knowledge of the medical syllabus of the time - a necessary prerequisite for its critical destruction at his hands and in itself a testimony to the success of his medical studies. This does not seem to have ever been in doubt. A possible solution of the question may lie in some temporary inability on Paracelsus' part to bring his studies at Ferrara to their formal conclusion. A more realistic view of the matter should take into consideration the fact that Paracelsus' life had been unconventional from the beginning. A formal completion of the university course with all the Molieresque sham celebrations surrounding the doctorate would have been beyond his means and at any rate distasteful to him - without, however, impairing his feeling of his own academic proficiency. At all events, the universities neither of Germany nor of Italy, France and Spain had anything to offer that appealed to him. He criticised their medical faculties and teachers relentlessly. 27 Some of his remarks betray a personal acquaintance with the academic premises, for example the "magnificent vaults of Ferrara" where anatomy was taught. 28 Such references, however, are scanty. There was much more for him to learn in daily life as it presented itself to a vagrant scholar-journeyman and above all in the mines. In fact, throughout his life, working and observing the natural growth and "transmutation" of metals in the mines was an outstanding experience. As a boy he had worked near Villach and as an adolescent in the Fueger mines near Schwaz.

'Ni.Golaus Leonicenus. . .

·~

E

-

M

13

(3) Early Journeys (1517-1524) ..

o proficencim:n Medi'corum,Nicolao Lconiccno Viccoti

no'~cra falucarisfcienti~d_ogmata~uriu'satquenitid~us expli- · cau1t.Ncmocrrores Sof'li1ftlirutn imponunagarrubtate cut)... ; da fredanciumdoqueotius1atquevaUdiusconfutauit. Netno to d~'mum ad illutlrcm ccnioris pttitiz fidem longius atquc .-ialubr1us ~ita_!11~ro:Iux1c •. ~rimus enim Gr.ecaGatroivolumina Latincin ... =::

Fig. 2. Port. of Leonicenus. From Giovio Elogia 1577, p. 132.

know that Paracelsus was employed as a military surgeon in the Venetian service in 1522 - a post not normally acceptable to a doctor in medicine, but possibly acceptable to an independent "doctor" of Paracelsus' stamp.

We are quite well informed about Paracelsus' journeys following his sojourn at Basie in 1527 /28. These journeys were confined to Alsace, Southern Germany, Switzerland, Tyrol, Bohemia and Austria. We know nothing definite, however, about his earlier wanderings which are said to have led him from North Italy throughout Europe, to Spain, England, Scandinavia, Russia and even Turkey and the Middle East. A stay in Scandinavia where he is reputed to have acted as army surgeon under

27 28

See the loci compiled by Telepnef: loc. cit. 1946. "Unter dem loblichen Gewolbe zu Ferrara." Von blatern, leme, beulen ... der fran· zosen. Lib. II, cap. 3. Ed. Sudhoff: vol. VI, p. 337.

14


Relationship between medicine and surgery

Christian II between 1518 and 1521 has been particularly singled out for fanciful associations for which there is no documentary evidence whatever. 29 Paracelsus himself mentions in the "Spitalbuch"30 experiences gained and successful cures performed in his early days in the Low Countries, in Naples and in wars waged by Venice, Denmark and Holland, and more specifically that he had witnessed at "Stockholm in Denmark" the use of a wound potion which cures all wounds after the third draught, except fractures and injuries to the vessels. 31 It seems that on all these journeys Paracelsus acted as an army surgeon and was involved in the many wars waged between 1517 and 1524 in Holland, Scandinavia, Prussia, Tartary, the countries under Venetian influence and possibly the near East.

Relationship between medicine and surgery What gives Paracelsus' early life its singular mark, however, is the vacillation between the academic and artisan attitudes to life and medicine. It is against this background that his persistent complaints must be viewed - that he was recognised as a surgeon, but not as a physician. In this the mediaeval attitude was still the order of the day. It regarded active interference at the sick bed as something beneath the dignity of the physician - for he enjoyed the privileges of the scholar. On the other hand it precluded the surgeon - a mere craftsman - from any theoretical approach. The work of the great surgeon-scholars in the XIVth century, notably of Henri de Mondeville 32, had never gained influence strong enough to break the ice which separated physician and surgeon - nor was it intended to do so. This was the mediaeval professional code against which Paracelsus battered. Where, he asks, is the surgery that a physician can dispense with in his doctoring and where is the medical disease that does not require the surgeon? Medicine is but theoretical insight into the nature, and surgery the cure, of all diseases. He addresses the surgeon: "Look out how you can stand up to diseases you call surgical - erysipelas, cancer, estiomene ... if you are not a physician, what can you do other than mechanical cutting in tailor's fashion? For you must find your ground in medicine. How then can you establish it as another faculty and profession ? You wood doctor and fool! He is called physician who fathoms the origin of disease, and surgery is that which guides practical procedure. In judicando you are a physician, in curando a surgeon.... The patient asks for cure - "surgery"-, and not for theory - "medicine" -, it is the doctor who needs this. That is: there can be no surgeon who is not also a physician the latter is begotten by the surgeon and the surgeon tests the physician by the results of his work. Where the physician is not also a surgeon

(4) Attempts at settling down. Reasons for frustration Paracelsus' life had been unconventional almost from the outset: he grew up under the guidance of ecclesiastic dignitaries - yet the bent in his education had been towards practical work at the bench and furnace and in the open air. He had then studied at universities - yet the formal conclusion of such studies is clouded in obscurity and followed neither by academic preferment nor by settling down in practice. Instead, Paracelsus spends almost a decade journeying far and wide, entrusting his life to the fortunes of war, to improvisation and chance. At a time of unrest when new continents were being discovered and captured with unrestricted violence and cruelty, when the buttresses of tradition, learning and faith were being mercilessly challenged and demolished, unconventional features in the life and work of the luminaries of the age are not surprising. Moreover, there is little that is unconventional in the life of the itinerant doctor and army surgeon as such. There is much unrest noticeable in the life and career even of such entrenched academic dignitaries as Leonard Fuchs and many other eminent men of the century.

32

29

30 31

15

As Diepgen has shown, basing his criticism on a thorough examination of the Danish sources (notably Hans Grams). See Diepgen, P.: \'
'i" ·1

For Henri de Mondeville (born between 1250 and 1270, died after 1325) and his creation of the "scholar-surgeon", reference must be made to his "discovery" and first introduction into the annals of medical history by Julius Pagel (1851-1912). A selection from the pertinent literature is found in the present author's: Julius Pagel. Victor Robinson Memorial Vol. NewYork 1948, pp. 273-297; id., Medical History at the End of the Nineteenth Century. To commemorate Julius Pagel and his Discovery of Mediaeval Sources. Proc. R. Soc. Med. 1952, XLV, 303-306; id., Julius Pagel and the Significance of Medical History for Medicine. Bull. Hist. Med. 1951, XXV, 207-225; id., review of Theodoric's Surg., translated by E. Campbell and J. Colton in Isis 1956, XLVII, pp. 444-445.

16


Fig. 3. Hospital scene. Woodcut from Paracelsus Opus Chirurgicum. Frankfurt. Sigmund Feyerabend 1566, p. 38 (and repeated). In the foreground surgeons operating. Between them a group of consulting physicians discussing a urine specimen. From the evidence of the authentic Paracelsus-Portraits (compare our fig. 4), Paracelsus in external appearance resembled a surgeon rather than a physician. On the artist compare: Herrlinger, R., Die Anatomie des Jost Amman und die Illustration zu Feyerabends Paracelsus-Ausgabe von 1565. Arch. Gesch.Med.1953, XXXVII, 23-38; and ibid. Ein weiterer Holzschnitt aus der Werkstatt J ostAmmans.1954, XXXVIII, 84-86.

he is an idol that is nothing but a painted monkey." 33 In his "Spitalbuch" of 1529, Paracelsus presents all this in an autobiographical setting. He says: The cures which he had performed on eighteen sovereigns, aban33

"Wo ist ein wuntarznei, die nicht ein physicum muss haben in seiner krankheit? Wo ist ein leibarznei, die nicht durch ein chirurgicum muss und sol geheilt werden? ... dan jeder krank begert der chirurgei und nicht der physic. der arzt aber begert der physic. das ist kein chirurgicus mag nicht sein ohn ein physicum; er wird aus im geboren und der chirurgus probirt den physicum ... " Liber De Podagricis et suis speciebus et morbis annexis (Zwei friihe Ausarbeitungen iiber das Podagra) lib. III. Cura. Ed. Sudhoff, vol. I, pp. 341-342.

Salzburg

17

doned by their physicians as incurable, in themselves refute the reproach that he was no physician, but "only" a surgeon-craftsman. It was he the army surgeon - who had brought succour to a multitude of sufferers from fever - in the Netherlands, in the territories of Rome, Naples, Venice, in Denmark, Latvia, Hungary, Dalmatia, Croatia, England, and all parts of Germany. 34 The blows aimed by Paracelsus against the professional code were bound to recoil upon the reckless attacker and to undermine any thought of civic existence and respectability which he might have entertained at any stage of his life. It was just this unification of surgery and medicine which was conditioned by, and in turn led to, his devastating criticism of accepted tradition, so that his further life became a series of fateful clashes with ruling classes and opinions. It was a losing battle from the start - in spite of the triumphs at the sick bed and the lasting fame in the annals of medicine. Each of the long line of adventures and attempts to settle down follows an identical pattern: Paracelsus arrives. His fame immediately procures him a large audience. He effects a cure where others have failed. He finds influential friends, and is even employed with a public authority. After a short while, however, he falls foul of authorities, colleagues, pupils, and even his former friends. To avoid imprisonment or death he has to leave secretly and suddenly, forfeiting his earthly possessions. The classical example is his academic and professional activity at Basie - in spite of its short duration, the climax of his life. (a) Salzburg Before, however, there is his experience at Salzburg (1524-1525). Paracelsus was passionately moved by the misery of the poor, by the slavery into which rigid juridical tradition had trapped them. His religious and social ethical speculations are in line with those of the Brethren of the Spirit, the Anabaptists and the exponents of "popular pantheism" in the Middle Ages and the era of Reformation. 35 That he should be found in the ranks of the rebellious peasants was a foregone conclusion. He was arrested, but narrowly escaped the savage death meted out to suspects as well as those convicted. A feature typical of his journeys emerges after his flight from Salzburg: the attraction by which he was drawn to watering places. Not universities, but spas, were the focal points to which he again and again 34 35

Spitalbuch (Part One). Preface. Ed. Sudhoff, vol. VII, p. 374. For detail see later, p. 227.

18


resorted. Like the mines, they were to him nature's laboratories revealing her hidden virtues and powers. Thus, after his flight from Salzburg, he visits the spas of Baden and Suebia, along the Danube. (b) Strassburg In 1526 it looks as if Paracelsus were to settle down at last. He is now 33 and on December 5th of this year has his name entered into the town register at Strassburg. This entitled him to permanent residence and he was free to join the guild "Zur Lutzerne" which received surgeons and tradesmen. Again, he did not stay long - there is the story of his defeat in a disputation on anatomy with the Strassburg surgeon Wendelin Hock36 which is said to have prejudiced his professional prospects. Yet we are told hy Paracelsus' pupil Oporinus that the master was very popular with all strata of the Alsatian population. In fact, he led the full life of a highly appreciated professional authority whose society and counsel were sought hy prominent town and country men. It cannot, therefore, have been a scandal that drove Paracelsus from the town. It may be assumed, however, that already at Strassburg Paracelsus' relationship with his colleagues left much to be desired and that he relied on the protection given to him by the influential circle of the reformers.

The reformers at Strassburg In this respect four figures must be considered: Nicolaus Gerbelius, Kaspar Hedio, Wolfgang Capito, all at Strassburg, and Johannes Oecolampadius, the reformer of Basie. Capito, before coming to Strassburg, had been at Basie too, and was the intimate friend of Oecolampadius whom he had known in his youth at Heidelberg and Bruchsal. At Basie he had sponsored the latter's doctorate. Capito reached the height of his

Strassburg. - Basie

fame at Strassburg round about 1523. Gerbelius, secretary to the Strassburg Cathedral chapter, wrote of him: ••you cannot imagine what Capito 's authority has achieved." 37 It was at Strassburg that he was visited by the emissaries of the Queen of Navarre (the sister of Francis I) - Jacobus Faber of Etaples and Gerardus Rufus - and thus became responsible for the rise of protestantism in France.as Capito was a friend of Hedio and Gerbelius. Hedio met Paracelsus, as Gerbelius tells us in his diary - he was himself Paracelsus' patient.39 Capito was a polymath who had studied medicine, also law and in particular Greek and Hebrew. It is probable that through him Paracelsus was brought into contact with the humanist circles at Basie. (c) Basie At all events, already from the middle of January to the end of February 1527 Paracelsus was absent from Strassburg - on a visit to Basie. Here the life centre of the humanist movement was the publisher Froben. For some time Froben had failed to find relief for an ailing leg. Paracelsus was more fortunate than the multitude of his colleagues who had been consulted and was just in time to dissuade the patient from having his leg amputated, as had been proposed. The success of his therapy was witnessed and gratefully recognised by Froben's friends, among them Erasmus and the influential Amerbach brothers. Already at this time the wish to secure Paracelsus' services for Basie was expressed by Erasmus.40 For the actual appointment of Paracelsus (March 1527), Oecolampadius41 seems to have been responsible. We mentioned him before as the intimate friend of Capito and the other Strassburg reformers whom Paracelsus had known. He was highly influential in the town council which was predominantly protestant - in contrast to the university. He was a zealous theo37

38 26

Hock, a Suebian, was the author of an early syphilis tract (Strassburg, 1502; 1514) in which he advocated cautious treatment with mercury. His debate with Paracelsus is "hypothetical", as E. Wickersheimer rightly says in Paracelse a Strasbourg. Centaurus, 1951, I, 356-365 (p. 359), with reference to Bittel, Die Elsasser Zeit des Para· ~elsus. Hohenheims Wirken in Strassburg und Kolmar, sowie seine Beziehungen zu Lorenz Fries. Elsass-1.othring. Jb. 1944, XXI, 158-159; and Pachter, M.: Paracelsus. New York 1951, p. 144. The story is based on indirect evidence provided by an anti-Paracelsean lampoon from the Basie period. The passage to the effect that he shunned a disputation with Hock may refer not to one held at Strassburg, but to -0ne proposed at Basie and in fact never held.

19

39

40 41

"Non credis quantum auctoritas Capitonis efficiat", Gerbelius epist. XXII to Schwe· belius, quoted from Adam, M.: Vitae Theologorum. Heidelberg 1620, p. 90. Adam: loc. cit., p. 90. Th~ relevant passages were published by Wickersheimer, loc. cit., pp. 359-360, to which was added Paracelsus' prescription for Gerbelius in facsimile (p. 361). See also Blaser, R.H.: Neue Erkenntnisse zur Basler Zeit des Paracelsus. Nova Acta Paracels. Supplement to vol. VI. Einsiedeln 1953, 90 pp. Blaser: loc. cit., p. 14. This is the grecian form of his name Hussgen or Hausschein. He lived from 1482 to 1531. See for example: Hagenbach, K. R. : History of the Reformation. Trans. E. Moore, Edinburgh 1878, vol. I, p. 275, also for further lit. concerning his divergences from Luther. On his decisive influence in the appointment of Paracelsus: Jociscus in his Vita Oporini. Strassburg 1569, p. 14.

21


Basle

logian, hut had an active interest in social problems and the significance of those deeds which keep faith alive in the same way as the spirit keeps alive the hody.42 Paracelsus, though a Catholic, was known for his long record of friendship with progressive circles and the Reformation. His medical proficiency was ousting mediaeval scholastic medicine and was thus hound to appeal to humanists, reformed churchmen and the public. A reformer of medicine following original and, so it appeared, highly successful ways seemed to he the right candidate for the vacant post of municipal physician - the man to complement and strengthen the new - protestant - course set in town politics. It was owing to the latter that the vacancy had arisen and persisted for four years. The post to which Paracelsus was appointed was a municipal, not a university, preferment. Yet it was anomalous in that it carried the commission and right to lecture. 43 The university, however, had not been consulted in the appointment. In fact, owing to the dispute caused by the Reformation and a severe epidemic of plague, many professors were absent. Worse than this, Paracelsus himself refused to submit to the formal aci of reception as an external graduate. This required a special oath and recognition of his diploma by the university. Perhaps Paracelsus had no such diploma to show. 44 Moreover, he challenged the faculty directly by issuing an iconoclastic manifesto. 45 In this he promises to teach practical and theoretical medicine for two hours daily - not after Hippocrates and Galen (as was the recognised academic method), hut on the basis of original experience in unravelling the secrets of nature and disease. Finally he solemnly burned in the bonfire, on the most unsolemn occasion of a students' rag, on June 24th (St.John's Day), the fat vohi~e of Avicenna the "Canon" of academic medicine. 46

This act seems to have followed the publication of his manifesto47 and the opening of his lectures by only a few weeks. The faculty reacted refusing the use of the lecture room and the right to sponsor candidates for the doctorate. At the same time Paracelsus' qualification to lecture was disputed. In turn he lodged a protest with the town council against the restrictions and censures. This was combined with complaints against malpractice on the part of the apothecaries. Such complaints belonged to the routine duty of a municipal physician commissioned to supervise and regularly visit apothecary shops. Paracelsus continued his lectures. He delivered them in the vernacular - an absolute novelty in academic life, which it continued to he for nearly two centuries. In these lectures Paracelsus formed the essential nucleus of his system of medicine. He must have had an enthusiastic and crowded audience which - another breakaway from an iron tradition - included the nonacademic harhersurgeons. The first event which seriously undermined his position at Basie was the sudden death of Frohen (October, 1527). A most damaging and widely publicised lampoon followed-making fun of the neologisms which he had used in his lectures and extolling the wisdom of Galen against the "Cacophrastus" Paracelsus. This was a special blow to the latter, as he had to suspect one of his own pupils of being the author - for nobody else could have been so conversant with his doctrines. Again Paracelsus complained to the town council (December, 1527). The complaint was shelved. Paracelsus had aroused the open hostility of his natural enemies: the academicans and apothecaries with vested interests in the particular tradition which he had deliberately defied. Afterwards he had done nothing to mitigate or appease such hostility; instead he had developed a special technique ("cum more suo") 48 of bringing things to a head. Above all, however, by his aggressiveness and his flow of complaints he had alienated the affection of his friends and the tolerance of the indifferent. The final - famous - episode is his clash with the town magistrate whom Paracelsus accused of ignorance and injustice. He had treated a dignitary

20

42

43

44 45 46

The open book to which he points in his portrait (Blaser, loc. cit., p. 27) displays the verse from James, II, 26: "For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also". Statutory detail regarding the post and the salary which it carried can be found in: Robert Blaser, "Amplo Stipendio Invitatus". Zur Frage der Stellung und Besoldung des Paracelsus in Basel. Arch. Gesch. Med. 1957, XLI, 143-153. See above on Paracelsus' doctorate at Ferrara. His "Intimatio" as printed in Sudhoff's edition of the works, vol. IV, p. 1-4. Sudhoff discredits the story that Paracelsus burnt Avicenna - a thick folio would not burn in a bonfire - and rather envisages the "Summa" of Jacobus de Partibus or perhaps the - older - Summa of Thomas de Garbo. (Paracelsus. Leipzig 1936, p. 30). Paracelsus himself said: "die Summe der Biicher" (Preface to Paragranum. Ed. Sudhoff, vol. VIII, p. 58). However, Avicenna's Canon is well documented, by the testimony of Sebastian

47

48

Franck: "Den Avicennam soll er verprent haben" (Chronica, Zeitbuch und Geschichtsbibel. Strassburg 1531, fol. 253 - as quoted by Sudhoff himself loc. cit., p. 68). June 5th: Blaser, p. 32; Sudhoff: Paracelsus' Werke, vol. IV, 3. On June 16th he is first recorded as a university teacher in the municipal salary sheet. Blaser, p. 51, with reference to the account in J. J. Grasser's Itinerarium historicopoliticum (1624) of the final quarrel at Basle.

22


Colmar. Nuremberg. Work on Syphilis

of the church49 in an acute painful abdominal incident for the cure of which the patient had finally promised an enormous fee (100 guilders). When Paracelsus effected full relief with the help of a few of his laudanum pills, the patient refused to keep his promise. 50 H~d it been a practical joke on Paracelsus, engineered by his enemies to provide material for a future lampoon ?51 Paracelsus' reaction was typical and consistent with his first principles of professional conduct. Oporinus tells us that he was not concerned with the amassing of wealth. We are also told that he would rather give alms than take a fee from the sick and poor. But litigation against the rich prebendary was something to embark upon with enthusiasm. For Paracelsus had been cheated by rich patients before. It was one of his recurring experiences. Again and again he reacted after the "Michael Kohlhaas" pattern: rigidly maintaining the letter of the law and exaggerating in violent outbursts the injury inflicted upon him - with the result of a perpetual litigation that appears to us egocentric and unrealistic. The magistrate - reflecting popular feeling in the town - found against the plaintiff. He awarded a small fee, out of proportion to what had been promised and demanded. Having insulted a judge publicly, Paracelsus made himself liable to early arrest and severe - possibly capital - punishment. Following the advice of his few remaining friends he left the town that same day, entrusting his possessions to his pupil Oporinus. This happened in January or February 1528 - bringing to an abrupt close the ten months of climax in the life of Paracelsus,52

(a) Colmar, Esslingen, Nuremberg. The work on Syphilis

23

From Basie, Paracelsus went to Colmar where he stayed with Lorenz Fries53, the author of popular medical literature - written like Paracelsus' treatises in the vernacular. 54 There, however, the similarity ends - Fries' work being on common dietetic lines. Though rejoined at Colmar by his pupils - notably Oporinus - Paracelsus soon moved and, after a short stay at Esslingen, reached Nuremberg in 1529. This was the town of his hope the great centre of commerce, of artists, artisans and religious reformers. His reputation went before him, however, and precluded any access to the phalanx of professionals which stood firmly closed against him. He immediately challenged the latter by proposing to cure any patient deemed incurable - in which he miraculously succeeded among nine out of fifteen of the lepers of the town. Conceivably this intensified the hostility of his colleagues. Worse than this, he alienated the strong Lutheran circles by dissociating himself outspokenly from Lutheran orthodoxy. In his view this was just as condemnable as popery. Standing as he did for practising rather than preaching Christianity; he was bound to take exception to the Lutheran worship of "Word" and "Faith" in contrast to "Deed". The support given by Luther and his church to social injustice as practised by the ruling circles in exterminating the rebellious poor, the dissenters and the enthusiasts could not fail to provoke Paracelsus' anger and disgust. 56 More than anywhere else, his literary work at Nuremberg went straight against recognised doctrines and ruling opinions.

(5) The second set of journeys What follows is a series of journeys interrupted by short periods of residence in the south of Germany, in Switzerland, Austria, Bohemia and again in Austria. 49 50

51

52

One Cornelius of Lichtenfels. Not the patient reluctant to pay, but Paracelsus' pupil Oporinus (see later, p. 29) called the paltry-looking but so highly efficient pills: "Mouse-dung". See Oporinus' letter to· Wierus as quoted in footnote on p. 29 and Wierus, Joh., De Praestigiis Daemonum ex incantationibus et veneficiis lib. sex. Oporinus, Basel 1568, p. 198: "Pilulae ad formam stercoris muris apparatae, unde et stercus muris Paracelsi nuncupatur . . . hoc opiatum stercus ex Ducatorum veterum auro purissimo vi chymica extractum praedicabat." On the "Laudanum" of Paracelsus - a different preparation see later p. 103; p. 330. That it had been a deliberate trap set by the anti-Paracelsean clique, was suggested by Robert Browning and is supported by Pachter: Paracelsus, loc. cit., 1951, p. 318. That Paracelsus' sojourn at Basie was indeed the climax in his creative life as a medical philosopher is well shown in Blaser, Robert: Das Bild des Arztes in den Basler Vor-

53

54

56

lesungen des Paracelsus. Paracelsus-Schriftenreilie der Stadt Villach, No. V. Klagenfurt 1956. 34 pp. Letter of Paracelsus from Colmar to Bonifacius Amerbach of Feb. 28th, 1528, printed in Sudhoff's ed., vol. vi, pp. 33-35, and fac. on plate iv. In contrast to Paracelsus, Fries' opposition to current views turned not against traditional medicine at large, but against the humanistic attitude of opposition to the Arabic commentators. He published in 1530 a "Defence of Avicenna". This was not necessarily directed against Paracelsus or occasioned by his visit - as he had praised Avicenna already in his "Mirror of Medicine" in 1518 (see for detail Lynn Thorndike, Hist. of Magic. Vol. V, New York 1941, p. 435). He consistently advocated the professional privileges of the academically qualified doctor. On the literary bickering going on between Fries and Paracelsus after the latter's sojourn at Colmar see the loci collected by Sudhoff, Paracelsus, 1936, loc. cit., p. 56. In passing, the progressive features exhibited in Fries' anatomical illustrations should be mentioned. Compared with the highly schematic - "medieval" - diagrams, for example, of the Anthropologium of Magnus Hundt (1501), the pictures of Fries, though appearing only sixteen years later, are "modern" in character and separated from the former as it were by ages. (See Herrlinger, R.: Grundsiitzliche Gedanken zu anatomischen Abbildungen um 1500. Grenzgebiete der Medizin 1949, II, 561.) See also later p. 41.

24


"Paragranum". "Opus Paramirum". St. Gall

25

The main medical problem of the era was syphilis, the disease newly imported from the West Indies and causing on an unsalted soil all the horrors of an acute and savage pandemic. Perhaps the situation was similar to our own predicament in the face of cancer, particularly of the lung, and the almost epidemic character which this form has assumed in recent years. The main hone of contention was treatment. For this two remedies were available: inunction with mercury and a decoction of the American guaiac or pock wood. The miracles ascribed to the latter by such hopeless sufferers from syphilis as Ulrich of Hutten were vigorously and judiciously rejected by Paracelsus, who conceded to it hut one miracle: the ever continuing and growing revenue which it brought to the coffers of the holders of the guaiac import monopoly, the Fuggers of Augsburg. On the other hand, though on sound principle an advocate of mercurial treatment, Paracelsus had to expose and deprecate the common murderous misuse of the metal. Already at Colmar he had directed particular attention to the disease and taught how to avoid "mercurialism" and exploit the curative while avoiding the toxic effect of the metal by careful dosage and the use of less toxic mercury preparations. Paracelsus had given vent to his opinions in a first short treatise against the guaiac. This was followed by the first hook (probably printed in 1529)57 of a work planned on more comprehensive lines. It attacked "impostors" and "impostures". The weapon now adopted by the profession was censorship. Paracelsus defied the opposition, having a hurried edition printed by Frederic Peypus (1530). With this no further sojourn in the city was possible. He retired to Beratzhausen - still hoping for return and friendship with the men of Nuremberg when the storm had blown over. Such strange optimism was shattered by the final decree prohibiting the printing of the planned Eight Books on the French Disease. The decree was based on the opinion of the Leipzig Medical Faculty delivered by the dean Heinrich Stromer of Auershach - founder of "Auerbach's Cellar", author of a popular plague tract and friend and beneficiary of the Fugger family.

He became a still more active preacher at St. Gall where he stayed next. St. Gall at this time was an important international emporium. Here, in 1531, the great Opus Paramirum - the "Work beyond Wonder" - was completed. It had been conceived and outlined at Basie or even before. It contains Paracelsus' basic medical doctrines, notably an exposition of the diseases due to "tartar" and imagination. 58 He dedicated the work to Joachim de Watt (Vadianus), the humanist, friend of such religious reformers as Ulrich Zwingli59, sometime Rector of Vienna University, now acting mayor of St. Gall. He also had been a friend of Paracelsus' father and the son had studied under him first at Villach and - possibly - later in Vienna. He was hound to support his former pupil, at least to begin with: by admitting him to the town and introducing him to patients such as Christian Studer, the sick mayor of the city, and affluent friends such as Bartholomeus Schowinger. In the long run Vadianus, a typical exponent of academic tradition, order and dignity was hardly anxious to solve the eternal personal problem of his iconoclastic pupil, and to undertake the herculean task of making him into a permanent peaceful citizen. Yet, Paracelsus stayed for more than two years.

(h) Beratzhausen and the "Paragranum"

(d) Appenzell, Innsbruck, Sterzing. "On the miners' disease"

There was no return to Nuremberg: staying at Beratzhausen, Paracelsus entered his "Paramiric" period - the height of his medical literary activity.

The year 1533 found him in the land of Appenzell - a poo;r lay preacher and healer among poor Swiss peasants. In the same year he visited the

57

See the evidence collected by Sudhoff, Introduction to the Vllth vol. of his edition, pp. 11-13.

He first hammered together the "Paragranum" (1529-30). Writing something "beyond the grain" he must have been aware that he was reaching a climax himself. It is the "four-pillar work", demanding that medicine should he based on: natural philosophy, Astronomy (embracing the relations of man with the cosmos outside him), Alchemy (notably the knowledge and invention of chemical remedies) and Virtue (the personal power immanent in the individual - doctor, patient, herb, metal - which must he united to effect the cure). The hook was introduced by the prefaces which have become famous - packed as they are with the most vigorous invectives against traditional medicine and its high priests. It was at Beratzhausen too that he resumed religious preaching, which he had practised already at Salzburg four years earlier. (c) St. Gall and the "Opus Paramirum"

58 59

See our account of "paramiric" doctrines, p. 121; p. 153. On Vadianus as churchman, lay preacher and reformer see Hagenbach, K. R.: History

26

27


Spas. Great Surgery. Philos. Sagax. Carinthia

mining districts of Hall and Schwaz. Here his work on the Miners' disease was conceived and written - the first treatise in medical literature recog· nising and systematically dealing with an occupational disease. 60 The route led towards Innsbruck. He entered the town in beggar's garb and duly failed to secure professional admission. 1534 he had passed the Brenner and reached Sterzing (Vipiteno) in June. The town was in the throes of the plague, hut the authorities, notably clergymen of both confessions, not only refused to listen, hut hurled abuse at him. Paracelsus, weakened by want and by his voluntary exposure to an epidemic-ridden population, seems to have fallen ill and was suspected of a venereal infection. Again, however, he was not without influential friends. 61

restarted and completed (up to the second hook) by Heinrich Steiner at Augsburg (July to August 1536). The work was an immediate success and had to he reprinted a year later. However, instead of continuing to write the three further hooks projected, Paracelsus resumed his eternal journeys. (g) Bavaria and Bohemia. "Philosophia Sagax" Via Nordlingen he passed Munich, Passau, Eferding 63 (1537) on his way to Bohemia, following the call for a consultation at Moravian Kromau, on behalf of Johann von der Leipnik, a high dignitary of the kingdom of Bohemia. Here besides work at the chemical furnace he began writing his philosophical magnum opus - the Astronomia Magna or Philosophia Sagax of the Greater and Lesser world. 64

(e) Meran, St.Moritz, Pfafers and the foundation of Balneology (h) Presshurg and Vienna Better luck awaited him at Meran and in the Veltlin - to Paracelsus "the most healthy land, superior to Germany, Italy and France, nay to all western and eastern Europe, where there is no gout, no colic, no rheuma· tism, no stone". In the same vein he praises the spring of St.Moritz, an acid water (especially in August) which "drives away gout, and makes the stomach as strong in digestion as that of a bird that digests tartar and iron". 62 St.Moritz was followed by Pfafers-Ragaz to which he devoted a special pamphlet (August 1535). Here again he was fascinated by the "occult" healing powers prepared in a subterranean laboratory and emerging as spa water. It is at the spas that he seems to have spent the most happy days of his life. At this time he seems to have issued his consilium for the abbot John Jacob Russinger at Pfafers.

On the way hack he stayed at Presshurg and Vienna - cold-shouldered by the medical profession, hut sought after by the sick and even admitted to an audience with King Ferdinand, the brother of Charles V, on two occas10ns. Prior to his arrival, at Presshurg he had been the guest of honour at a ceremonial dinner. He had recovered something of the grand reputation and wealth which he had lost in his Appenzell and Tyrolean period. Again, however, it could not last for long. A series of altercati~ns with the Austrian treasury followed. Paracelsus again managed to he cheated of all princely promises and to sink hack into poverty. He had certainly disappointed his protectors and the king is said to have called him the biggest swindler he had ever met. Perhaps he had lost another battle against the faculty and colleagues.

(f) Augsburg and the "Great Surgery"

(i) Carinthia. The "Karntner Trilogie". The End at Salzburg

1536 found him at Kempten, Memmingen, Ulm and Augsburg. His i>tay in the two latter cities is connected with the printing of his "Grosse Wundarznei", started, hut not progressing to his satisfaction, at Ulm, and

Soon afterwards (1538) he visited Carinthia where he dedicated to the authorities of the land the "Carinthian Trilogy". 65 It sets out with a dedication amplified by a panegyric in the form of a "Chronica" of the land.

of the Reformation in Germany and Switzerland chiefly. Trans. E. Moore. Edinburgh 1878, vol. I, p. 339; Gotzinger, E.: Joachim Vadian, der Reformator und Geschichtsschreiber von St. Gallen. Halle 1895. 6° For an account of its contents see later, p. 102. 61 Kerner and Marx Poschinger. 62 Das Buch von den tartarischen Krankheiten. Cap. 16, Huser: Fol. Edit. I, p. 309.

83 64 65

Visiting the friend of his youth, the "adept" theologian and jurist, Johann von Brant, to whom he dedicated the last revision of his book on diseases due to tartar. First published by Toxites at Frankfurt (Feyerabend) 1571. For literary detail see Goldammer, Kurt: Die Karntner Schriften des Paracelsus und ihre Geschichte. Reprinted from Theophrast von Hohenheim: Die Karntner Schriften. Ausgabe des Landes Karnten. Klagenfurt 1955, pp. 293-310.

28

29


The end at Salzbnrg. Oporinus

This is followed by a treatise on "Tartarus" written in Bohemia and inscribed to Johannes von Brant66, the "Labyrinth of doctors perplexed" and an apologia pro vita sua, the "Seven Defensiones". The dedication was accepted, hut the printing though promised, not undertaken - possibly owing to official inertia67, possibly at the behest of the Vienna faculty 68. Later, Paracelsus received a deposition by the town council of Villach concerning the life and death of his respected father who had died four years earlier.

The famous Paracelsus portrait by Augustin Hirschvogel - plausibly regarded as the most genuine likeness - belongs to this year. It depicts the man whose strong convictions challenged the world. The motto given is: Alterius non sit qui suus esse potest. Another Hirschvogel Portrait (of 1540) hears the additional device: What is perfect is from God, what is imperfect from Satan, and thus well epitomises what Paracelsus thought and expected from himself, and how he identified himself with the highest ideals of the art. At the same time it is the picture of a sick man, looking much older than his age (47). Having continued on the great theosophical "Philosophia Sagax" in the "desert region" around St.Veit and Klagenfurt, he followed in about 1541 a call by the bishop suffragan Ernest of Wittelshach to Salzburg where he died on September 24th -having bequeathed some of his few belongings to the poor and requested burial at the almshouse of St. Sebastian. A strange personality and a strange life! Reports from eye witnesses on whom his strange ways must have left an indelible mark should he of particular interest. Unfortunately, first hand evidence of this nature is scanty69 and what we do possess is coloured by emotion. There is, however, one more serious and elaborate account which deserves consideration in detail: that of his famulus Johannes Oporinus.

Johannes Oporinus and his pen portrait of Paracelsus

. f AVRI.<11 ;"fl-JEOPHMSTI;. M flff:)H[N:~ ffl-i&M t ElfIGI[.fi tSVI ;.)£TATIS ~ •+ ~I

.

1~A--f

Among the mixed crowd of his pupils Paracelsus finds words of praise for Johannes Oporinus (1507-1568) 70 who later became famous as Professor of Greek at Basie and as the publisher of Vesalius (1543). His reminiscences of his apprenticeship under Paracelsus were given in a letter to Solenander and Wierus and have been much quoted by friend and foe. 71 In fact, they are not altogether in an adverse vein, hut probably the

fe 69

Fig. 4. Paracelsus a. aet. 45. The famous portrait by Augustin Hirschvogel - 1538 preserved at the Albertina. On Hirschvogel and Paracelsus see Donald Brinkmann, Augustin Hirschvogel und Paracelsus. Paracelsus Schriftenreihe d. Stadt Villach VI, Klagenfurt 1957. 66 67

68

See footnote 63. The view favoured by Goldammer. As assumed by Strebel, Werke. St. Gallen 1944, vol. I, p. 71.

70

71

It was collected recently by Sudhoff, loc. cit. 1936. "auch in sonderheit in allem vertrauen gepraucht meinen getreuen Johannem Opporinum". Buch der Imposturen II, 22. Ed. Sudhoff, vol. VII, p. 138. The letter of November 26th 1555 was omitted from the printed editions of Wierus' De praestigiis daemonum, the earlier of which were published by Oporinus. Sudhoff (Paracelsus. Ein deutsches Lebensbild ans den Tagen der Renaissance. Leipzig 1936, p. 46) prints the letter from a Dutch translation, but remarks (p. 60) that the textual tradition is open to criticism. The Latin text was transmitted by Dan. Sennert, De Chymicorum cum Aristotelicis et Galenicis Consensu. 1619. Ed. used: Paris 1633, pp. 32-33.

30

31


Bibliography

honest testimony of a gentle soul, shocked for life by the rough and irregular habits and jokes of a not altogether sane genius. Oporinus finds fault with Paracelsus' lack of piety and scholarship. He never saw him pray, but often over heard his slighting remarks against Luther as well as the pope and all theologians - none of whom Paracelsus believed to have penetrated to the kernel of Scripture. Above all Oporinus is repelled by Paracelsus' addiction to drink. Yet, Oporinus continues, what he dictated late after a nocturnal bout - inebriated to all appearances made complete sense and could not have been improved upon by a per· fectly sober person. He never undressed72 but threw himself on his bed with his long sword - the present of a hangman - girded about him; suddenly he jumped up and, brandishing the sword, behaved like a madman and frightened his famulus to distraction. All day he was busy at his furnace - producing violent fumes which once overpowered the assistant when Paracelsus made him sniff at one of the alembics. Oporinus said that Paracelsus lived luxuriously, was never short of money and fond of new expensive clothes. He gave the old ones away, but they were so dirty that nobody would accept them. He worked miracles on ulcers - without restricting the diet of his patients but feasting with them, so that he cured them "with a full stomach". Up to his twenty-fifth year he had been averse to drink, but later he challenged peasants to drinking contests from which he emerged victorious. He was not interested in women and - Oporinus believes - had never had intercourse. Oporinus' letter remains the best eye-witness acount of the master and his unconventional behaviour. There is no rancour in it, but rather awe mingled with a measure of admiration and relief as after awakening from a nightmare. Hence there is really no place for the vilification of Oporinus. 73 This also emerges from the high praise accorded to him by the orthodox Paracelsist Toxites. He calls upon Oporinus as a witness for the life-saving action of the Laudanum of Paracelsus. Oporinus himself, whom Toxites loved like a brother, had used it with singular success, as he had told him

on a journey by boat from Basie to Strassburg. 74 Finally, it was Oporinus who passed Paracelsus manuscripts on to Bodenstein and Toxites and thereby inspired and fed the Paracelsean movement in its early stages, although he may have shunned publicity in this matter. 75

72

73

This part of Oporinus' story is born out by Riitiner's "Diarium" with reference to Paracelsus' stay at St. Gallen: "Laboriosissimus est, raro dormit. Nunquam se ipsum exuit, ocreis et calcaribus tres horas in lectum prostratus cubit subinde, subinde scribit." (Quoted from Sudhoff, Paracelsus, 1936, loc. cit., p. 103). See Sudhoff, loc. cit. 1936, pp. 45 et seq. and particularly Strebel who sees in Opo· rinus' report the source of Paracelsus' ill fame as a drinker. (Der Schalk in Paracelsus. Paracelsus-Studien III, Basel 1941, p. 37. Reprinted from Schweiz. med. Wschr. 1941, No. 38-39.) However, Strebel himself, following the example of Sudhoff(Ioc. cit. 1936, p. 62-67, subheaded "Der Zecher" under the main heading "Hohenwege"), takes particular pleasure in mapping out the vintages which Paracelsus favoured (loc. cit.).

The Literary Remains Short notes on the Bibliography of Paracelsus We have mentioned some of the main works of Paracelsus as landmarks in the various stages of his life: the "Paramirum" and "Paragranum", the "Great Surgery" and the tracts on Syphilis - all reflecting the climax of his creative life. We also mentioned the "Seven Defensiones" and the "Philosophia Sagax" - products of his declining years. These comprise but a small fraction of the Opera Omnia which fill ten volumes of the Quarto· and two elephant volumes of the Folio-Edition of John Huser - the latter running to a total of 1818 pages to which 680 pages of surgical writings must be added. Only a few of Paracelsus' writings, however, had been published during his life-time, such as several of the astrological forecasts - "Practica" -, his tract against the Guaiac, his "Von der Frantzosischen Kranckheit Drey Biicher", the booklet on Bad Pfllfers and above all the "Great Surgery". From the early :fifties - about twelve years after the death of Para· celsus - an ever increasing stream of Paracelsean writings came to light foremost among them the "Labyrinth of Errant Physicians" (1553) - the tail piece of the "Carinthian Trilogy" of 1538. The publication of these numerous books, tracts and papers reflects the activity of the early Paracelsists notably Adam of Bodenstein, son of the church reformer Carlstadt, Michael Schiitz (Toxites), Gerhard Dom, Theodor and Arnold Birck· mann and many others. 76 It reached a peak at about 1570 with the publication of the "Archidoxis", the handbook of Paracelsean Chemistry, in a number of editions that followed one another in quick succession. 77 74

75

76

Toxites, Mich., Onomastica II.: I. Philosophicum. II. Theophrasti Paracelsi. Argento· rati 1574, p. 450. See also ibid., p. 451 and Toxites' "Testamentum Theophrasti", Strassburg 1574, fol. A 2 v referring to the regret felt by Oporinus for having written the letter to Wierus and given away the books and preparations of Paracelsus. Toxites himself, however, unlike Sudhoff and Strebel, finds in this letter much that is in Paracelsus' favour and little that is not. See Schmidt, Carl: M. Schuetz genannt Toxites. Stra.Bburg 1888, Karcher, Joh.: Theodor Zwinger und seine Zeitgenossen. Basel 1956, p.28 and 33, and Strebel, J., Michael Schuetz (1515-1581), gen. Toxites, Erstherausgeber der Philosophia Sagax Paracelsi. Nova Acta Parac.1947, IV, 99-111. For a bibliography of the Paracelsists in the XVth century see Sudhoff, K.: Ein Bei· trag zur Bibliographie der Paracelsisten im 16. J ahrhundert. Centralblatt fiir Biblio· thekswesen 1893, X, 316-326 and ibid. 385-407. For early English Paracelsists see Kocher, P.H., Paracelsean Medicine in England: The first thirty years (ca. 1570-1600). J. Hist. Med. 1947, II, 451-480; on the Paracelsus tradition in Sweden see Lindroth, Sten, Paracelsismen i Sverige till 1600 - talets mitt. Uppsala 1943 (discussed by Rosen, George, Recent European publications dealing with Paracelsus. J.Hist.Med. 1947, II, 537-548 (pp. 542 et seq.) and by Anne Tjomsland in Bullet. Hist.Med.1948, XXII, 344-349).

32


The next stage is that of the collected editions. Of these those of John Huser of Waldkirch, Baden, physician at Glogau (1589-1591; 1603 and 1605) are still definitive. 78 They were followed by Latin translations of the works, of which the latest appeared in 1658. 79 Since Huser, no complete edition of the works in their original form had been attempted until Sudhoff's edition was published in 14 volumes between 1922 and 1933.so This contains the texts in chronological order, extensive and copiously illustrated bibliographical introductions and a critical apparatus in which special attention was paid to manuscript tradition. It cannot be said that this edition, however valuable, superseded Huser - especially not the carefully prepared Quarto of 1589 and the surgical Folio of 1605. Even the Huser Folio of 1603, supposed to be inferior to the Quarto, has the inestimable advantage of an index, which is still lacking in Sudhoff's edition. In fact, the Huser Folio is quite reliable and extremely useful. However, the Huser Quarto is now difficult to obtain; nor is the Folio common, especially the second volume containing the philosophical treatises. The present book, in which no textual or literary criticism is attempted, is based on the Huser Folio as well as on Sudhoff's edition. In addition, the pre-Huserian first editions were occasionally compared and quoted. The name of the treatise with book and chapter are given throughout so that any passage can be verified from any edition. The general reader is referred to Franz Strunz' excellent edition of the "Paragranum" and "Paramirum" which is preceded by a sensitive account of the life and personality of Paracelsus. s1

77

78

79 80

81

See the introduction to vol. III in Sudhoff's edition 1930. Erster (Zehender) Theil der Biicher und Schrifften des Edlen, Hochgelehrten und Bewehrten Philosophi und Medici Philippi Theophrasti Bombast von Hohenheim, Paracelsi genannt: Jetzt auffs new auss den Originalien, und Theophrasti eigener Handschrifft, soviel derselben zu bekommen gewesen, auffs trewlichst und fleissigst an tag geben: Durch Johannem Huserum Brisgoium Churfuerstlichen Coelnischen Raht und Medicum. Conrad Waldkirch, Basel 1589-90, 10 vols. in 4°. Aureoli Philippi Theophrasti Bombasts von Hohenheim Paracelsi ... Opera, Biicher und Schrifften ... vor wenig Jahren ... durch Joannem Huserum Brisgoium ... in Truck gegeben. Strasburg. In verlegung Lazari Zetzners. 1603. 2 vols. in Fol. Chirurgische Biicher und Schrifften, dess Edlen ... Paracelsi genandt, jetzt auffs new auss den Originalien, und Theophrasti eygenen Handschrifften ...
Bibliography

33

Similar in scope and typographical style to Strunz' texts is the edition of the important - early - Volumen Paramirum by J. D. Achelis, introduced by an extensive paraphrase of the work to which a textual commentary is appended. s2 Commendable anthologies are those by J. Jacobi83 and Ildefons BetschartB4. There is also a version of the Huser Quarto done into modem German, inaugurated by B. Aschner and intended to bring Paracelsean therapy, unduly forgotten, into the orbit of the modern practitioner.85 It is a work of considerable value, also for its notes on the herbs and drugs recommended by Paracelsus. The same can be said of Strebel's digest of the works which pursues a sinillar object to Aschner's86, in spite of occasional insipid versions which miss the deeper meaning of a passage and the unbridled admiration for their hero by which the editors are carried away. Both these versions can be used even for purposes of scholarship if they are treated as "companions" to Huser or Sudhoff. Strebel reversed the chronological order, attempted by Sudhoff and in his opinion unreliable and unsatisfactory, as it tears apart treatises which by content and purpose belong together, such as those on "tartaric diseases". For the modem English reader an elegant translation of four important short treatises by Sigerist in conjunction with C. L. Temkin, G. Rosen and G. Zilboorg 87, and a modem version of the Volumen Paramirum by Leidecker88 are available. Among nineteenth century translations that by A. E. Waite is very popular and useful - but it renders chiefly the alchemical and "hermetic" writings and is prepared from the last Latin edition of the works.B9 82 Paracelsus Volumen Paramirum (Von Krankheit und gesundem Leben). Jena 1928. See the same author on: Die Syphilisschriften Theophrasts von Hohenheim. Heidelberg (Sitzungsber. Heidelb. Akad. Wiss.) 1939. - Zur Grundstruktur der Paracelsischen Naturwissenschaft. Kyklos 1928, I, 47. - Zur Terminologie des Labyrinthus Medicorum. Acta Paracels. 1930, p. 33. - See also: Theophrast von Hohenheim, genannt Paracelsus, Die Kiimtner Schriften. Ausgabe des Landes Kiirnten, besorgt :von K. Goldammer unter Mitarbeit von J. D. Achelis, D. Brinkmann, G. Moro, W.-E. Peuckert, K. H. Weimann. Klagenfurt 1955. This work has not been accessible to the present author. 83 Paracelsus Selected Writings edited with an introduction by Jolande Jacobi. Transl. N. Guterman. NewYork. Pantheon Books 1951. See W. Pagel's review in Isis 1952, XLIII, 64. 84 Betschart, P., Ildefons 0. S. B.: So spricht Paracelsus. Barth, Miinchen-Planegg 1956 (a miniature book). See also id., Theophrastus Paracelsus. Der Mensch an der Zeitenwende. Benziger. Einsiedeln und Koeln 1942 (discussed by G.Rosen, loc.cit.1947, p. 537). 86 Paracelsus Siimtliche Werke. Nach der zehnbiindigen Huserschen Gesamtausgabe (1589-1591) zum ersten Mal in neuzeitliches Deutsch iibersetzt. Mit Einleitung, Biographie, Literaturangaben und erkliirenden Anmerkungen versehen von B. Aschner. 4 vols. Fischer, Jena 1926-1932. 86 Strebel, J.: Theophrastus von Hohenheim, genannt Paracelsus. Siimtliche W erke in zeitgemiisser Kiirzung. 8 vols. Zollikofer & Co., St. Gallen 1944-1949. See for a detailed review W.Pagel in Bull.Hist.Med.1953, XXVII, 276-281. In this several of Strebel's papers on various Paracelsean problems are listed. 87 Four treatises of Theophrastus of Hohenheim. Baltimore 1941. 88 Volumen Medicinae Paramirum, translated by Kurt Leidecker. Suppl. 11 to the Bull. Hist. Med. Baltimore 1949. 89 Waite, A. E.: The Hermetic and Alchemical Writings of Paracelsus the Great. Now for the first time faithfully translated into English. 2 vols. London 1894. 4°.

34


The theological and religious-philosophical treatises, restricted to a one-volume torso in the Sudhoff edition (by Matthiessen), are being prepared for publication under the editorship of Kurt Goldammer, mostly from manuscript material,90 For all bibliographical questions reference must be made to Sudhoff's "Versuch einer Kritik der Echtheit der Paracelsischen Schriften" which actually gives more than the title promises, namely a complete critical and first hand bibliography of all editions and a pioneer work on the numerous Paracelsus manuscripts scattered in many libraries. 91 In addition to this Sudhoff's scholarly bibliographical introductions to each of the fourteen volumes of his edition must be consulted, as also his "Paracelsus-Forschungen".92 Friedrich Mook's pioneer work93 and John Ferguson's Bibliographia ParacelsicaH are still of great interest, especially the alphabetical catalogue of the different editions appearing in the fifth instalment of Ferguson's rare pamphlets. Books and papers on Paracelsus are legion. Most of them have been listed on several occasions 96 ; some are cited in the present book, but the author had to restrict quotations to those few from which he himself derived information or inspiration. For centuries Paracelsus has been a popular figure, "admired much and much maligned" and thus has provoked an exuberant flow of literature that is extremely uneven in value and interest. The judgement passed on Paracelsus in a given epoch can almost serve as a gauge of its general cultural and medical outlook, as is well shown in Walter Artelt's essay on the vicissitudes of his reputation in Medical History.96 Most books and papers that have been written about Paracelsus are devoted to his life and only a few to his doctrines. Many of these are written with a bias or coloured by emotion and even political passion. In contrast to these we refer to the objective tabulation of the life against the background of the period by Artelt97 , the important papers by Diepgen98, Bittel99 , and Wickersheimer100. The painstaking and scholarly contributions 90 Goldammer, Kurt: Theophrast von Hohenheim. Siimtliche Werke. II. Abteilung (resuming Sudhoff-Matthiessen cited above). Franz Steiner, Wiesbaden. Edition planned under the following section headings: Einzelschriften (probably 3 vols.), Auslegung zur Bibel (3-4 vols.), Abendmahlschriften (1 vol.), Sermones (incl. Marienschriften 1-2 vols.); so far Vol. IV, part 1 has appeared: Auslegung des Psalters David. Kommentar zu den Ps. 75-102. 1955 and vol.V, part II, Kommentar zu d. Psalmen 103-117. 1957. 91 Sudhoff, K.: Versuch einer Kritik der Echtheit der Paracelsisclien Schriften. 2 vols. Reimer, Berlin 1894-1899. 92 Schubert, E. und Sudhoff, K.: Paracelsus-Forschungen. Frankfurt a.M. 1887-1889. 2 vols. 93 Mook, Fr.: Theophrastus Paracelsus. Eine kritische Studie. Wiirzburg 1876. 94 Ferguson, J.: Bibliographia Paracelsia. Privately printed. Glasgow 1877-1893. 5 parts. 96 For example in Sudhoff, K.: Nachweise zur Paracelsus-Literatur. Acta Paracels. Suppl. 1-5, 1930-1932. 96 Artelt, W.: Paracelsus im Urteil der Medizinhistorik. Fortschr. Med. 1932, L, 929-933. 97 Artelt, W.: In Theophrastus Paracelsus (Bilderatlas), ed. F. Jaeger jointly with A. Artelt, P. Diepgen, Dingelday, E. v. Frisch and M. Silber. Salzburg 1941. 98 Diep gen, P. : Was wissen wir von Paracelsus siclier und was bedeutet er uns heute ? Gesundheitsfiihrung 1941, Heft 9 (September), 13 pp. On mediaeval traits in Paracelsean teaching (notably Augustinian and Arnaldian): Theophrastus von Hohenheim, the Physician who bridged the Ages. Research and Progress 1942, VIII, 107-124. 99 Bittel, K.: Paracelsus-Museum Stuttgart. Paracelsus-Dokumentation. Referat-Bliitter 1943.

Renaissance and Humanism

35

by Robert Blaser have thrown much new light on the Basie period, the climax in the life and work of Paracelsus101. Among more recent accounts of the doctrines those by Koyre102, Sartorius von Waltershausen103, Hans Fischer1°4, C. G. Jungl06, B. de Telepnefl06, Kurt Goldammer107, Owsei Temkin108 andA.Vogt109 should be mentioned. ErnstDarmstaedter•sllo work stands out as an ingenious attempt to reproduce and interpret, in terms of modern chemistry, the results obtained by Paracelsus in the laboratory. It was supplemented by Sherlock111 and more recently continued by Fried. Dobler112,

Paracelsus as a Figure of the Renaissance and Humanism The term "Renaissance" ist applicable to too many divergent historical figures to convey more than a vague and in the last resort essentially 100 Wickersheimer, E.: Paracelse a Strasbourg. Centaurus 1951, I, 356-365. - Id.. Les Arcana Paracelsica de Gaspard-Ulrich Hertenfels. Arch. Intern. Hist. Sci. 1948 24 7-258 101 Blaser, R.H.: Neue Erkenntnisse zur Basler Zeit des Paracelsus. Nova Acta 0 Paracels: VI, Suppl. Einsiedeln 1953. - Id., Das Bild des Arztes in den Basler Vorlesungen des Paracelsus. Paracelsus-Schriftenreihe der Stadt Villach, V, Klagenfurt 1956. - Id., Amplo Stipendio lnvitatus. Arch. Gesch. Med. 1957, XLI, 143. 102 ~oyre, ~.: Parac~l~e. Revue ~is~. Philos. relig. 1933, XIII, 46-75; 145-163; reprinted m: Mystiques, Sp1ntuels, Alchimistes du XVle siecle allemand. Cahier des Ann. vol. X. Paris 1955, 45-80. 103 Sartorius von Waltershausen, Bodo Freiherr: Paracelsus am Eingang der deutschen Bildungsgeschichte. Meiner, Leipzig 1935. This book was not available to the present author; he quotes it from Hans Fischer (cited in subsequent footnote). 104 Fisc?~r Ha.ns: ~ie kosmologische An~ropologie des Paracelsus als Grundlage seiner Med1zm. Em Be1trag zum Verstiindms des Arztes Paracelsus. In: Zwei Beitriige zur Geschichte der Naturwissenschaft. Zur 121. Jahresversammlung der Schweiz. Naturforsch. Ges. (Verh. Naturforsch. Ges. Basel 1941, Lii, pp. 189 et seq.) 1941, p. 85-136. - Theophrastus ·Paracelsus. Medizin und Pharmazie No. 3. Schweiz. Apotheker-Ztg. 1957, xcv, 463-478. 105 Jung, C. G.: Paracelsica. Rascher, Ziirich und Leipzig 1942. - Psychologie und AIchemie. ibid. 1944. See W.Pagel: Jung's View on Alchemy. Isis 1948, XXXIX, 44-48. Also review of I. B. Cohen, Ethan Allen Hitchcock, Discoverer of the true subject of the Hermetic Art.Proc.Amer.Antiq.Soc.1951, LXI, 29-136 in Isis 1952, XLIII, 375. 106 de Telepnef, B.: Glossen zum Paragranum. Nova Acta Paracels. 1946, III, 16. 107 Goldammer, Kurt: Paracelsus. Sozialethische und sozialpolitische Schriften. Mohr, Tiibingen 1952. - Paracelsische Eschatologie I-II. Nova Acta Paracels. 1948, V, 45-85; 1952, VI, 68-102. - Das theologische Werk des Paracelsus. Eine Ehrenschuld der Wissenschaft. Ibid. 1954, VII, 78-102. - Paracelsus, Natur und Offenbarung. Th. Oppermann Verlag. Hannover 1953. - Paracelsus-Studien. Z. Gesch.-verein Kiirnten, Carinthia 1955, I, 145. Also: Landesmuseum Klagenfurt 1954. 108 Temkin, Owsei: The Elusiveness of Paracelsus. Bull. Hist. Med. 1952, XXVI, 201-217. 109 Vogt, A.: Theophrastus Paracelsus als Arzt und Philosoph. Hippokrates-Verlag Stuttgart 1956. See review by the present author in Bull. Hist. Med. 1957, XXXI, 194. 110 Darmstaedter, E.: Arznei und Alchemie. Paracelsus-Studien (Studien zur Geschichte der Medizin, vol. XX). Leipzig 1931. - Id., Paracelsus De Natura Rerum. Janus 1933, XXXVII, 1-18; 48-62; 109-115; 323-324. 111 Sherlock: The Chemical Work of Paracelsus. Ambix 1948, vol. III, p. 33. 112 Dobler, Friedrich: Die chemische Arzneibereitung bei Theophrastus Paracelsus am

36



chronological grouping of persons and ideas. Yet, in an overall appraisal of Paracelsus against the background of his period, it will not easily he dispensed with. Understood as a literary, artistic and aesthetic revival of antiquity, the Renaissance has no place for Paracelsus. The man was no humanist who, like Paracelsus, publicly repudiated ancient tradition and felt called upon to create something entirely of his own, adapted to the new demands of a new age. It is in Paracelsus that we witness a new clash of original Christian ideas with the classical heritage: the war which Paracelsus waged against "reason" in favour of parable and analogy, against the moderate attitude which is satisfied with the finite and visible form in favour of an unlimited search for an infinite number of forces. In all this, Paracelsus seems to challenge the highest ideals of the Renaissance. If it is said, however, that the Renaissance stood for the revival of man as a whole and for the unfolding of unlimited activity, then Paracelsus is its true exponent. His view of the world is indeed "anthropocentric". The hierarchic principle of the Middle Ages - clerical as well as feudal - had limited the freedom of man not only in the social and economic sphere, hut above all in the realm of ideas - directing attention away from the reality of nature and of the individual towards that of universals. It had thus created a collective outlook in which the life of the individual was standardised by the central powers of Church and State. Among the individualists who were actuated by a desire to discuss rather than accept the scriptural sources of such uniformity, Paracelsus stood in the first rank. Moreover, a "decentralising" tendency can he observed everywhere in his work. He seems to follow the alchemical principle of"separation" even where the issue is not concerned with matter and its nature. He "differentiates" and infinitely divides the world, which he sees peopled with demons, subhuman and superhuman beings and invisible principles which work under the surface of things visible It is the emphasis on these as opposed to any syuthesis or limitation by a few universal principles and entities, that is his leading idea. Even his anthropocentric view is thus open to qualification and is far from providing absolute standards. Furthermore, in his search for the Invisible and in his vision of infinitely many higher and lower beings filling the universe and acting below the surface of visible objects, Paracelsus worked - however unconsciously - for Beispiel seiner Antimonpraparate. Pharmaceutica Acta Helvetiae 1957, XXXII, 181-193; 226-252.

37

the revival of Neoplatonism, Gnosticism and the Kahhala: in this respect, he appears as a true exponent of the Renaissance. Perhaps the best illustration of this is provided by his general attitude towards the position of the celestial bodies with regard to Man and Nature. Aristotle had called them the "more divine among things visible".113 Possessed of "soul" and "life", he had regarded them as the driving forces responsible for all activity in the suhlunar world. Nicolaus Cusanus, on the other hand, had deprived the stars of this divine superiority. In his universe they were just as remote from divine infinity and the unerring Ideas on High as was any other "finite" creature - with which they were perfectly comparable by measure and number. There was still a hierarchic principle - the subordination of things finite to divine infinity - hut the dividing line was drawn differently than in Aristotelian cosmology. The celestial bodies were now considered on the same footing as earthly objects. In this Cusanus was followed by Pico della Mirandola.11 4 Paracelsus' attitude is ambivalent. At all events it is not easy to grasp and has given rise to controversy, under the heading: Did Paracelsus adhere to astrology or not ? It would appear that this question is too narrowly formulated to lend itself to a simple answer. Paracelsus does preserve the magisterial power of the "Astrum". This, however, is no longer a remote tyrant who subjects sublunary things in blind obedience to himself by "influxes" and "impressions". Instead, Paracelsus emphasises "correspondences". But the idea of series of objects corresponding and hound to each other by sympathy had of course played a conspicuous part in gnostic and mediaeval, notably Arabic, speculation. Such series, however, still presented hierarchies, each crowned by a particular planet. It was from the sphere of this planet that spirits set out to penetrate other spheres, elements, minerals, plants and animals - taking possession at preordained times, conferring colour, smell, consistency, temperature, moisture or dryness, forming and guiding a particular organ, and so on. There is still much of this in Paracelsus' work. But there is also a strong tendency to dissolve such hierarchies and to assign to the individual,

113

114

,;ra {)si6uea

TWV cpavsewv" Aristot. De Coelo lib. I, cap. 9, Bekker, p. 278 and lib. II, cap. 1, p. 284. See Alexander von Humboldt: Kosmos. Entwurf einer physischen Weltbeschreihung, Vol. III, J. G. Cotta, Stuttgart und Augsburg 1850, p. 29 (annot. 26), on the survival of this idea in Kepler's Mysterium Cosmographicum Cap. 20, p. 71. See for detail our chapters on Cusanus and Pico in the third part of this book, pp. 279s.

38


power ("virtues") equal or even superior to that of the star. Each of these virtues, however, is still hound by sympathy to a group of others and to a particular star on High. Any action or change brought about by an astrum or virtue has inevitable repercussions on the members of the group and indeed on the world as a whole by disturbing the preordained order of things. For, as Leibniz formulated it, there is "Consensus" rather than "Commercium" between individual objects - each of them fulfilling its own schedule of action and life.115 Nevertheless, even to Paracelsus the stars spell the future - hut merely by indicating the determined and concerted course of objects related to one another by sympathy. The stars are the inescapable signals, hut do not influence objects and events by themselves.116 "Astrum" finally becomes virtue in the widest sense - a virtue that is subject to the will and discretion of the individual, a virtue that can he used, cultivated and developed. It is in this sense that Paracelsus saw "Astra" everywhere: on high as well as on the earth and in its "fruits". The Sun, the Moon, Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Venus were to him intrinsic to man, animals, plants, metals and minerals, to earth, water, air and fire, since one of these stars corresponds to the invisible driving force in each particular object. Moreover, it was on the transference of astral correspondences to the body that Paracelsus based his original views of the harmonious action of the organs which makes an "organism" possible. Paracelsus thus brought the "Astra" down to earth and implemented the ideal of "Magia Naturalis", which is to "marry Heaven and Earth". This redistribution of the "Astra" as common property of all objects in nature is indeed consonant with his general tendency to decentralise and with his distaste for hierarchy, dogmatism, rigidity and standardisation. Paracelsus thus made hold strides to outgrow mediaeval astrology, hut he did not accomplish this by any means. He remains "mediaeval" in recognising the limitations of human action and liberty by cosmic constellation in the traditional sense. In spite of his many progressive naturalistic

115

116

See for the discussion on Leibniz' Monads and Van Helmont's Archei W. Pagel: The Speculative Basis of Modem Pathology. Jahn, Virchow and the Philosophy of Pathology. Bull. Hist. Med., 1945, XVIII, 1-43 (p. 20). The idea is well expressed in the title of one of Van Helmont's treatises: "The Stars do necessitate, not incline nor signifie of the life, the body or fortunes of him that is born." ("Astra necessitant, non inclinant." Ortus medicinae. Amstelod. 1648, p. 117. Transl. by Chandler, London 1662, p. 118), notably cap. 5 et seq. "The firmament is a preacher of all these Works" (sc. of God) - it is the luminous dial of the world clock.


39

observations in medicine and chemistry and an advanced insight into the working of nature, his thought as a whole cannot he called "scientific". Paracelsus is concerned not with measurable quantities and the mathematical laws underlying phenomena, hut with individual objects determined by intrinsic divine virtues which defy scientific analysis. Humanism at first sight seems incompatible with Paracelsus' attitude towards the ancients. Yet he is unthinkable without the Hellenistic blending of Jewish, Christian, Greek and Oriental ideas and symbolism ("syncretism") as expressed in Neo-Platonism, Gnosticism and Kahhala, Alchemy, Astrology and Magic. It was the humanists who revived these sources just before and at the time of Paracelsus. Contacts and parallels with such Platonists as Nicolaus Cusanus and Marsilius Ficinus followed by Picus, Reuchlin, Jacobus Faber Stapulensis, Bovillus, Trithemius and Agrippa can easily he demonstrated in the work of Paracelsus.117 Moreover, the humanistic reversion to classical models was asso· ciated with a quest for truth and reality as against the fictitious - "sophistic" - embellishments added by the Arabs. Hence the call for the restoration of the ancient texts in their original purity. This is well expressed, for example, in the title of the small plague treatise by Joh. Ammonius Agricola which has an almost Paracelsean ring - promising that it is "based on good ground, without any sophistic or Arabic, additional and fictitious chatter unfounded in Medicine."118 Finally, since Petrarch's days (1304-1374), humanism had taken a decisive stand against scholasticism and the exuberant claims of formal logic - an attitude that at Paracelsus' time was still fresh and went well with the revival of Platonism. However, little can he found in Paracelsus of the polished style and elegance in appearance and behaviour of the humanist of his days, although it was in humanist circles that he found resonance and support. Yet, in contrast with the humanists pure and simple, Paracelsus was not interested in the preservation and revival of ancient sources for their own sake or for the sake of general culture and erudition, hut moulded and re-formed them in his own way, conscious as he was of the demands of a new age with new needs and ideals.

117

118

See the third part of the present volume. "Griintlicher ... auszug auss allen bewerten Kriechischen ... lerem ... von ursachen ... der Pestilentz ... Alles auss giitem grund on all Sophistisch oder Arabisch, in der Artzney ungegriindt, zusetz und erdichtes geschwetz." Augsburg 1533.

40

The Reformation. Seb. Franck and Paracelsus

Paracelsus as a religious and social thinker and preacher Paracelsus in the Era of the Reformation

actuated by charitable motives. He sought eternal bliss in deeds of self· denial rather than in mere belief and divine grace, factors withdrawn from the sphere of human influence and understanding. Luther on the other hand forged a new religious dogmatism based on the rejection of human activity and free will in favour of mystical belief and the doctrine of election. He sided with the sovereigns and mighty burghers of Germany against the peasants and had his doctrine enforced against dissenters by fire, sword and torture. He notably hit the Baptists, the powerful appeal of whose "pure religion" made them a real focus of danger to the influence of Luther and his partisans. A deep gulf thus divorces Paracelsus from Luther. He rather belongs to that group of men who, like Sebastian Franck (1499-1543) and Hans Den ck (died 1527)120 would have none of dogmatic religion in any form, but advocated progress and reform without violence. Franck's life was unsettled and stormy - in which he again reminds us of Paracelsus. He was at Nuremberg at the same time as Paracelsus whose arrival he mentions in his "Chronica". He probably met Paracelsus there and later at Augsburg. Among Sebastian Franck's views, his antagonism to the "hybris" of human reason was hound to attract Paracelsus. Indeed, his main thesis seems to be that the fall of man was due to the "tree" which was "Adam's essence, will, knowledge, life". This Adam chose instead of "standing free under God, knowing nothing but what God knew in him, doing nothing but what God did in him, saying nothing but what God said in him - so that God had without hindrance his sovereign realm, will, essence and power in him." Thus in his treatise: On the Tree of Knowledge121, he was

Sebastian Franck and Paracelsus Paracelsus has often been compared with Luther - he himself mentioned and to a certain extent countenanced this comparison with a religious iconoclast of historic dimensions. There are the obvious common traits in their behaviour - the coarse and boisterous language, the use of the verna· cular which had to be moulded and reformed in order to convey something un-traditional and unheard of, the crass rejection of learned predecessors and authorities, theatrical acts designed to appeal to students and the illiterate mob - such as the burning of books or the display of "theses" in public places. Yet there was no love lost between Paracelsus and Luther.119 Paracelsus stood for religious and intellectual freedom. He believed in the free will of man which he supposed to enable him to act even upon the stars. ~e was a pacifist and advocate of the common people. Though in principle opposed to violence, his sympathy was with the insurgent peasants and in his early years at Salzburg he barely escaped persecution and death in the peasants' struggle against their feudal lords. His life and work was a permanent war against the privileged and mighty. His medicine was 119

41


There is some evidence that Paracelsus' antagonistic attitude towards Luther developed between 1531and1536, i.e. between the publication of his tract on the Comet and the "Prognostikation auf XXIV. jar" (printed in Sudhoff's edition, vol. X, p. 579), as B. Milt has convincingly shown (Prognostikation auf 24 zukiinftige Jahre von Theophrastus Paracelsus und ein zeitgenossischer Deutungsversuch. Gesnerus 1951, VIII, 138-153). The tract on the Comet is dedicated to Leo Jud and Zwingli, the Prognostikation to Ferdinand II., King of Austria and later Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. Although related to each other in content, the two tracts express different moods and feelings on the part of the author. It seems that by 1536 he had lost confidence in the reformers whose movement was becoming increasingly fossilised into a new dogmatism and "Mauerkirche" (Brick-church) and he made it the subject of the veiled castigations and evil forebodings of the "Prognostikation". Paracelsus now visualises the Emperor as the saviour of religious peace and national unity. It may well be that Sebastian Franck's influence moved him in this direction. See also C.A.Hase, Sebastian Franck von W oerd, der Schwarmgeist. Leipzig 1869, p. 99, on Luther and Franck, the development of the former towards an organised church and dogma and the tendencies of the latter towards the limitless rights of the individual and the "abyss of pantheism". On the other hand, the actual influence of Luther on protestant dissenters ("Schwarmgeister", mystics and believers in the spirit - "Geist") should not be forgotten. See the survey of the modern "Lutherbild" by Bornkamm, H., Mystik, Spiritualismus und die Anfiinge des Pietismus im Luthertum. Giessen (Vortr.d.Theolog.Konferenz 44) 1926, p. 5 et seq. - On contacts between Paracelsus and Luther ibid. p. 8.

120

121

On the opinions, life and tremendous though short-lived influence of Denck and the early Baptists see Keller, Ludwig. Ein Apostel der Wiedertiiufer. Hirzel, Leipzig 1882. It is noteworthy that Denck died probably at Basle in the same year in which Paracelsus lived there. On Franck and Paracelsus, their probable meeting at Niirnberg in 1529 and the concordance in their antidogmatic religious attitude see Strunz, F.: Theophrastus Paracelsus, sein Leben und seine Personlichkeit. Leipzig 1903, pp. 60-64. Franck talks of the "Light of Nature" in terms that are different from theological and mystical parlance, but are reminiscent of the language of Paracelsus. Like the latter he extols Nature which invents all arts. Art is only the ape of nature, neither teaching nor altering nor improving her. (Hase, loc. cit., p. 148). Miihlhausen 1561 - first in German: Das theur und kiinstlich Biichlein Morie Encomium ... von Erasmo Roterod .... Von der Heyllosigkeit ... aller menschlichen Kunst ... mit angehefft ein Lob des Esels ... Von dem Baum des Wissens Gut und Boss, davon Adam den Todt hat gessen und noch heut alle Menschen den Todt essen. Encomium, ein Lob des thorechten gottlichen Worts, durch Sebastian Franken von Word S.a. et 1. (?1537; also 1696). Separate editions: Von dem Baum des Wissens:

42


led to deprecate all scholarship and indeed all use of reason, wherein he found the actual cause of sin and the fall. He expressed the same views in his "Paradoxa" - some of which are literally identical with sayings of Paracelsus. 122 Like Paracelsus, Franck pointed to the "Book of Nature" as the living source superior to the Bible which is hut the lantern and not the light itself. Nature - according to one of Franck's "Paradoxa" - is nothing hut the force of acting and being acted upon intrinsic in every object of nature since its creation. God is everywhere in Nature, maintaining the structure of the world by His presence and "immanence" ("lnnensein"). Like Caspar Schwenckfeldt (1490-1561) 123 he finds that the word of God is primarily written in ourselves rather than in the Scriptures. Similarly, the "Law of Nature", "the Law horn with us", rather than written and codified Law should he obeyed. Earthly goods should he enjoyed by all in common. Franck ridicules the hopes placed by Luther in the Christianity of sovereigns. Like Paracelsus he held up his spiritual independence, submitting to no dogmatism, either of the pope or of Luther. Indeed, to Franck, Luther and Zwingli are just as much forgers as is the Pope. Until the XJXth century Paracelsus was charged with "Arian and Gnostic Heresy".124 Pantheistic speculation is indeed evident in his idea that the "Virtues" and "Arcana" in Nature are direct emanations from Frankfurt 1619 and Liineburg 1692. Quoted from Joh. Christ. Adelung (1734-1806): Geschichte der menschlichen Narrheit oder Lebensbeschreibungen beriihmter Schwarzkiinstler, Goldmacher, Teufelsbanner •.. und anderer philosophischer Unholden. Vol. II, Leipzig 1786, p. 22. See also Hase loc. cit. p. 94 and 297. 122 For example: "J e gelehrter, je verkehrter" (the more learned, the more perverted), Paradoxon LXV. Paradoxa ed. H. Ziegler with pref. by W. Lehmann, Jena 1909, p. 93 to be compared with Paracelsus, Fragm. libri de Morbis ex lnca:ntat. Huser: vol. I, p. 139, see later our chapter Paracelsus' Approach to Nature p. 56. For. Franck's "Learned Ignorance" see Parad. LXIV (loc. cit. pp. 92-93): Simplicity alone is wise and ignorance knows everything. Franck expresses our "learned ignorance" of the nature of God in unmistakable terms - asserting that He is all in all, that He is everywhere and nowhere, that there is nothing so small that God is not in it, that there is nothing so small that God is not still smaller, nothing so great that God is not greater. All these "paradoxa" well known from Dionysius Areopagita to Nicolaus Cusanus were congenial to the thought of Paracelsus, and so was his deprecation of reason. 123 On Franck as an "isolated" figure in his epoch see particularly Koyre, A., Sebastian Franck. Cahiers de la Revue d'Hist. et de la Philos. relig. No. 24, 1922. Reprinted in Mystiques, Spirituels, Alchimistes du XVI• siecle allemand. Paris 1955, pp. 21-43. Ibid. pp. 1-19 on Caspar Schwenckfeldt. 124 See for example Sprengel, Kurt: Versuch einer pragmatischen Geschichte der Arznei· kunde. Vol. III, 3rd ed. Halle 1827, p. 454.

Religious and Social Ideas

43

divinity and "uncreated".125 Gnostic ideas can he found in his view of Christ as an "Adam Kadmon" - the "Minor Limhus" - who represents the created world and to whom all creatures finally return whereby they partake of his "immortal flesh" .126 The position accorded to Christ as the first emanation from Divinity implies a unitarian outlook in which Christ is subordinated to rather than unified with God.127 A detailed discussion of the religious views of Paracelsus and their relationship with Christian and notably Lutheran dogma lies outside the scope of the present work. The field has been admirably covered in recent times by Goldammer; we must limit ourselves to a brief summary of his account.128 An individualist in his theological, as much as in his naturalist and medical thinking, he would submit neither to the Church of Rome, which compromised with social and poli· tical injustice, nor to the Reformation, which compromised with the existing aristocratic and civic order of society. Like the Anabaptists, he was partly actuated in this by revo· lutionary social ideas. Paracelsus agreed with the social reformers of his time - the pacifist and the belligerent, the communist and the charitable, the ascetic and the worldly - in their criticism of contemporary powers, ecclesiastic and secular. Yet he differed from them in many respects. These concern, first of all, questions of dogma. Para· celsus was anti-baptist. Further there is his recognition within limits of private property, his maintenance of the rights of the individual (monogamy with free selection of one's wife) and the family as the fundamental units of society, and of state and church authority. Paracelsus preserved the mediaeval idea of Christian community life; his "communism" was "charismatic" rather than dogmatic or class-conscious. Both property and poverty were for him objects of religious rather than economic interpretation - poverty being not a misfortune but a religious and theological phenomenon. He unmasked the basically anti-social and anti-human inclinations of jurists and officials, but entrusted the task of communalising the land and the means of production to the emperor and his administrative machinery. 129 Paracelsus hoped for the end of Anti-Christ and the coming of the "Third Realm" of the Holy Spirit - following the tradition of the abbot Joachim of Fiore (d. 1202). 130 125 See later p. 54. 126 See our chapter on Gnosticism in the third part of the present book; on Christ and the "Limbus" our chapter on The Prime Matter of Paracelsus as foreshadowed by Mediaeval popular Pantheism p. 227; on the christological and sacramental aspects of the concept of "Limbus" see Goldammer, K.: Paracelsische Eschatologie. Nova Acta Paracels. 1948, V, p. 70. Cagastrum: our p. 113. 127 On contacts of Paracelsus in this respect with Servetus and Socinus see Sprengel loc. cit., p. 454, footnote 50 with pertinent references to Sandius Hist. Ecclesiat. and Arnold's Kirchen· und Ketzerhistorie. 128 For ref. see our short bibliography on p. 35. 129 Paracelsus' social programme, notably his ideas on fair wages and prices, were studied by Bittel, K.: Ein Sozialprogramm bei Paracelsus. Nova Acta Paracels. 1946, III, 77-85. For a comprehensive account see Goldammer, loc. cit. 1953. 130 See Milt, B: loc. cit. 1951, p. 151. On the high appreciation of the prophecies of Joachim of Floris at the time of Paracelsus see: Grundmann, H., Die Papstprophetien des Mittelalters. Arch.f.Kulturgesch.1929, XIX, 77-138, notably p. 136. As Grundmann says: "Paracelsus lent them his magic wisdom."

44


The "Ship of Fools"

45

Misled by Paracelsus' aggressive language and his innumerable invectives against the privileged and against the ruling opinions of his age, modern anti-christian worshippers of brute force and murder such as the Nazis have acclaimed him as a congenial hero.131 Paracelsus, however, made no secret of the Christian pacifism and the abhorrence of murder and of all political power by which he was actuated. He said: "There are two kinds of war on earth. One is caused by wilfulness - since all might hails from evil and is illegitimately horn. The other is the war of the members in our body - the diseases. The first is set upon pride and its glittering splendour; the second one is in the body and is an emergency without pride."132

Paracelsus and Popular Criticism of Doctor and Patient in the Pre-Reformation Era The "Narragonian" Sermons To illustrate the general spiritual climate of the time of Paracelsus it is tempting to refer to his period as an epoch sensitive to the shortcomings of man and his desires, sceptical of contemporary civilisation and intent on reform in all branches of life including medicine. Sebastian Brant's (1464-1520) "Ship of Fools" would appear to he a particularly fertile source of Paracelsean motives. However, a closer study of "Narragonian" literature is disappointing. The sermons of Geyler of Keisersherg, for example, which provide a text to the illustrations of the "Ship of Fools", contain a defence of traditional medicine against the foolish incredulity and indifference of :the patient towards the doctor's word and prescriptions.133 131

132

133

Similarly, Paracelsus' numerous invectives against the Jews and Jewish Medicine have been exploited by modern obscurantists. However, viewed in their appropriate historical context, they have little in common with modern sentiments. Moreover, they are offset by the praise which Paracelsus accorded to the Kabbala - tliough it must be admitted that Paracelsus thought it not to be of Jewish origin - and also the severe castigation to which he was subjected by Erastus for trafficking witli tlie Jews (see later p. 313). Vorarbeiten und Fragmente zu den Biichern Von alien ofnen Schaden. Preface. Ed. Sudhoff, vol. VI, p. 295. - On the rejection of capital punishment and oilier humanitarian tendencies in the religious work of Paracelsus see Goldammer: Paracelsus, Sozialethische Schriften, loc. cit. 1952, p. 306 and passim. On war as sin ibid. p. 310. Joann Geyler von Keisersberg, Navicula s. speculum fatuosum. Argentorati 1510. Egrotantium inobedientium Turba XXXVII. sig. r to r 3 • These sermons of Geyler

Fig. 5. The professional fool as depicted in Geyler von Keisersberg Navicula. Argent. 1510 - to illustrate the futility of traditional medicine. Title page.

The "thirty seventh crowd of fools" pilloried by Geyler of Keisersherg is that of the disobedient patients. Those who despise medicine do so in ignorance of the Scriptures, where it is said that God created medicines from earth - endowing herbs and stones with curative virtues. St. Augustine was not averse to medicine; when sick he would admit nobody hut his doctors and, turning to the wall, recite penitential psalms. To despise medicine is to tempt God. If you object that St.Agatha never admitted a doctor hut entirely committed her health to Christ who by his sermon alone (1445-1510) paraphrase No.38 and No.55 of tlie "Ship of Fools" ("Von kranken die nit volgen", p. 70 and "Von narrechter arznei" p. 98 in: Sebastian Brant, Das Narrenschiff - 1494 - ed. Karl Goedeke. Brockhaus. Leipzig 1872).

47


The "Ship of Fools"

restores everything, listen to what St. Thomas Aquinas had to say on this score: St.Agatha was so blessed by heaven that she suffered no bodily infirmity and was in no need of medicine. There are those who, tickled by curiosity, send their urine to the doctor without any intention of following his advice. Others want the doctor to find out by himself whether the urine is that of a male or a female and

what the symptoms are. The former deceive themselves and their purse because the doctor will take his fee in any case. The latter are even more foolish, for the "urine is deceptive enough" ("quia urina admodum fallax est"). It is true, superstitious people recall miraculous diagnoses, not only from specimens not seen, hut even from those of different people mixed together. Such effects are no doubt due to artful machinations of the devil, and their perpetrators who must have a pact with him should he exterminated. Finally those who hide their ailment from the physician, their sins from the confessor and their case from the lawyer deceive and damage only themselves. If you wish to act wisely, sick man, tell the physician exactly and faithfully all about your infirmity and with this produce your urine and answer correctly all his questions. If when all this is done he has given the right verdict, give thanks to God. Again, however, there are those who do just the opposite of what the physician has prescribed. If he prescribed wine, they drink water, if sweating, they drape themselves in a long airy shirt, if a clyster, they indulge in drinking beer, if bloodletting, they enter a hath. If the doctor says, the disease shows itself in pallor, they blush. Other fools do listen to the doctor - hut too late, when fire has already caught the roof. Others go to old wives, empirics or even Jews. To take medicine from the latter has been expressly prohibited by decretal - except in emergencies when nobody else or no better advice are available. One may object that Basilius enjoyed the services of a Jewish doctor - hut this was a special case, as can he learnt from his story. The damage done by old wives and vagrant impostors is experienced by the community as well as by individuals and need not he looked up in history hooks. The worst are diviners and magicians. They should he punished together with their patients. Did they only remember what is said: "Never would I cure, even if the devil supported me." The empiric who says: By trial and observation I found a certain cure to he effective, is open to deception. First, the demons may cease to molest the patient. Secondly, supposing there were real succour to he had from demons, incantations, empirical observations and witches, surely this kind of help is illicit, because it comes by virtue of communion with the adver· sary of God and mankind. Thirdly, it is expressly forbidden by divine and ecclesiastic law. When all those fools who sin against medicine are reviewed, however, we should not forget to mention those who put their trust in medicine alone and do not care about help from God. These fools fail to recognise

46

~ttrummdtiftfapimtte

Fig. 6.

Flaying of the Fool. From Geyler von Keisersberg Navicula. Argent. 1510.

48


The "Ship of Fools"

Fig. 7. The Doctor-Fool at the sickbed examining the urine. From Geyler von Keisersberg, Navicula. Argent. 1510.

against Jews as exponents of a pseudo-original, but in fact traditional and therefore inefficient medicine.134 Erastus seems uncompromising in his sentiment, but the "Narragonian" churchman admits the Jew in emergencies and special cases. Paracelsus professes to have learnt from Jews and other non-professional sources. He inculcates the search for the hidden, the "kabbalistic" lore in medicine and nature. It was for his trafficking with Jews and quacks that he was censored by Erastus.135 It was Paracelsus, too, who was reputed to have invoked the help of the devil, whenever God would not help.136 All this shows how far his attitude differs from that of the preacher in the "Autumn of the Middle Ages". Yet inevitably some Paracelsean "motives" can be found in these sermons too. For the preacher inveighs against the doctor fool who impiously and complacently presumes to become omniscient by virtue of anatomical dissection, uroscopy and pulsefeeling. Such sentiments are commonly met with in mediaeval sermons137 and are in no way meant as an appeal for medical reform.

lH

135

sin as a principal cause of disease. They often grow weaker the more they concentrate on their bodily health. The Lord said to the paralytic: Your sins are forgiven. Why ? Because they made you sick. All this is indeed a defence of traditional and rational medicine to which Paracelsus could never have subscribed. This is easily seen from the condemnation of empiricism and "magic" by the preacher. The latter also voices hostility towards the Jewish doctor - an attitude commonly expressed in the defence of traditional medicine against Paracelsus, for example by Erastus. Both parties, Paracelsist and Antiparacelsist, however, are unanimous in their anti-Jewish sentiment, though for different reasons: the churchman as well as the entrenched medical professional oppose the Jewish doctor as an empiric who takes advantage of knowledge found outside the syllabus. Paracelsus on the other hand gives vent to violent outbursts

49

136

137

Von den Imposturen. In: Von der franzosischen Krankheit drei Bucher-Para-of 1529, lib. I, 14. Ed. Sudhoff, vol. VII, p. 98, and ibid. II, 15; p. 127. - Drei Biicher der Wundartznei, Bertheonei. Vorrede. Ed. Sudhoff, vol. VI, 45-46. GroBe Wundartznei, V. Theil, cap. 15, in: Opus Chirurgicum ed. Adam von Bodenstein. Frankfurt 1566, p. 429. - Von Frantzosen, lib. I in Huser: Chirurg. Biicher. StraBburg 1605, p. 159. - Labyrinthus Medicor. Second Preface ed. Sudhoff, vol. XI, p. 167. A combined outburst against Paracelsists and Jews - similar to the sentiments of Erastus - is found in pasquinades of the XVIIth century, for example: Artzney Teuffel oder Kurtzer Discurs darin diesem Ertzmiirder seine Larve abgezogen by Ananias Horerus 1634 (no place). "Will Gott nicht helfen, so helf der teuffel." Kircher, Athan.: De Lapide Philosophorum. Lib. XI, Sect. II, in: Mundus Subterraneus, tom. II, Amstelod., 1664, p. 277. The story comes from Theodor Zwinger, Theatrum Vitae Humanae 1586, part 4, p. 3176. According to Zwinger, annoyance with the opposition, in learned and pious circles, against his lectures on the medicinal effects of incantation and magic, led Paracelsus to the use of the above words - as witnessed by his pupils Albanus Torinus and Johannes Oporinus and by Wolfgang Wisenberg, the theologian, who publicly reprehended Paracelsus for this. See Adelung: Geschichte der menschlichen Narrheit. Vol. VII, Leipzig 1789, p. 239. Since the times of St. Augustine. On the attitude of St. Augustine to dissection see Diepgen, P.: Der Kirchenlehrer Augustin und die Anatoinie im Mittelalter. Centaurus 1951, I, 206-211. The most fertile source for lay criticism of scholastic and arabistic medicine in the" Autumn of the Middle Ages" are the well known essays of Petrarch. In these much of the denigration of medicine by Agrippa of Nettesheym, at the time of Paracelsus, was anticipated. See for detail Haeser, H., Lehrbuch d. Geschichte d. Medicin und der epideinischen Krankheiten. 3•d edit. Jena 1875, vol. I, p. 729-732.

Scientia - Experientia

The Philosophy of Paracelsus Paracelsus' general system of correspondences and the position of scientific elements therein Introduction The distinguishing feature of Paracelsus' own philosophy is the consequential view of cosmology, theology, natural philosophy and medicine in the light of analogies and correspondences between macrocosm and microcosm. Speculation about such analogies had seriously engaged the human mind since pre-Socratic and Platonic times and throughout the Middle Ages. 138 Paracelsus was the first to apply such speculation to the knowledge of Nature systematically. This is associated with the singular position which he assumes with regard to the theory and practice of the acquisition of knowledge in general. Here Paracelsus broke away from the ordinary logical and scientific ratiocination, ancient and mediaeval and modern, and followed his own lines; and it is in this that much of his naturalistic work finds its explanation and motivation. If man, the climax of creation, unites in himself all the constituents of the world surrounding him - minerals, plants, animals and celestial bodies - he can acquire knowledge of nature in a much more direct and "internal" way than the "external" consideration of outside objects by the rational mind. What is required is an act of sympathetic attraction between the inner representative of a particular object in man's own constitution and its external counterpart. Union with the object is therefore the sovereign means of acquiring intimate and total knowledge. This is not achieved by the brain, the seat of the rational mind. It is to the deeper strata, to the person as a whole, that true knowledge is given. It is his "astral body" that "teaches man". By means of his astral body, man communicates with the superelementary world of the "astra". "Astrum" in this context denotes not 138

See our chapter in the third part, p. 214.

51

only a celestial body, hut the "virtue" or activity essential to any object. Through the "astral body" the great works ("magnalia") of nature are thus revealed to man. This is achieved, however, not in a state of conscious rational thinking, hut in dream and trance fortified by a strong will and imagination. In this lies the deeper sense of Paracelsus' Scientia and "Experentia". Let us take the example of a herb with a specific "virtue", say that of purging. This "virtue" of the herb is its "knowledge" of how to effect the purge. In order to have full knowledge of the herb and its specific virtue, the naturalist must "overhear" ("ahlauschen"} its inner mechanism. In other words, there is an element inside the naturalist - himself a microcosmic whole - which corresponds to this particular plant and must, by an act of sympathetic and magnetic attraction, unite with it. He will then acquire knowledge of the natural object in question, with and through his person as a whole, i.e. intuitively and truly. This "science" is identical with the "science" intrinsic to the plant, the "science" which teaches the pear tree how to produce pears, or scammonium how to purge. This is obviously a "scientia" quite different from that which can be learnt from hooks or by logical deduction. It is more akin to empirical and experimental research, to testing, probing and "knocking at the door" of nature. It is inspired by a deep distrust of the power of human reasoning and is thus related to those trends of scepticism and empiricism which were soon to contribute to the foundation of modern science. What appears to he original in Paracelsus, then, is not the microcosmic theory in itself, nor the quest for union with the object - for these had been the avowed aims of Neo-Platonism and of magic and mysticism throughout the ages - hut the consistent employment of these concepts as the broad basis of an elaborate system of "correspondences" in natural philosophy and medicine. This yielded unexpected fruit, first in a negative critical sense by exposing the weakness and unreality of the ruling elemental and humoral doctrine and secondly in the adoption of experimentalism and empiricism. In consequence, important proto-scientific ideas and findings already emerge in the works of Paracelsus. Their importance and range have been grossly overrated. Much of the fruitfulness of Paracelsus' work for science is only recognisable in the inspiration which it gave to Van Helmont's original investigation. This was published in 1648, more than a century after Paracelsus' death (1541). Moreover, the bulk of Paracelsus' writing, which fills ten volumes in Huser's quarto, and two elephant tomes in his folio edition, is the exposition of his system of correspondences in sermonizing homilies,

52

53


Naturalism. Empiricism

allegories, lengthy invectives against orthodox medicine and collections of prescriptions. In quantity all this exceeds by far the scientific and even proto-scientific element. However, if we wish to understand the latter in its historical setting, we have to integrate it with the hulk of his speculative and non-scientific lore. Paracelsus' breakaway from orthodox cosmology and medicine in favour of a new system of correspondences and "iatrochemistry" is accessible to various "explanations". In the first place, one must consider his psychological make-up, including his resentment and wanderlust, and his parental home which inevitably brought him into close contact with mining and its medical aspects. But in dealing with individual concepts, we must not only resort to possible biographical reasons and predecessors, hut also find the place that they logically occupy in the world of Paracelsus' non-medical and non-scientific ideas. Thus, his persistent plea for homoeopathic and isopathic measures and his doctrine of "signatures", so closely connected with this plea, is the outcome of his quest for knowledge through union of the object with something alike in the ohserver139 and for the "magnetic" forces and "sympathy" in nature at large as expressions of the fundamental unity of all its objects and phenomena. It is tempting to find in such an emphasis on "similarities" in nature a trend common to mystic and magical

as opposed to scientific thinking, because in the latter the emphasis lies on the dissimilarities between objects - on distinction rather than on the "lumping together" of phenomena.140 Hence science seeks an explanation in deductive, quantitative and metric terms. With all his protoscientific ideas and achievements, Paracelsus decidedly belongs to the former group. He is not a scientist in the modern sense. The latter element is present to a much greater extent in Van Belmont, who did not, however, on that account abandon mysticism and magic. It is the example of Van Belmont which best illustrates the fruitfulness of "holistic" thinking and mysticism in the development of science and Paracelsus' share in this. At the same time, it shows the historical futility of the erection of harriers between mysticism on the one hand and scientific thinking on the other; for these have not only not excluded each other, hut actually formed an important source of mutual inspiration. This is well illustrated in the work of Paracelsus and indeed it provides an additional stimulus for the historical elucidation of his ideas.

139

Paracelsus is first and foremost a naturalist. "It behoves me to describe natural things so that many secrets may become known. Then may the physician prepare the fifth essence of gold and put to shame Avicenna the Sophist and his followers. Great are the virtues of Nature. Who is so thirsty as to work out all her virtues? For these are from God's wisdom which is infinite. "141 He sets out to explore how Nature works, to discover what are the ephemeral phenomena and the eternal laws by which Nature is governed. The work of Nature constitutes, however inadequately, a visible reflection of the invisible work of God. Nature provides signs by means of which

This has been rightly pointed out by Ritter, Heinrich: Geschichte der Philosophie, vol. IX (Geschichte der christlichen Philosophie, vol. V). Hamburg 1850, p. 536. "Dieser ganzen Lehre liegt die V oraussetzung zum Grunde, dass wir das Gleiche durch das Gleiche erkennen. So soll auch das Gleiche das Gleiche heilen, nur ans der grossen in die kleine Welt heriibergetragen." It is quite true that, as Ritter says, Paracelsus also voices the opposite point of view: that we just as well derive knowledge from observing contraries: good cannot be recognised without evil: j~y not witliout sorrow, God not without the devil. Thus, in medicine, the harmful must be separated from the beneficial - just as the "inner alcheinist" separates what is useful from the excreta. It is obvious, however, tliat the emphasis in Paracelsus' system lies with the "Siinilia", with "magnetic attraction" and "sympathy" in nature. He has it in common with (and probably derived from) the verbal tradition, kept alive by such books as the Picatrix and such men as Pietro d'Abano and Agrippa of Nettesheym. For the latter see the third part of the present work, p. 295; for the Picatrix: Ritter, Hellmut: Picatrix, ein Arabisches Handbuch Hellenistischer Magie. Vortrage der Warburg Bibi., vol. I, 1921-22. Leipzig-Berlin 1923, pp. 94-124. There is no need to retrace here the well known Pre-Socratic and classical tradition of the concept that perception and knowledge are due to the union of something in us with something outside, siinilar or identical with it. Reference should be made, however briefly, to the Neo-platonic idea that, for example, vision is due not to the object or the bundle of rays emitted by it, but to the soul itself. This recognises some part of itself in the object, as it contains all that exists; or, in other words what exists is notlring but the soul containing all diverse bodies. Individual souls, however, are but parts of the world-soul which is one and the same everywhere. (See for example Nemesius, De Natura Hominis cap. VII, Oxonii 1671, p.143 with ref. to Porphyry De Sensu.)

Paracelsus' Approach to Nature Empirical search for the divine seals in nature

140

141

Paracelsus' "magic" view of sympathy, of course, in no way interferes with the prominence given by him to "separation" as the individualising and driving force in the development of the cosmos, the elements and virtues - in preference to creation (see his "Three books of Philosophy written to the Athenians" and our analysis on p. 91, and before, on Paracelsus - as a figure of the Renaissance and Humanism, p. 36.) "Mir aber gebiirt natiirliche ding zu beschreiben: und so sie in die geschrifft sollen gebracht werden, so werden viel erkennt, die sich bissher verborgen behalten haben, und nicht recht erkennt sind worden. Dann mag der Artzt das Gold in das fiinfft wesen bringen, und mag den sophisten Avicennam, und sein Anhenger ihren geschrifften schenden.'.' Das vierdte Buch von den unsichtbaren Dingen. Huser, Fol. Ed. 1603, vol. I, p. 103.

54


Naturalism versus Superstition

God has graced us with glimpses into His secret wisdom and "magnalia". "In matters eternal it is Belief that makes all works visible, in matters corporeal it is the light of Nature that reveals things invisible."142

Nature reveals the signs of God. It also opens the student's eyes to His gifts, the divine cures and arcana lavished upon nature around us.

55

The futility of superstitious practices and the Devil

God and Nature The uncreated virtues and the created objects The invisible virtues that the naturalist should uncover are direct emanations from God. As such, they are uncreated. For God created objects such as herbs - hut their virtues he did not create. "Virtues", "Arcana", "Magnalia" had always been in God, prior to all creation, at the time when God was a spirit hovering above the waters. Hence, virtues and forces in natural objects are not natural, hut supernatural, without end or beginning. Eventually, when heaven and earth are dissolved, they will go hack from whence they came. It is in this sense that God would have to he called "natural" - if by "Nature" not only created objects hut also their divine uncreated virtues are understood.143 Nor are these virtues from the stars, for these cannot beget or produce, hut only "cook" them, i.e. provide the necessary conditions for them to develop. As all virtues in natural objects are divine, human ability and wisdom, too, are from God.144 Our task, then, is to "seek", to "knock" and to "find", not to "drown in work, abandoning research, saying that it is beyond our understanding and thus failing to kindle the torch which will enlighten us". 145 Research into the causes of natural phenomena is therefore a religious duty. "As the light of Nature is like the crumbs from the table of the Lord, for all the heathen to grasp, and has departed from Judah, it behoves us not to give in, hut to pick up the crumbs as long as they fall." 142

143 144

145

"In den Ewigen dingen macht der Glaube alle werck sichtbar: in den leiblichen unsichtbarlichen dingen macht das liecht der Natur alle ding sichtbar." Vorrede in die Bucher Morbor. lnvisib. Huser I, 87. "Nun wie kan aber Got natiirlich sein ?" De Vera lnfiuentia Rerum, liber Theophrasti. Tract. I. Ed. Sudhoff, XIV, p. 215. Liber de Inventione Artium. Prologus. Vol. XIV, p. 249. " ••• so gebiirt sich nicht nach zulassen, sondern auffklauben von der weissheit, so lang ein brosymlin falt". Das vierdte Buch von den unsichtbaren Dingen. Huser I, 103. See also Vorrede Huser I, 86. "Dan der da suchet und klopfet an, der findt. Also ist es von den wercken zu verstehn, dieweil wir an uns finden Kranckheiten, deren ursprung im sichtigen leib nit ergriffen mag werden."

Moreover, it is by research into nature that superstition will he banished. The internal working of living beings (the microcosm) was often expressed in terms of sorcery, satanism, witchcraft, augury and superstition ("zauherisch, teuffl.isch, hexisch, augurisch, superstitiosisch") - as a result of shunning the "Light of Nature". Nature follows its own inherent "order" and command, unaffected by religious or superstitious ceremonies. Coloquinth purges and all arcana for that matter act in heathens as well as in Christians. Matters corporeal and belonging to this world ("irrdisch ") are not subject to religious influence. There is no holiness in bodies; nor was Christ's resurrection due to the holiness of His body. Nor did any signs emanate from His body in the grave. It was hut ignorance of arcana and virtues that led people to ascribe them to Gods and later on to the body of Christ or the Saints.146 Paracelsus would not deny that invocation of Saints for the cure of disease might have helped here and there - but he is against it "because of the superstition and satanism which goes with it". "A Christian should attribute everything to God ... and not call out: may this or that happen. For when we invoke Saints in order that bears, lions, ravens may serve us (as they served them) Satan is present." Hence it is for the physician to take matters in hand; "for medicine is such that all superstition is banned and the physician moves towards the Light of God alone". 147 Similarly, Paracelsus says there may be something in "wound-blessings", exorcism and even in the story of the "Venusberg", in which sorcerers profess to acquire powerful "signs" ("characters"). 148 All this, however, is so overgrown with superstition that it should not be believed. The devil can do nothing without being ordered to do so by God. God may command 146

147 148

"Und darumb, was irrdisch ist, was es handelt, muss irrdisch seyn: Darumb so dient es glaubigen und unglaubigen, guten und bosen, frommen und schiilcken, sie seyen wie sie wollen: Wer den Coloqnint frisst, der muss zum stuhl. Dann also ist jedliche natiirliche Wirckung von Gott verordnet, kein Person anzusehen, und nit jnbinden, weder Glaub oder nit, weder im namen Jesu, noch im namen Christi, sondern dass die N atur ihrem befelch nachgang": Opus Paranrirum, Lib. IV, De Origine Morborum lnvisibilium. Huser I, p. 107. Similarly, the curative effects of the "Mummy" - the "Mumia" - of Paracelsus (parts from a human body which met with sudden - preferably violent - death) are perfectly natural and do not admit of any superstitious interpretation. De Orig. Morbor. lnvisibil. lib. IV. Huser, vol. I, p. 105. Fragmentum libri de morbis ex incantationibus et impressionibus inferioribus. Das ist von den unsichtbaren Kranckheiten. Huser I, 138. Opus Paramirum Lib. V, De Origine Morbor. lnvisibil. Huser I, p. 116.

56

57


"Experientia" versus Logic

and commission spirits - but their action is through the powers of herbs, although there is in the herbs nothing additional to what was always in them since their creation. No demon or spirit was ever added at any one time or place. Nor is there any action of spirits or demons in such powerful spiritual forces as imagination.

Thus is the Codex of Nature, thus must its leaves he turned."1 52 Experience, which alone matters to the naturalist and physician, is "Erfahrung" - the result of travelling with open eyes. Thus the physician should study geography and cosmography - he should he an "Astronomus". To his eye must also he revealed the "mothers", the habitat and climate in which the minerals grow. "But the mountains and mines will not follow him. He must seek them. Where the minerals lie, there are the artists: If one is to search for artists in the separation and preparation of Nature, he must look for them where the Minerals are found. "153 There is then no higher bliss on earth for body and soul, nothing more noble than to understand divine Nature. Such understanding is based on religious experience and contrasts with pseudo-knowledge, the product of haphazard observation and experiment, the sources from which Aristotle drew. Formal logic, as taught by Aristotle, Galen and Avicenna, is according to Paracelsus unsuitable for, nay contrary to a proper study of nature. It is a newcomer in the history of human knowledge.

The "True Signs" as revealed to Research into Nature Naturalism to Paracelsus thus means the search for divine signs. "Who would not grasp the huh of nature from whence these signs come?" Again they are not outwardly visible, they are not in the shape of "bodies", hut are intrinsic virtues. These internal and invisible virtues are the "fifth essences", of which one "loth" (half an ounce) is equivalent to twenty pounds of the original "body" from which it is extracted.149 "The less matter the higher the value of the virtues. Just as the sun can shine through a glass and fire act through the walls of a stove, so bodies can send out invisible forces over distances while remaining at rest themselves". Thus are explained the effects of the magnet, sympathetic power and the "mummy".150 Experience ("Erfahrung") versus pseudo-knowledge based on reasoning ("Logica") The search for the invisible "seals" and forces in Nature will thus, however indirectly, lead to truth - in contrast to mere human speculation. For there is more "Knowledge" ("wissen und erkantnuss") in that which God has created than there is in human reasoning. Thus we recognise God in his creation which is the greater world and in man in whom all its parts are represented. Such truth is simple - just as God's commands should he kept in simplicity. For the intention to improve, by human wisdom, the order imposed by Christ, is inspired by Satan. "The more learned the more perverted" (" Jhe gelehrter, jhe verkehrter"). "For belief is in no need of the scholar's wisdom; i.t only demands simplicity."151 The methods required for studies in the "Book of Nature" are different from those of hook-learning. "He who wishes to explore nature must tread her hooks with his feet. Writing is learnt from letters, Nature, however, (by travelling) from land to land: One land one page. 149 150 151

Opus Paramirum Lib. IV, De Origine Morbor. Invisibil. Huser I, p. 109. On the "Mummy" see above p. 55 and 101. " ••• muss man gross ermessen, nicht den W olstandt oder hiipsche Ordnung, sondern die einfalt allein und sunst nichts, von wegen des Sathans einsehen, darauss diss entspringt:

The ancients had cultivated the spirit of observation in astronomy, recognising that heaven and the astra were together the mother of all human wisdom - whence they derived a great advance in science and the arts, 154 Knowledge and science thus obtained are admittedly limited and transient. Yet they are a divine gift. 155 Thus, even before the advent of Christ, the world was endowed with scientific knowledge, and its light is still as good as it was then. But man degenerated and gave out as works of nature the figments of his own mind- pseudo-knowledge and wisdom, which have nothing to do with heaven. 156 At the time of Christ this was the wit ("Sophisterey und Gleissnerey") of the Pharisees and Scribes - and through their foolishness astro-

152

153 154

155

156

darauff dann auch folgt jhe gelehrter jhe verkehrter. Dan der Glaube darff keiner Gelehrten, W eissheit: nuhr Eynfalt, und in derselbigen stracks ohnverruckt wandlen." Fragm. libri de Morbis ex incantat. et impress. inferior, das ist von den unsichtbaren Kranckheiten. Huser I, 139. "Denn das will ich bezeugen mit der Natur: Der sie durchforschen will, der muss mit den Fiissen ihre Bucher treten. Die Schrift wird erforscht durch ihre Buchstaben, die Natur aber durch land zu land: als oft ein Land, als oft ein Blatt. Also ist Codex N aturae, also muss man ihre Blatter umwenden." Defensiones und Verantwortungen wegen etlicher verunglimpfung seiner Missgonner. Vierdte Defension. Huser I, 259. Ibid., p. 258. "Dardurch sie grosse Kiinste und zerglingliche Weissheit eroffnet und erfunden haben." Philos. Sagacis Lib. I, cap. 1. Das Buch der Philosophey dess Himmlischen Firmaments. Huser, vol. II, p. 342. "Dann im Natiirlichen Liecht handlen, und sich im selbigen erlustigen, ist gottlich, wiewohl todtlich." Ibid. "Wir legen uns selher das jenig zu, so im Liecht der Natur, unnd nicht in uns ist, als gleich was wir reden, sey das Liecht der Natur ... also werden alle falsche Weissheit, falsche Kiinst, falsche Artzney gelehrnet, unnd dieselhen nemmen weder auss Gott, noch ans dem Natiirlichen Liecht sein Grund und Fundament." Ibid.

58

59


Censure of Aristotle. Theory of Knowledge

nomy was forgotten. Christ taught the eternal wisdom of the prophets and apostles which superseded the light of nature - when "astronomers, magi, diviners and others abandoned their art as the inferior light and followed Christ rather than nature." Thus Dionysius Areopagita renounced astronomy at Athens and followed in the steps of St. Paul.

N atur"), propounding his arguments cleverly and with plausible and amusing speeches ("mit verniinftigen Reden heschriehen, mit liistigen Sentenzen und Spriichen herfiir gestrichen"). "Did Nature behave as his sweet dissertations prescribe, who could desire a brighter light in it ?". And his followers and pupils have enlarged on his work with multifarious artful arguments: "hut in the kernel of Nature remained a dust and a withered flower" ("Aber im Kern der Natur ein Staub und zerknitschter Blum").158 Paracelsus blames Aristotle for his ignorance of chemistry and alchemy. He was not aware of the deep and marvellous powers of sulphur. He doubted that "species" could he transmuted- and their transmutation by sulphur remained hidden from Aristotle, the "double fool" and "blue philosopher" .159 Similarly Avicenna "was not a child of Philosophy", for philosophy is the mother of a good physician. Such men are ignorant of the basic foundations of medicine and hence they talk about the end and not the beginning. ("Darumh hanget ihnen an, so wir das wol deutschen sollen, der Aussgang, aher nicht der Anfang").

But we cannot emulate these heroic examples. Each should exercise "what acts and should act in himself" and, though it is the minor light, God will not abandon the light of Nature. It is given to those whom nature has destined for it - just as a knowledge of cures comes naturally to the horn physician. But "Logica" is different. It has darkened the light of nature as well as that of eternal wisdom and introduced a "foreign doctrine". It is the "leaven of the Pharisees who move about in the schools, who break the power of nature and follow neither Christ nor the natural light. They are the dead who bury the dead; there is no life in what they do, for there is no light for them in which they can learn anything". Censure of Aristotle and Avicenna The father of formal logic, however, was Aristotle, and it is he - together with Galen and Avicenna - whom Paracelsus singles out for censure as the spirit that misled human natural research. Paracelsus calls him a "sharp illusionist" ("Scharff Phantast") who has left some considerable work on generation. He misled himself, however, and was completely ignorant, "kept in the dark by the unpropitious constellation prevalent at his tinie and so much fettered by animal nature that nothing remained but the impression of a sharp seed that fell among the thorns. "157

He was subtle in a perverse way ("scharfsinnig auf irrige weg wider die 15 7

Das Buch der Geberung der Empfindtlichen dingen in der Vernunfft. Das erste Buch der V orreden Theophrasti in das Buch der Gebiirung ("von Gebiirung des Menschen"). Erste Vorrede. Huser I, p. 117. "durch die Konstellation verfinstert und so von der viehischen Natur unterspickt, dass nichts am Grunde liegt als nur das Anzeichen eines Scharpffen Sahmens, der in die Dornen gefallen ist." Lib. de lnventione Artium Theophrasti IV. Tract. Philos. Magna. Huser II, p. 231. See also with reference to Aristotle, Meteorology, which does not tally with the facts: Grosse Wundartzney, lib. I, tract. 2, cap. 1. Ed. Sudhoff, vol. X, p. 285. Aristotle had, with typical Greek mendacity (sic), given a false direction to philosophy. His unmasking had been delayed by mankind's stubborn adherence to the humoral theory. Grosse Wundartzney, lib. 11, tract. 2, Beschlussred. Ed. Sudhoff, vol. X, p. 347. In the same work lying as a national characteristic is also attributed to the Jews, but they, as Paracelsus says, were even surpassed by Christians. (Draft for the dedication of a work on syphilis - possibly for the IVth part of the "Surgery" - to King Ferdinand. Ed. Sudhoff, vol. X, p. 485). Criticism of Aristotle is found scattered in the Paragranum at a number of places (e.g. lib. I: Philosophia, Ed. Sudhoff, vol. VIII, p. 69; 148; 81).

We may find in this a gibe at the expense of the Aristotelian "Entelecheia". This is the plan of perfection which in Aristotle's philosophy forms the final cause of organised natural beings, where the "end" - the eventual fulfilment of the specific aim of life - is seen as the "beginning". It is the "idea" or "plan" of immanent form and function which causes the transformation of matter (the merely potential) into a specific object (the real). Paracelsus attacks Aristotelians for lacking the "beginnings", the basis of soundly directed causal research in nature, and for concentrating on final causes. They thus remain ignorant of the invisible non-material forces, the effects of which they attribute to material action. Hence they wrongly attributed to the visible stars an influence in forming a human individual.

Theory of Knowledge. "Experientia" and "Scientia" through identification of the mind with the internal "knowledge" possessed by natural objects in attaining their specific aims. "Ahlauschen" (overhearing) of this "knowledge" which is immanent in the objects of research A methodical approach is recognisable in Paracelsus' general "Theory of Knowledge". What can and should we know of the world around us and in us? Knowledge is "Experientia" ("Erfahrung") - something we know for certain - in contrast with "Experiment", which, by itself, is merely "acci108 159

Buch von der Gebiirung. 1. Vorrede loc. cit. Huser I, p. 117. Von den natiirlichen Dingen. Vom Terpentin, Nieswurz, etc. cap. 7. Ed. Sudhoff, vol. I, p. 125, and cap. 8, p. 163.

60

61


Inborn Knowledge

dental". The latter must he integrated with theory before it can become knowledge, the mother of experience. · For example, experiment teaches us that scammonea purges. This alone does not help us much - for disease is a complicated process following its own laws and not just one single fact which can he set against another fact, e.g. that scammonea purges. But there is "scientia" in the herb which teaches it how to purge - just as there is internal "scientia" in the pear tree which teaches it how to grow pears rather than apples. It is this "scientia" which we should try to catch. "When ·you overhear ("ahlauschen") from the Scammonea the knowledge which it possesses, it will he in you just as it is in the Scammonea and you have acquired the experience as well as the knowledge: It is not an experiment. This - an experiment without knowledge - you have when you fail to know Scammonea in all its properties". "Therefore, Scientia is what is in full accord with knowledge through the just order of Nature."160 "Scientia is contained in the object in which God has provided it: Experientia is knowledge of cases in which Scientia has been put to the test." Scientia is, therefore, a virtue present in natural objects. This is the source whence "Experientia" is derived. "Experientia" is the philosopher's comprehension ("Kuntschafft") of the manner in which any particular natural object (e.g. a pear tree) fulfills itself and thereby attains perfection - its inborn and sure instinctive "knowledge". That "knowledge" is "correct" which enables an object to realise its specific aims. By putting "Scientia" to the test in an experiment, the observer achieves identification with the object and this makes an understanding of the object - Experientia - possible. It goes much more deeply into the essence of objects than does sensual perception, notably eyesight - which at best can only direct an "experiment".

learning is connected with the concept of man as a microcosm. "The knowledge of man comes from the greater world, not from man himself. " 161 Human reason is liable to build up "anthropomorphic" explanations that are removed from reality. The only reality, however, which Paracelsus will recognise is "the concordance which makes man whole, from which he derives knowledge of the world and hence of himself - these two, being one thing and not two. I put this to the test of experience".1 62 To Paracelsus, too, "man is the measure of all things" in that he was the last and highest stage in creation and thus incorporates all parts of the greater world. His mind is endowed with strata that are deeper and more powerful than reasoning and that are indissolubly hound up with his personality as a whole and specific to the individual - in contrast to reason, which on the surface appears to he valid to everybody. By means of such deeper strata of his personality, man can level himself up or down and become one with the world at large or the smallest object therein. It is only by this process of union with the object that man can arrive at the knowledge of objects, i.e. truth and reality. "Experience" as needed by the naturalist and physician consists entirely in making himself part of the object and understanding it by listening to its inner mechanism. It cannot he acquired by those who lack the ability to identify themselves with natural objects. Hence, the physician must he "horn" and "called" to his profession, he must he "earthbound" for it is from the earth that the medicinal herbs grow. "The earth knows him, establishes and rejects him."163 "Derived" as against "inborn" knowledge of the elements Man and the "Sagani" The true knowledge of objects which man must take pains to acquire is inborn in those man-like beings which are one with the elements - the Sagaui, the sylphs, the nymphs

Union with the object as the ultimate aim of the naturalist ("philosopher") and physician Obviously, hooks cannot offer anything that would satisfy the thirst for such knowledge. In the thought of Paracelsus, the deprecation of hook

161

162 160

Experientia: "Also was vollkommen mit einem Wissen in rechter ordnung der Natur geht, dasselbige ist Scientia." "Scientia ist in dem, in dem sie Gott geben hatt: Experientia ist ein Kuntschafft von dem, in dem Scientia probiert wirt". Labyrinthus :Medicor, cap. 6. Von dem Buch der Artzney, so Experientia heist wie der Arzt das· selbig erfaren soll. Huser I, 272-274. Sudhoff, vol. XI, p. 192. Paracelsists such as Severinus use the term "Scientia" to designate organ function; for example there is a

163

"Scientia" in the stomach which directs digestion (Idea Medicinae Philosophicae. Basel 1571, p. 184), "Scientia" inherent in the Semina determines development and maturation (ibid. p. 316). "Denn der Mensch wird erlernt von der grossen Welt und nicht auss dem Menschen." Opus Paramirum. Das erste Buch. De Origine Morborum ex Tribus primis Suhstantiis. Huser, vol. I, p. 26. "Das ist die Concordantz die den Menschen gantz macht: So er die Welt erkennt und auss ihr den Menschen auch welche gleiche ein ding sind und nicht zwey. Das ich der erfahrung weitter heimsetz." Ibid. "Darumb alleine der so da berufft wirt, ein Artzt ist, demselbigen wachst die Artzney aus der Erden, uud sie kennt ihn, hatt ihn zu setzen und zu entsetzen. So ist nun der grundt das wir die drey Substantz erkennen und erfahren: Das nicht auss unsern Kopffen, noch auss horen sagen, sonder auss der Erfahrenheit der Natur Zerlegung,

62

63


Magia Naturalis

(that "remain honnd to water like herrings"), the lemurs (which are "hound to air like birds") and the gnomes (that are "like shrews in the earth"). Physically they are all like man and even reason and work like man, hut unlike man they are not endowed with an immortal soul. Owing to this, man is not physically one with the elements - hut "free on earth and not in earth, on water and not in water, under the sky hut not in the sky, by the air, hut not in the air - yet forming the centre of all four in whom all operations and rays are concentrated. " 164 This shows the ambivalent position of man in nature. He has "bought" his freedom and mastery of the elements at the price of detachment and ignorance - remaining far below the "wisdom, art, activity and mansions" of these intermediate beings. By contrast with their sure knowledge he speculates on outside appearances - comparable to one who from a distance sees a blacksmith in his workshop, hut fails to grasp the essentials of his work.

by supra-material forces. Hence the magician is not taught by man hut by the "Star". Not, however, by the Star as it appears to us, the "natural Star", hut by "Supernatural Heaven". In other words, the magician is horn with his art and knowledge - "art and man are conceived together". "Magic is impressed on the Magus as is vision on the eyes and hearing on the ears - take the example of the magi of the past, none of whom was taught the bookish learning of mortal man. For, if a man go to no other school than that which is made of bricks and mortar and seek no school· master other than him who teaches from behind the stove, he will come to nothing except superficially. And the school of magic stands its test through Christ, who says : Learn from me, for I am merciful and meek."167 "Reality" in a true sense cannot, therefore, he taught by man to man, hut it is "magic" that can and does teach it; it is of divine revelation, for God wants nothing to remain hidden and unknown. "Should something become revealed, it must he given by Him who has hidden it and to him who is called upon, able and gifted to interpret it. Just as the hook of Revelations - which nobody will ever interpret unless he he a Magus, horn or adopted.... " The power of the magus is superior to the power of the elements and matter, for it is spiritual 'power. The magician thus becomes the equal of nature. By his action he can achieve what nature effects by means of conception. Thus an image, devoid of flesh and blood, may he made by him to act as a comet, and symbols and words ("characters") may through him acquire forces like those of "Arcana". He may induce herbs and gems to equal in power planets and their denizens and the whole of the firmament. What the Saint is in the "Realm of God", the magus is in the "Realm of Nature" - the Saint working through God, the Magus through Nature.16 8 How does the Magus act? The physician knows all the virtues of herbs. In the same way the Magus knows "what is in the stars". The physician extracts power from herbs - the extract may have little weight, although "it has many leas and meadows in its fist". But the extract alone is th.e remedy, not the leas and meadows. Thus the Magus can transport many meadows of heaven into a small pebble which we call "Gamaheu" or "Imago" or "Character". For these are containers in which the Magus keeps sidereal forces and virtues as in a box. Just as the physician can

Magia N aturalis: Its religious background; its protoscientific significance; its purport in medicine Paracelsus' fight against superstition and search for natural causes do not in any way preclude a belief in "Magic". "Magica" reveals the unseen "influences" to which things are subjected, hidden forces that are made evident by Medicine, Philosophy and Astro· nomy.165 It is not, however, a theory which teaches us in principle how effects are achieved in nature, hut is rather an action or practice in itself. The "Magus" brings celestial forces down to earth and guides them to the objects on which they can exert their specific power. He transfers them to the "medium" in which such forces can operate, to the "centre" - and the "centre is man". "Thus, through man, heavenly power may he brought into man so that in him is found the action which is possible in the cor· responding constellation. Thus man into whom magic has brought such forces becomes the star with the star's secrets and arcana. Just as if some· body eats a herb, this herb is inside him with all its forces, as they are .... And as poison or a remedy with all its effects can he introduced into man by man, so the Astronomer - Magus - can imbue man with firmamental power."166 Such power is primarily something spiritual - for it is due to constel· lation, i.e. not to matter hut to a certain order in which matter is arranged

164

16 5 l66

und Erfahrung solcher Eigenschafft ergriindung." Opus Paramirum I, loc. cit. Huser, vol. I, p. 26. De Meteoris. Cap. IV. Quid in stellis de viventihus speciehus. Ed. Sudhoff, vol. XIII, p. 154. Lahyrinthus Medicorum. Cap. 6. Huser I, 273. Ibid. cap. 9, Huser I, 278. Philos. Sagax. Lib. I, cap. 6. Von den Neun Prohationihus. In Probationem artis l\fagicae. Huser II, 376. See also De Peste cum additionihus. Lib. II, cap. 2. Huser I, 382.

167 168

Philos. Sagax I, 6. Huser II, 376. "Also ist die unterscheidt zwischen Sanctum und Magum, dass der Sanctus aus Gott, der Magus aus der Natur wircket." Philos. Sagax I, 6. Huser II, 378.

64


offer his remedy to the patient, the Magus can transfer such virtues to man after he has extracted them.169 The main objects of the Magus are the transmutation of objects, transfer of power, action at a distance and prediction. Nature gives wood the form of a tree and through mere transformation of its material other objects may he formed. Moreover, N~ture is willing on her own account to endow herbs and stones with magic virtue - how much more can he achieved when she is induced to lend her arcana to any material at hand.170 In disease, necessity itself demands the magic art. Through it Nature will put into words and images virtues like those that she lavishes on herbs and roots. Such effects of Magic and "Cahalia" as the hearing of voices that are miles away, are then due to the power of the spirit which uses "Nature" in transforming elemental matter, hut is itself above it. For ''the Master is superior to the disciples". The "Master of the Spirit" ("Spiritualischer Meister") can thus transform man, just as a painter can change the figures on his canvas. It is human "Scientia" and not stars which are here at work, although the Magus "learns" from the star and is sent by it. Magia teaches the physician "Pathology"171 - how by sympathy a 169

170 171

Philos. Sagax I, 6. Huser II, 379. - For "proofs of the efficacy of artificial as well as natural images embossed on stones or plants commonly called Gamahe or Camaiev and on Signatures" see the fifth chapter of I. Gaffarel's Curiositez lnovyes sur la Sculpture Talismanique des Persans, Horoscope des Patriarches et Lecture des Estoilles. Paris 1629, pp. 149-222. Talismans act through "sympathy" between the image and the event to he influenced, when a certain stellar constellation has created a favourable "milieu" for effects of a "homoeopathic" or magnetic nature. Ancient as well as mediaeval "Lapidaries" and sorcery hooks abound with prescriptions for talismans many of which have been transmitted by the "Picatrix", an "Arabic Handbook of Hellenistic Magic". See Ritter, Hellmut: Picatrix, in Vortriige der Bihliothek Warburg 1921-22. Leipzig und Berlin 1923, pp. 94-124, notably p. 112. The Picatrix enjoyed much publicity at the time of Paracelsus. On Gnosticism as the origin of the belief in magic stones ("Gnostic gems") see: J oannis Macarii Canonici Ariensis Abraxas s. Apistopistus; quae est antiquaria de Gemmis Basilidianis Disquisitio. Acced. Abraxas Proteus s. multiformis Gemmae Basilidianae portentosa varietas a Joh. Chifletio. Ex offic. Plantin. Antverpiae 1657 - containing an atlas of Gnostic gems on 28 plates. - It is noteworthy that Ficino shared the belief that something of the world-soul can he attracted into objects and retained in them. In this he was not so far remote from the ideas of magic current at his time and expounded by Trithemius, Agrippa and Paracelsus. It is true, however, that he avoided "daemonic" magic to which the latter authors subscribed in favour of a "spiritual" brand - as was recently shown by D.P.Walker, Spiritual and Daemonic Magic. From Ficino to Campanella. London. The Warburg Institute. 1958. pp. 41 et seq., pp. 104 et seq. Philos. Sagax I, 6. Huser II, 377-378. Von der Fallenden Sucht, in: Eilff Tractat oder Biicher vom Ursprung und Ursachen der Wassersucht etc. Huser I, 543.

Microcosm. Astrosophy

65

cosmic force ("Ascendent") specifically acts upon and combines with a system or substance inside the body to which it corresponds according to the analogies between Macro- and Micro-cosm.172 Finally, any cure achieved by the knowledge of the arcanum that is "specific" for the case in question is "magia"; true cure can only he by specific action on the agent that causes disease - and not by working out the "grade and complexion" of diseases and remedies as the ancients did.173 In Pathology and Therapy, magic thus reduces itself to the principle of specific action. This has a scientific and modern ring. Paracelsean magic certainly embraces it, hut it only just emerges from a theory of knowledge and a belief that are alien to science and are significant today in psycho-analysis at best.

The analogies between Macrocosm and Microcosm and the role of the Stars: Astrology and "Astrosophy" Man as Microcosm Man is anchored in two worlds - the visible and the invisible, the elemental and the celestial, the world of matter, which serves his body, and the world of action and power, which serves his spirit and mind. Man as a whole is a "fifth essence" (quinta essentia) extracted from both worlds and wrought into one heing.174 He has received wisdom, reason and the organic composition of his body (the "wisdom of the firmament") from the Astrum, and flesh and blood from the elements. "Thus man is fifth essence and microcosm and the son of the whole world".

172

173 174

For detailed descriptions from the "macrocosmic" pathology of Paracelsus, see part II of the present work, p. 133; 178. Eilff Tractat. Huser I, 546. Man anchored in two worlds - the elemental and celestial - Man as Quinta Essentia: " •.. Also ist das fiinfft Wesen von den Zweyen Corpem aussgezogen, und in einen Leih vereiniget, ein Mensch zu seyn ... Das ist, dass der Mensch des Firmamentischen Himmels W eissheit, Vemunfft, Kunst und alles vom Gestim empfahet, und Fleisch und Blut von den Elementen. Also ist der Mensch das fiinffte W esen und ist Microcosmus, und ist der Sohn der gantzen Welt: ... Darumh schlecht (schliigt) der Mensch in die arth der Stemen. Schlecht auch in die arth der Elementen, auss denen er dann gemacht ist: darumb er alle (ihr) Eygenschafft an ihm hatt: darumh ihn auch die grosse Welt speiset, fiihret und nehret in W eissheit, in Vemunfft, in Speiss und Tranck, als sein eygen Blut und Fleisch, so wunderharlich aus ihr gehoren." Philos. Sagax. Lili. I, cap. 2. Huser, vol. II, p. 346.

66

67


Astrosophy. Correspondences

In Paracelsus' views, heaven and the stars retain the magisterial position which they enjoyed in ancient cosmology. There are, however, marked differences in emphasis which amount to a restriction of the unlimited power ascribed to them in the Middle Ages and at Paracelsus' own time.

Cosmic correspondences as against astral influx (inclination) as the power conferring specificity and destination

Limitations of astral "powers"

Limitations of the powers of the stars are evident, for example, in the making of the ideal physician. He owes his highest faculties not to the stars, hut to a divine influence which confers upon him "love of man". This is superadded to his "natural" gifts - and these derive partly from the constellation of the firmament. They also come from an inborn, earthly nature. Man is indeed horn "artful" through his "stars", hut the stars may he deceitful and confer folly instead of wisdom. The same stars may lead man to invention and the advancement of knowledge, hut also to the pseudo-knowledge of "Sophistry", which takes him away from purposeful work - a "foolish star, a fantastic constellation has produced him, it would have been better for him had he never been horn".175 Hence the wise man tends to overcome the influence of the stars in himself by employing divine wisdom. For those who are taught by God are the most learned, those by the stars the least, and those who learn from the light of Nature occupy an intermediate position. The course of a star has no influence on the length of human life. People would he horn and die at certain times even if Saturn had never appeared in heaven; there would he men of "lunatic" temperament even if the moon had never been created. Mars may signify a cruel disposition hut Nero, however cruel, was not his child; though of one and the same nature, they did not receive it from each other. Helen and Venus are alike - yet had Venus never been, Helen had still become a whore. 176 Nor do the stars act upon us by "impression" or "inclination". He errs who says a thief has his predatory inclination from a star.177

175

176

177

Divine, not astral, influence in the making of the perfect physician. "ein narrechtigs gestirn, ein Fantastische Constellatz hat in geboren, besser were es ihm, er were nit geboren, dan also die Leut verfiiren." Grosse Wundartzney Lib. II, Tract. 1, cap. 6. Huser, Chirurgische Biicher und Schrifften. Strasburg 1605, p. 73. Independence of man and star (Mars - Nero; Venus - Helen). Vol. Paramirum Lib. et Pagoyum I De Ente Astrorum, cap. 2. Huser vol. I, p. 5. Ed. Sudhoff, vol. I, p. 178. See also Werle, F., Die kosmische Weltanschauung des Paracelsus. Nova Acta Parac. 1947, IV, 12-29. Impression - Inclination. Opus Paramirum. Lili. II, cap. 7. Huser, vol. I, p. 49.

Priority and superiority are not due to the visible stars.178 Here again, what is visible is not real and matters little; it is the invisible forces that are the master-causes. Such forces result from the concerted action of the firmament as a whole rather than from the influence of individual stars. In other words, the pow:er of the stars - visible and invisible - is not in the first place transmitted by an "influx" of rays which according to traditional ideas might exert an "inclination" or "direction" on the character and destiny of an individual. "Nothing impresses; neither an astrum that necessitates, nor one that governs or acts by inclination ... " 179 , and there is no truth in the assertion that heaven forms, moulds and equips the body. For, as far as the body is concerned, Adam was created as a material body; from then on without further creation, he has propagated himself by virtue of a natural process ("Ens Naturae") with the help of the parental semen. Seed sown in a field grows solely by virtue of its own Being ("Ens"). The star adds nothing to it, neither power nor nature nor properties and complexions. Correspondences between the astral firmament and parts of the human organism By contrast, the real "power" of the stars lies in the firmamental coordination and correspondence by which objects and phenomena are chained together. "The conjunction between heaven and man is as follows ... There is a double firma178

179

Visible stars are not the all powerful "Heaven": "Der Himmel ist allein das Gestirn, die Stemen sind sichthar, sie sind aber der Himmel nit." Philos. Sagax. Lili. I, cap. 2. Auss was der Mensch gemacht sey, was der Limus sey, etc. Huser, vol II, p. 346. "Nichts lmprimirt, vel Astrum necessitans, vel guhernans vel inclinans ... " Fragmenta Medica. Fragmenta ad Paramirum de V entilius referenda. De ente Astrali. Huser, vol. I, p. 132. This is briefly summarised in Volumen Paramirum de Quinque Entibus Omnium Morborum, lib. I: De Ente Astrorum super corpora lnferiora, espec. cap. 4. Huser, vol. I, p. 6: "Wann ihr habt die Astra verstanden hissher, sie lnclinieren in uns, und die lnclinatz bild uns nach ihnen: darauff ihr grosse Libell setzen, wie dem Gestirn widerstanden soil werden . . . Sie gewaltigen gar nichts in uns, sie eynbilden nichts, sie eignen nichts, sie inclinieren nichts, sie sind frey fiir sich selbst, und wir frey fiir uns selbst. Nun mercken aber, dass wir ohn das Gestirn nichts leben mogen: dann kelte und werme und das Digest der dingen, die wir essen und gebrauchen, kompt von jnen: Allein der Mensch nicht. Und so viel nutzen sie uns und soviel miissen wir sie haben, als viel dass wir kalt und warm, essen, trincken, lufft haben miissen. Aber nicht weitter sind sie in uns, noch wir in ihnen."

68

69


"Astrum" - Disease - Remedy

ment, one in heaven and one in each body, and these are linked by mutual concordance and not by unilateral dependence of the body upon the firmament. If, for example, a discord takes place in the coordination of the firmament on the one hand and the human economy on the other, the latter will he broken ..."180

equilibrium, the microcosmic sun, the heart, will distribute enough warmth and fluid to maintain the nutrition and growth of organs and limbs. If this astral relationship is disturbed, however, limbs, organs or the whole body will suffer from drought and overheating by unbalanced action of the microcosmic sun. "For there is a sun in the body which exsiccates and withdraws damp. If this consumes further and further and nothing is added as if by rain, the sun dries everything up and causes consumption." The disease, therefore, is an affair of the sun. It is due to faulty reception and use of nourishment whose "guidance" to the right places· depends on celestial concordance. For the nourishment is consumed by the microcosmic sun. The cure must aim at providing additional damp to feed the microcosmic sun. Man cannot force heaven to provide this, hut can "make another heaven". Hence the arcana. "For arcanum is as much as a powerful heaven in the physician's hand •.. he must sow water that grows in man as grass grows in the field so that heaven stands in our hand; for this is the arcanum that removes consumption and is the heaven in the remedy which gives rain and dew ... the seed out of which water grows is margarita." 184 But the "impression" conveyed by the arcanum is not entirely microcosmic. The desiccation of limbs and organs indicates that man has fallen "into the sphere of Saturn and lost his old heaven, his ascendant, his constellation, and lives in Saturn which attracts his nature and his complexion and rejoices in consuming him and leading him to where the sun is hottest, as if he were a joint to he roasted, hut at last freezes him."185 "God, however, has anticipated the treachery of some malignant stars ... and made a further heaven by creating the physician and the remedy from the earth, and heaven above must help earth to make the lower heaven grow. Who could withstand the upper heaven, were there no lower heaven? Thus the lower heaven is the benevolent one which no wise man despises."

In this respect the relationship between the Firmament and Man is twofold: (a) Heaven forms a "portrait" or "model". Man and what he does, good or evil, is thus represented in heaven as if in an image or mirror. (h) Heaven is the "Prelude" to man. It represents in advance all his work, behaviour and modes of life, acting as a "prophecy" rather than a cause.181 Correspondence between the Astrum and the Seat of Disease There is finally a "firmamental" correspondence between each astrum and the seat of a particular disease in the body, the "sedes morhi". Plagne, for example, has six classical loca: the regions behind eacli ear, under each axilla and in each inguinal fold. Each of these corresponds to a "locus planetarum". Saturn and the moon act on the upper part of the body, in this case on the region behind the ears, Mars and the sun on the axillae, Jupiter and Venus on the inguinal folds,182 Consumption is another disease in which the correspondence of the astrum with its seat emerges. By this Paracelsus understands a progressive atrophy and exsiccation of organs and limbs.183 It can he explained in cosmological terms: Man is a part of the earth. As the latter lives by virtue of the gifts which it receives from heaven, so does man - the difference being that the gifts received by the earth are visible ones, such as rain and dew, whereas those given to man are invisible. As long as the astral co-ordination of man is in its normal

°

18 Conjunction between heaven and man: Fragm. Med. ad Paramirum. De Ente Astrali. Huser, vol. I, p. 132. - A concrete form of this relationship is the "Magnale"; this "work of God" is a mysterious virtue, a kind of aether, finer than air and the recipient of astral impression. It may pollute water by some "magnalian" odour, taste, acid, bitterness and this in turn influences the organs, just as a fish depends upon the quality of the water in which it dwells. In this way, bodies may he "polluted, made sick or killed" by the action of the stars; the pollution of the "Magnale" is in effect a disturbance of the relationship between star and man. Vol. Paramir., lib. I, cap. 6. Huser I, p. 7, and Frag. Med. Huser I, p. 132. 181 Opus Paramirum. Lib. II, cap. 7. Huser, vol I, p. 49. 182 Stars and seat of disease. tlber die Pest. Huser, vol. I, p. 326. 183 Paracelsus is at pains to separate "Phthisis" from the contemporary concept of pulmonary consumption. At that time consumption in general was believed to he the product of bronchial obstruction or a "catarrh". Paracelsus admits that these cause atrophy hut such atrophy is reversible and is not progressive consumption or "Phthisis". The causes of the latter lie deeper, namely in the astral relationship of men with earth and heaven. See also later in the second part of the present hook, p. 165; 170 et seq. Elf Traktat von Ursprung, Ursachen etc.... vom Schwienen. Aridura. Huser, vol. I, pp. 518-520. Ed. Sudhoff, vol. I, p. 24.

Astral concordance is the power of remedies which it directs to the diseased organ Drugs and their specific action are essentially hound up with the astra. Here again Paracelsus stresses that the effect is one of correspondence rather than of causation. It is comparable with the passage of time. The astra thus ."do the work of the physician". Hence "you should not call a drug cold or hot or humid or dry, hut should say: this is Saturn, this 184 Margarita - pearls to which was ascribed a distinct cordial virtue supporting the vital balsam (Castelli. Barth. Lexicon Medicum. Lipsiae 1713, p. 483). The Paracelsist Oswald Croll attributed to his "Sal Perlarum" a renewing, augmenting and supporting action on the "radical humour" whereby its beneficial effects in such exsiccating diseases as phthisis and senile "marcor" were explained. It is worthy of note that pearls were already prescribed as a "cordial" in the Middle Ages. Thus John de Rupescissa praised the strengthening action of those remedies which, like gold, silver and pearls, clarify the blood of the heart (De Considerat. Quintae Essent. Rerum Omnium. Basie, s. a. 1561, p. 93). This is one example in which the origin of Paracelsean medicine can he retraced to his mediaeval alchemical predecessors. See for further discussion of this point part III of this hook, p. 265 s. 185 Ibid. Huser, vol. I, p. 520.

70

71


"Astrum" - Wound - Remedy

Mars, this Venus, this the Pole".186 The doctor should know how to bring about a concordance between "the astral Mars and the grown Mars" (i.e. the herb used as a remedy). It is in this sense that "the remedy should he prepared in the star and should become a star. For the stars on high make sick and kill and also make whole and healthy." The physician should, therefore, abandon the ancient (Galenic) way in the preparation of remedies which was based on "grades, complexions, humours and qualities", and should recognise the - specific - power of the drug in the "astrum". "There are the astra above and those below. And as a remedy cannot act without heaven, it must he directed by it. Thus you must make a drug volatile, that is to say, remove what is earthy in it, for only then will heaven direct it." "What should act on the brain will he directed to it by Luna, what on the spleen by Saturn. What belongs to the heart will he guided to it by the Sun and to the kidneys by Venus, by Jupiter to the liver, by Mars to the bile". "You should not say: Melissa is a herb for the womb and Majoran for the head - thus the ignorant talk. Their action lives in Venus and Luna; if you want it, heaven must he propitious". Any peasant can administer a drug and wait to see whether it helps or not, hut the physician is supposed to give it a direction to the head, brain, liver, etc., and how can he do so when ignorant of the heavens - it is the latter which direct the drug. And even if he knows what directs it to one or the other organ or makes it act as a laxative or diuretic, he is still ignorant of what directs it towards the disease; and if he knows this, he is still ignorant of the seat of the disease. Since it is heaven that directs the drugs through the action of the Astra, remedies must he adapted to the spiritual nature of the astral forces, i.e. they must he brought into a volatile condition. For how could astra move or direct an object as heavy as stone ? Being adapted to an astral nature, a drug becomes "Arcanum". The physician is thus required to discover the correspondence between the star which has caused a disease and the star which heals it by means of an appropriate drug. "What higher aim

can he imagined for the physician than the knowledge of the concordance of the astra? For in them lies the fundamental essence ("Grundt") of all diseases."

186 Remedies directed by stars: Das Buch Paragranum III (Der dritte Grundt der Medicin welcher ist Alchimia). Huser, vol. I, pp. 219-220. See also: De Gradihus et Compositionihus Lib. IV, cap. 2 (Differentia Herharum. "Dividuntur herhae in septem species una cum reliquis Elementis, et ipsum pro ratione ac natura Astri, quod ex aequo cum his in septem species coniicitur ... ut ea quae sub sole sunt, Cordi accommodantur ... quae vero sub luna, Cerehro ... quae sub Venere, Renihus medentur, quae sub Saturno, splenem comfortant: quae sub Mercurio Hepar defendunt, quae sub Jove Pulmonem respiciunt. Postremo quae sub Marte sunt, Felli omnino accommoda referentur"). Huser, vol. I, p. 964. It is God alone, not the star, that bestows "influence" and "virtue". De Vera influentia rerum. Philosophia Magna. Prologus. Ed. Sudhoff, vol. XIV, p. 213.

Celestial bodies and wounds The fate of a wound largely depends upon the time when it was contracted. This is the "good or had luck" of the wound. Luck is visualised as a wheel described by the complicated movement of the stars, some individual motions presaging good and others evil. We on earth, as it were, collide with this wheel. Hence wounds contracted under Gemini, Virgo, Capricorn are the most unlucky. Similarly, the planets can he graded according to their evil influence on wounds. Finally, the astral influence varies according to the seat of the wound. A wound below the belt contracted when the moon is new is unluckier than one contracted when the moon is fnll. A wound above the belt is more favourable when contracted before full moon than after. A wound received after midday, at night, in March or April is less favourable than one received before midday, in daytime, and in any other month. 187 This influence of the stars can he made use of in medicine. The "Ars Magica" teaches how to capture "celestial seeds" which are planted in the body of the earth and in stone and which are called "Gamahi". For heaven can smite a stone, just as it smites man by sending down a pestilence. The "influence" shot into a stone can he either harmful or beneficial in disease. It is our task to prepare or to find the appropriate "Gamahi" for an individual disease. Such "influential stones" marked on the surface by a how or sword would make amnlets against shot and stab wounds.188

Inconsistencies in the doctrine of correspondences The example just given shows that in spite of the emphasis laid on correspondences in preference to the action of individual stars, direct astral impression and inclination do play an important part in Paracelsean biology and pathology. They cannot he explained away. At all events it is difficult to separate direct stellar action from correspondence, as will he confirmed by a glance into the voluminous "Great Astronomy or Philosophia Sagax of the greater and lesser World" with its chapters on celestial impression and inclination. 189 187 Grosse Wundartzney, lib. I, tract. 2, cap. 14, Ed. Sudhoff, vol. X, p. 144. 188 Grosse Wundartzney, lib. I, tract. 2, cap. 8, Ed. Sudhoff, vol. X, p. 124. 189 For example: Cap. IV, p. 109, and cap. X, hook I, p. 225 et seq. (Philosophei des himlischen firmaments), and cap. V, hook II (Von der iihernatiirlichen wirkung der himmIischen astronomei). Ed. Sudhoff, vol. XII, p. 352 et seq. notably pp. 358-360. However, even here where the - escapable - power of astral "inclination" and the - inescapable - "necessity" of astral "impression" are expounded we find in close vicinity

73


Time - astronomical and qualified

It is true that Paracelsus makes heroic efforts to shift the emphasis from direct and causative stellar action to firmamental correspondence and thereby to arrive at a new "astrosophy" in place of traditional astrology. Yet the latter is by no means eliminated from his thought190 , although it is also true that in Paracelsus' opposition to traditional astrology a tendency is recognisable to replace general causes (as operative in astral influence and constellation) by the specific and proper causes of individual objects and phenomena (as operative in intrinsic chemical virtues), that in other words "Astrum" more and more assumes the meaning of virtue pure and simple; The controversy as to whether Paracelsus adhered to or rejected astrology cannot therefore he simply answered either way. He rejected it and replaced it by astrosophy - hut neither completely nor quite successfully.

physical universe. In this, however, motion and a numerical structure are essential. Aristotle finally defined time as the "number of motion" and held that the circular movement of the heavenly sphere measures other motions and time itself. In peripatetic philosophy, time thus assumed the character of a universal quantitative framework completely unrelated to the qualities of objects or to the differences between them. This was the ruling view of time throughout the Middle Ages - in spite of the opposition raised by Plotinus and the Neoplatonists. In the philosophy of Plotinus, time was an offspring of eternity, occupying a position independent of motion and number. It was seen as the activity of the soul. Far from being a tool for measuring motion, it is a force to which motion owes its existence. Moreover, Plotinus visualised time as entering human life in a special relationship, because of its connection with the soul. The observed temporal duration of a man's activities represents the invisible motion of his soul, which does not take place in time, hut actually generates time for each individual.191 In Neoplatonism we can see the sources for new - qualitative - conceptions of Time which develop in the thought of the Renaissance period and culminate in the biological theory of time of J. B. Van Helmont, a follower of Paracelsus.102

72

Paracelsus' Conception of Time (1) The ancient conceptions of Time. "Empty" numerical (astronomical) time as against "qualified" time Astral correspondence is the keynote of Paracelsus' new conception of Time. Like that of the Greeks it was presented in "astronomical" form. There are, however, profound differences. In Greek, notably Aristotelian philosophy, time was connected with motion and number. Already in Plato's "Timaeus" it is made to "imitate eternity and go around according to numbers; the sun, moon and planets were created to distinguish and guard the numbers of time". By virtue of their regular and constant motion, they are the "instruments" (organa), the measuring units of time. Nevertheless, Plato regarded time as something more fundamental than a mere number and measure of motion; to him its main function was to provide an image of eternity within the

190

(p. 352) the "coelestia dona" - free divine will and action which breaks through any predestination as manifested in terms of "scientia coelestis" ("coelestis magica, nectro· mantia, scientia" including prophecy, augury, divination). · See Proksch, J. K. : Paracelsus als medizinischer Schriftsteller. Safar, Wien und Leip· zig 1911, p. 11 (who refers to the "Practica", some of the syphilis treatises, some of the "Consilia" and the tract on the mineral waters of Pflifers) versus Sudhoff (who denied astrological leanings in Paracelsus, Paracelsus-Forschungen, vol. II, Frankfurt 1889, p. 70). E. Radl perhaps over-empasises the novelty and importance of the "astrosophic" (as against simple astrological) tendencies in Paracelsus. Geschichte der Biolog. Theorien der Neuzeit. 2nd ed. Leipzig 1913, vol. I, pp. 75 et seq.

(2) Paracelsus and the astronomical notion of Time Its "qualification" To Paracelsus himself, Time is associated with the constellation of the celestial bodies. The stars generate time and thereby promote the course of events. 191

192

On the ancient philosophies of Time see: Leisegang, H.: Die Begriffe der Zeit und Ewigkeit im spiiteren Platonismus. Beitriige zur Geschichte der Philosophie des Mittelalters. Ed. C. Baeumker, vol. XIII, No. 4. Munster 1913. Leisegang underlines the unique position of Plotinus as the first philosopher to regard eternity as a force active in the cosmos. The independence of time was even more insisted upon by Proclos. According to Plotinus and Proclos motion measures time (in contrast to Aristotle, who made time the measure, the "number", of motion). The :firmament and the motion of the stars is hut the great clock of the world which selects certain sections from infinite time. For a more recent account see: Callaghan, John F.: Four Views of Time in Ancient Philosophy. Cambridge (Mass.) Harvard Univ. Press 1948. On Van Belmont's biological theory of time see Pagel, Walter: J. B. Van Helmont De Tempore and Biological Time. Osiris 1949, VIII, 346-417. (For a summary see Isis 1942, XXXIll, 621). Weiss, H.: Notes on the Greek Ideas referred to in Van Helmont, De Tempore, Osiris. Ibid., pp. 419-449. (For a summary see Isis 1942, XXXIII, 624). On the criticism of

74


Time - qualitative - and Medicine

"A builder who lays his bricks is not helped by any other creature, only by that which provides the time in which his work is consummated. The stars do not build the house other than by fixing time. " 193 Heaven converts matter "now into something yellow and harsh, that is Mars, now into something that is black and muddy, that is Saturn."194 The Season in which a fever occurs determines its character - "this you are taught by time." 195 Time is the action of the celestial bodies - "it is influence that is time and makes time". Hippocrates, an expert astronomer, studied such astral influences carefully. Hence "the doctor should he an astronomer and consider time, so that he may know the time, i.e. know how to plan his fight and how to prevail." 196 It is time, i.e. the season, that evokes virtues in plants, some in leaves, some in blossoms, some in fruits. 197 In the same way time evokes disease. Just as the seeds of the earth develop in summer, so flowers and fruit which God has sown in man may he expected to come forth at appointed times. 198

(3) Qualitative Determination of Time Time as determined by changing events and "Astra" as the vector of specificity

On the other hand the quantitative and numerical aspects of time essential to the Greeks - play no conspicuous part in Paracelsus' philosophy, which is based on the relationship between time and individual objects and events. Time according to Paracelsus is not conceivable apart from a thing existing, a process taking place, a result maturing in it. Everything has received its own time from God. Time is fate - different for each object and process. 200 There is no "empty" time. Time is determined qualita· tively. Each object and phenomenon has its own hour when it "is appointed in its monarchy", and its potentialities come to full fruition. It is at the height of its development and functions; it unfolds its inner "knowledge", or as Paracelsus puts it: it is "provided with the full light of nature". The course of time thus means a continuous transference of the "light of nature", an emergence of innumerable "monarchies" between the beginning and end of the world. In this lies the miracle wrought by the work of God. It is, therefore, the "Now" and not the "Then", the present and not the past which we should heed.201

The foregoing expresses the "astronomical" orientation in Paracelsus' conception of Time. In this it agrees with Platonic and Aristotelian ideas.

(4) Time, qualitatively determined, and Medicine

Time, i.e. the celestial movements and constellations, decides and indicates how things will end, and it is this interdependence which subjects all medical aid ("Practick") to astronomical and temporal consideration.199

193

194

195

196

197

198

199

ancient time concepts by other Renaissance philosophers (Cardanus, Campanella, Patrizzi, Bruno) see Pagel, W. : The Reaction to Aristotle in XVIIth Century Biological Thought. Sci., Med., Hist. Essays in Hon. of C. Singer, Oxford 1953. Ed. E. Ashworth Underwood, vol. I, p. 493. Fragmenta Medica ad Paramirum de V Entibus referenda. Fragm. Aliud De Ente Astrali. Huser, vol. I, p. 133. "Von der Zeit verstanden, dass der Himmel das thut, derselhige'ist, der da dem Dreck lnfluentz eyngibt und verkehrt ihn: Jetzt geel und scharpff, das ist Mars,jetzt Schwartz und lettet, das ist Saturnus etc." Fragmenta de Modo pharmacandi. Lib. II, tract. 1. Huser, vol. I, p. 784. "1st das Fieher im Herbst, im Winter entsprungen, so ist es Quartana das lehret Dich die Zeit. Also hatt auch ein jegliche Krankheit ihr Zeit." Comment. to Hippocr. Aphorisms. Aphor. XII Accessiones vero. Huser, vol. I, p. 702. "Die lnfluentz ist die Zeit und gibt die Zeit ... darumh der artzt soll ein Astronomus seyn." Comment. to Hippocr. Aphorisms. Ausslegung primae sectionis Aphorismorum Hippocratis. I. Tempus autem Acutum. Huser, vol. I, p. 695. Comment. to Hippocr. Aphorisms I. Tempus autem acutum. Huser, vol I, p. 696. See also Paragranum Ill: Von der Alchimey. Huser I, p. 222. Philos. Sagax. Lib. I, cap. 10. Von Dem Dono lnclinationis. Huser, vol. II, p. 411. De Phlehotomia. Von lrrung der Aderliissin mit underricht rechter dess Himmlischen Lauffs anzeigung. 3rd tractat. Huser, vol. I, p. 719. "Die Zeit gibt das End, auss derselhigen sollen nuhn folgen die Practick." "Also erkenn des Himmels Lauff auch, und lass ihm zu, dass du must zulassen dem Himmel im Menschen." Practica Paracelsi gemacht auff Europen im nechstkiinfftigen Dreissigsten Jahr. Huser, vol. II, p. 629.

75

This view of time has its own moral in Medicine. First of all, it implicitly shows the uselessness of "classical" medicine. If time brings about a continuous change, the diseases of today will differ from those of old, and new methods must he devised to deal with them. What then is the use of the "rod which chastised the young children", i.e. the experience gained by man when medicine was in its infancy ? Mankind at that age was of a much simpler fibre. The earth was not as densely populated, people were not so uneven in character and voluptuous as now. The 200

201

Compare for the theological aspects: Goldammer, K.: Paracelsische Eschatologie. Nova Acta Paracels. 1948, V, p. 59. Goldammer refers to the paper by Metzke, E.: :Mensch, Gestirn und Geschichte hei Paracelsus. Blatter f. Deutsche Philos. 1941, XV, 261 which has not been accessible to the present author. Goldammer emphasises the Christian (as against the "Germanic") character of Paracelsus' conception of Time. Philos. Sagax. Lib. I. Das Buch der Philosophey des Himmlischen Firmaments. Cap. 1, Huser, vol. II, p. 339. See also Preface to: Fasciculus Prognosticationum Astrologicarum. Huser, vol. II, p. 626. "Light of Nature" - at least in this context - means the full development of the potentialities of an object as a function of time. It is its "perfection" and therefore reminiscent of Aristotle's "Entelecheia". On other meanings of "Light of Nature" see: Medicus, F.: Das Problem der Erkenntnis hei Paracelsus. Acta Nova Paracels. 1948, vol. V, pp. 1-17.

76

77


Time - Biological Conception

"pressure of population" thus causes different diseases and calls for different remedies.202 Plants and parts of plants differ in form and colour - differences which indicate different material composition. But this in turn depends upon time and season. The virtues which are developed by maturation thus "change every day and every minute". They are, therefore, not really virtues inherent in matter, hut virtues of time and season. It is time not their material composition - that gives the buds of the elder tree their laxative and acacia its styptic property. Such properties develop in the plant while it is on the way to its final development - they are "intermediate virtues" and byproducts of time. 203

What is true for medicine applies in the same way in society and law. It is imperative to alter the laws from time to time, to adapt them to the changes in culture and social climate. The law unchanged and demanding its pound of flesh "is the wolf".207 Wisdom and reason are steadily increasing the more we approach doomsday. Then everything will have come to light so that those who come last will he the first in learning and wisdom, and those who came first will he the last. 20s

This is also shown in chemical preparation, in which the alchemist performs the function of time. He leads a substance to maturation, refining it by means of repeated distillation. Thus crude vitriol in its first "budding time" acts as a potent laxative. In its "second time" as "colcotha:r" (a mucoid residue after distillation), it is styptic and assists scab formation in wounds. In the oily, "leafy" stage it is a remedy for epilepsy. And finally, in its fruit, a further product of distillation, it is of a refreshing quality. 264

The remedy must he so adapted that "its time and the time of the disease coincide. Where the action of a remedy ceases too early, it is as if the summer were over too early." This is of particular importance in the medicinal use of mercury. It is the course of the disease-its "time" -upon which "the time of the mercury" depends. This especially forbids the indiscriminate use of mercury ointment in syphilis - as commonly practised at that time and condemned by Paracelsus.205 Indeed, the physician at the bedside enters into a particular relationship with Time. The Hippocratic physician who tended to wait and let nature take its full course was in a different position from the Paracelsean physician, who strives to eliminate the cause of disease by active interference. "He should act against time. For physic has to overcome time."20 6 202

203

204

205 206

Sieben Defensionen. Die Verantwortung iiher etliche Unglimpfungen seiner Missgiinner. Die Andere Defension betreffendt die newen Kranckheiten und N omina des vorgemelten Doctoris Theophrasti. Huser, vol. I, pp. 255-256. "Dann wie die zeit den Holder spriisslen die laxation gibt, und nicht die Materia: Also giht die Zeit auch den tugenden anderst und anderst ihre kriifft." What matters in this context as a time - conditioned factor is a property that is transient and not permanent - as against the "Arcanum". Purgative and styptic herbs are not "arcana" for "arcanum" is a pennanent property derived from a substance in its final stage. Paragranum, 3rd tract. Huser, vol. 1, pp. 222-225. On Vitriol and the variation of its "arcana" through various refinements of its crude form ("budding time") see: Das Erste Buch von den Natiirlichen Dingen. Cap. 8. Vom Vitriol. Huser, vol. I, p. 1050 and 1051. Buch der lmposturen II, 5. Ed. Sudhoff, vol. VII, pp. 111-112. Grosse Wundartzney. Lib. II, tract. 1, Cap. 4. Ed. Sudhoff, vol. X, p. 245.

(5) Biological Ideas in Paracelsus' Conception of Time A biological factor, operative in Time, is age and the age-conditioned rhythm and rate of motion. The organism is like an hourglass set by the "Ens Naturae et Creati". This "Ens Naturale" is the firmamental order and interaction of the organs with a predestined beginning and end. The seven main organs (liver, bile, brain, heart, spleen, lungs, kidneys) and the seven main planets (Jupiter, Mars, Moon, Sun, Saturn, Mercury, Venus) maintain the vital circuits of the lesser and greater worlds. If a child is predestined to live hut ten hours, its bodily planets will complete all their circuits, just as they would if it had lived for a hundred years. The bodily planets of a centenarian, on the other hand, performed exactly the same number of circuits as those of the child, only at a slower rate. 209 In other words, life is predetermined by the period during which celestial ("firmamental") order is maintained by the main organs. This 207

208 269

"Dass Jus ist der Wolff, dasselbig lass ich hie bleihen ... " Liber Philosophiae de Divinis Operihus et factis et de Secretis Naturae. De lnventione Artium Tract. II. Huser, vol. II, pp. 226-227. "Die Ding gehend auss der Zeit, und niemandt ist iiher die Zeit, sondern nur under ihr ... " "Die Zeit zeucht den Menschen, aber Zeucht Gott nicht. Darumb so bleiben seine Gebott ewig, aber des Menschen nicht ... " Liber Philosophiae. De lnventione Artium. Huser, vol. II, pp. 227-228. De Inventione Artium tract. II, towards the end. Huser, vol. II, p. 228. "Ein Sandtuhr, die du setzest und last lauffen: als bald sie laufft, so weist du, auff welchen puncten sie auss ist: also ist die Natur in Creato dass sie weiss, wie lang Ens naturale lauffen wirdt. Und also wie lang sie laufft und lauffen soil: also demnach und der Zeit, setzt das Ens naturae und Creati alle die lauff, die den leiblichen Planeten zu gebiihren, in leih, das sie alle verbracht werden in der Zeit zwischen der Creatz und Praedestinatz. Also ein Exempel: Ein Kind wird geboren auf die Stund und sollt leben nach dem Ens Naturale IO Stund also, dass sein Praedestinatz in Ente Creato also geordnet wiir. So werden die leiblichen Planeten in ihrem lauf alle erfiillt, als wenn es hundert Jahr alt wiir geworden. Und ein hundertjiihriger Mann hat nicht mehr Lauf aber langsamer als ein einstiindiges Kind und noch ein jiingeres." Vol. Paramirum, lib. III, De Ente Naturali, cap. 5. Huser I, 14.

79


Time and "Semina"

period is not to be measured by clock time. Life is life, whether it lasts for a few hours or a hundred years: the same circuits have been performed by the firmament of the organs, but the rate and rhythm of the move· ments were different. We see here traces of a conception in which each individual being is allocated its own "time". This is understood as the functional rhythm determined by the duration of life as a whole, as implied in the individual "Ens naturale". It is independent of the stars. Thus as far as the Ens naturale is concerned Saturn has nothing to do with the spleen nor this organ with Saturn. In this sense, the brain is independent of the Moon. It is reinforced and regenerated by the power of the heart a hundred or a thousand times more often than the Moon is renewed by the power and light of the Sun.

run in one way, hut in many thousand ways. For you see that thyme blooms all the year round, whereas the crocus has its time in autumn." One hour may thus he capable of a hundred thousand divisions ("minutes"). Each of these minute "points" brings with it its own "power". There is one time which perfects ("erfiillt") the seed and permits it to grow, and another which directs its flowering and fruit production ("harvest"). These times are "the plants themselves and are their mother. " 211 There is not one year, hut many years - a rose year occupies not more than half a summer, a juniper year extends over three years and so on.

78

Hence it is wrong to correlate "crises" by which the body may cure its disease with the stars and their revolutions. "What disease the body contracts by its Ens naturale, the body purges by crises according to its own circuits and not those of heaven."

The parallelism between the firmament and the lesser world of man lies, therefore, in the "spirit", in the general type of organisation, rather than in an actual correspondence between astral and bodily changes. No parallel should thus be drawn between celestial time and the waxing and waning of bodily substance. For life (that is to say the rhythm of changes in the "Ens breve" of man) is different from time as derived from "Ens longum" of the celestial body. 21 0 In this, we may find the idea of "Biological Time", according to which living processes form a "clock" in themselves. Time as measured by the latter has nothing to do with ordinary, astronomical cloc.k time. The unit of clock time remains the same - yet the number, quality and "specific velocity" of the biological processes that take place therein vary according to the individual and especially according to age. They are determined by the harmony and correlation of the main organs - a system that imitates the celestial firmament, hut operates independently of it. The same independence holds good for periodic pathological processes, such as fever and crises. From time immemorial their very periodicity had suggested the decisive role of astral influence therein. Paracelsus, however, antagonistic to traditional astrology, here voices. his opposition to this ancient doctrine. Moreover, time is hound up with the innumerable species that are found in nature. They determine the division of time. Hence "time does not 210

Vol. Paramirum, lib. III, De Ente Naturali, cap. 6, Huser I, p. 15.

Two times can he distinguished in respect of the generations, particularly of plants which stem from the earth. One is "force·time" ("kraft zeit") that lies in the earth and will drive forth its products independently of season, weather, rain, snow and hail. The other time is "growing time" ("wachsend zeit"), which does depend upon the accidental ("zufellen"), external time, i.e. upon seasons and the weather. Growth is thus greatly accelerated in summer - twenty or a thousand times quicker to the uuit ("auf einen puncten") than in other seasons. It was not predetermined by God - in contrast to "internal" "forcetime" which takes its equal course throughout the seasons and vicissitudes of external time.212

A separate time factor enters the "Semina" and determines the temporal sequence of their development. Paracelsus calls this the "age" or the "appointed time" ("Termin") of the seed. It is the "hour in which God endows it with perfection and has no wish to deal with it any further, hut commits it to the power of man" ("hefilchts dem menschen in sein ge· wait"), so that man may carry out God's purpose for it.21a Time and the other factors perfecting semina are seen not as stable "anatomical" constituents, hut as dynamic functions which lead a certain particle of matter to a certain predestined end. It is thus not paradoxical that time i;itands on the same footing as the "soul", the "body" and a metabolic factor from the sun, all of which are understood in the same dynamic sense. Rigid anatomical concepts of a living being are thus under· 211

"das dise Zeit die gewechs selhen sind, und sind ir muter." Von den natiirlichen wassern das vierte Buch, tract. 3. Ed. Sudhoff, vol. II, p. 317. 212 Ibid. loc. cit. Sudhoff, vol. II, pp. 317-318. 213 This time-factor stands side by side with three other factors "perfecting" the seed, namely its "balsamic" and astral "soul", its terrestrial "body", the "liquor terrae" which is its "food and drink" and a "fiery" factor from the sun which consumes the waste products. Andere Ausarheitung iiher den Terpentin, cap. 3. Ed. Sudhoff, vol. II, p. 188. - A time factor decides sex determination. This depends on whether the male or the female "semen" reaches the uterus first. Das Buch von der Geherung der empfindtlichen Dingen in der Vernunfft. Von Gehiirung des Menschen. Tract. II, cap. 7 and 8. Huser, vol. I, pp. 124-125.

80


Time - Theological Aspects

mined and dissolved in favour of the perspective of function and movement towards a predestined end.

PHILOSOPHIA MYSTICA,

81

ba-rinnbtgritfm Biological Time and the "Astra" In Paracelsus' biological concept the "Astra" acquire a significance other than their position in simple "astronomical time". They enter as the "specific" virtues of individual objects as against the elementary composition which they have in common. It is from the stars that the "astral body", i.e. the soul, is derived, which directs the function of the body to a certain end. In this sense "the astra give the time", 214 as they make the elements and bodies their dwelling place and through time "like the soul in flesh and blood, like a spirit in a body, like a remedial virtue in a herb ... give, take, make whole or break by means of natural forces". In other words, activity, virtue and function qua specific are "astral" and make themselves perceptible in a body in the specific rhythm and speed of life of the individual. Time seen in this perspective is not a measurement of merely quantitative "homogeneous" or "empty" intervals, hut something specific that varies with the quality of the contents of its intervals.

~ilffunrcrfcOiDmt Theo-

logico-Philofophifcbc I Doc~

ttcltldn I ~um t~tlhmt}Theophrafti Paracelli, aum 4~ilaud)M. ValentiniWcigelii,a~mtnl})fa1i~ranau !)fccpall'/ Wj~o tttr~~racnm manufcriptis M

~§cofoptif~m ~artnc

d>en l'orfcbub/ beybe .!iecbter I ber
sea-eben.

~en ~•tu( i'nbno~mcn 1wt£ dn jebdCnfonbcrOcft

'°"""'

Finally, there is the theological aspect of time. Time as a medium of spiritual events is "perfect time" ("Vollkommene Zeit"). It has no numerical denomination, it is not successive, but is confined within a point of time. Hence the "minimal point of time is sufficient for repentance to take place" - "For repentance stands in eternity, that is in the spirit and not in the transient that is the body; it is therefore not associated with a figure in· dicating a year, nor with numbers counting good deeds - terms which appertain to things corporeal and not spiritual". "The spirit is perfect and no limit is set for perfect time. If the spirit stands in repentance only for a moment, this is enough because of its perfection. In actions of the body, however, it would not be enough - for this is not perfect and in the course of time it must be revealed that it cannot attain perfection." 215 In this theological view, time is approximated to, if not identified with, eternity, for the latter is, according to classical definition, an "eternal Now".

215

"Die Astra geben die Zeit. Nun sind die Astra in den elementen ... wie ein sel im blut und fleisch, wie ein geist in eim corpus, wie die arznei in eim kraut; das kraut ist die arznei nit, der leib nicht die sel, also die elementa das astrum nit." Auslegung primae sectionis Aphorismorum Hippocratis. Aphor. lib. I, 2. "Et tempus" Ed. Sudhoff, vol. IV, p. 501. De poenitenziis Theophrasti, p. 6, in Philosophia Mystica, darinn begriffen eilff unter· schiedene Theologico-Philosophische doch teutsche Traktatlein, zum teil auss Theo· phrasti Paracelsi, zum theil auch M. Valentini Weigelii bishero verborgenen Manu· scriptis. Lucas Jennis, Neustadt 1618, pp. 5-32.

lte6fiabcrn.

~l nfQo tn ;wt~tn
( 6) Theological Aspect of Time

214

ftUtfd;e 4r'11

Authoribus fd6Pemamn1Dkaa~fofamDe

fclce '''8"' •irl>C.

ANN 0

M. DC. .XYlll•

Fig. 8. Title page of the "Philosophia Mystica" of 1618 in which religious treatises of Paracelsus and Valentin Weigel of Zschopau (1533-1588) are joined together. See: Israel, A., M. Valentin Weigel's Leben und Schriften. Zschopau 1888, p. 41 and passim.

To sum up: In the work of Paracelsus, various conceptions of time can thus he discerned; astronomical, numerical and physical time in the orthodox and

82

83


Elements and Three Principles

ancient sense, time as determined by the object and situation, biological time and finally theological time. The latter two ideas of time are just outlined and in no way developed. They are combined and form the foundation of a new biological Philosophy of Time in the work of J.B. Van Helmont. 216

Moreover, there is the idea of the "Predestined Element" or "Quinta Essentia". In each object one of the elements acquires a power superior

The "Elements" and the "Three Principles" (Sulphur, Salt and Mercury): General Considerations Much of the critical labour of Paracelsus was directed against the ancient doctrine of "Elements". Yet wherever Paracelsus discusses the composition of matter and of bodies, Earth, Water, Fire and Air - the elements of the ancients - occupy a prominent place. 217 To Paracelsus matter has much to do with them. There is, however, a fundamental difference. In the world of Paracelsus water, earth, air and fire are not the last and irreducible components of matter. They are not "simples'', hut composite bodies in themselves. In fact it is owing to the admixture of the three other elements that each one of them becomes visible and tangible.21s The same applies to the ordinary sulphur, salt and mercury that occur in mine, laboratory or household kitchen. They too are composite bodies. Yet Paracelsus calls sulphur, salt and mercury the "Three Principles" of which all bodies consist. There are still further meanings of the terms "Element" and "Principle": the elements earth, water, air and fire are also called "Matrices" the "wombs" in which objects are generated, in which they dwell, and from which they receive their "signature" and ultimate destination. Already the alchemists had compared the elements with hermetic vessels, not only as mere containers, hut in the sense that the shape and kind of vessel used essentially and specifically influences the nature of its contents. 219 This idea may have inspired Paracelsus' concept of elementary "matrices".

to that of the others - and it is this element which forms the kernel of the object. It embodies all its specific power and virtues and thereby marks the essential difference of one object from another. This idea is inspired by certain ancient concepts of the alternation and combination of the elements in the generation and corruption of natural ohjects. 220 It also recalls the principle of "Devictio" in "graded medicine" as developed by Galen and his mediaeval followers, notably Raymond Lull.221 This principle of "Devictio" meant the supremacy of one or several elements in an elementary mixture and explained the properties of a drug in terms of "grades" of hot, cold, moist and dry. Apart from the ambiguous terminology there is the question of the relationship between the "elements" and "principles" in any of the various meanings of these terms. Are they simply juxtaposed - in the sense that matter consists of the elements of the ancients as well as sulphur, salt and mercury; or are the former the germ cell of the latter or vice versa ? We have no definite answer solving the contradictions and removing the obscurities which were hound to result from the way in which the terms "element" and "principle" were used in Paracelsus' works. There is, however, consistency in the emphasis laid by Paracelsus on one point and the present author feels that this consistent emphasis is worth following up in our context: Paracelsus leaves no uncertainty as to what really matters concerning the essential difference between natural objects, i.e. their specificity as individuals and members of a species. The decisive factor is the immanent, specific, soul-like force rather than the - visible - chemical components of an object. The substances which we handle in daily life are hut crude covers that envelop and disguise a pattern of spiritual forces. It is this pattern and not the corporeal cover which is responsible for the composition of matter. Among the coarse visible substances, it is in earth, water, air, fire, and sulphur, salt, mercury that

216

See the present writer in Osiris, loc. cit., vol. VIII, 1949, pp. 346-417. This was already emphasised by Darmstadter, E.: Arznei und Alchemie bei Paracelsus. Studien z. Gesch. d. Med., vol. XX, 1931 passim, and Hooykaas, R.: Die Elementenlehre des Paracelsus. Janus 1935, XXXIX, 175-187. 2 1s See Chevreul, E.: Considerations sur l'histoire de la partie de la medecine qui conceme la prescription des remedes ... precedees d'un examen des Archidoxa de Paracelse et de Phytognomonica de J.B. Porta. Paris 1865, p. 15. 2 19 See Artis Auriferae, vol. II, p. 115. - l\forieni de Trans. Metal. lnterrog. et Resp. p. 27. - M.A. Atwood: Suggestive Inquiry into the Hermetic Mystery with a Dissertation on the more celebrated Alchemical Philosophers. 3rd ed. by W. L. Wilmshurst. Belfast 1920, p. 146.

217

220

221

See later footnote 261 top. 99 on the Aristotelian and mediaeval tradition. The theory of "Epikrateia" may also be mentioned in this connection. It was conceived in order to explain the preference for either "male or female semen" in generation. This "agonistic" theory goes back to Alkmaion of Kroton and in its several variations plays a considerable role in the history of embryology through the Middle Ages and the dawn of the modem era. See for a follow up: Lesky, E.: Die Zeugungs- und Vererbungslehren der Antike und ihr Nachwirken. Akad. \'fissensch., Lit., Mainz. Geistesund sozialwiss. Klasse, Nr. 19, Wiesbaden 1950, p. 1249 et seq. and the review by 0. Temkin in Gnomon 1955, XXVII, 115-119. See later our chapter on Paracelsus and Ramon Lull.

85



the pattern of spiritual forces is least disguised and comparatively easy to recognise. To he a body at all, an object has to display certain properties such as moisture, dryness, heat, cold and also structure, solidity and function. In ordinary water, for example, moisture is most prominent, in sulphur (as ordinarily found in nature) a regular structure, in sodium chloride (salt) solidity and in quicksilver (mercury) the functional element as expressed by fluidity and elasticity. Sulphur also stands for the combustible, mercury for the smoky and volatile, salt for the unchangeable constituent in any object of nature. These constituents emerge when the coarse material covering is removed; for example when wood is burned it will reveal itself to he composed of flame ("sulphur"), of smoke ("mercury") and of ash ("salt"). We have, therefore, I) some archetypes of qualities, 2) the spiritual forces which direct bodies to assume these qualities, and finally 3) the empirical objects in nature. Among these three it is the spiritual forces which are the true elements and principles, whereas empirical objects such as the "elements" of the ancients and the chemical substances in nature are, as it were, crystallised deposits - the results of an interaction of spiritual forces which causes these forces to become more and more condensed, "qualified", specialised and thus limited in power. Matter after all is indeed composed of elements and principles, hut "composition" must he understood in a fluid and dynamic rather than in a chemical and material sense. "Composition" here means a continual process of solidification and materialisation of the spirit - a process that remains reversible as long as there is even the most minute trace of the spiritual driving force of the elements and principles. These, however, can never entirely disappear, as they are visualised not as pure spirits, hut as a "Pneuma" endowed with and inseparable from the finest corporality - comparable to the Pneuma of the ancient stoic philosophers222, or even more so to their "seminal intelligences" ("Logoi spermatikoi"). In Stoicism also emphasis had been laid on the ambivalent - neither corporeal nor spiritual - character of "Prime Matter". This, to the stoic philosophers, was not "matter" in the ordinary sense, hut an "Arche" or "Ousia" - the unique basis of all Being,

displaying a material as well as a spiritual aspect. 223 It is matter that is alive and at the same time it is spirit that is of finest corporality. It follows that the position of the ordinary elements was interpreted in a way that differed from the traditional one. The visible elements were now regarded as the secondary effects of the interaction of invisible divine "Archai", namely the qualities of heat, cold, moisture and dryness, with prime matter. In contrast to these invisible and eternal primordial "elements" the ordinary elements are visible, mutable and perishable - hut each of them is endowed with hut one quality and not a "complexion" of several qualities. Much of this seems to he revived in Paracelsus' doctrine of Elements and Semina. The use of the latter also has a specific source in Hellenistic and mediaeval alchemy, in which the origin of metals is explained in terms of "Seeds". This is one of the characteristic cases in which alchemy imported biological conceptions into chemistry - an inverted form of Biochemistry. This kind of "Hylozoism" was still practised by Paracelsus although side by side with it the "modern" principle of explaining biological phenomena in chemical terms can he clearly discerned. Generalising the hylozoistic semen-principle of the alchemists, Paracelsus poses invisible "semina" as the germ cells of every object in nature opposing these to the visible elements of the ancients. Instead of units of matter, Paracelsus searches for the "Logoi" in matter and finds them in the "Semina" and the "Intelligences" which they carry. He says: "Thus our knowledge and understanding acquire a firm basis, as all things have a seed and are encompassed each by its seed; and nature is the maker of figure and form which is itself the essence, and it is form that indicates essence."22 4 The "Semina" are closely related to the "Archei", the agents responsible for specificity. 225 It is therefore not so much the use of fire, air, earth and water as such that Paracelsus deprecates. What he rejects is the role attributed to them as the finest particles of matter and as hearers of certain qualities and above all of fixed combinations of qualities - the so-called complexion. For the ancients water was inevitably cold and moist, earth dry and cold,

84

222

Hooykaas, Ioc. cit., p. 176, footnote 1 already drew attention to this. On Pneuma we quote from the extensive literature only Leisegang, W.: Der Heilige Geist. Das Wesen und Werden der mystisch-intuitiven Erkenntnis in der Philosophie und Religion der Griechen. Vol. I. Leipzig und Berlin 1919, p. 50 and passim. See also: A. L. Peck: The Connate Pneuma. An essential factor in Aristotle's solutions of the problems of reproduction and sensation. Science, Medicine and History. Essays in honour of C. Singer. Ed. E. A. Underwood, Oxford 1950, vol. I, p. 111.

223

224

225

For pertinent lit. see: ·Lippmann, E. 0. v.: Entstehung und Ausbreitung der Alchemie (Berlin 1919), vol. I, p. 14.6. With ref. to Philo and his relation to Stoicism.: Lippmann, loc. cit., p. 156; and Leisegang: Der Heilige Geist. loc. cit., p. 57 et seq. "Also kompt der grunt in unser wissen und erkantnus, die weil alle ding ein samen haben und im samen alle ding beschlossen seind und die natur ist der fabricator in die figur, so gibt sie die form, die das wesen an im selbs ist, und die form zeiget das wesen an." Philos. Sagax. I, 7. Huser's fol. ed., vol. II, p. 394 A. See later our chapter on the theory of microcosm in conflict with the concept of specificity, p. 104.

86



fire hot and dry and air moist and hot. As we shall see, most of the arguments and emotional sentiments which he adduces are directed against these two propositions and the resulting view of matter as an aggregate of particles of one, three, four or seven different kinds in which the particles of each kind remained homogeneous and equal to each other. The true "Elements" and true "Principles" are forces and archetypes of finest corporality ~dden in the objects of nature and imprinting on them a certain "signature". They form units of "prime matter", each with a spiritual and a corporeal aspect. This seems to the present writer the overriding idea in Paracelsus' doctrine of matter and its "elements' and "principles". It provides a guide through the highly complicated and at first sight contradictory statements which can he found in his writings. 226 Admittedly, sometimes the elements as well as the three principles are used in the traditional sense as indicating the actual "chemical" composition of bodies. This is evident where the three principles are regarded as the actual constituents of the "Elements" - as it were the Elements of the elements. 2 27 Where, however, the ideas are stated in the form of a doctrine, i.e. with a modicum of clarity and coherence, it is the spiritualization of matter which prevails. This applies to the doctrine of the "Predestined

Element" and "Quinta Essentia" in which significance is restricted to one of the four elements alone, suppressing the others. 22 8 It also applies to the idea that the elements form the "matrices" for all objects which receive from them - their mothers - a stamp, seal or signature rather than a special chemical composition. 229 An example of such a "signature" is the greater thickness of the original fluid matter of which the fruits of the earth, namely plants, consist, as against the products of water, such as crystals. The same principle of spiritualization is followed with regard to sulphur, salt and mercury; these are not chemical substances, hut "principles of constitution" representing organisation (sulphur), mass (salt) and activity (mercury). To Paracelsus these principles have preference and are the root of everything else, notably of the matrices ("elements") in which the semina of all objects in nature are hatched. The principles are inherent in the semina, are their main constituents and, one may even say, are the semina themselves. Again, it is well to remember that we have here the combination of alchemical tenets: (a) that all metals and minerals including the philosopher's stone consist of sulphur and mercury and (h) that they develop from specific semina. Both these concepts were the result of philosophical considerations in Hellenistic times. 230 Moreover, in alche22s

226

227

In his penetrating and illuminating essay: Die Elementenlehre des Paracelsus. Janus 1935, XXXIX, 175-187, R. Hooykaas drew attention to the difference between the "Archidoxis" and the other Paracelsean treatises in which the doctrine of the elements and three principles is evolved. The Archidoxis treats of the elements of the ancients and finds no place for the three principles, sulphur, salt, mercury, which appear, however, in the other treatises side by side with the ancient elements. In both the "Archidoxis" and the other works a distinction is made between corporeal and spiritual elements, the invisible active principle called "Quinta Essentia" in the Archidoxis and "Matrix" in the other treatises on the one hand, and the elementary "chemical" bodies on the other. See Hooykaas, loc. cit. for such loci in Paracelsus: concerning for example the difference between visible and invisible substances (earth and water versus air and fire) p. 183; the composition of the four elements of sulphur, salt and mercury p. 184 et seq. According to Hooykaas Paracelsus was as definite as (to him) possible in asserting that sulphur, salt and mercury are the components of the elements of the ancients. The converse - that sulphur, salt and mercury consist of the elements - is only found in the writings of the later Paracelsists (with the exception of Oswald Croll). This was due to the juxtaposition of the four corporeal elements and the principles in the doctrine of the Paracelsists, instead of the Paracelsean subordination of the elements to the principles. See Hooykaas: Die Elementenlehre der latrochemiker. Janus 1937, XLI, 1-28. The same interpretation of the genuine Paracelsean meaning is found in Chevreul, loc. cit. p. 15, where he says that the "quintessence" (i.e. the element that is active the "predestined element") is composed of a certain sulphur, a certain mercury and a certain salt. ("Ce sont les trois principes prochains actifs, un certain soufre, un certain mercure, un certain sel, qui constituent la quintessence, ou encore !'element predestine d'un mixte".)

229 23o

87

See for detail later p. 98. See later p. 95. See Lippmann, E. 0. v.: Abhandlungen und Vortrage zur Geschichte der Naturwissenschaften. Vol. II, Leipzig 1913, p. 147 (Chemisches und Alchimistisches aus Aristoteles). Id.: Der Stein der Weisen und Homunculus. Zwei alchemistische Probleme in Goethes Faust. Beitrage zur Geschichte der Naturwissenschaften und der Technik. Berlin 1923, p. 251: New qualities are bound up with "semina". The philosopher's stone is visualised as a "germ" or "embryo". Qualities, semina and souls of metals are identified with the "logoi spermatikoi" and the "quinta essentia" of gold, silver, sulphur and mercury. This is the "Philosophical Gold and Silver", it is "Our Gold and Silver" as against ordinary gold and silver. -The distinction between "cold and passive" and "hot and active" finally led to the belief in sulphur and mercury as the components of all things and hence of all metals. This doctrine, first emerging in the Arabic alchemical corpus is of Greek-Hellenistic origin, as the Arabic sources put it forward as an accepted doctrine rather than something new. Originally sulphur - believed to be a combination of air and fire - stood for "hot" and "active" and mercury, supposedly a combination of earth and water, for "cold" and "inert". Ever since mercury had been distilled, about 400 A.D., this took the place of sulphur (see also Lippmann: Abh. und Vortr. loc. cit., vol. II, p. 59, Chemisches und Physikalisches aus Plato). Mercury now assumed the dignity of "Pneuma". Only then was it called after Hermes ("Mercury") and allocated to the corresponding planet, whereas tin was transferred from Mercury to Jupiter and "Electron" (a gold-silver amalgam) which formerly belonged to the latter, entirely eliminated. - It is not difficult to see that the Paracelsean Sulphur is the predecessor of the "Phlogiston" of Daniel Sennert and Stahl. As E. 0. von Lippmann has shown (Entstehung und Ausbreitung der Alchemie, vol. III, Weinheim 1954, p. 105), "Phlogiston" as the inflammable principle characteristic of sulphur first occurs not in Sennert (as quoted by Boyle in Chymista Scepticus London

88

The Elements


mical language, both sulphur and mercury stand for something active and spiritual. Although in the course of time mercury superseded sulphur as the more spiritual - "pneumatic" - component, the latter retained much of its original dignity as an active force. Paracelsus would seem to have elaborated on the traditional alchemical doctrine. 231 He added the third principle: "salt". This is not primarily meant as solid matter itself, hut as the principle directing material towards the solid state. In other words, all three are "principles" immanent in the "semina" - agents which provide matter with the characteristic features of species and individual. Basically, therefore, the doctrine of Paracelsus is directed against the crude theory of the ancients according to which every object was determined by the mixture of such coarse material as that of the elements and their qualities - the "complexion". Paracelsus is actuated by the quest for real specificity which to him is inexplicable by mixture, hut betrays in each case the presence and action of one specific force immanent to one well characterised specific substance. He thus conceives of units each consisting of a force of finest corporality or of a body of highest activity and dynamic power - an "acting substance" ("Wirkstoff"). This is the real meaning of the Paracelsean term: "lliaster". If, to Paracelsus, "Astrum" in a wider sense means action, virtue and power of a determined nature, Iliaster does not stand for the matter from which the stars are made and of which every object on earth partakes23 2, hut for matter which essentially is and expresses the sum total of specific actions possible and realisable in nature. In this Paracelsus follows the ideas of Stoicism and extends to all objects in nature the theory of the Alexandrinian alchemists who - for

89

philosophical reasons - believed all metals to consist of sulphur and mercury. 233 In ancient cosmology matter was the purely passive stuff from which a "mixture" is prepared. In the ideas of Paracelsus elementary matter is at the same time soul, force and power, just as much as soul is approximate to matter and "materialised". In fact, the opposition between soul and matter ceases here, and in this Paracelsus may have been influenced by certain mediaeval views of "Prime Matter" which we shall discuss later. 234 Apart from philosophical reasons and beliefs, empirical observations disproving the ancient elementary theories are also of great importance. One such observation was the inflammability of alcohol which impressed the observer as an instance of "watery fire" or "fiery water". The tendency to spiritualise matter, as seen in Paracelsus, elevates earthly matter to a more dignified position. To the ancients and to such mediaeval thinkers as Dante, the immutable, pure, perfect and eternal celestial . matt~r was opposed to the perishable four earthly elements. Moreover, the forms which matter assumes depended in principle upon the planets and constellations. The planets, by means of their rays, "emboss the seal of form into the wax of the world". 23 5 Individual variation, however, was accounted for by the inequalities of the latter. The "seminal" forces are emanations of the "Intelligences" (Angels) which direct the planetary movements. Much of all this is still recognisable in Paracelsus, hut the replacement of matter by dynamic forces which he taught was hound to bridge the gap between the celestial and terrestrial worlds which ancient elemental theories had established and kept open. The "Elements"

231

232

1661, p. 209, and Kopp, H., Geschichte der Chemie, vol. Ill, p. 112), but in Hapelius, Disquisitio de Helia Artium Lipsiae 1606. (The present author quotes from:: Cheiragogia Heliana De Auro Philosophico necdum cognito Marburg 1612, in which the. Disquisitio is included, pp. 103 seq. On p. 171: " ... sciendum est TO
In surveying Paracelsus' ideas of "Matter" and the "Elements" we can hardly avoid following the "Three Books of Philosophy to the Athenians "236 - although the authenticity of this treatise has been questioned237. How~3 3

*34

285 236

237

See E. 0. v. Lippmann as quoted before in footnote 230 p. 87. See p. 227. Parad. 8, 127. Des Hocherfamen und Hochgelehrten Herrn Theophrasti Paracelsi ... Philosophiae ad Athenienses drey Bucher. Von ursachen und Cur Epilepsiae ... Item, vom ursprung, Cur oder heilung der contracten glidern. Coln. A. Byrckmann 1564. - Ed. Sudhoff, vol. XIII, p. 389. Sudhoff, K., in his edition of the Works of Paracelsus: Theophrast von Hohenheim gen. Paracelsus, Sii.mtliche W erke. I. Abt. Medizinische etc. Schriften, vol. XIII, Miinchen and Berlin 1931, p. XI. - Strebel: Paracelsus, ed. vol. II, p. 428, regarding it as an abstract from the Philosophia Sagax.

90


The Elements. Mysterium Magnum

PHILOSOPHY Reformed & Improved I

7{

FoHI' Profound TRACT ATES.

this treatise was widely perused by friend 239 and foe 24 0 at the time of the early Paracelsus revival in the last three decades of the XVJth and throughout the earlier part of the XVIlth century. The "Philosophia ad Athenienses" therefore contains ideas that were held to he genuinely Paracelsean by authorities belonging to a generation close to Paracelsus and his work.

His 'Philo{ophy to the AT HK NI AS' s.

It first introduces the concept of the "Mysterium". By this is meant any "Matrix" or "Mother" in which an object is generated. Thus milk is a "mysterium" of cheese and butter, cheese a "mysterium" of maggots and worms", a star a "mysterium" of caterpillars, midges, flies and similar products of "spontaneous generation". These are "mysteria specialia". They all in turn descend from the "Mysterium Magnum" which is the "one mother of all things" 2U and of all elements and a "grandmother of all stars, trees and creatures of the flesh". It is the "materia of all things", incomprehensible, without properties, form, colour or elemental nature. It is uncreated - though fashioned by the highest artist - not mortal or perishable; there is nothing else like it and nothing can return to it. It is "Prima Materia" 242 • In it objects were "created" all together and at once, not one after the other, nor each with its own form, essence and qualities. The objects are there as it were by implication - just as images are contained in wood, in which they remain invisible until the surplus wood is cut away - with the difference, however, that there is no waste in the Mysterium Magnum; every particle initially present will come into being and to its proper form. This takes place through separation accompanied by condensation whereby invisible prime matter is converted into a visible substance - matter in the ordinary sense. This process is comparable to the separation and condensation of soot from hardly visible smoke and air.

Both made Englith by H. P l N N Ii t L, for the incrcafc of Learning and true Knowledge.

"Separation" is thus the greatest miracle in nature - it is the model and original pattern of all birth. In it a "truphat" 243 must have been at work,

THE I. Difcoveriog the Great aod Deep

8vfyjleries of

~ture...,,

:

BJ t b11t Learned

Chymift &- Phyfitian 0 SW: C K 0 L L 1 V S. THE OTHER

TI

r.

Difcovering the Wonderfull

..'Jv.lyfleriesof the Creation, B y

PAR.ACELSVS: SElNCi

LO 7{DO N: Printed b1 t.M. S. for LoJo•i&I{ LIOJJ, at the Caflle in Cornbi/I. I 6 S 7.

239

Fig. 9. Portrait of Paracelsus ascribed to Jan Van Scorel (1495-1562) as modified and published with the English translation of the Introduction to the Basilica Chymica by Oswald Croll (1609) and the Philosophy to the Athenians by Paracelsus London 1657.

The original portrait which shows as a background Dinant and the river Maas and the Bayard rock is preserved in the Louvre and was described by Sudhoff (see Paracelsus samtliche Werke, vol. VI, Miinchen 1922, p. 16). According to Sudhoff it would - if genuine - depict Paracelsus in his first Alsatian period in the twenties of the XVJth century.

210

241 238 ,

ever, doubts have been raised against this criticism which is based on literary and textual points rather than on internal evidence. At all events,

238

91

Goldammer, K.: Paracelsus. Hannover 1953, p. 33.

242

243

Severinus and Croll may be quoted among the early Paracelsists whose writings are partly based on the treatise; of XVIlth century Paracelsists we mention Burggraf, the author of the lntroductio in Vitalem Philosophiam (1623) which will be discussed in detail later (p. 232). Finally, the popularity of the book is shown by its translation into English alongside the first part of Oswald Croll's Basilica Chymica in Philosophy Reformed and Improved in four profound Tractates made English by H. Pinnell. London 1657. See Ferguson, J.: Bihl. Chem. 1906, vol. I, p. 187. Barthol. Reussner, Ein kurtze Erklerung und Christliche ~'iderlegung der unerhiirten Gotteslasterungen und Liigen, welche Paracelsus in den drey Biichern Philosophie ad Athenienses hat wider Gott sein Wort und die liibliche Kunst der Artzney ausgeschiittet. A. Frisch, Giirlitz 1570, 136 pp. - Erastus, Thom., Disputat. De Nova Philippi Paracelsi Medicina particularly in Pars Altera Basle 1572, p. 99 and passim. See our analysis and discussion of Erastus later. p. 315-319. First book, first text, ed. 1564, A 3 r; Ed. Sudhoff, vol. XIII, p. 390, "und ist Mysterium Magnum ein einige miiter aller tiidtlichen ding". "Dann gleich wie ein kass nimmer zu milch wirt, also wenig wirt die generation in jr erste materien widerkommen." Lib. I, text 2. Ed. 1564, A 3 v, - On "Prime Matter" used in the above sense see later our chapter on "Popular Pantheism" in the Middle Ages, p. 227. "Truphat": It is at least tempting to suggest that this may be derived from the Hebrew

92


i.e. a separating virtue which effects the separation of pure metal in mineral mixtures. But no comparison conceived by the mortal human mind is really applicable to the Mysterium Magnum which transcends all that mind can conveive. The first event led to the separation of the elements: Fire became heaven and a "cage" of the firmament, air became an empty invisible space without corporeal substance - a "cage" for "invisibles" - water became a liquid and settled in the centre of the other elements providing a "cage" for nymphs and the prodigies of the sea. Earth became a coagulum - a "cage" for growth that is nourished by it. There followed the separation of the firmament and the stars from the fire; of "fates, impressions, incantations, superstitions, witchcraft, dreams, divinations, visions, apparitions, spirits" from the air - each of these to develop its own predestined life at its special seat - the "Diemeae" ,in pores of stones, the "Durdales" in the airy spaces of trees, the "Neufareni"24 4 in the pores of earthy matter, the "Melosiniae" in human blood. Similarly water was separated and divided into many "special mysteria" - to develop fishes, salt, corals, prodigies, nymphs, syrens, "drames", "lorint", "nessder" and other products yet unknown. In the same way the earth developed its inhabitants - stone, metal, plant, animal, man and "gnomes", giants, and other wild denizens of mountains and woods.

The so-called "complexions" of the elements are not constant features - fire may he cold and moist - for there is not one fire, hut several hundred kinds of fire - each being generated in its own way and forming a "mysterium" of its own. Similarly, there were "many thousand kinds of water in the element aqua". Water as an element is not simply cold and moist, as the ancients believed, hut it is "many hundred times as cold, yet :not as moist" as ordinary common water. "Waters" are different not in "degree" of cold and moisture, hut in kind -yet they all belong to the sam:e "element water". Some waters are destined to become stone, crystal or amethyst, others to be converted into plant-like growths such as corals and carabes; others to form "liquor vitae" in animals or "liquor terrae" in the earth, some to form the flesh of water animals and warm-blooded prodigies such as nymphs. Although in these transformations the complexion of water is altered in many ways they still belong to this element and eventually revert to it.

The same can he seen in the "element earth" - some of its products such as sulphur and "mineral liquors" are inflammable. Yet these do not belong

244

Taraph ("11!,f) - to break, lacerate - and Taruph (M'toraph) - the severed, pulled apart, discerpted, hammer beaten. (Buxtorf: Lexicon Chaldaicum, Talmudicum et Rabbinicum. Ed. B. Fischer, Lips 1875, p. 470). Compare Greek: Tryphos. The Hebrew Naphar (Nephrsa 1Dl) - a female serpent which is spotted (Buxtorf: loc. cit., p. 694) - may be mentioned, but any connection with the "Neufareni" seems to be more than doubtful.

The Elements

93

to the "element fire" - hut are "Ignis terrae" - just as there is an "Ignis aqueus", when "water is burning and brought to blaze" ("Brunst"). Terrestrial "fire" is not an "element", hut merely indicates the process of consumption of earthy matter. Finally, liquid from under ground remains of the "element earth" and does not become water. The "Element Air" contains spirits which may attach themselves to man, who is from the "Element Earth" - thereby forming a combination ("Conjunctio") of two elements. Such an attachment is effected in witchcraft and in incantations practised by aerial spirits. Similar effects are obtained by the "Wasserfrawen" - female denizens of the "Element Water" whose offspring may attach itself to human beings. Each object is the "fruit" of its "element" and its origin is revealed by the element to which it returns - nymphs to water, man to earth, witches to air. True thunder is a fruit of the stars, i.e. of firmamental fire, hut a thunderstorm wrought by a conjurer is made from and returns to air.245 Hence an object does not consist of four elements, but only of one. For an element is not what appears as such to our senses. Water qua element is not anything that is damp nor is anything that burns fire. What is visible is hut the cover of the real element - which is a spirit, alive in the thing, just as the soul is alive in the body. "The element proper is the invisible and incomprehensible Prime Matter of the Elements" - the "Element" of the elements. Yet it is everywhere and in everything, for prime matter of the elements is hut the life that is in the creatures; and what is dead has ceased to he an element, hut has become ultimate matter wherein there is no longer either taste, or virtue, or power.246 Nor is there any "complexion" in the elements as assumed in ancient cosmology: fire is just hot and hot alone and not of a hot and dry com,plexion. Earth is just cold and neither dry nor moist. Water is damp and air is dry, hut neither of these is hot or cold as well. It is this singleness of quality that justifies the term "Element". In other words, there is no conjunction of elements which causes objects to he formed. The "mysterium" - the matrix - of an object is of necessity something simple and not the product of a "conjunction or composition". A composite mixture only gives rise to its like, hut the "mysterium" creates something different from itself and even antagonistic to it.247 Herbs with antagonistic effects such as flammula and mandragora derive from the same mother earth. According to Galen they are entirely 245 246

247

Lib. I, text 20. Ed. princ. D 1 r, Lib. II, text 2. The so-called "Divertallum".

94

95


Elements and "Mothers"

different, as they have a different complexion, one being of a hot, the other of a cold quality. In the world of Paracelsus, however, they are closely related as the offspring of the same mother - earth. This again shows that in studying an object we should ask about its "mother" and not about its quality and complexion. Each of the elements stands for a power visualised at its highest intensity, whereas the ordinary "elements" are material substances in which these powers are reduced to a pale reflection of their archetypes. 248 The elements of the ancients are corporeal and as such limit the power of the real elements which are spiritual. The latter correspond to the soul thus for example "Elementum lgnis" may dwell in a piece of green wood just as it "lives" in fire. Hence being cold or warm does not indicate to which element an object belongs. Since the real "Element" is not material hut dynamic and functional, the test which indicates the elementary origin and nature of an object is its function. All that displays active growth is from fire, what is solid "fixed" - from earth, what nourishes from air and what consumes from water.

Every object is therefore hut coagulated smoke 251 ; hut each has its own smoke which is endowed with a specific predestination. All that is taken in by the body is coagulated smoke as well. Digestion means its reconversion into smoke.

In these functions also lie the limitations which one element imposes upon the other: the solidifying action of earth sets a limit to growth that is home and maintained by fire; nothing would be nourished or broken down without the action of air and water respectively. 249

The formation of bodies in general is comparable to the condensation of an invisible exhalation or smoke - a "spiritus fumosus". It is not altogether converted into body, for there remains in it something eternal the soul. The body and indeed the whole world will eyentually dissolve and revert to the "spirit of smoke". From it a new birth of bodies may take place, just as hail suddenly emerges from a cloud. Thus the cyclic process of the birth of visible objects from an invisible base and their reversion to the latter may he repeated indefinitely. In a volatile state everything tends to merge - yet there is an invisible separation according to the original dwelling places - the matrices - from which things emanate and to which they return.250

248

For example the true element water softens stone and hard metal, whereas ordinary water has no such power. The true element air is possessed of such a drying power as to dry out all waters of the earth in one moment, and the true element earth will convert all water into crystal and all animals into marble. Lib. II, text 5. Ed. princ., sig. F. 249 Book II, text 6. Ed. princ., sig. F 2. 2so Book III, text 1-2, sig. J 3-4.

Earth and Water as "Mothers" Their offspring The Element, then, is the "mother" ("matrix") of the object. Its function is twofold: First it provides the soil from which the object ori261

Ibid., text 3 sig. K. Wood is smoke from "Derses" and therefore different from herb which is smoke from "Leffas" and metal which is smoke from "Stannar", stone which is smoke from "Enur" and man, the product of ebullient vapours of the body and those members that produce sperm ("samische glieder"). Hence each is specific according to its origin. The "Chaos" of Paracelsus and the "Gas" of Van Helmont: Paracelsus emphasised the importance of the volatile state which he often calls "chaos". It is from this term or perhaps the related word "gaesen" that Van Helmont derived his "new term" and concept of"Gas" (see E. 0. vonLippmann, Abhandlungen und Vortrage, vol. II, Leipzig 1913, p. 361 and 365. Beitrage z. Geschichte d. Naturwiss. u. Technik vol. II, Weinheim 1953, p. 73. Darmstadter, E., Chemiker-Zeitung 1929, pp. 565 and 701, prefers the derivation from the Paracelsean "gaesen" which denotes effervescence, for example of food in the stomach causing the deposition of tartar - Das Buch von den tartarischen Krankheiten 1537-1538, cap. 3 ed. Sudhoff vol.XI, p. 33. "Chaos" and "gaesen" are not mutually exclusive, but etymologically related. Van Helmont was particularly interested in the "gas" observed in "fermentation" - a concept that he introduced into the physiology of digestion. The term "gaesen" would have fitted well into this trend of thought - see W.Pagel, Bullet. Hist.Med.1955, XXIX, 563 and ibid. 1956, XXX, 524). It is, however, a far cry from the vague Paracelsean "Chaos" to the well defined Helmontian concept of "Gas". It is true that Paracelsus makes the activity of "Arcana" dependent upon their volatile state. Hence the arcanum is a "chaos and can be directed by the astra like a feather by the wind" (Paragranum, Tract. II I, von der alchimia. Ed. Sudhoff vol. VIII, p. 185). He also regards the arcanum as specific in action. He does not imply, however, that "chaos" is the material vector of specificity in any given object which is the meaning that Van Helmont attached to his new concept of "Gas" (see Pagel, W., The Religious and Philosophical Aspects of Van Helmont's Science and Medicine. Bullet. Hist.Med. Supplem. II, Baltimore 1944, pp.16 et seq.). Nor can any such meaning be read into those passages of the treatise on the "Bergsucht" (Miners' Disease) in which different types of "Chaos" are ascribed to different mines and minerals (for example Book I, cap. 2-4, tract. 1; and the whole of tract. 2. Ed princ. Dillingen Sebald. Mayer, 1567, fol. 2 verso to 11 recto). Van Helmont in addition described in great detail and precision a considerable number of gases as understood by modern chemistry, notably carbon dioxide, and distinguished them carefully from water vapour and air - media that are not specific but common to all objects (see for the historical-chemical aspects Partington, J. R., Joan Baptista Van Helmont. Ann. Science 1936, I. p. 370 et seq.). Van Helmont also dropped the Paracelsean correspondences between the arcana and the stars. It may be noted in passing, however, that

96


Water as "Matrix"

ginates and gives it its "signature". Secondly it is responsible for the maintenance of the object - its hoard and lodging.

97

Stones and tartarus are "fruits" of water. Vitriol, salt, alum, precious stones are water "in their first matter" - a kind of mucilaginous substance in which the various species develop by separation and coagulation. 255 It is in Paracelsus' tract on "Natural Waters" 256 that the role of water as the universal matrix of solid objects was expounded. This treatise is usually appended to the early work on Mineral Waters 257 , hut may well he independent and of a later date.

Earth, the "Mother" of Man Earth is the "mother" of man who shares "mother earth" with the "Erdgewachse" - plants, minerals and certain spiritual emanations ("impressions"). Hence man harbours in himself the virtues of the thistle and the lily, of mercury and orpiment.252

The role of water and earth in the composition of natural objects Metals, stones and gems are born from the element water and not from the earth. This appears to contradict the passage in which man was said to share "mother earth" with minerals. (See above, p. 96.) However, even here the earth retains a highly important function. The "body" of the minerals basically consists of water, but they need the earth to revert to their original matrix. It is the earth that changes them back into water. Hence the honour and name of master in this process belongs by right to the earth which in this way brings forth strong metallic and mineral wells called "body waters" ("leibliche was-

Water the matrix most productive of natural objects However, earth has a powerful competitor: Water. In attributing to water the role of that matrix which is most productive of the natural objects surrounding man, Paracelsus follows the common alchemical tradition which ruled from antiquity to the XVIIIth century.253 Water is called the "matrix of all creatures" ("Matrix aller Creaturen"). 254 It is their "mother" and is compared with the Moon, whereas Fire and Sun act as their "fathers".

ser").268

Metal may become water - "body water" - by the action of the earth in dissolving solid bodies. But water may also become solidified again - in the form of herbs, fungus, wood and trees - "growing water".

Water as the main substance ("flesh") of plants

252

253

254

Van Helmont's term "Spiritus Sylvester" (wild spirit that cannot be kept or coerced in vessels) for "Gas", occurs in Paracelsus (Opus Paramirum Lib. I, cap. 3 ed Huser I, p. 29) where it is used for a spirit ("Ungestiimer Geist") emanating from vitriol, tartar, alum or nitre when these are dissolved. It is the product of an activation ("ignition") of sulphur, salt or mercury in man, whereby either of these becomes "mii.nnisch" (i. e. active, "male"). Labyrinthus Medicor. Chap. 3. Huser, vol. I, p. 268. For mediaeval and Greek sources see our chapter on The Microcosmic Pattern ~s reflected by the Womb and the Earth, p. 238. It found a more mature expression in the chemical theory of Van Helmont. In this it is intimately connected with the first appearance of the concept of "Gas". Concerning the ancient sources of the theory which makes water the matrix of things we can but briefly mention the famous passage in Aristotle's Meteorologica (lib. III, cap. 6. 378a; ed. Bekker Oxon. 1837, vol. III, p. 99). In this two kinds of"exhalations" ("Anathymiasis") are distinguished, one vaporous and the other smoky - each giving rise to a different group of objects. In the earth the latter ("dry") exhalation forms "fossils", stones, sulphur and similar bodies, and the vaporous exhalation metals such as iron, copper, gold. The process is one of congelation setting in before dew or frost can be formed. Hence the metals "are water in a sense, and in a sense not". Potentially they were the stuff of water, but they are no longer so; nor are they from water that was formed through some affection such as the juices. - For the significance of this basic passage in alchemical tradition see: F. Sherwood Taylor: The Idea of the Quintessence. Science, Medicine and History. Essays in hon. of Ch. Singer. Oxford 1953. Ed. by E. Ashworth Underwood. Vol. I, p. 248. De Pestilitate. Tract. I, "Von dem Mayen der grossen Welt". Huser, vol. I, p. 329.

"Growing water", the stuff from which plants are made, needs food. It acquires this in the form of an "invisible moisture" from the "air of the earth" ("der luft der erden"). To this must be added salt - the salt of the earth which is "nitre", and similar in nature to the salt of urine. Water is thus enabled to form the "flesh", i.e. the full substance of a plant. It is special water - as against ordinary rain or brook water - for it contains all constituents of the plant, and really changes into the plant. Rain can become grass, but only when it is mixed with this potent "growing water".

Water as the common virtue in the ground ("earth"), forming the raw material of objects - without accounting for specificity But how can the specific characters of objects he reconciled with the. uniform "growing water" which is one and the same medium for all plants ? Metals from Water: Paragranum, Tract. I. Huser, vol. I, p. 208. Von den natiirlichen W assern. Buch drei, vier und fiinf. Ed. Sudhoff, vol. II, p. 273. 2 s7 Von den natiirlichen Badern (ca. 1525). Ed. Sudhoff, vol. II, p. 225. 258 Von den natiirlichen Wassern. Lib. III, Tract. I, cap. 13. Ed. Sudhoff, vol. II, p. 286. Any strong taste in water is due to metal dissolved in it. "Foul", "viscous" water is the matrix from which worms develop, both in the earth and in man who drinks it. 255

(

256

99


"Predestined Element" and "Quinta Essentia"

The answer is that there is something common to all things which does not affect the specificity of an individual or a group. None of the innumerable stars is identical with any of the others - yet they all appear in the same light, colour and gross form. Specific differences, however, are inherent in the semina of things whereby the realms of heaven and earth are divided into as many species. Each semen retains its special kind and nature. 259 It will impress it on another object which happens to enter its sphere, as seen in the way in which animals assimilate foreign objects with their food. Any food becomes poison when ingested by a toad and pork when eaten by a pig.

fore do not deserve the designation "element". In other words, the suppressed elements cannot unfold in the object in question their appropriate activities or what is called their 'complexion', such as the wetness displayed by water, or the heat of fire.261

98

The "Predestined Element" and "Quinta Essentia" The above view of the Elements as "Matrices" is not Paracelsus' original doctrine. The latter is found in the "Archidoxis", an early summary of his natural philosophy (about 1525-1526). In this work Paracelsus formulates objections to the interpretation of matter in the traditional terms of elements and qualities, hut arrives at a modification which retains to a certain extent the original view of the elements as constituents of substances. The differences between these two views - that of the Archidoxis and of later works - do not seem to he fundamental, however, and can he explained in terms of a natural development of his concepts which we must now consider briefly. Paracelsus says that the designation of a herb as "hot" is not well defined. Does it mean that the herb, when its constituent parts are separated, releases more of the "actual element of fire" 260 than others or that it is hot and dry like fire? Or, finally, is it not its "predestined element", rather than its elemental composition, that is referred to as hot? Is it not the "predestined element" of the nettle that is hotter than that of camomile? What is this "predestined element" in a given object? The "predestined element" is the one among the four elements that achieves "perfection" in a given substance with particular properties and function, whereas the other elemental constituents remain "suppressed" and do not attain "perfection". They are in the object "like rot in a piece of wood" and there-

This predominance of one element in any one object makes it possible for several elements to be present without antagonising one another and thereby "breaking" the object. Of the four elements in a given object, three are not there "actu". If the object is "actually" water, we need not look for earth, fire or air in it. For the predestination of the object is water - and there is no dryness or heat intrinsic in it by nature. 262 Water is the element that "tinges this substance and gives it its elemental characteristic". 263 At first sight it would appear that such powerful and essential extracts as the Quintae Essentiae can be identified with the "predestined element" of a substance. It is doubtful, however, whether Paracelsus really meant to identify the Quinta Essentia with one of the four material elements. For he himself emphasises that to obtain the Quinta Essentia it is necessary to "break the elements". 264 It is the kernel of an object and more intimate to it than its material composition. 261

262 263

259

260

"ein jetlicher sam behalt sein sondere art und natur." Von den natiirlichen Wassern das vierte Buch. Tract. 2, loc. cit. Ed. Sudhoff, vol. II, p. 309. "Zeigbar sei in actu elementum ignis, als ein feuer". Archidoxis, lib. III, De separationibus elementorum. Ed. Sudhoff, vol. III, p. 104.

26 4

This doctrine of the "Predestined Element" owes its inspiration to the idea of the alternation and combination of the four elements in each individual object - in the last resort an Aristotelian idea, incorporated in the stock topics discussed during the Middle Ages. The basic passages come from Aristotle De Generatione et Corruptione II, 3 and 4 - dealing with a cycle of transformations, owing to the conversion of a single quality, of Fire into Air, Air into Water, Water into Earth and Earth into Fire (transl. by H. H. Joachim, Oxford 1922, 331 B). For lit. concerning the mediaeval transmission through Constantinus Africanus, William of Conches and others see Liebeschiitz, H.: Kosmologische Motive in der Bildungswelt der Friihscholastik. Vortrage der Bihl. Warburg 1923-1924. Leipzig and Berlin 1926, p. 123, footnote 84; also for the ancient sources: Gronau, K.: Poseidonius und die jiidisch-christliche Genesisexegese. Leipzig 1914, p. 61-62. According to William of Conches bodies are composed of smallest particles called earth, water, air and fire, but not identical with what we call earth, water, air and fire in daily life (Liebeschiitz, loc. cit., p. 123). - Alexander Neckam says that the four elements were aggregated to form the body of Adam - yet he is said to have been formed from earth, "because earth predominates by quantity and effective power in the human body". (De Naturis Rerum, cap. 152. Ed. Th. Wright, London 1863, p. 233). - Hildegard of Bingen taught that God created the world in such a way that no element can be separated from the other. It would indeed cease to be if one could exist without the other. "They are indissolubly chained together." Water contains fire whereby it is enabled to flow; fire harbours by nature the cold of water; fire in earth accounts for the fruit growing power of the latter. Neither fire nor water can exist without air and so on. (Causae et Curae IV: Heilkunde. Das Buch von dem Grund und Wesen und der Heilung der Krankheiten. Transl. H. Schipperges. Salzburg 1957, p. 97.) Paracelsus' idea of the "Predestined Element" is also reminiscent of Ramon Lull's concept of "Devictio"; see later p. 243. "in seiner angebornen Natur". Archidoxis ibid. p. 103. "das dan die substanz tingiert und elementiert". Ibid. p. 103. De vita longa, Cap. I, ed. Sudhoff, vol. III, p. 301. We follow here to a certain extent: Darmstadter, Ernst: Arznei und Alchemie. Paracelsus-Studien. Stud. Gesch. Med., vol.XX. Leipzig 1931, p. 13. - The Quinta Essentia of Paracelsus and the "Fifth Element" (Aether) of Aristotle: It is tempting to overemphasise the differences between these

100

The Quinta Essentia is admittedly a substance of fine corporality. Yet it is distinguished from the elements. It is the "life" of the object, from which it is extracted in the form of a fluid. Hence it can only be obtained from things which still have some vitality left when subjected to preparation, for example a plant such as balm (Melissa), hut not flesh and blood, human or animal. It is a centre of power lying in the "predestined" element rather than the "predestined" element itself. For example, the "predestined" element of gold is fire, of silver water, of lead earth, and of mercury air. It is not one of these elements, and not one of the elementary qualities, however, which decides the nature or effect of the "Quinta Essentia". For example, such different substances as gold and anacardum have the same "predestined" element: fire; yet their properties and medicinal effects are quite different from each other. Indeed, there are as many Quintae Essentiae as there are substances and objects.

The Quinta Essentia is pre-eminently powerful and curative. 265 It forms a minimal fraction of the original substance. It is this kernel or "heart" of the object which enables its elementary components to act at all. In this sense it is the soul of the object. Moreover, the Quinta Essentia gives the object its colour. Gold that has lost its colour has lost its Quinta Essentia and with it its "life".

Sulphur, Salt and Mercury These are "Principles" and not the substances which are known under these names in the chemical laboratory today. In early alchemy "sulphur" and "mercury" had been visualised as the basic constituents of all metals.

265

Sulphur - Salt - Mercury


concepts. It must not be forgotten, however, that the Paracelsean concept cannot conceal its origin in its Aristotelian predecessor and that it retains much that is common to both. Aristotle's Quinta Essentia is something "atithereal" - it is non elemental in that it is different in kind from the ordinary elements; so is that of Paracelsus. Aristotle's Quinta Essentia belongs to the celestial bodies; so does (at least to a considerable extent) the Quinta Essentia of Paracelsus. Already in Stoicism and increasingly so in Neo-Platonic Philosophy the Aristotelian idea that it was purely celestial had been modified and assumed a form closely related to the meaning given to it by Paracelsus : the Quinta Essentia had been identified with the "Pneuma" and later the "Logoi Spermatikoi", the "seeds" and "souls" in terrestrial objects, notably metals. The "celestial" had thus been brought down to earth - just as it was by Paracelsus. In this as in so many other fields the latter follows closely the tradition of alchemy which is basically an offspring of Aristotelian Philosophy, however much modified by Stoicism, Neo-Pythagoreanism and Neo-Platonism (see p. 262 and in particular E.O.Lippmann, Chemisches und Alchemisches ans Aristoteles. In Ahhandlungen und Vortrage z. Geschichte d. Naturwiss. Vol. II. Leipz. 1913, pp. 146 et seq.). For example, Quinta Essentia of iron is not "Ferrugo Martis" - probably iron oxide but "Crocus Martis" (Oleum Martis) - probably iron chloride - which is easily soluble. But it is still corrosive and unsuitable for internal use. Darmstadter (loc. cit.) suggests that Paracelsus might have succeeded in preparing a less harmful colloidal iron solution (possibly from Ferrum oxydatum sacharatum).

101

Gold was thought to owe its colour to "sulphur" and its fluidity to "mercury''. Neither to ancient alchemy nor to Paracelsus is mercury simply and consistently identical with the "Hydrargyrum", "Argentum Vivum" or "Quicksilver" of the chemists. In fact, it is not a metal at all, but either a substance that is or a principle that causes something to be unstable, fugitive, vaporous or spiritual. In all objects of nature there is something that makes them more or less combustible and gives them "body, substance and structure" ("aedificium") - this is their "Sulphur". There is also something which makes them solid and gives them "colour, balsam266 and solidity" ("coagulation") - this is their "Salt". Finally something in their constitution makes them fluid or vaporous, conferring upon them "virtues, power and arcana" this is their "Mercury". Bodies, then, consist of three constituents: the combustible, the vaporous and the solid. There is one way to demonstrate this real composition of bodies: the removal of their coarse visible covering and the exposure of the invisible kernel by burning. Hence the true naturalist is called "Philosopher through Fire". If wood is burnt it will be resolved into its three true components: the flame - its "sulphur", the smoke its "mercury" and the ash - its "salt". From this it might be taken to follow that it is the quantitative proportion, the ratio in which the three are "mixed", which accounts for the differences between individuals and species. If this were so, the three were comparable to the elements of the ancients as well as to the elements of modern chemistry. Salt, Sulphur and Mercury would provide the "prime" material from which Nature produces innumerable objects, just as a painter using but a single colour produces innumerable forms and figures, each different from the other. This is the simile which Paracelsus uses in this context 267 and it seems to establish the fundamental principle by which the properties of individual substances are interpreted as the effect of the mixture in different proportions of "elements" that are in themselves homogeneous and constant. Yet this interpretation would hardly represent Paracelsus' real meaning. It is true that all objects have "Sulphur, Salt and Mercury" in common. 28 8

267

Balsam in this connection means the power to preserve from corruption. "Salt" may act as "balsam", just as it may act as destructive corrosive (as such it is regarded as the ultimate cause of all ulcers; Grosse Wundartzney, lib. II, tract. 2, cap. 3; ed. Sudhoff, vol. X, p. 293). This ambivalence of action shows that what appears to be a chemical substance - salt -is really a principle. - "Balsam" in the sense of the natural healing power of the tissues counteracting putrefaction is called "Mummy". Das Buch De Mineralihus. Ed. Sudhoff, vol. III, p. 43.

102


But these are not simply chemical constituents, in the sense of being particles of different materials. 268 Each of them rather stands for a prin· 2 66

Compare Chevreul, loc. cit. 1865, p. 14: "Les trois principes actifs ne sont pas, pour Paracelse, des especes chimiques, mais bien trois genres, renfermant autant d'especes de soufre, autant d'especes de mercure, autant d'especes de sel, que l'on compte d'especes differentes de corps composes de soufre, de mercure et de sel ... La consequence est done que le soufre du plomb differe du soufre du fer, du soufre de l'etain, qu'il en est de meme du mercure et du sel des memes metaux." According to Chevreul, Paracelsus here followed the Galenic principle of deducing abstract qualities from concrete substances taking each of these qualities as "pars pro toto". It is this principle that "misled" Galen as well as Paracelsus. Mercury and the specific poisons in mines: It is true that Paracelsus roughly distinguishes mines and their harmful effects on the human body according to the various minerals and metals found in them. Thus, in his book on Miners' Diseases ("Bergsucht") of 1533-1534 he describes symptoms referable to chronic poisoning with arsenic in some and mercury in others. (See for detail: the passages in "Von der Bergsucht oder Bergkranckheiten drey Bucher". I, 3, 2 and III, 4, 1 seq. Ed. Prine. Dillingen 1567, Sebald.Mayer sig. D i verso and Nii verso, ed. Sudhoff vol. IX, pp. 461-544: Arsenical poisoning pp. 478-4 79; Mercurial poisoning pp. 536-537; for a commentary see Koelsch, F., Theophrastus von Hohenheim gen. Paracelsus Von der Bergsucht und anderen Bergkrankheiten, Berlin. Springer 1925 and in particular the definitive account in George Rosen's compre· hensive hook: The History of Miner's Diseases. A medical and social interpretation. New York 1943, p. 77 and 84). It cannot be said, however, that with this Paracelsus introduced a distinction between "Mercury" as the volatile principle denoting the embryonic stage of any metal and "Argentum Vivum" as an individual "adult" metal that displays specific effects on the human body. Throughout all the parts of the book on Miner's Disease, "Mercury" is understood as the mother of all metals - stand· ing as it does for any substance that has not reached its state of "ultimate matter", i. e. of perfection. Each metal at a certain stage is "mercury", after which it acquires its own individuality by a process of coagulation. "Argentum Vivum" ("Quicksilver") is a source of harmful vapours in mines, not because it is one of the series of "adult" or "perfected" metals, but because it emits specific vapours as uncoagulated mineral matter remaining in a liquid state. As such it is compared with an open house into which anybody may go and take what he chooses - harmful smoke as well as the arcana which cure its ill effects. In the "perfected" metals - gold, silver, tin and so on - coagulation has closed the door, until dissolution and reversion to its "first matter" will reopen it. ("ein jedes conguliertes mettall hat inn jm die art des Mercurij" - a passage from the third book of the treatise on Miner's Disease, III, 1, 2 ed. princ. fol. 40 and 43 recto, sig. Kiiii and Liii. It shows that although symptoms of mercurial poisoning are described in this book, these are not attributed to "mercury" as one of the series of metals). It cannot therefore be maintained that "Paracelsus distinguishes diseases caused by quicksilver from those which are mercurial" (Henkel, Joh. Fred., Medizinischer Aufstand und Schmelzhogen. Von der Bergsucht und Hiittenkatze. Dresden und Leipzig 1745, p. 162 - as quoted by Koelsch, loc. cit. 1925, p. 57). Even where it indicates a mineral substance with special effects, "mercury" retains the character of a principle. This is well expressed in its name "Azoth" - as used in Rosicrucian and later alchemical literature. The corpus of Paracelsean treatises contains a "Liher Azoth s. De Ligno et Linea Vitae" (first ed. 1590 in the appendix to Huser's Quarto vol. X). It deals with various mystical subjects, partly on lines influenced by Nicolaus Cusanus (see p. 104), and is regarded as genuine by Strebel (Azoth. Nova Acta Paracels. 1947, IV, 55-68). "Azoth" combines the first and last letter of the

Sulphur - Salt - Mercury

103

ciple conferring on matter some faculty or condition such as structure, corporality and function. In this the principle is compared to the soul acting in and on the body or to seed which embodies the separate character of each individual and species. 269 Moreover, Paracelsus expressly states that "sulphur, salt and mercury" are not the same in each object, i.e. they differ in quality. Hence they are not comparable to the elements of the ancients or of modern chemistry. For each object has its own sulphur, its own salt, its own mercury. In fact, there are as many sulphurs, salts and mercuries as there are objects. For example, gold is not the product of a certain constant combination of sulphur, salt and mercury, hut there are many sulphurs, salts and mercuries of gold - according to the many kinds of gold that exist. The same is true of other metals, of plants, fruit, animals and men. 270 The innumerable individual and species differences in nature are thus derived from the differences between innumerable sulphurs, salts and mercuries. It would therefore appear that sulphur, salt and mercury do not bear a clear-cut definition either as original material components or else as elementary qualities or purely spiritual impulses. The nearest approach to the meaning which Paracelsus seems to have intended, is again through the concept of the "Semina". These differ from each other in subtle material characteristics linked with differences in direction of development. In this sense sulphur, salt and mercury are simultaneously capable of material, functional, quantitative and qualitative interpretations. They form the "Prime Matter" from which the world was created. Nature produces species and individuals out of them not by mixing material elements to which souls are added later, but from "semina" which contain soul-like impulses and directions already. In this the alchemical doctrine of the "Seeds" of metals is extended to the whole realm of nature. We see here corporeal generation subordinated to the working of spir· · itual archetypes of a material substratum of which visible matter is but a coarse derivative. The chemical elements sulphur, salt and mercury each

69 2 270

alphabet with the last letters of the Greek and Hebrew alphabets respectively and thus indicates the "soul" penetrating and enlivening the universe, the world-soul. As such it is a purely spiritual concept (Strebel loc. cit.). That it has a material meaning as well is evidenced by its juxtaposition to salt and sulphur in the dedicatory poem on the verso of the Rosicrucian portrait of Paracelsus adorning Birckman's edition of the Astronomica of 1567 (Strebel loc. cit.). It is in this portrait that "Azoth" first appears on the hilt of Paracelsus' famous long sword. According to Strebel this may indicate a relationship to the "Laudanum" which Paracelsus carried in it. De Mineralibus. Sudhoff, vol. III, p. 41. De Mineralibus. Sudhoff III, p. 42.

105


Specificity. Archeus. Iliaster

exhibit certain properties which are visualised as an original pattern latent in all objects and regarded as a vestige of the original creative working of nature. 271 As we have endeavoured to show, the same principle applies to the position of the "Elements" fire, water, air and earth in the doctrine of Paracelsus.

may therefore see in the system of Paracelsus a dualistic co-existence bet· ween individual specificity and an ultimate unity of all objects in which specific differences are submerged. In other words, Paracelsus appears to be hampered by a fundamental inconsistency. Van Helmont finally over· came this inconsistency and thus prevented "organic life" from being over· shadowed by "hylozoism" - the idea of a cosmic "all-life".

104

The Macro-Microcosm theory in conflict with the concept of specificity. The astral origin of specificity. Archeus and lliaster Man is a replica of the greater world. In him all parts of the cosmos are somehow represented. Man forms a distillate, a "fifth substance" of it. In this view of Paracelsus, the concept of specificity, so essential to his ideas in general, seems to be abandoned. If organic beings are in principle identical with the outside world, how can their specific differences, their specific "life", be explained? There does not seem to be room for specific forces, but only the general cosmic forces such as heat, which created life and determined its rhythm in ancient, notably Aristotelian, philosophy. Van Helmont, for this reason, broke away from the analogies between macrocosm and microcosm. Instead he built up the conception of the "Archeus" as the material vector of spe· cificity. In this he found the union of spirit and body consummated in a different way for each individual being. The Archeus he believed to be open to empirical analysis in the test tube in the form of "Gas". 272 One 271

272

A religious - trinitarian - background of the salt-sulphur-mercury division is clearly expressed in the Liber Meteororum, cap. 2. Ed. Sudhoff, vol. XIII, p. 135, with reference to the differences between red lead (minium), white lead (ce~ssa) and spirit of lead. Though derivatives of the same "element" lead, they differ according to the formative impulses given by salt, sulphur and mercury to the original substance. "God made everything from three ... for the origin of this number is from God ... also the word was threefold, for Trinity has spoken it and the word is the beginning of heaven, earth and all creatures ... each creature can thus he divided into these three parts ... " It is tempting to believe that this Christian interpretation implies opposition to the "heathen" preference for .quaternaries as those of the elements, humours and qualities. On the mediaeval - alchemical - tradition of the "trinitarian" concept see later our chap. on Paracelsus and Alchemy p. 267. The application of numerical symbolism to Paracelsean principles was taken up by Gerard Dorn, the Paracelsist, in: Monarchia Triadis in Unitate Soli Deo Sacra, in Aurora Thesaurusque Philosophorum Theophrasti Paracelsi. Praeterea Anatomia Viva Paracelsi. Basileae 15 77, pp. 66-127. In this the influence of the symbols used by Nicolaus Cusanus in his Docta Ignorantia is unmistakable. See for a detailed account the present writer in: The religious and philosophical aspects of Van Helmont's Science and Medicine, Suppl. Bull. Hist. Med., vol. II. Baltimore 1944.

The Archeus. Vulcan. The Iliaster Yet the concept of "Archeus" is derived from Paracelsus, to whom it also represented individual specificity. Moreover, he recognised its signi· ficance for a philosophy of the universe which, like his own, could not conceal its "biological" ("hylozoistic") bias. According to Paracelsus, God created things in their "prime", but not their "ultimate" matter. He sees the world as a continual process by which objects are perfected, developing from the stage of "prime matter" to that of "ultimate matter". He calls the workman who is in charge of this process "Vulcan". 273 In the earth the "vulcanus terrae" forges grass and plants. Vulcan is visualised as a virtue or power that is immanent in the "matrices" ("elements") such as heaven, earth, water and fire. But it cannot work unaided - it requires assistance. First of all, it needs a reser· voir whence it can draw that hidden power that is inherent in matter in general - "primordial matter" - and is necessary for the nourishment, growth and preservation of natural products. This reservoir is the Iliaster. 274 The Iliaster, however, is a general reservoir of building material. This is but primordial, i.e. potential man, potential tree or potential creature ("primus homo et prima arbor et prima creatura"). It is also called "Idechtrum cuiuscumque rei". 275 It is something without life, that is to say without individual life. Hence Vulcan needs something in addition to the reservoir, namely a virtue separating the individual from the general. Vulcan has to assemble material of the one kind and thereby impress on the object the stamp of specificity as a member of a species and as an individual. 2 73

274

275

Archeus and Vulcan: Lib. Meteoror, cap. 4. Quid in stellis de viventibus speciebus. Huser, vol. II, p. 79: "der die ding ordnet von dem sahmen in sein ultimam materiam, derselbige ist Vulcanus." Iliaster: Scholia in lib. de Gradibus et Compositionibus. Huser, vol. I, p. 982. De Vita longa, lib. IV, cap. 5. Huser, vol. I, p. 853. Idechtrum or "Ides, das ist, die Glohel oder Materia darauss der Mensch und Elementen beschaffen sind". Fragm. Anatomiae Theophrasti. Huser, vol. II, p. 21.

106


Archeus - Stomach - Disease

107

This specificity is the Archeus ( also called "Ares"). It stands for the "Anatomy of Life as it lies in man in each one of the limbs and it begins at the point where the anatomy of the Idechtrum ends, i.e. when life is infused. " 276

The Archeus in the stomach enjoys a position of fundamental importance in the biological philosophy of Paracelsus. The "Archeitas Stomachi" decides for example the quality of the urine. Healthy urine should be "separated, digested and expelled" in the stomach.282

The Archeus is closely akin to Vulcan. In fact, it is difficult to see them as different entities. 277 For it is said of the Archeus that "all things are constituted to have their own Archeus by which they are brought to their highest pitch."278

The Role of the Archeus in Disease

"The Archeus directs everything into its essential nature. "279 In other words, in common with Vulcan, its main function is to hammer out an object from the diffuse mass of "prime matter" and to guide it on its way to "ultimate matter", i.e. to perfect it by conferring specificity and ever increasing individuation. The Archeus is Vulcan operating inside objects, "der inwendig Vulcanus". 280 Its function is largely one of separation - a chemical operation performed by Nature as well as by the doctor and the chemist. For it is by the art of alchemy that things are led to their "ultima materia". This is the policy pursued by the Archeus, the internal Vulcan, "who knows how to distil and to prepare according to proportion and distribution, just as the art in itself has power to do so by means of sublimating, distilling, reverberating. For all the arts are present in man as well as in alchemy outside." The Archeus as the principle resident in the Stomach The Archeus in man is often identified with the "principle" residing in the stomach which "separates" nourishment for the organs from the waste products of food. 281 276 "Anatomia Archei ist die Anatomey des Lebens, wie sie im Menschen ligt in einem jeglichen Glied und hebt an da die Anatomie Idechtri aufhort, id est quando Vita infunditur." loc. cit. in foregoing footnote. 277 It is difficult to see a difference between these two other than that the archeus is the "workman" inside the body, whereas "Vulcan" works in Nature at large. Sherlock suggested (The Chemical work of Paracelsus. Ambix, 1948, vol. III, p. 42) that the passage: ''Thus the vulcan and the archeus separate from each other" (Labyrinth. Medicor., cap. V. Ed. Sudhoff, vol. XI, pp. 188-189) refers not to a difference between them, but to the action of splitting and separating forces which they have in common. There is much to he said in favour of this explanation. 278 All things have their own Archeus: "Dann alle ding sind dahin heschaffen, das sie haben ihren eigenen Archeum, durch den sie bracht werden auff das hiichst." Ursprung, Ursach und Heylung der Frantzosen. IV. Buch, cap. 4. Chirurg. Biicher und Schrifften. Ed. Huser, Strassburg 1605, p. 216. 279 Archeus Director: "Solche Krafft ist Archeus, d'ordiniert alle Ding in sein Wesen." Lib. Meteor., cap. 4. Huser, vol. II, p. 80. 280 Archeus the internal Vulcanus: Labyrinthus Medicor., cap. 5. Huser, vol. I, pp. 271-272. 281 Archeus Separator in the Stomach: De Pestilitate. Tract. II, Modus et Processus fiendi. Huser, vol. I, p. 342.

The separation of waste from nourishment by a properly working stomach ensures health. On the other hand, pathological action of an Archeus followed by the dissolution of a chemical compound will cause disease. 283 No substance will display its specific effect unless it is in a pure state, freed from association with other substances. Arsenic ("Realgar") cannot damage the body when introduced and maintained as a compound. It can, however, be harmful when liberated by the separating action of the Archeus. Man can be compared to a mine and the Archeus in him to a smelter. 284 Just as fumes in a foundry tend to escape through the outlet, salts in the body tend to the periphery, where they do damage which is difficult to combat. This happens when Realgar is set free by the Archeus. The Archeus as the individualising principle in the elemental "Matrix" There are differences between the archei according to the environment, i.e. the matrix (earth, water, air, fire, the human body) in which they work. For example, stones are pro· duced in water by the archeus of water - a process which takes a very long time and can he reproduced in the laboratory at a much faster rate.285 The terrestrial archeus digests, promotes putrefaction, generates and augments the seed put into the earth, with the assistance of the firmament, so that fruit can grow and serve as food for animals and man.288 It is through the Archeus of the earth that all seven metals are born in the mountains. 2s7 All this is due to the action of the terrestrial archeus - the "Archeus mineralis". 282 Archeitas Stomachi and Urine: De Urinarum Iudiciis. Lib. I, Annot. in cap. 1 and 2. Huser, vol. I, p. 734. "Der gesund Harn soll in der Separation, Digestion, Expulsion recht stehen im Magen." Vom Urtheyl des Harns. Huser, vol. I, p. 746. 283 Deficient function of stomach. Its results are: haemorrhages ("morbus rubeus"), an exudative diathesis ("morbus albus"), or a state of "relaxation" recognisable by poly· uria. Paragraphor. Lib. I, De Morbo Dissoluto. Cap. I. Huser, vol. I, p. 451. 234 Man as a Mine: "Sich soll niemandt hierinn verwundem, dass ich in den Microcosmum ein Schmeltzhiitten setze, darzu ein Schmeltzer darinn, der Archeus Heisset." Grosse Wundartzney. Lib. II, cap. 12. Chirurg. Schrifften. Ed Huser, p. 89. See later p. 134. 285 De Natura Rerum. Lib. II. De Crescentihus Rerum Naturalium. Huser, vol. I, 886h. 286 The Archeus of the earth and its differences from the Archei in other matrices: It is not concerned with the preparation of seed, whereas that of the stomach prepares material for the production of semen by separation from the food. De Pestilitate. Tract. II. Huser, vol. I, p. 342. 287 Philos. ad Athenienses. Lib. IV, tract. 3. De Mineralibus. Huser, vol. II, pp. 53-56.

108

109


Archeus outside and inside man. Archeus-Physician

Though working deep in the bowels of the earth, it makes itself perceptible on the surface because of a warm "mineral mist" which diffuses out and affects the colour of plants and trees whereby subterranean veins of metallic ore ("Ertzgang") can he recognised. 288

governs such a constellation. "It has in itself a constellation of its own, in the same way as the inner spirit Archeus is to be considered and compared to the external one. " 291 Similarly there is "sidereal power" in the womb. If this is disturbed or broken up it will spread destruction over the whole region of its influence, just as "influence" from above causes anthrax and other "fires" ("Anziindung"). Hence putrefaction in the breast is caused by "infection" from the womb, followed by destruction of the breast.

Archeus and Monads. The Archei in organs The Archeus has total power over the object on which it acts. One could, therefore, assume that it works in its entirety and on the object as a whole, like a stroke of lightning. This, however, is not so. Paracelsus sees the archeus as divided into parts which act on corresponding parts of the object. It is tempting to suggest that he arrived at this view in order to introduce a further system of correspondences. This is in good conformity with the general trends of Paracelsus' philosophy; this particular aspect was further developed (in spite of his opposition to correspondences in general) by Van Helmont. In the biological philosophy of Van Helmont many further archei are visualised in addition to a central archeus ("Archeus influus"). These are immanent to the organs and their parts ("Archei insiti"). Later Leibniz advanced a similar view in his "Monadology" (seep. 187). In this philosophy the world consists of innumerable objects, which can be infinitely divided. Each division has its own "Archeus", the "Monad", which in its own way enters into union with other "archei". This division in no way detracts from the principle of specificity. On the contrary, it amplifies and deepens it. For not only visible objects, but each of their smallest parts retain some degree of specificity. 289 Paracelsus says that the "Anatomia Archei" is the "Anatomy of Life, as it lies in Man in each individual limb". It takes over when the "Anatomia ldechtri" ceases, i.e. after the body of the first man has been formed and life infused. 290 In addition, Paracelsus expounds the view that each organ has also a sphere of influence over other organs. This realm is seen as a kind of constellation with the main organ as its centre. The heart, for example, 288 289

290

De Natura Rerum. Lih. IX: De Signatura Rerum Naturalium. Huser, vol. I, p. 916a. See for a more detailed account of the concepts of Van Helmont and Leihniz W. Pagel in: The speculative Basis of Modern Pathology. Jahn, Virchow and the Philosophy of Pathology. Bull. Hist. Med. 1945, XVIII, 1-43 (notably p. 18-21) and: J.B. Van Helmont: De Tempore and Biological Time. Osiris 1949, VIII, p. 350. "Anatomia Archei ist die Anatomey des Lebens, wie sie im Menschen ligt in einem jeglichen Glied, und heht an da die Anatomey Idechtri auffhiirt, id est quando vita infunditur. Anatomia Idechtri ist, wie der Mensch und alle Geschopff am ersten Menschen gewesen seindt, so fern dass vom Leben nicht dareyn kommen." Fragmenta Anatomiae Theophrasti. Ed. Huser, vol. II, p. 21.

Archei in external objects and inside man Their correspondence and interaction The interaction between the organs of man and such objects of the outside world as drugs or chemicals is an interaction of archei and parts of archei. Each of the four elements is endowed with an archeus; each of these archei is divided into parts and each of the latter corresponds to one organ of the human body. It is from this correspondence that the "strengthening" and curative action of drugs and chemicals is derived. That which emerges from the heart of the terrestrial archeus fortifies the heart of man, such as gold, emerald, corals; that which comes from the liver strengthens the liver in the lesser world. 292 The Physician himself an Archeus There is, finally, a further set of correspondences associated with the Archeus. It concerns the physician who finds the appropriate cure separating the pure from the impure, the useful from the waste - just in the same way as does the "inner chemist", the "archeus". "External" book learning and logical reasoning about the Galenic "qualities", grades and "complexions" will not provide it, it comes to him by inspiration. For this, he must understand the inner mechanism of the pathogenic agent. This depends on its position in the world of correspondences. What are 291 2 92

Grosse Wundartzney. Lih. II, tract. 2, cap. 17. Chirurgische Schriften. Ed. Huser, 1605, p. 93. Correspondences of Archeus inside and outside the body: Von den ersten dreyen Essentiis, darauss componirt wirt das Generatum. Cap. 9. Huser, vol. I, p. 325. Similarly, curative action is located in that part of the archeus of elements which corresponds to the affected human organ. Thus salt purges the stomach when it originates in the stomach of the archeus, it purges the spleen when it comes from its spleen, and so on for the brain, liver, lung and other organs. "Thus the part of the archeus acts upon its counterpart in the microcosm."

llO


the "parents" of the agent in the greater world and what are its affinities with the human organs and with metals, minerals and plants that make a cure possible ? In other words, the physician must penetrate into or make himself a part of a strange world. The deepest possible penetration is "mystical" union with the object, a union that embraces much more than the superficial function of logical reasoning. The physician must be able to divine a system of associations that is at work invisibly and behind the phenomena. His action, based on this deep intuitive understanding, is not like action resulting from mathematical reasoning, which works out factor by factor and then strikes a balance. By virtue of his union with his objects - the patient, the disease and the cure - the physician indeed acts like an Archeus. It is an all-or-nothing action striking at the very root of events, beyond any quantitative consideration such as the Galenic device of "adding something that is missing or withdrawing something that is in excess." The physician is thus compared to the earth which makes seed grow. You may have gold in your possession and know of its great virtue. But as such it is not "grown on the tree of medicine". Hence you must act as the archeus acts in the earth. The physician should be the "other archeus" which maiutaius growth just as does the earth. The "tree will prepare the cure in the microcosm. Let gold be the seed, you be the growing power. Let earth be the furnace ("athanor") whence you will lead the gold to fruition. From such fruit you may feed the diseases, the origin of which remains hidden from you and me". 293

The idea of the physician acting like an Archeus and taking its place where it fails in the patient is indeed the keynote of Paracelsus' reform of medicine. Physicians will soon see that no reliance can be placed in Avicenna and Galen, for "the stones will crush them. Heaven will make different physicians who will know the four elements, and in addition magic and cabbala which are a cataract before your (i.e. the Galenist's) eyes. They will be dowsers, they will be adepts, they will be Archei, they will be spagyri, they will have Quintum Esse, they will have arcana, they will have mysteria, they will have tinctura: What will become of your soup-kitchens in this revolution? Who will dye the thin lips of your

Imagination and "Magia"

women-folk and clean their pinched faces? The devil, with the cloth of hunger."294 The Archeus acting by "Imagination", "Magia" and astral forces All action is visualised by Paracelsus as flowing from an act of imagination - a process not connected with formal logical reasoning, but with the spirit-conscious or subconscious and in a broad sense embracing all strata of the personality. Thus the Archeus, the active principle and vector of life, is connected with the mind and is at the same time part of the universal soul, which is but an emanation of the divine mind and intelligence. It is the latter that, although common to the entire Universe, "creates" individual and generic differences. The "Archeus" is therefore something reserved to the individual and at the same time shared by every object in nature, for the archeus flows from the power that distributes activity over the universe. It links man with the universe and is "more intimate to him than he is to himself" - to express it in terms of a paradox used by Giordano Bruno and Van Helmont. 295 Paracelsus talks of the "Olympian Spirit" in which lies the "Gabalistic art" which proves that imagination can do even more than force a person to a certain action. 296 All this has nothing to do with superstitious practice, but lies in the "natural course of subtle Nature". Imagination and its significance for man in health and disease falls under the "Magia" which is made accessible by studying astronomical patterns. 297 In these it is the course of events rather than a static form that matters - the course that can be compared to the functional schedule of the organs. 298 2 94

295 293

The Physician as an Archeus compared with earth causing seed to grow: "Dann wie die Blumen aus der Erden wachsen also wachsen auch die Artzney under den Kunsten des Artzets. Dann der Arzt soll dermassen verfasst sein, dass ihm die Artzneywurtzel in Stammen gang in die Blumen und vollend mit der Frucht. Dann er ist in seiner Kunst gleich der Erden. Also ist die Artzney in Deiner Handt nur ein Samen ... Darumb wie der Archeus in der Erden handlet, kochet und macht: Also soil der Artzt der ander Archeus sein, der da zu gleicherweiss auch also fiirfare in seim Gewiichs, als der Archeus in der Erden ... " Das Vierdte Buch von dem Ursprung und Herkommen der Frantzosen. Cap. III. Chirurgische Schrifften. Ed. Huser 1605, p. 215.

lll

296

2 97 2 9S

Physicians will he "Archei": "Die Stein werden sie zerknitschen, der Himmel wirdt andere Artzet machen, die da werden die vier Element erkennen: Darzu auch Magicam und Gabalisticam, die Euch Cataracten vor den Augen seind: Sie werden Geomantici seyn, sie werden Adepti seyn, sie werden Archei seyn, sie werden Quintum Esse haben, sie werden Tincturam hahen: W o werden ihre suppenwiist hleiben under dieser Revolution? Wer wirt ewern Weibern die diinnen Lefftzlin ferhen und die spitzige niisslin putzen? Der Teuffel im hungertuch." Vorrede iiher das Buch Paragranum. Huser, vol. I, p. 203. (Italics are of the present author.) Bruno, Giordanus: De Universo et lmmenso. Lib. VIII, cap. 10, verse 60, in: De Monade item de lnnumerahilihus. Wechel et Fischer, Franco£. 1591, p. 651. J. B. Van Helmont: De Tempore 29-30. Ortus Medicinae Amstelod. 1648, p. 634. Imagination and the Olympian Spirit: Opus Paramirum. Lib. III, De Origine Morhor. lnvisib. Huoer, vol. I, p. 100. Eilff Tractat vom Ursprung und Ursachen ... der fallenden Sucht. Huser, vol. I, p. 544. Astral parallels, not humours and complexions, explain the action of organs: The heart nourishes the body as the sun nourishes the earth. The spleen has a "course" analogous to that of Saturn. Bile in its physical action (on "substance") corresponds to the directionalinfluence of Mars (on the "spirit"). The kidneys have the "venereal quality"

112

These parallels, and not humoral complexions, indicate the working of the invisible Archei and therefore the real courses of physiological processes, of customs and expressions, habits and emotions. Iliaster Iliaster is a kind of primordial matter, but not matter in the ordinary corporeal sense. It is rather the supreme pattern of matter, a principle that enables coarse visible matter and all activity of growth and life in it to develop and exist. In other words, it is a force that confers activity, life and growth on the "caput mortuum" of earthly matter. It is not, however, an individualising force which converts matter into an individual object - mineral, vegetable or animal. "Iliaster" thus designates a concept similar to that of "Prime Matter" in mediaeval Pantheism which we shall discuss later. 299 The term "Prime Matter" however is not usually used by Paracelsus in this "pantheistic" sense of "Iliaster". In most places it merely means immature material which is worked upon and converted into a finished product ("ultimate matter") by the chemist. Prime, intermediate and ultimate matter All objects in nature undergo at some time a transmutation from a "prime" through an "intermediate" towards an "ultimate" stage - the latter indicating the final fulfilment of destiny, the Aristotelian "perfection" or "entelechia" of an object. This transmutation is brought about by alchemy - the alchemist being Nature itself or man helping to promote a natural process to its end. There is the example of bread. Its "prime matter" is the grain as supplied by nature. It becomes "middle matter" in the oven. It is the inner alchemist of man ("Archeus'', "Vulcanus")

299

Prime and Ultimate Matter. Cagastrum


and share with Venus "exaltations" according to predestination; Venus receives an "exalting" stimulus from the Sun, the kidneys from the seat of sensuality in Man. Jupiter acts through benevolence; in the same .way the liver softens all violent impulses. Volumen Paramirum. Ens Naturale. Cap. 7. Huser, vol. I, p. 15. Opus Para· mirum. Lib. 1, De Causis et Origine Morb. ex Tribus primis substanciis. Cap. 4. Huser, vol. I, p. 30. Seep. 227 on Prime Matter and Popular Pantheism in the Middle Ages. C. G. Jung (Paracelsica. Ziirich 1942, p. 89) says that "Iliaster" seems to be "eine Art von (allgemeinem) Gestaltungs- und Individuationsprinzip". We agree that it is a general "Gestaltungsprinzip", but not that it is an "Individuationsprinzip". It does, however, play a fundamental part in the operation of "Ares", "Vulcan" and "Archeus" - the Paracelsean principles of individuation - as lucidly explained by Jung later on (pp. 95 et seq.).

113

who converts it into "ultimate matter" - namely flesh and blood. In terms of alchemy the conversion of primary into intermediate and final matter can also be regarded as one of disease, into the decline and death of an object. "Prime matter" may also be seen as the product of putre· faction, for this causes the seed to germinate in the soil. Intermediate matter can be visualised as a result of the consumption of prime matter, while ultimate matter is "powder and earth". "Alchemy is the art that separates what is useful from what is not by transforming it into its ulti· mate matter and essence. " 3 oo The Cagastrum Paracelsus' belief that "separation" as opposed to "creation" was the main driving and building force in the world is closely associated with the "fall" of nature and of man. 3 01 All individuation and specialisation is seen as a breaking away from the original divine unity, simplicity and homogeneity. Beings and forces have been successful in an egotistic struggle for independence, working out their own lives in isolation. The whole of Nature can be visualised as such a process of splitting up into individuals - a kind of corruption and putrefaction. It is as a result of this process that individual beings not observable in the original har· monious and homogeneous medium make their appearance. The process of separation from a homogeneous medium is seen in spontaneous gener· ation, in which putrefying material gives birth to a large variety of objects that are quite different from the original. It is also seen in diseases. Each disease represents an "Ens", an individual being, to wit the extrinsic agent that causes disease - a poison, an astral virtue, a command of God or the product of an abnormal imagination. Thus, disease is an example in which an individual - the pathogenic agent - interferes with the harmoniously working organism and causes corruption, separation and the deposition of impurities. More precisely, an extrinsic agent such as a poison interferes with digestion and metabolism. These normally lead to the full dissolution 300

301

Labyrinthus Medicorum. Cap. V. Von dem Buch der alchimei, wie on dasselbig der arzt kein arzt sein mag. Ed. Sudhoff, vol. XI, pp. 188-189. Secretum Magicum de Lapide Philosophorum. Opp. Huser's Fol. Edition 1603, vol. II, p. 677, B.: "Dieweil nuhn die Schopffung der gantzen Natur ihr Fall ist, und deswegen gefolgter Fluch, und letstlich auch ihr ErlOsung und Regeneration . . . So befinden wir erstlich darauss, dass Gott alle ding, vonn wegen dess Menschen Ewig erschaffen, unnd darwieder auch von wegen des Menschen Zerstorligkeit underworffen hatt, nichts auss der Natur, sondern wegen des Worts, so der Allmechtig Gott der Natur zu einer Straff geschworen und auffgelegt."

114


of food and its conversion into tissues without any remnants but the physiological excreta. In disease, however, abnormal deposits are formed in the organs which appear as pathological changes - again it is a case of individual agents being made visible as they build up an organism of their own. In this case the new organism becomes perceptible as a pathological change that leads a parasitic life at the expense of the host. The sum total of all such disruptive processes leading to the splitting of matter into individuals is called the Cagastrum. This expression conveys the idea of something bad and degenerative, a fall from olympic heights down to this valley of miseries which is Nature. This idea already existed in the Gnostic doctrines and in traditional alchemy: in the former, because of the dominating role attributed to the "Fall", and in the latter because of the perennial yearning for a "universal solvent", which dissolves deposits and thereby restores simplicity and homogeneity. A century .after Paracelsus, it was to become the famous Liquor Alcahest of Van Helmont. Because of the "Cagastrum" all created things are mortal and return to nothing. 302 After all, creation is but a process of separation and therefore transitory. Yet there is redemption. It is wrought by Christ's atonement, by rebirth. As his successor and as a receiver of his sacramental body, the Christian will assume his "glorified flesh". 303 It is the return of the divine element in man - his "sacramental matter" or "spiritual body" - to God, just as the elemental body returns to the "prime matter" of the elements. 304 Man as a microcosm, an epitome of the whole world outside him, will thus through his own immortality preserve the whole of the world. 305 It is through man that the miraculous work of God is made visible. 306 302 Secret. Mag. de Lap. Philos. loc. cit. in previous footnote. sos Philos. Sagax., lib. II, cap. 2. Ed. Sudhoff, vol. XII, p. 310. See Goldammer, K.: Paracelsus. Natur und Offenbarung. Hannover 1953, p. 80, with reference to Paracelsus' Christology. This did not go as far as that of Schwenckfeld and later dissenters in doubting the true humanity of Christ, but prepared the more modern "spiritualistic" Christology and radical criticism of dogma. See also on Caspar Schwenckfeld: A. Koyre, Mystiques, Spirituels, Alcltlmistes. Schwenckfeld, Seb. Franck, Weigel, Paracelse. Paris 1955, p. 2. 304 De Natura Rerum (1537), lib. VIII. Ed. Sudhoff, vol. XI, pp. 361 and 373. In all this Paracelsus seems to approach Baptist doctrines and to be remote from Lutheran orthodoxy. See above footnote on Schwenckfeld, and Koyre, loc. cit., p. 77. 305 Secretum Magicum de Lapide Philosophorum, loc. cit. Huser, Fol. Ed. 1603, p. 677: "So befinden wir erstlich darauss, dass Gott all ding, von wegen des Menschen Ewig erschaffen." Also: Philos. ad Athen, lib. II, text 11. Ed. Sudhoff, vol. XIII, p. 410. .sos Philos. Sagax,, lib. I. Ed. Sudhoff, vol. XII, p. 57. Philos. Sagax, ibid., p. 53.

Generation - Putrefaction

115

Generation and putrefaction

Generation is a universal process dominating nature, inorganic as well as organic. The firmament is the father, the elements are the mothers ("matrices" or "wombs") which contain the "semina". These are the "female semen", comparable to the egg, which is substantially of the hen, but needs the cock for fruition. The cock provides the "Astrum" which activates the quiescent female "semen" and the Sun contributes a "digestive" power that causes development of the potential parts. 307 Heavenly and elemental spermata can beget a kind of "counterfeit" human being which dwells in the element which is its matrix. These beings are made without the mud of the earth ("limus terrae") and without the soul by a kind of spontaneous generation - as horseflies grow from horse dung.sos Such are nymphs and spirits of the waters (the "Wasserleuth"), giants, fairies and spirits of the hills ("lemurs, Bergleuthi"), gnomes ("Lufftleuth"), volcanic spirits ("Vulcani, Fewrleut"), scrats and pygmies ("Umbragines, Schrottlin")•

Generation is basically putrefaction. This is the teaching of the Paracelsean treatise De Natura Rerum.3°9 It concurs in this with the old Aristotelian doctrine. There are reasons to believe that the treatise De Natura Rerum is not a genuine product of the pen of Paracelsus. But the role conceded in it to putrefaction is no evidence against its genuineness, for this process can claim prominence in the world of genuine Paracelsean ideas. It says in the Labyrinthus Medicorum310 : The seed planted in the earth first putrefies - whereby it is broken up and vanishes as an object in its own right. The putrefying material, however, forms the "prima materia" of that which grows out of it and from it the growing tree derives its form. Putrefaction thus leads to perfection. "Each thing that goes through time is subject to heaven - this causes the putrefaction of things. For as soon as they have run out and finished their term, they dissolve. After each dissolution a new ascendant and a new beginning occur. " 311 Again true to Aristotelian tradition, there is thus a cyclical alternation of putrefaction of one thing and growth of another. Various sources of heat cause differences in the details of the putrefaction process. 312 Febrile diseases develop when Sulphur fails to become volatile and putrefies instead.313 Contrary to the opinion of Fracastor, for example, Paracelsus maintains that putrefaction can happen in the air and cause disease. 314 Colours arise from putrefaction. They thus 307 Philos. Sagax., lib. I, cap. 5. Was Generatio sey und seine Species. Huser, vol. II, p. 372. sos Spontaneous generation: Philos. Sagax., lib. I, cap. 5 : Was lnanimatum sey und seine Species. Huser, vol. II, p. 373. 309 De Natura Rerum. Neun Biicher. Lib. I, De Generationibus Rerum Naturalium. Huser, vol. I, pp. 881-885. s10 Cap. 10. Huser, vol. I, p. 278. sn Paragranum, tract. II. Astronomia. Huser, vol. I, p. 218. 312 Von dem Bad Pfeffers, cap. 2. Huser, vol. I, p. UIS . 313 Fragm. Medica to the Paramirum, tract. II, 2. Huser, vol. I, p. 134.

116


indicate products of pathological digestion ("putrid stercus"). 315 There is a predisposition to putrefaction in the "Stercora" which should he combated by "preservative tinctures". 818 In the chemical process of the "transmutation of natural things" putrefaction is the normal phase following solution. It is so powerful that "it devours the old nature and transmutes things into a new nature and brings forth a new fruit. All living things die therein, all things that have died putrefy therein, all dead things acquire a new life therein. It deprives all corrosive salt spirit of its sharpness, makes it mild and sweet, it transmutes the colours, it separates the pure from the impure, the pure above itself and the impure below, each separate." 317

"Spontaneous" generation, which produces small animals from herbs, works by putrefaction. All these animals are not begotten by their likes; they grow and are born from other things and can be reproduced by the art of the adept. They are all poisonous - snakes, toads, scorpions, basilisks, spiders, wild bees, ants, midges, beetles. Having no parents, these animals are on the same footing as monsters, begotten from the morbid imagination of the mother with the help of putrefaction. Menstrual blood and semen exposed together to putrefaction may give rise to the basilisk, whose poison is sinrllar to that in the eyes or breath of a menstruating woman. Monsters produced by spontaneous generation are short-lived and hated by normal beings. They are refused bliss since they do not hear God's likeness. They were created by the devil in order that they might serve him. The devil has "marked" them ("gezeichnet").

Putrefaction, then, is a basic pattern which is responsible for the coming into being and passing away of natural objects. It accounts for generation in the widest possible sense, embracing natural procreation as well as artificial reproduction such as that practised by the alchemist. Generation does not only mean embryonic development for even digestion is a kind of generation. By it new parts are formed to replace others that have been worn away. Thus regeneration is "generation" though it takes place on the level of maturity. Here again we meet with an Aristotelian doctrine, and it is not surprising that it was widely developed by William Harvey, the Aristotelian scholar. Even as late as the early XIXth century, philosophers and naturalists made use of all these connotations of generation in their attempts to explain the working of Nature and Art. 318 Fragm. Med. de Morho dissolutivo Paragr. II. Huser, vol. I, p. 193. De Modo Pharmacandi, tract. IV. Huser, vol. I, p. 778. Archidoxis, lib. VIII, De Elixiriis. Huser, vol. I, p. 819. De Natura Rerum, lib. VII: De Transmutatione Rerum Naturalium. Huser, vol. I, p. 899. 318 Among these naturiilists Ferdinand Jahn is pre-eminent and notable for having anticipated some of the speculative elements which were later put on a sound observational basis by Virchow. See Pagel, W.: The speculative basis of modern pathology. Jahn, Virchow and the Philosophy of Pathology. Bull. Hist. Med., 1945, XVIII, 1-43.

314 315 816 817

Life and Spirit

117

In an even wider sense Paracelsus makes putrefaction the mother of all transmutation. Just as digestion changes food, putrefaction changes the shape of objects, their nature, colour, smell and properties. It will convert what is healthy into poison but will just as easily reverse the process. For does not the gospel tell us: "Except a grain of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone, but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit" ?319 The power of putrefaction as the basic principle in generation seems to be unlimited. As it can be employed in the laboratory it opens to the "expert spagyricus" the perspective of attainment to the "highest and greatest magnale and divine mystery, the highest secret and miracle revealed to mortal man by God". Thus mucilaginous matter prepared from the ash of a bird may be reconverted into the bird and the artificial man, the "homunculus", prepared in a test tube. The secret of how to make the "homunculus" was known to the "Wunderleut" (Miracle Men) of old who were themselves begotten by the process. It shall remain secret to the end of days, when everything will he manifest. A recipe is given, however. It prescribes: let a man's semen putrefy in a sealed vessel for 40 days at the highest possible temperature - until some movement can he seen. It will then resemble a human shape, hut he transparent and without a "body". It now needs feeding daily with the "arcanum" of human blood, for 40 weeks, after which it will develop into a real human child with all its limbs, only smaller.320

Life, soul, spirit, astral body and air Life to Paracelsus is "virtue" and function. At the same time it is a concrete, though invisible and incomprehensible thing, a "balsam", i.e. something not merely spiritual, but of finest corporality. It comes to us from and through the air - for "air gives all things their life". There is nothing corporeal that has not a "spiritual thing" hidden in itself. Hence to Paracelsus all things are alive - there is nothing that has no life hidden within itself. "For what else is life but a spiritual thing?" "Life" or "spirit", being a "power and virtue", is permanent and not subject to death and decay, as against the body in which it works. When this dies, the spirit returns to its origin, namely to the air and "chaos" of the lower or upper firmament. The world of bodies is a replica of the world of spirits. For there are as many spirits as there are bodies: celestial, sublunar, human, metal, mineral, salt, herb, wood, flesh, blood, bone. 31 9 De Natura Rerum. Neun Biicher. Lib. I: De Generationihus Rerum Naturalium. Huser, vol. I, pp. 881-885.

118


These spirits come to us from the stars; they are "astral bodies". They carry with them life, function and individual specificity. Hence the life of man is an "astral balsam", a "balsamic impression", a "celestial and invisible fire", "air enclosed in body", a "tinging Salt Spirit"321, whereas the humours are but fuel for the fire of life. 322 Life is comparable to fire that "lives" in wood, in resins and in oily substances. In directing metabolic processes it acts like ,a "ferment which makes bread and digests the body. 323 At the same time, it is a "preservative", the "virtue" - the "elixir" which maintains the body as such. Such "elixirs" are found in all objects of nature, for example in wood, as there is nothing in nature that is not "alive". In man the "elixir" has to fight against "stercoral corruption" - the "spiritus stercorum" in the gut, which "battles with the preservative". Animal life is localised in the heart. It is here, that the true soul which God formed in Adam resides. 324 320 321

322 323

324

See later our chapter on Paracelsus and the Kabhala, p. 215. De Natura Rerum. Lib. IV. De Vita rerum naturalium. Huser I, p. 889. The "virtue of a thing lies in a spirit, not in a body". Ibid., p. 890h. Das Buch vom langen Leben. Huser I, p. 832. Archidoxis. Lib. VIII: De Elixiriis. Huser, vol. I, 819. Sudhoff, vol. III, p. 187, reads with Huser: "also wir das praeservatif ein elixir heissen, wie ein fermentum das Brot machet, als das den leib auch dirigirt", i.e. which "directs" the body. The reading: "also dz den leib digeriert", i.e. "digests" as given in the German edition (Basie 1570), p. 69 (quoted from Sudhoff's critical apparatus to vol. III, p. 524), seems to be preferable as it denotes "fermental" action. In view of the "governing" role attributed to ferments by Van Helmont, the reading "directs" could he defended. Azoth s. De ligno et linea vitae, cap. 2. Huser II, p. 521. Ed. Sudhoff (among the spurious treatises) in vol. XIV, p. 550~ Ritter, Heinr.: Geschichte der christlichen Philosophie, vol. V, Hamburg 1850, pp. 532 et seq., drew attention to the fact that in some Paracelsean works "Geist" (spirit) denotes sometliing inferior to "Seele" (soul) - contrary to the usual terminology. Thus "Geist" can stand for the vegetative soul thaffloats on the pericardia! fluid, whereas "Soul" is used for the "Divine Breath" that dwells in the centre of the heart. - There is a distinct materialistic ring about Paracelsus' concept of higher and lower soul - which are in need of food: "For leaven and ferment are Christ, and verbum domini is the word of the father that has become matter and is the material food of the soul. Such a word is present in each object, in which it dwells like a soul." The highest soul lives on "heavenly manna" - the materially substantial word of God, the "middle soul" on animal food which stems from the bigger soul of the world, and the lowest soul in our organs on "sal-nitric" food. Lib. Azoth, loc. cit., p. 557. See also: Philos. Sagax, lib. II, cap. I. Huser II, p. 433. This materialistic view is in conformity with the high position attributed to the body in the theological doctrine of Paracelsus. According to Goldammer (Paracelsus: N atur und Offenbarung, Hannover 1953, pp. 96 et seq.) the sacrament serves to renew the psychosomatic harmony. Paracelsus sees ethical, moral and religious life in the light of natural philosophy which makes natural law and predestination paramount and seems to leave little to free will and human action. Paracelsus reveals here the internal inconsistencies of his doctrine - for it was free will which he had emphasised in contrast to traditional astrology. See Ritter, loc. cit., p. 544, 1850.

119

Soul - "Astral Body"

Figura Mundi.

Figura Ho minis.

~4r4n; b4nn ar~ie a&erma!)f tj fetn aufc6cn ~nnb mfermn t~1 fOlC Fig. 10. Man - an Inverted Cosmos: The divine Light and Spirit ("Spiraculum Vitae") dwells outside and above the elemental world, but occupies the innermost centre of man. Outside the latter there is the darkness of the earth and the abyss of hell - which in tum occupy the centre of the cosmos. The same inversion of order applies to the concentric layers of the elements ("spiritual water" in the greater world corresponding to fire and mind in man; fire corresponding to air and soul, "sydereal spirits", including the" Evestrum" through which man receives messages from the outside world and can make forecasts concerning cosmic events, and reason - ; air corresponding to water and blood; elemental water corresponding to earth and flesh). From: lntroductio Hominis oder kurtze Anleitung zu einem Christlichen Gottseligen Leben, p. 240 in: Philosophia Mystica, darinn hegriffen Eilff unterschiedene TheologicoPhilosophische, doch teutsche tractaetlein, zum theil auss Theophrasti Paracelsi, zum theil auch M.Valentirii Weigelii. .• manuscriptis. Newstadt. Lucas Jennis. 1618. See Fig. 8 reproducing the title page.

The heart occupies the position of the earth in the greater world, containing "Life" - the counterpart of water - and "Soul" - corresponding to air. "Floating above the water, on the capsule of the heart" (not in the heart), is the spirit or soul and "king of the human animal". This is different from the life that dwells nearby in the peripheral members

120

121


"Astral Body" - Power of Imagination

clothed with fiesh and blood. Nor is it identical with the "genuine soul of man", the "breath of God", that dwells in the centre of the heart.

weather are perceived in advance by people, notably the sick, owing to the "Donum Aegrorum", the "gift" with which they are endowed. Man can thus signify things "present, past and future" and thereby inform us as to the way in which the elements operate. From the changes shown by wine kept in a cellar we may conclude the time when the vine flowers in the vineyard.

Here, then, three "Lives and Beings" - all of a spiritual nature - are distinguished: the "breath of God", a divine emanation introduced into man, the "spirit of the human animal" 325 and the multifarious life that dwells in the muscles and organs, in flesh and blood. 326 Locating life and soul in the heart, Paracelsus follows the biblical tradition and was hardly influenced by Aristotelianism. Nor did he entirely subordinate the brain to the heart - for he regarded the former as the centre of reason and the seat of certain though not all mental diseases. There is, however, in Paracelsus' opinion, a constant movement of spirit from the heart upwards to the brain, for all that is volatile has a tendency to climb up. The heart thus corresponds to the Sun and the brain to the Moon and so do all the remedies that are applicable to them, a doctrine that is in conformity with Greek tradition. 327

The Astral Body Man has an elemental and a super-elemental body - the "astral body" ("corpus sidereum"). This is the body which "teaches man" - for flesh and blood have nothing to impart hut carnal desire. Through the astral body man communicates with the super-elemental world of the astra. Its secrets - the "adepta philosophia" and "magnalia naturae" - will thus he revealed to him.328 In this connection "astra" stands for "virtues" in general and man can only recognise them by his "astral body". This is thus the most important instrument of the naturalist and physician. For the "semina" which embody and carry all the "virtues" of natural objects, of all qualities and notably all specificity, are "astral". 329 Man can derive information about the outside world through communication between it and his "astral body". Similarly, through the astral body, man can indicate or predict conditions in the outside world. This is seen when changes of the moon, astral conjunctions, and the state of the 3 25 326

327

328

329

Necrocomicum, i.e. animal soul. Necrococomicum, i.e. "mannigfaltiges leben", "unterschiedliches vielerlei leben" of the "musculi des gantzen menschen". See W. Pagel in: Mediaeval and Renaissance Contribution to the Knowledge and Philosophy of the Brain. Symposium held at the Wellcome House, London, July 1957. In Press. Astronomia Magna oder die ganze Philosophia sagax der grossen und kleinen Welt (1537/38), cap. 8: Probatio in scientiam medicinae adeptae. Ed. Sudhoff, vol. XII, p. 196. "Also muss aus den sternen die eigenschaft der samen gehen, so in inen ligen." Philosophia Sagax, cap. XI. Ed. Sudhoff, vol. XII, p. 253.

Dreams indicate certain works of nature that are in progress at the time. For example a dream in which water or fish occur points to the maturation of minerals, salts, metals, sand etc. which are all products of this element. If the fish seen in the dream is in any way imperfect, the mineral products maturing at this time will show similar imperfections. Flying or catching birds in a dream indicates the evaporation ("Exaltation") of dew ("tereniahin") in the air; if the Hight is impeded, the dew will not go up as it should. 330

Although invisible the astral body is not immortal. It vanishes to· gether with the elemental body - in contrast to the immortal and divine spirit,331

The Power of Imagination The Renaissance has been called the period which discovered man and his power in the universe. Paracelsus is a true child of this period. He extols man and his power which even reaches the stars and can influence them more than they can influence man. This power is twofold. It lies first in the concentration of all matter and spirit of heaven and earth in man, i.e. in his microcosmic naiure. Secondly, man's power derives from his most potent instrument, the imagination. It is a spiritual power and the role attributed to it by Paracelsus reveals his basic idea that the spirit dominates the body. It is also a characteristic Paracelsean idea that there should he two bodies in man, the visible and the invisible, and that the invisible one should he the more powerful. The latter is recognised hut indirectly by its effects - just as the power of the sun, which may burn down houses, is invisible. Similarly "what else is imagination hut a sun in man which acts throughout his circle ?"332 Finally, all action is through imagination - "as all heaven is nothing hut imagination; it acts on man, causes plague and other disease, not through bodily instruments, hut through its form ("Gestalt"), as the sun kindles fire". 333 330

331 332 333

Philos. Sagax, lib. I, cap. 9. Von dem Dono Aegrorum. Ed. Sudhoff, vol. XII, p. 261. Philos. Sagax. Das ander Buch, cap. I. Ed. Sudhoff, vol. XII, p. 288. Fragm. libri de virtute Imaginativa IV. Philos. Magna I, 15. Ed. Sudhoff, vol. XIV, 310. Ibid., p. 311.

122

123


Imagination - Semen - Contagiwn

Imagination is an "astral", i.e. a celestial force. It is thus capable of lifting man up and joining him to cosmic matter, the "primordial man". Hence, without any physical labour, man is "up-graded" or "reverberated" in his soul whereby the "long life" of such biblical figures as Enoch ("Enochdiani") is conferred upon him.3 34 Imagination acts through magnetic attraction on an object in the outside world. This is "drawn into" the person who is exerting imaginative powers and then "impressed" on another person. Hence imagination ("belief") misused can inflict most grievous harm. It is "like an invisible nettle, invisible Celandine or Troll". 335 If we have sufficient faith our prayer can make people crooked or lame and convert natural into supernatural disease. Belief, therefore, is like a weapon that needs careful handling. The more a person is given to speculation, the more powerful is his imagination. "He may give birth to a spirit, may exercise the gahalistic art and - like a magnet - will find nothing too difficult for him." Such people are often mistaken for saints. 336 Women are superior in this respect to men as their emotions, their hatred and lust for vengeance, are stronger. Hence women should not he left to melancholy thoughts; they should he humoured, kept cheerful and in company given to simple straightforward thinking. If a woman has a trade and this does not prosper, her unsatisfied capacity and imagination may contaminate the goods she sells. Nor should a woman have and rear too many children, as her wrath will impress itself on them. 337 A woman may die in childhed wishing in wrath and anger that all the world may die with her. This strong imaginative volition may convert itself into a spirit. Such a spirit can act by means of the ("menstrual") birth discharge as its material instrument and thus generate an epidemic.

Since man is made from heavenly matter, heaven is not too far away to he reached and acted upon by human imagination. Just as the stars send us poisonous influence, we may send poison to the stars. This is seen in the causation of the plague. The pestilential agent is formed by and in the stars after the effluvia of sinful human imagination have reached them. 338 But imagination may also work more directly in plague. The news that my brother was carried away by the plague abroad may "reverberate" in myself so much that it finally displays an action similar to that of the semen in conception, kindle the disease in myself and thereby create the _source of an epidemic. 339 This can propagate itself not only through contaminated air, hut also by the transmission of morbid, pestilential imagination from one person to the other. Hence one part of plague prophylaxis is to keep people cheerful and pleasantly occupied. Fright is one of the most dangerous emotions - it is the coward who is killed in wars, and he who imagines himself a reborn Roman warrior wins.

234 De Vita Longa, lib. V (1526/27). Book IV, cap. 6. Ed. Sudhoff, vol. III, p. 283. See Jung, C. G.: Paracelsica, Ziirich 1942, p. 89 on the transference of such chemical notions as "gradation" (i.e. perfection of weight, colour and durability) and "reverberation" (i.e. calcination by brisk fire) to actions of the "soul". "Imagination", in Jung's opinion, stands for "meditation". 335 Celandine is Chelidonium and Troll corresponds to "Trioll" or "Trollblume" or"Trollius" (see Aschner's translation, vol. I, p. 231, and Strebel: Paracelsus' Werke, vol. I, p. 344). 336 Fragm. De Virtute Imaginative IV. Philos. Magna I. Ed. Sudhoff, vol. XIV, p. 314. 337 Ibid., p. 315: In a pregnant woman the foetus provides the "building material" for maternal imagination. "The child is the earth and what it surrounds the celestial sphere and globe. Thus, by virtue of her imagination the woman is the artist and the child the canvas on which to raise the work" (Fiinff Biicher De Causis Morbor. lnvisib., lib. III. Huser, vol. I, p. 97). It is thus that birthmarks and malformations arise. A woman who has conceived an image, for example of a snail, may grasp her knee a movement exactly coinciding with her imagination. The image is now on the knee of the child.

Imagination, Semen and Contagium Imagination has a strong effect on the world of material objects. It alters things existing and generates new things. Hence its close assocation with the concept of the "Semina" in the world of Paracelsus. "Semen" is something superadded to the human body. It is "on" it rather than "in" it. For it is linked with the sphere of will, imagination and desire. It is thus different from corporeal "sperma" which is merely a secretion cleansing the kidneys and comparable to mucus excreted by the brain and nose or the yellow bile ("cholera") discharged with ear wax. To regard such spermatic fiuid as the active semen is "one of the greatest fallacies that was ever entertained by physicians". 340 By contrast, the active semen is distributed throughout the individual limbs and organs. It is contained in their "vital fiuid" - "that of the hands in the hands, that of the feet in the feet, that of the heart in the heart, and that of the brain in the brain". As soon as it is made active it separates from the "vital fiuid" - "like a foam from soup and an effervescence from wine",341 338 See our account of Paracelsus' plague theories on p. 179. 339 Von der Imagination und wie sie in ir exaltation kompt und gebracht wird. De Occulta Philosophia printed under Spuria No. 8. Sudhoff, vol. XIV, p. 527. 340 Das Buch von dcr Gebiirung der empfindlichen Dinge in der Vemunft, tract. I, cap. 4. Ed. Sudhoff, vol. I, p. 260. 341 Ibid., p. 259. The comparison with foam is, of course, borrowed from Aristotle (De Gener. Anim., II, 2; 735b and 736a), but by contrast its production is located not in the generative organs, but in each organ and limb. For Aristotle's refutation of the theory "that the semen comes from each and every part of the body" (De Gener. Anim., I, 18; 722a and 766b) see translation and footnotes by A. Platt, Oxford 1910. Semen is due to secretion or excretion. Ibid., I, 18; 724b.

124

Imagination - Semen - Contagium


The activating process is due to a magnetic attraction exerted by the will. Nothing happens unless "the lodestone attracts this semen", and it is a magnetic force in the womb that acts as the lodestone.342 This "magnetic" process is set into motion by imagination and desire following the perception of an object, for example a beautiful woman.

125

of the female which offends the appropriate chaste star - Venus. Contagion is thus due to a propagating - "infectious" - seed. It infects water - just as semen acts on water when using it as the matrix from which new generations are made. 348

The "semen lies in speculation". It is thus that Paracelsus gave ex· pression to these ideas already in what seems to he one of his earliest treatises (believed to have been written about 1520).343 Later he said: "Phantasy is the mother of the semen". 344 The process is also compared with the kindling of a fire. It is by imaginative speculation that vital fluid is converted into active semen - just as the heat of the sun sets wood alight. Semen is a fire kindled in the microcosm by an object of the outside world. It develops when the will of man becomes "entangled" ("verhengt") with the object.345 The superior strength of imagination of one partner as compared with the other de· cides the sex of the child begotten,346 To obtain ultimate perfection the semen needs the co-operation of "heaven" - the preparer and cook, the spirit and builder of all semen - and the element water takes the place of the ground into which the seed is sown. 347 Mother, father and celestial body each bring their own semen to growth and by complete concordance with each other can beget a perfect "fruit". If there is no concordance, monsters are produced or the semen of contagion, notably plague. The latter is the product of lascivious imagination on the part

342

Ibid., p. 259. der sam in der speculation ligt." Das Buch von der Geblirung der empfindlichen Dinge in der Vernunft, tract. I, cap. 4. Ed. Sudhoff, vol. I, p. 256. 344 Liber De Generatione Hominis. Ed. Huser, vol. II, pp. 63 and 66. 345 "So also der willen des menschen verhengt in das object, als dan wird diser liquor zu einem Samen. gleich als wan die biz der sonnen anziint ein holz ... also ist das object, ziindet an dem andern sein microcosmum, das er brennet, und wird ein same daraus, wie aus dem holz ein feur." Buch von der Geblirung, loc. cit. Sudhoff, vol. I, p. 259. 346 Liber de Generat. Hominis, loc. cit. Here again we see ancient Greek theories of generation emerge (as before concerning the "foamy" nature of the semen, see footnote 341). In fact, Paracelsus combines the ancient - "atomistic" - theory of "Pangenesis" and that of "Epikrateia" and gives them a Parcelsean twist. According to the Pangenesis theory all parts of the body contribute to and contain the germinative matter. Its founder appears to be Democritus. The Epikrateia theory is older and goes back to Alkmaion of Kroton, who attributed sex-determination to the superior strength or quantity of paternal or maternal semen. For detail relating to these ancient theories see Lesky, E.: Die Zeugungs- und Vererbungslehren der Antike und ihr Nachwirken. Akad. Wiss. Mainz 1950, Abh. Geistes- und Sozialwiss. Klasse, Nr. 19, pp. 33 and 70. (To this cf. Temkin, O.,in Gnomon, 1955, XXVII, 115-119). The Paracelsean "twist" is the subordination of both theories to the all-powerful influence of Imagination - a further example of his tendency to "spiritualise" matter. 347 Water is also a powerful adjuvant of imagination. "Any imagination will gain in strength when projected on to water" ("Denn eine jegliche imagination geht durchs wasser am krefftigsten" Fiinff Biicher De Causis Morbor. Invisib. III, Huser, vol. I, p. 97). In animals imagination is fed by the reflection of their colours in water. 343 " •••

3'8

De Pestilitate (a probably unauthentic treatise). Ed. Sudhoff, vol. XIV, p. 613. We shall discuss the seed-theory of contagion in the chapter on Plague, p. 182.

The cures of Paracelsus

Medicine Introduction Paracelsus' Fame as based on his development of chemical therapy. Ancient Medicine and Paracelsus' Opposition to it in general terms During his life-time, Paracelsus' fame rested largely on the strangeness of his behaviour, hut partly also on his cures which, rumour had it, bordered on the miraculous. Belief in the efficacy of his prescriptions - as against the weakness of conventional medicines - led to the adoption of his theories among students of medicine in the period following the death of the master. This is well set out by the Paracelsist Adam of Bodenstein (1528-1577). Defending himself against the accusation that he had broken away from Galenic teaching to which he owed his medical education and prosperity, he says: "In 1556 I suffered from a tertian fever which developed into a continua, then into a quarternary type, followed by tympanitis and persisting for four and fifty weeks - in spite of the care of such honest and learned men as Doctor Oswald Beer and Dr. John Huber. Finally reduced to an extreme condition of danger, I accepted extreme physic (extremum remedium). It was given to me by a friend, a practitioner, Cyriacus Legher. Its ingredients were: spiritus vitrioli, liquor serapini, laudani and such like. At this time I regarded Paracelsus, the author of such recipes, as an impostor - but within four and thirty days I was rid of all disease. At this time I was acting as a physician in ordinary to my Lord Otho Heinrich, Count Palatine of the Rhine and Elector - who had graciously prompted me to give attention to Theophrastus' (Paracelsus) treatises. Thus I became a secret follower of Paracelsus and used the arcana recommended by him for myself and my patients with such spectacular success that I was suspected to have conjured the devil."

But enthusiasm for Paracelsus' medicine was not universal at any time. Erastus was soon to codify the criticism which had already been so violent in Paracelsus' life-time. Bodenstein's account reflects the criticism and opposes it briefly: Ungrateful people, he said, objected that the relief afforded by Paracelsean cures is of short duration, it is a sham ("ein fucus") - for the disease will soon recur. "But should I", continues Bodenstein, "who have rid the shrunken, lame, syphilitic, dropsic, epileptic, podagric, calculous and deaf of their diseases - should I first give an under-

127

taking that such diseases cannot recur? Is such an undertaking whithin human power, considering that food, drink and the elements contain the poison causing as well as the antidote to these diseases? Was there ever a doctor who could insure anybody against future wounds or fever, blows falling, sadness, joy, wrath, ulcers internal or external, etc.; although he had been once cured of one of them?" True, the ancients possessed important means of maintaining health - but Paracelsean physic, prepared "through Vulcanus", is more spirit-like and therefore more subtle and efficacious. If administered throughout the year in appropriate dosage, it acts in reality and not by suggestion or the confidence the patient has in his doctor. And then they said, a simple goldsmith or silversmith should be able to prepare such metallic sulphur, salt or mercury as was prescribed by Paracelsus. Is it all futile and vain because none of it can be found in the books even by those who are well versed in Latin, Greek and Hebrew ?1

It is only fair to mention in this connection the reports of curative failures and errors attributed to Paracelsean methods, especially in the hands of boastful empirics. We refer to the cases reported by Erastus and Wier 2, although the latter professes to use Paracelsean methods himself and to he conscious of the importance of chemistry in medicine and of the merits of Paracelsus and contemporary Paracelseans. 3 The passionate attack and defence which make Paracelsus a controversial figure even to-day, leave no doubt as to the deep impression and influence of his personality and especially of the cures which he performed. For these, posterity had various explanations to offer. Paracelsus appreciated medical chemistry. Hence his use in therapy of chemicals such as mercury, arsenic, antimony - in themselves superior in action to the Galenic herbs. At the same time, the study of chemistry enabled him to derive extracts from herbs which were hound to achieve more than the 1

2

3

"Vorred" zu Paracelsi's Schreyben von den Kranckheyten, so die vernunfft berauben als da sein S. Veyts Tantz Hinfallender Siechtage etc. Basel 1567. The four "Disputations on the New Medicine of Philip Paracelsus" by Erastus (1572/73) will be discussed in detail under: Erastus' Censure of Paracelsus at the end of the present work. The reports of Erastus will be discussed later (p. 327). - De Praestigiis Daemonum Lib. II. De Magis lnfamibus, cap. 18. Joannis Wieri Opp. Omnia. Amstelod. 1660, p. 152. "Neque hie chymian haud levem medicinae partem elevo, quam magnifacio, uti et omnes mecum veteris medicinae cultores : eamque nunc mire exornari, est quod arti nostrae gratuler: ejus· quoque potentia contra quoscumque morbos extrahi spiritus et olea, pulveres et sales confici ex sulphure, vitriolo, antimonio, et id genus mineralibus reliquis, uti et metallicis, libenter agnosco ut qui ilia penes me habeam, nee infeliciter utar." Wier, loc. cit., p. 153. See also: Wierus, Liber Apologeticus adversus Leonis Suavii calumnias, Opp. 1660, loc. cit., p. 623; particularly p. 630 where Wierus admits having opposed Paracelsus for his invectives against ancient and contemporary medicine, but not for the useful part of his work. Wierus also sides with Paracelsus' enemy Erastus, in those cases where the latter has confuted him, especially in the use of superstitious and magic cures. A passage on p. 629 deals with Paracelsus' possible "occult" predecessors, notably Roger Bacon and Picus l\lirandulanus.

128

Medicine

medical "soup kitchen" of his time. From his antagonism to humoral pathology and its therapeutic quietism, follows his own active attitude to therapy. His "scientific" and in particular "biochemical" outlook made him appear as a "modern". Finally, he has been accused of using homoeopathy and even sheer trickery. We do not intend to enter into the causes of Paracelsus' fame, the reality of his curative successes or the reasons which account for them. His knowledge and use of superior and "modem" sounding therapeutic devices, such as mercury to promote diuresis, are undisputed. So are his superior methods of detoxicating dangerous chemical compounds, which thereby became suitable for therapeutic purposes. 4 What we wish to examine here is his "Philosophy" of Disease and to what extent it provides a platform for his therapeutic maxims. In antiquity, disease was attributed to an upset of the humoral equilibrium. 5 There was too much or too little of the cardinal humours and qualities in the individual, i.e. of blood, mucus, black and yellow bile, of dryness, dampness, heat or cold. In other words, the cause of disease was largely endogenous. It was man himself, his constitution or habits of life. There was one disease only - "distemper". In this, no other variation occurred than that of signs and symptoms which differed according to the "constitution" of the patient,_ i.e. his individual mixture of humours and qualities. Hence prognosis of the distemper, rather than diagnosis of one of many diseases, was the aim of the ancient physicians and therapy consisted in "adding what was lacking" and "withdra~ing what was in excess". Remedies, notably herbs, were examined for qualities which would make good losses or remove excess. A slender body of empirical observations had been developed into elaborate, almost juridical and syllogistic systems of pharmacology. The philosophical background of humoralism had been the ideas of the pre-Socratic thinkers, who pondered about Nature ("Physis"), about the unity that presumably rules behind the multiplicity of objects and phenomena. This unity had been attributed in tum to the 4

5

See for detail our chapters on the Progressive Aspects of Paracelsus p. 200 and Final Assessment p. 344. Ancient Medicine, General Characteristics: see Sigerist, H. E., Antike Heilkunde. Heimeran, Miinchen 1927, pp. 11-24 and passim. Diepgen, P,: Geschichte der Medizin. Berlin 1949, vol. I, pp. 77 et seq. Pagel, W.: Prognosis and Diagnosis, A comparison of Ancient and Modern Medicine. J. Warburg Institute, 1939, II, 382. Temkin, 0.: Greek Medicine as Science and Craft. Isis, 1953, XLIV, 213. Riese, Walter, The Conception of Disease. Its History, its Versions and its Nature. New York. Philosophical Library. 1953, pp. 41-46 (The Galenic or physiological conception of disease) and p. 78 (The ontological conception).

Elements - Principles - Diseases

129

predominance of one of the elements, Water, Air, Fire, Earth, or of such general notions as "Being" versus "Change", or, finally, to atoms that were identical in character hut formed a variety of combinations. The elements in the greater world correspond in quality to the humours in the lesser world that is man. Plato first conceived this idea of the parallelism of macrocosm and microcosm. We have seen that it forms the basic conception of the philosophy of Paracelsus. The "Elements", "Matrices" and the "Tria Prima" ("Salt", "Sulphur" and "Mercury") Yet Paracelsus utterly opposed and destroyed the ancient humoral ideas and allied concepts of disease. The upsetting of the humoral balance in the ancient sense appeared to him more as a formula than a reality. To him, the four humours and complexions could not explain the large variety of diseases. Paracelsus believed them to enter the human body from outside. In place of the constitution, paramount in ancient pathology, he emphasised the intimate relationship between man and the outside world. In the latter no humoral complexion was operative. There were the "Elements", Water, Air, Fire, Earth - not as elementary constituents of every object, however, hut merely as "matrices", as harbours which provide a platform on which the really fundamental building materials can generate various objects. These "elementary" materiais ap· peared to he either the essential factor operative in combustion (~ulphu~), or something fluid and changeable (Mercury), or finally somethmg solid and permanent (Salt). As we have seen, salt, sulphur and mercury denote in the first place principles directing the condition of matter rather than actual chemic~! substances, hut as terms explaining individual phenomena their symbolic character should not he overrated. "Salt", for example, is also used for a substance with distinct chemical, physiological and pathogenic properties. It is salt which quite generally accounts for ulcer formation in the skin. Salt is excreted and deposited in the skin as if it were a salt mine. Salt alone is the cause of the "offene schiiden". 6 The objects formed by Salt, Sulphur and Mercury vary in their prop· erties according to the matrix in which they are generated, in which they appear as their specific "fruit". In spite of these differences, however, Paracelsus postulates that they correspond to each other. s Wundtartzney II, cap. IO. Ed. Huser, 1605, pp. 69 et seq.

130

A certain fungus, for example, is a "fruit" of the earth - yet it has its equivalent in a "fruit" of water, where it occurs as "vitriol". Arsenic is a mineral product of water the same arsenic emerges from the earth, again, as a certain fungus. In other words, these objects are (a) produced by the fundamental building materials (Sulphur, Mercury, Salt), and (b) marked out in appearance and function by the matrix (Earth, Water, Air, Fire) in which they were generated. In principle, however, they are similar to each other or even identical. Hence they are not merely the transient individual objects which we handle in everyday life, but constitute certain "Species". As such, they deserve a fixed name. For example "I shall say: Vitriolum terrae album that is Pfifferling (a species of mushroom), Vitriolum aquae that is copper water etc."

It is the contention of Paracelsus that each disease is a specific "species" or "fruit" as is any other object in nature. The lliadus. Diseases as "Fruits" of the human "Iliadus" Diseases as Species The sum total of species which can he generated by the fundamental materials (Salt, Sulphur, Mercury) in a given matrix is called Iliadus. Each of these matrices has its own Iliadus. There is one of Earth, one of Water, one of Fire and one of Air - and one of Man. For Man, in whose formation and maintenance all objects and elements of the greater world have a part, represents a matrix comparable to one of those enumerated. In the Iliadus of one of the matrices we find minerals growing, in one patch vitriol, in another marcasite 7, and so on. 8 Similarly the Iliadus of Man is liable to grow "fruit", whereby something is made visible that is normally not apparent. This manifestation of something invisible is the disease. It is a process which brings to the surface mineral constituents which are normally fully integrated in the bodily substance and hence invisible. It is in this sense that diseases are regarded as the "fruits" of the Iliados in man, each corresponding to one mineral grown in the earth. "For the fruits are called Minerals and are taken for Minerals. Thus when you see Erysipelas, say there is Vitriol. When you see Cancer, say there is Colcothar.9 If you see Lupus say there is Plumosum. 1 For it is such species that you shall observe, and examine

°

7

Diseases as species

Medicine

"Marcasite" is an immature metallic substance which may in the course of development assume the properties of one metal or another. For example, marcasite of lead is antimony, white marcasite is bismuth. See Castelli Lexicon Med. Lips. 1713, p. 482. s Man as "Matrix" and "lliadus" giving birth to disease as a "fruit". Fragmenta Medica ad Paramirum. Huser, vol. I, p. 135. Also: Opus Paramirum Lib. IV De Origine Morb. Matricis. Huser, vol. I, pp. 78-80. 9 "Fixed vitriol", the residue - caput mortuum - of vitriol after distillation. 10 A saline substance in man; otherwise a kind of alum. Castelli, loc. cit., p. 595.

131

in what way the minerals of the outside world and those in man correspond to each other ...". "Or take Alopecia. This corresponds to roughness of the bark in the element of Earth, to rust in Water, to dust11 in the element of Air and to lightning in that of Fire." In other words, diseases form "species". These differ in material composition - differences which they have in common with their counterparts in the outside world. Two diseases such as Erysipelas and Cancer differ from each other as much as vitriol and colcothar, i.e. in their chemical constitution. Each disease is thus characterised as an entity in itself, with its own material structure and function. Moreover, it is a "mineral" in that it corresponds to one of the "minerals" in the greater world or in a broader sense to a certain "fruit" in each of the media (matrices) of the greater world: Earth, Water, Air and Fire. There are thus as many diseases as there are "species". To Paracelsus diseases are "Species", real substances that are well defined in chemical composition. Health is the Iliadus which does not "give fruit". For it is the evil which is thrown up and out; for example, gold may appear where it spells disease in the iliadus of earth. Hence disease is identical with its equivalent minerals and metals. In the same way as these, it is associated with certain places - just as a disease may he "endemic" or confined to certain individuals or associated with certain organs (localism). In this way disease resembles a mine and so does man when he becomes subject to it.12 Motivation of Paracelsus' Opposition to Humoralism Antagonism to ancient humoralism in Paracelsus can he traced to a variety of motives. It is partly emotional and hound up with his iconoclasm and resentment against the ruling powers in contemporary science and medicine. The new epoch, which he felt began with him, needed new methods and orientation. Moreover, a sound naturalism made him sceptical of the real existence and significance of humours and qualities, such as warm, cold, moist or dry; he did not, however, doubt the role of agents that are sour, salty, corrosive or acid. Podagra, for example, is caused by such "chemical" action of acid "catarrh" ("Fliissen") hut not by any of the "qualities", however "cold" or "hot" are the external appearances the 11

12

The text has "St." (or "st." in Sudhoff's ed., vol. IX, p. 240). Sudhoff's notes offer no alternative. We would tentatively suggest either: "Staub" (dust) or "Stern" (star). Man as a mine. Fragm. Medicum ad Op. Paramirum. Ed. Huser, I, p. 135.

132

Medicine

disease produces. Such appearances are incidental and rather the result of the disease, of its "work" and "labour", i.e. the struggle between health and sickness in man.13 Van Helmont took up the same argument directed against the "qualities", maintaining at the same time the importance of what is "acid" and "corrosive" in the causation of disease. In this Van Helmont refers hack to Hippocrates who - more correctly than Galen - had said that "diseases are not heat or cold, hut something acid, sharp, hitter and biting. " 14 There was also, finally, an anti-materialistic trend. Paracelsus fully recognised the importance of matter. This is expressed in his preference for Chemistry. But what he wanted to find in matter and elucidate by chemical methods were the "virtues" hidden in it rather than its elementary composition. These "virtues" effect chemical changes that are deeper than those of quality and complexion, i.e. mere alteration of component parts. This is of particular interest in disease and its cure. Disease is not driven out by any of the "qualities" which we observe in the "elements" ("Elementische Art"), hut by certain "virtues". It does not help us to know whether a "disease is hot or cold". Fever is "hot", yet not driven away by "cold", hut by a "virtue". Heat and cold come under the heading of "regime", like diet - they can he employed by the physician as auxiliary factors. For heat and cold are after-effects, products of the disease, rather than primary factors in its causation. An ulcer ("offener Schaden") is "hot", when the "salt" causing it or excreted into it is "hot", and burns like a stinging nettle. If this salt is "defeated" ("gewaltigt"), the "heat" disappears. The flow observed in ulcers and causing them is due to soluble salt which attracts water and is excreted into the skin, resulting in erosion and ulceration. Hence to dry up a flux is palliative, not real therapy the flow will continue. But if the salt is made insoluble, i.e. coagulated, the flux will cease. A laxative acts not because it is cold or hot, hut because of its "specific" virtue. What is necessary in the cure of ulcers is to "master the salts" ("dass die Salia gemeistert werden").15 Ia

14

15

Von den natiirlichen Dingen (Das erst Buch). Vom Terpentin, von schwarzer und weisser Nieswurz, vom Wasserblut, vom Salz etc. etc. (? 1525), cap. 2. Ed. Sudhoff, vol. II, p. 79. Van Helmont, Blas Humanum, 52. See Pagel, W.: J. B. Van Helmont. Springer, Berlin 1930, p. 16. Hippocrates, Ancient Medicine, XV. Ed. W. H. S. Jones, vol. I, London (Loeb) 1923, p. 40: "For it is not the heat which possesses the great power, but the astringent and the insipid." ("Ov yae TO #eeµ6v l
Opposition to Humoralism

133

In replacing the ancient humours and qualities by salt considered as causing ulceration of the skin, Paracelsus uses terms which appear to us more realistic and more akin to modern chemistry than those of his predecessors. This new chemical interpretation still seems to explain pathology in terms of changes of matter. What chiefly interests Paracelsus, however, is not the salt as a chemical substance, hut its condition which renders it harmful or harmless. It is thus the relationship between "virtue" and man with which he is concerned; in other words a function and "power" in matter rather than matter itself is the object of his research. In conclusion: Diseases differ according to the interaction of the three fundamental principles of substance - Salt, Sulphur, Mercury - with the elements ("matrices") - Earth, Fire, Air, Water - and the seals which the latter impress on their offspring ("fruit"). This interaction takes place in the universe, whereby the various species of objects are formed. It likewise occurs in the body - whereby the various disease-species are created. Finally, the same interaction is responsible for the appropriate remedies appearing in or from the earth in the form of minerals or plants. The physician has to imitate these interactions in order to transmute a substance, to give it a new "Gestalt", to lead it away from its "first life" in which it is no remedy against decay. From this it is horn to a new, its "second life", in which it displays its virtues. Thus, a rose in all the grandeur and fragrance of its "first life" has no medicinal action. It will acquire it when it has lost its fragrance. It is then that its invisible virtues become visible.

The action of Mercury, Sulphur and Salt in causing disease Mercury "ascending" through "sublimation" may cause apoplexy - when it is deposited like "tartar" in the walls of the vessels. In other cases, Salt is held responsible. When it expands ("sich auftreibt") and is secreted in places where it should not be - such as the skin - ulcers, cancer or gangrene will develop. Salt is subject to resolution, calcination (roasting), reverberation (heating by flame) and the addition of alkali. All these processes can occur in the body. Thus too much Salt goes into solution in people who indulge in overeating or lechery. In these, salt is converted into fat. Obese bodies are like land which is too avid (lecherous) and brings fruit too quickly to germination, or where an excess of rain causes fruit to decay. Salt is calcined when fluid is withdrawn and, e.g., alum or vitriol are formed. When it is fluid it is reverberated, remains unmixed and goes up and down as though distilled. Vital spirits blowing on its surface make it myxoid or glue-like. In this form it is driven to the surface where it appears in the form of "musty" wounds ("vulnera aeruginosa"). Any external disease, notably ulcers, cancers, baldness, pustulae, scars, condylomata, morphea and leprosy are salt-diseases - varying morphologically with

135

Medicine

Localism versus Catarrh

the nature of the salt affected. For it is salt that gives everything its stability and corpo· rality, its "form" .16 These states of ascendancy and discord between the three fundamental substances, Salt, Sulphur and Mercury, are due to the hybris and arrogance of one of them - "if the Sulphur runs high in pride, it melts down the body, as the sun melts the snow".

one organ or system first and has its own aetiology. Diseases are entities defined by anatomical changes and aetiological agents. Yet humoralism and location of disease were not always mutually ex· elusive. This is shown by Galen's attention to local changes, for example in his treatise: De locis affectis. On the other hand, opposition to hu· moralism as preached and practised by Paracelsus need not necessarily lead to localism. In establishing a chemical basis of pathology, Paracelsus seems to favour implicitly the general constitutional rather than the localist and aetiological view. Yet in his case chemical considerations can he demonstrated to have led to a localist theory. That it was hound up with opposition to the doctrine of "catarrh"18 is no accident. We must remember that, according to this ancient theory, disease in general was believed to he due to a downflow of corrosive catarrh fluid from the brain through the base of the skull to various organs. In the lung it was supposed to cause abscess and phthisis, in the joints rheumatism and gout, in the legs ulceration and decay. In other words, catarrh was practically the only disease. Moreover, its cause was a general as against a local affection and it was also a humoral disturbance, namely the production of surplus fluid that was abnormally acid and corrosive. "Catarrh" is thus a classical product of humoral pathology. As we shall see, traces of this theory are recognisable in Paracelsus. It was only a century later that Van Helmont made an all out attack on Catarrh. However, Paracelsus already lumps the "flow" together with the "acidity" of the liver as typical humoralist and false explanations of external ulcers calling for correction. If, as the schools believe, black bile has its seat in the spleen, how can it get to the leg, causing ulceration therein ? The same applies to yellow bile, presumably a product of the liver, and to mucus, supposedly the "son" of the hrain.19 It is, therefore, Paracelsus continues, neither the assumption of corro· sive properties by a humour nor the transference of such corrosive humour from one place to another which causes ulceration, say of the leg. Instead, salt, notably a mineral salt, is its cause. Moreover, it is by a local process of separation ("Scheidung") that salt is liberated and enabled to act locally on the tissue with ulceration resulting. It is through this process

134

Such views are not in principle different from ancient humoralism, according to which one of the humours causes disease owing to excess or deficiency. In Paracelsus' ideas, however, chemical entities replace the humours. It is true that these chemical terms are often stated in the vague and general manner of analogies and correspondences, hut there seems to he an appeal to reality about them, more so than in humoralism and in the logical elaboration of fictitious qualities and "grades". These had dominated medicine for 2,000 years. They were heathen ideas, deceit and phantom used by the devil to tempt Christians. The minerals which Paracelsus had observed in the mines in their natural state - as well as the course of pathogenic action - had lent the pattern for his ideas, how· ever much the latter engulfed his actual observations in a cobweb of fancy. Man as a Mine In this context we find him spinning out the analogy between the body and a mine (vide supra). He uses this analogy to explain the similarities in the disease pattern in people living far apart and also differences which occur in spite of the patients living in close proximity. He says "Here are some people who have this disease and nothing else, others who have that disease and nothing else and still others who have another disease: be they in one district or not, they have the same mountain in themselves and all form one moun· tain, that is a mine. For disease is a mine in all who are affected." 17

Localisation of Disease. Its Local "Seats and Causes" A. Chemical Considerations: The "Salia" and their "Anatomy" ("Anatomia Elementata") The localist point of view distinguishes diseases according to the different parts first affected, their different anatomical changes and different exo· genous agents. In localist pathology there are thus classifiable diseases by which men are affected - a "phalanx morhorum". Each disease involves 16

17

Action of "Mercury", Sulphur and Salt: Op. Paramir. Lib. II, cap. 4-6. Huser I, pp. 44-48; also cap. I, Huser I, p. 39, and ibid., cap. 2, p. 41. The Paracelsean analogy between man and mine was taken up by Martin Pansa in his "Consilium Peripneumoniacum" of 1614. See footnote 12; Rosen, G. ,The History of Miners' Diseases. New York 1943 and Rosner, E., Arch. Gesch. Med. 1953, XXXVII, 357-361.

18

19

For a history of catarrh theories, see W. Pagel in J. B. Van Helmont: Einftihrung in die philosophische Medizin des Barock. Springer, Berlin 1930, pp. 48-62. And idem: Zur Geschichte der Lungensteine und der Obstruktionstheorie der Phthise. Beitr. Klin. Tuberk. 1928. LXIX, 316. Drei Bucher der Wundarznei, Bertheonei Book II, preface: Vom missbrauch und irrung der alten arzet. Ed. Sudhoff, vol. VI, pp. 115 et seq., notably pp. 116 and 117.

136

Medicine

of local "separation" that all products in nature emerge, and in the body no health or disease can subsist without it. Hence the physician must study this process. 20 Anything corrosive belongs to the species "Salt". 21 Salt is normally present in the tissues, hut it is "temperate" and cannot act harmfully unless it is set free and "opened up". There are many different species of salt in the body and each causes its own type of ulcer - just as the chemical reactions of salts are different. From their different products, namely the differences in the form and fate of ulcers, we recognise that there are many different "salia" in the body. Each is subject to "Exaltation" at its own time, just as one wine keeps longer than another or is more acid than another. 22 Each of these salia has its appointed place in the body. The distribution of the different salts constitutes an anatomy of its own, the "Anatomia Elementata". For it is the minerals and salts that are the "elements" in man which decide health and disease. The "elements" of the ancients - fire, air, earth and water - are relevant as the "matrices" of minerals and salts, hut not as the material basis of "complexions" of qualities (hot, cold, dry, moist) and temperament (choleric, phlegmatic, melancholic, sanguinic). 23 It follows from the anatomy of salts and minerals (and not from humours and complexions) that ulcers having a certain shape and course develop in one place and not in another. 24

Disease and its cause, then, must he referred to a seat, and the cause found in a chemical substance - a mineral "element" - well defined by its counterpart in the greater world. In other words, pathology must he based on the "anatomia elementata" 25 which is concerned with the distribution of minerals in the outside world.

20 21

22 23

24

25

Ibid. Sudhoff, vol. VI, p. 123. "nun ist kein corosiv nit, es sei dan aus dem geschlecht des salz aus dem folgt, das alle wundscheden aus dem salz urspriinglich geboren werden." Bertheonei, lib. II. Ed. Sudhoff, vol. VI, p. 120. Ibid. loc. cit. Ed. Sudhoff, vol. VI, p. 121. " ••• wan complexiones machen kein element, aher die mineralia, so daraus (sc. from the four elements) gehoren werden, die geben das element. also ist der mensch auch ein element und seil). gesundheit und krankheit die mineralia und der corpus; daraus es producirt wird, das ist matrix, und der samen diser matrix ist der, aus dem alle mineralia gehen." Bertheonei: Das ander buch, cap. 1 (vom ursprung in der gemein aller wund scheden). Ed. Sudhoff, vol. VI, p. 123. "wollet ir von der stat der krankheit reden und die ursach wahrhaftig anzeigen, warumb an dem oder disem ort ein solich loch sei, warumh dis oder das von dem ein solch underscheithab, so moget ir das on die anatomia elementata nit prohiren; dan die regiones des leihs miisset ir fiirnemen." Bertheonei II, cap. 5. Ed. Sudhoff, vol. VI, pp. 128-129. This is closely related to "Anatomia Essata" (see later p. 138) which is primarily concerned with the corresponding seats of the minerals in the body.

"Organic" and "Ontological" Views

137

B. Microcosmic Theory and Organic Pathology Quite apart from these chemical considerations, and perhaps more important in the attention given by Paracelsus to the organs, is the principal article of his faith - his conviction of the parallelism between man and the cosmos. 26 If the body is a replica of the firmament in which all "life" is indicated by the motion of the stars, the organs must dominate life and function as individuals, as well as by their interaction. For the organs are in the body what the stars are in the world. Your attention should not he directed to the humours, Paracelsus says, hut if something is wrong with the liver, attribute it to the liver; if the head is at fault, ascribe it to the head; if the spleen, to the spleen - hut not to black bile, phlegm or blood. For "if any star may cause disease in man, how can a humour he adduced ?"27 The "Ontological" View of Disease ("Anatomia Essata") It is in this way that the views of Paracelsus pave the way to localism, the study of the morbid anatomical changes of the organs. Associated with this is the "ontological" view in which diseases are regarded as entities in themselves distinguishable by specific changes and causes. In this view the main tenet of humoral pathology - that the sick individual determines the cause and nature of disease - is completely reversed: It is now the individual disease that conditions the patient and manifests itself in a characteristic picture. Paracelsus visualises each disease as endowed with a body; it is thus distributed throughout mankind, just as minerals are distributed through the Earth. Just as there is not gold everywhere, hut only in certain places, so there is a relationship between a given disease and the place where it occurs. This is the "anatomy" of diseases, and from it we learn which 26

27

The principle of organic pathology is well expressed in the famous "Labyrinth of Physicians". Here Paracelsus says: "Disease is determined by the organ, for the worms of the marrow are different from those of the gut. There are as many classes of diseases as there are organs." Characteristically the heading of the chapter is: "Of the book of Nature, that reveals the physical body in the microcosm, that is the book of the Anatomy of the Greater Body." "So viel species corporales, so viel auch Genera Morhorum.... dan nach dem das Glied ist, so ist auch die Kranckheit: als anders sind die Wiirm des Marks, anders die Wiirm der Eingeweid." (Labyrinthus med., cap. 4. Huser, I, 270, Von dem Buch Physico das da lehret den Physicum Corpus in Microcosmo erkennen, das ist das Buch Anatomiae Maioris.) Wundartzney, lib. II, cap. 11. Ed. Huser 1605, p. 69; ed. Bodenstein 1566, p. 132.

138

139

Medicine

"Anatomia Essata". The "Oportet"

disease will develop in a certain individual or group. "The anatomy gives each individual his particular disease. " 28

will only develop on top of others, by "transplantation". "Where there is no prior disease in the body, there is no foothold ('Anfang') for syphilis."32 Syphilis is the expression in pathological terms of unchastity and exuberance ("luxus"), rife since the latter decades of the XVth century. 33 Yet syphilis is a "specific" poison, which is attracted by the human body and "attacks" such luxury". 34 Thus, he who suffers from gout will develop syphilitic paralysis. Gout will have changed into syphilitic gout or gouty syphilis. Non-syphilitic ulcers will be "syphilised" and ulcerative syphilis will develop. 35 The "transplantation of disease" is obviously derived from the belief in spontaneous generation, to which Paracelsus emphatically subscribed. Beetles spring from putrid faeces, and worms from wood. A special brand of beetles, however, will be the result of "transplantation" when wood is left to decay in dung. Similarly, it is dung mixed with urine that gives rise to tapeworm. Certain plants are the offspring of other plants produced by putrefaction. 36

In the light of this "living" anatomy, the individual is seen as an offspring of a particular part of the earth and so are each of his organs and limbs. Hence, "let cosmography be an anatomy ... if you understand it thoroughly, you will understand the microcosm in its essence. Look at anatomia terrae, find in what order its hands and feet are distributed in it and consider what its fingers, its principal members are ... the anatomy of water, find out what is its body and how the minerals constitute its limbs ... " 29 It is through susceptibility to a disease that an individual is recognised as a member of a group or class of men, and his place in the "anatomy" of the "body" of humanity is determined. For example, just as all veins of gold constitute one member of the earth, so all men suffering from dropsy form one member of the "Anatomy of Man". Thus, each disease has its equivalent mineral in the earth and so has each organ in man. Hence the "localis anatomia" that teaches the site and differences of metals in the earth also determines the seats of disease in man and the organs that are to suffer together and so cause the symptoms.

One important cause of failure in medicine is ignorance of the locus morbi ("stat der krankheit"). It is therefore necessary to study the "Anatomy of Diseases" - the "Body of Disease" rather than the "Anatomy of the Body". To this "Anatomy of the Disease" the "Anatomy of the Remedy" must he adapted. If it attacks regions beyond that affected it will act as a poison, if it fails to cover the whole of the affected region it will he too weak. In this connection the term "disease body" denotes the products of its action on the organ, i.e. the anatomical changes. Their distribution reveals the nature of the disease agent and the part of the outside world whence it comes - for this must correspond to the part affected in man. It also directs the invention of the remedy, the structure ("signature") of which must he attuned to the anatomy of the disease hody. 30 The affected places do not coincide with the organs and tissues that are differentiated in "dead anatomy'', however. What really matters in the location of disease is the distribution of the essential chemical constituents in the body - the "Anatomia Essata". 31

The "Oportet" and Disease There is yet another "anatomy" of man that causes disease. This concept is based on the multiplicity of the components of the body. It is this combination of many parts under one skin, each with its own function and aim, which makes for instability and discord. The germ of disintegration which lies in this multiplicity has become more and more destructive with the growth of mankind. This is due to the progressive transmission of morbid disposition from generation to generation. Hence diseases contracted to-day differ from those seen in primordial man. Such differences are particularly impressive in the ravages of epidemics which, Paracelsus says, had become overwhelming in his own time. Man thus carries in himself, ever since he was horn and created his own enemy, the germ of disease. Healthiness does not really exist, hut as long as man is healthy he owes this to a latency of disease, with which he is indissolubly hound.

Diseases are therefore entities, each in its own right. Yet certain diseases, e.g. syphilis, 2s

29

30

31

"Wan ein jetlich mensch ist geschickt zur lepra, apoplexia und zu allen krankheiten, aber die anatomei gibt eim jeglichen sein besonder Krankheit." Von blatern, leme, beulen etc. der franzosen II, cap. 3. Ed. Sudhoff, vol. VI, p. 336. "}asset euch die cosmographei ein anatomei sein ... so ir dieselbigen in grund verstent, so habt ir den microcosmum genzlich in seim wesen. besehent anatomiam terrae, wie ordenlich in ir hend und fiiss ligen ... die anatomie des wassers, schaue was sein corpus sei, demnach wie die mineralia seine glider sind ... " Von blatern, leme, beulen etc. der franzosen. Lib. II, cap. 5. Ed. Sudhoff, vol. VI, p. 340. Buch der lmposturen, lib. II, cap. 2. Ed. Sudhoff, vol. VII, p. 107. The liver qua part of the dead body cannot cause dropsy. Hence "the dead body should be rejected as a source of aetiology, for knowledge comes not from the physical body; it is from what is outside that events inside should be recognised." Ibid., cap. 7. Sud-

32

33

34 35

36

hoff, vol. VI, p. 343. On the relationship between Anatomia Essata and Anatomia Elementata see above p. 136, footnote 25. Just as in nature at large "there are many herbs and roots which are not from their own seed, men who were not properly preformed and other results of transplantation, so pustules are due to the transplantation of another disease." Blatern, leme, beulen etc. der franzosen. Lib. III, cap. I. Sudhoff, vol. VI, p. 352. " ••• also das, so lang die welt gestanden ist, griissere, ungeordnetere, iippigere unkeuschheit nie gewesen ist, dan zu der Zeit des Anfangs der franzosen, das ist im jar vierzehn hundert sibenzige und achtzige aus ubertreflicher, iippiger, ungeordneter unkeuschheit ein neue krankheit, das ist die blatern, erstanden sind." Von blatern etc. der franzosen. Lib. IV, cap. 3. Ed. Sudhoff, vol. VI, p. 372. "diesen luxum antrit", loc. cit. Sudhoff, vol. VI, p. 374. Ibid. Sudhoff, vol. VI, p. 374. Ibid. Sudhoff, vol. VI, p. 356 and p. 358.

140

The origin of all disease is an "Oportet", something compulsory. It is due to the disease factor inside man, namely the multiplicity of his parts, and to the hostility of the external world. 37

Aetiology The "Seeds" of Disease. Air as the Vector of the Disease Agent. The M.M. (Mysterium Magnum). The role of Air From the fundamental analogy of cosmos and man, the anti-humoral theses are derived that provide the basis for a new aetiology. "Diseases grow in man, as grass and shrubs grow from the earth." But what grows from one element need not have its properties, i.e. such qualities as dry, damp, cold, warm. Crowfoot (flammula) is "hot", yet it comes from the earth that is cold and dry. Solid plants such as flax (linum palustre) breed in water. A stone kills, a sword wounds, not by virtue of heat, cold, dry or damp, but by its "own firmament - the power of steel in which this is predestined". In the same way, the human mind is wrecked "in the manner of the corresponding stars, notably the moon. Hence you must not purge black bile, but stave off the moon and stars. For these make the disease". 38 Though fundamentally a disturbance of the "firmamental" interaction of the organs, disease is not endogenous or constitutional; to engender it, a foreign invader, a "seed", is required. 39 Such seeds of disease - notably minerals - were sown into the earth by God at the time when he regretted the creation of man. They act like a "man hidden in man", affecting the organ to which they are related by a kind of predestined sympathy. Diseases and their causes need not be connected with the mineral world. There is the atmosphere which makes man ill by "infection", i.e. the 37 38 39

Aetiology: "Seeds" - "MM" - Air

Medicine

Grosse Wundartzney. Lib. II, tract. 2, cap. 2. Ed. Sudhoff, vol. X, pp. 288-290. Wundartzney II, 11. Ed. Huser 1605, p. 69; Bodenstein 1566, p. 132. Von blatem, leme, beulen der franzosen. Lib. II, cap. 10. Ed. Sudhoff, vol. VI, p. 347. As trees are distinguished by the semina which are responsible for their specific fruit, diseases should be distinguished by their "fathers", i.e. the semina which cause them, and not their "mothers", i.e. the humours. Hence to drive out the faulty element or humour is no cure. It is the semen of disease which corrupts the elements and thereby causes illness of man. Thus from horsedung worms and insects are produced - not by a conversion of the dung - but by a semen which had access to it and uses it as matrix. Labyrinth. Medicor. Cap. XI. Von dem buch der geberung der krankheiten. Ed. Sudhoff, vol. XI, pp. 212-218. - Disease can be due to an "iliastric" semen which is created as such, just as the seed of a plant. It causes such diseases as dropsy, jaundice, gout. By contrast a "cagastric" semen is one that is spontaneously generated by corruption - such as the "seeds" of pleurisy, plague and fevers.

141

transmission of astral poison. The common vector of such exhalations of the stars is the vaporous "chaos" which surrounds us: the air.40 The latter belongs to the "Ens Astrale". These theses show the importance which Paracelsus attached to air as the medium of normal life in the universe as well as in man and as the vector of disease agents. 41 Air is linked with another still more general and essential factor - both derive from goodness on High and are the first created. Hence their name: Mysterium Magnum (M.M.). Air is thus exalted over the stars and the firmament. For the firmament itself depends upon it as its "life" and motion. It is not astral "inclination" that causes disease, but simply transmission of "astral poison" by the air. "Ens Substantiae" - "Poison" - versus complexion (i.e. humours and qualities) as inducing disease This poison is "Ens Substantiae", i.e. a real object - as against a mere "complexion", i.e. upset of humours as construed by human reason. 42 Disease may be cold or hot, but cannot depend on these highly complicated combinations of qualities. Nor can a humour in itself cause disease, for it does not belong to the astral and firmamental world, where dwell the real causes and powerful impulses.

Aetiological and Specific Therapy Paracelsus' "Philosophy" of disease derives from his thinking in "analogies", his comparison of man with the outer world. From it consistently follows most of the detail, such as the development of chemical therapy and the iso- and homoeopathic principles. The therapy of the ancients largely employed measures that were supposed to be suitable in all or most diseases. Such measures as sweating, bloodletting and vomiting aimed at the evacuation of any morbid matter. They were "non-specific" and thus accorded with ancient pathology, for the latter was focussed around the diseased individual. Disease was interpreted in terms of an upset of the humoral balance - an endogenous dyscrasia, which differed from the 40

41 42

Air as an Ens Astrale causing disease: Vol. Paramirum, tract. I. De Ente Astrorum, cap. 6 (et seq.). Huser, vol. I, p. 7. See later the concordant views expressed by Agrippa of Nettesheym, p. 298. Ens substantiae versus complexion: Opus Paramirum. Lib. I, cap. 3. Huser, vol. I, p. 28; ibid., cap. 4, p. 30.

142

Medicine

humoral mixture prevalent in normal times, i.e. the temperament. Hence ancient pathology did not recognise "specific" disease entities, each requiring a different "specific" therapy. To Paracelsus, however, an exogenous substance or influence acted upon and combined with an equivalent substance inside the body. Thereby a disease complex, with its own specific characteristics, was produced, not as a part of the individual, but rather as a parasitic invader. This called for the removal of the specific agent or disease complex by specific means. Therapy must not be "symptomatic", but "aetiological". It should not be directed against the heat or cold which may attend disease. These are usually secondary phenomena or even due to wrong treatment. Fire is quenched by water not because it is cold, i.e. because of its "quality", but because of the factor associated with its "essence", namely humidity. Extinction is what is intended, not cooling. This is well seen in Erysipelas (the "Persian Fire"). A burning forehead, red urine, a quick pulse, a "thirsty liver" - all these are but symptoms and not material in disease. If you want to cure stone, remove the stone and let the knife be your arcanum.43 It is this quest for "specific" remedies which led Paracelsus to the development and recommendation of chemicals. For example, Mercury is the specific remedy in dropsy. This is due to a morbid extraction of salt from the flesh, a chemical process of solution and coagulation. As such this process does not depend at all upon quality and complexion, but is a "celestial virtue" endowed with its own "monarchy" to which quality and complexion are subservient. 44 Mercury will drive out the dissolved salt, which has a harmful corrosive action on the organs, and preserve the solid - coagulated - state of the salt in the flesh, where it is needed to prevent putrefaction. Mercury will effect the cure specifically in everybody, although it causes vomiting in one and sweating in another. Neither vomiting nor sweating - the universal cures of the ancients - are therefore the curative factors. Hence he errs who says the patient must be cured with sweating or vomiting, for he fails to consider the manifold 43

44

Op. Paramir. Lib. I, cap. 4. Huser, vol. I, p. 31. Sieben Defensiones Ill: Von Wegen der Beschreibung der Newen Recepten. Huser, vol. I, p. 256 (Paracelsus' ideas on "Poison" and its medicinal uses). Op. Paramir. Lib. II, cap. 1. Huser, vol. I, p. 39 ("Darumb die Artzney ... muss seyn ein Fewr das da verzere, das ist lgnis Essentiae, und ohn das Fewr ist kein Artzney"). Op. Paramir. Lib. I, cap. 4. Huser, vol. I, p. 30. (A trauma is neither hot nor cold, but a trauma. It requires no "contraries", nothing cool, if the wound is hot, but "Incamativa", i.e. substances which restore continuity of tissue. So do all internal diseases.) "Sich den Stein an, was er fiir zufiill mache: wilt du sie nemmen, so thue den Stein hinweg .... Das Messer lass sein Arcanum sein: also erkenn die Arcana wie sie sein sollen. Das ist wahr, der kalts auff warms brauchen will, feuchts auff truckens etc. Der versteht den grund der krankheiten nit. Dann sehet an in Mania: was hilfft da also allein sein Adem auffzuschlahen, so genist er: Das ist sein Arcanum, nit Campfer ... " Op. Paramir. Lib. I, cap. 4. Huser, vol. I, p. 31. Elf Traktat. Wassersucht. Huser, vol. I, p. 552. Ed. Sudhoff, vol. I, p. 18.

Aetiological and Specific Therapy

143

variety of man and that any effect of such remedies is merely the expression of the different reaction of individuals to the same remedy, not the cure itself. 411

Specificity of disease and remedy are closely related to the astral nature and origin of specific substances, notably metals. Disease cannot take place unless a specific constellation is realised between a celestial element outside man and its equivalent in man. Hence only something astral, a · counter-influence to the "influence" which made the disease possible, will be able to remove it. The qualities and complexions of a substance, such as its dry, moist, cold or warm character, are in no way "astral" or specific and are therefore quite irrelevant in curing disease. The invention of remedies through a study of the cosmos The invention of remedies must therefore follow from a study of the correspondences between man and the world outside. The physician will study wood, stones, herbs and recognise these "species" inside man both in health and in disease. Gold is found as such in the mineral world. In man it exists as a natural tonic ("confortativum"). "He who knows how to understand and recognise the various species in the body, that this is sapphire in man, this mercury, this cypress, this wallflower, has well experienced and scrutinised the book of the body." This is the "Anatomy" of man which must be studied by means of dissection as well as by the re-examination of parts after boiling.46 Specificity in the relationship between the organ (seat of disease), the disease and its remedy

If then the body of man is a mosaic of varied "species" which correspond to those of the outside world, the treatment of diseases will vary, not only according to the agents causing them, but also according to the site affected. Organs and diseases are thus related specifically in a similar way as are diseases and remedies. 47 It follows that the latter enter into a similar 411

46

47

"darumb das ein irrsal ist, der so sagt, er muss mit schwizen gesunt werden oder mit vomiren, dieser betracht nicht die Manchfaltige art der Menschen und das sie nicht sol zu der arznei fiirgenomen werden, sonder der arznei die theoric befelen." Elf Traktat von Ursprung, Ursachen, Zeichen und Kur einzelner Krankheiten. Wassersucht. Huser, vol. I, p. 551. Ed. Sudhoff, vol. I, p. 16. The physician should study "species" in man and the greater world: Labyrinthus Medicor., cap. IV. Huser, vol. I, p. 270. "Species Herbarum". Specific relationship between organs, diseases and remedies: De Gradibus et Compositionibus. Lib. IV, cap. 2. Huser, vol. I, p. 964. On "Nuba"

144

Pharmacy. The "Poison". Mercury

Medicine

relationship with the organs. Each organ and each herb is hound up with its own planet (astrum). Thus the circle of correspondences is closed. These embrace the Astra on High, minerals and herbs in the greater world and the "anatomy", normal and morbid, in the lesser world of man. Herbs thus fall into seven "species" - just as do the rest of the elements - according to the seven species of Astrum. The same sevenfold division applies to the body. Whatever in its astral power corresponds to the Sun acts on the heart, counterparts of the Moon influence the brain, those of Venus cure the kidneys, those of Saturn sustain the spleen, those of Mercury defend the liver, those of Jupiter tend to the lung and those of Mars refer to the bile. In detail, everything that regenerates is closely related to the heart, such as gold, balm (Melissa), a rose-coloured manna ("nuba") and other substances. Whatever removes mucus, with the help of its innate fragrance, acts on the brain, such as rose, camphor, musk and amber. Whatever dries up or heats the blood serves the liver; whatever raises urine and increases sperm is associated with the kidneys; whatever prolongs life with the spleen; whatever removes obstructions with the lung.

The Principle of Pharmacy Ancient and traditional pharmacy relied upon the composition of ingredients. Paracelsean pharmacy is based on separation. By this is meant the isolation of the specific virtue - "arcanum" - which has a specific action on one or several diseases. In other words, pharmacy stands or falls by a chemical, scientific procedure, rather than by traditional empiricism or reliance on the fictitious system of qualities, grades and humours. What medicine needs is "to extract, not to compose. It lies in knowledge of what is inside and not in composing and patching up pieces to make it. What are the best trousers ? Those which are whole; those patched up and pieced together are the worst ones. Who is so stupid as to believe that nature has distributed so much of a virtue to one and so much to another herb, and then commissioned you doctors to put them together ? ... Nature is the physician, not you; from her you take your orders, not from yourself; she composes, not you. See that you learn where her pharmacies ibid., p. 986. See also: Sieben Defensionen. Huser, vol. I, p. 255, where the Identity of the Origin ("Matrix") of a disease and its specific remedy is expressed as follows: " .... wie die kranckheit ist, also ist auch die Artzney: 1st die Kranckheit den Kreuttem befohlen, so wirt sie durch die Kreutter geheilet: ist sie under dem gestein, so wirdt sie under denselbigen auch ernehret; ist sie under das Fasten verordnet so muss sie durch Fasten hinweg."

145

are, where her virtues are written and in what boxes they are kept; not in Mesue, not in Lumine, not in Praeposito." 48 It follows from all this that a cure is achieved by the interaction between the arcanum and the disease as specific entities, not between such non-specific general contraries as hot and cold or wet and dry, the qualities and grades of traditional medicine. The real contraries which must act upon each other are the "arcanum" and the "disease". "Arcanum is health and disease is contrary to health. These two expel each other." 49 Hence chemical knowledge and methods are needed, for "as the hen, by incubation, converts the world outlined in the shell into a chick, so alchemy matures the arcana which lie in the physician-philosopher." 50 "Poison" as a remedy - Mercury its prototype

If the action of remedies depends on specific chemical properties, instead of mere elemental composition, it is easily understood that poisons can he remedies of high power when administered in a non-lethal form which yet retains the power of action. Poisonous action and remedial virtue are intimately bound up with each other in such substances as arsenic. "As long as it (arsenic) lives, poison and remedy are close together. When its poisonous quality is subdued, it loses its power of physic." The ancients tried in vain to "correct" a poison by preparing alcoholic extracts for external application. From wounds, however, it can easily be absorbed and thus display its harmful action. A better way is to suspend it in oil or fatty, viscous media ("schmer, iil, terpentin, honig"), but then its action is slowed down. The aim must be to "kill" it; one must "detract from its life" whereby it is "fixed" and itself changed into an oily form. This is done by mixing equal parts of white (crystalline) arsenic with nitre ("salpeter"), heating it until it forms a deposit like lard at the bottom of the crucible. It is then poured on marble, where it assumes a golden colour, and kept in a damp place. The product may be mixed with alcohol, or it may be adulterated with "calcined tartar" whereby it will gain in power. It is most effective in removing syphilitic or other "blatem" in the mouth or under the nose - damp spots which give no easy access to a remedy; it is also effective against condylomata ("feigwarzen") developing at "moist and sweating places" such as axillae, hands, and between the fingers. 61 4B

49 60

61

Paragranum. Lib. I, Philosophie. Ed. Sudhoff, vol. VIII, pp. 84-85, referring to traditional pharmacopoeas such as Mesue, the "Luminare Majus" and Nicol. Praepositus. Ibid., p. 89. "Und wie die hennen die figurirte welt in der schalen durch ir briiten verwandlet in ein hiinlin, also durch die alchimei werden gezeitigt die arcana, so philosophische im arzt ligent ... " Paragranum. Lib. I, Philos. Ed. Sudhoff, vol. VIII, p. 79. Von den natiirlichen Dingen. Vom Terpentin, Nieswurz etc.(? 1525), cap. 9. Ed. Sudhoff, vol. II, pp. 169-171.

146

147

Medicine

The Homoeopathic Principle

Any virtue, quality, property or essence of all objects must be referred to salt, sulphur and mercury. There is nothing that has not taste or colour and there is no taste or colour which is not due to its "salt". There is nothing that would not burn at one stage in its "life", and it could not do so without its "fire" or "sulphur", i.e. something fatty and oily. Finally, things are what they are by their specific characteristics and are related to one another by sympathy and antipathy- all this is governed by the "mercury" in them. It is for this reason that all physic and remedy is "mercury", for it rests with the specific property of each herb and chemical. Hence every body and bodily virtue "stands" on "the three", but "the doctor who purges, consolidates and cures" is "mercury" - the same mercury which produces paralysis, tumours, stupefaction and corrosion. 52 Here we meet the homoeopathic principle: in the source of the disease lies its remedy. Mercury is thus the prototype of a pathogenic agent, as it stands for change in general- a change for the worse as well as a change for the better. Hence it also symbolises the remedy. Individual diseases, however, may be caused by each of the three principles of salt, sulphur and mercury. Some ulcers are caused and cured by the latter; skin eruptions such as alopecia, pruritus and scabies, which are due to salty juices ("viscus"), are cured by salt; and all that burns like fire - "ignis persicus, icteritia, and fevers" - are caused and cured by sulphur.53 In this again, the homoeopathic principle holds good for all three groups.

Arsenic 55, Anthrax Anthrax, as poison drives out poison'', and - generally speaking - evil also attracts evil.

The homoeopathic principle If remedy and disease are attuned to each other like lock and key, the ancient principle "Contraria Contrariis Curentur" cannot hold. "There never was a "hot" disease cured by "cold", nor a "cold" one by "heat". 54 If "cold" has ever cured "heat", this was not because of its cold but because of other separate properties. Cancer corresponds to deposits of arsenic in the greater world. It is "Morbus arsenicalis", and "Arsenic cures 52

Lib. primus de Virtutibus Rerum. Tract. de materia prima. Fragments to the Virtutes herbarum. Ed. Sudhoff, vol. II, p. 213. 53 Von den natiirlichen Biidern (ca. 1525) 4th tract. Ed. Sudhoff, vol. II, p. 245. 54 Superiority of chemical remedies: "Es ist nie kein heisse kranckheit mit kaltem geheilt worden, noch kalte mit heissem. Das ist aber wol geschehen, dass seins gleichen, das sein geheilt hatt, der Mercurius den Sulphur, der Sulphur den Mercurium, und dass Saltz dergleichen, und sie das Saltz." Fragmenta Medica. Ein ander Fragment to Paramirum, de morbis ex tribus primis. Huser, vol. I, p. 134. Ed. Sudhoff, vol. IX, p. 236.

So a toad attached to a phagedenic ulcer will suck out its poison. Oil in which live toads have been cooked heals white and black "leprosy" ("Morphea") in plague and venomous bites. 56 Field mice can thus be used against consumption and crabs against cancer. He who regularly eats crab is protected against the stone. The homoeopathic principle even applies to such recalcitrant diseases as stone ("Tartarus").67 To cure Stone, use stone - such as crabs' claws, the Judaick-stone, the Lyncianstone, lapis lazuli, sponges, eaglestone (aetites), selenite. Distil from them a vinous essence, wherein you dissolve the calcined stones; they will disappear as salt in water. Distil again and mix the deposit with another vinous essence. In this way the remedy for stone will be prepared. In other words, stone is used against stone - but first it is crushed and dissolved in vitro. The crushed and dissolved stone will thus crush and dissolve the stone in vivo, an example in which homoeopathy not only uses a substance similar to that causing the disease, but also prepares it in the way in which it is supposed to act.

Minerals as "homoeopathic" agents causing and curing the same disease Again these principles follow from the analogies between things outside and inside the human body. These are revealed by natural philosophy, on which medicine is based. When the doctor says: "marcasite (bismuth) is good for this, he must know beforehand that the marcasite is in the world and that it is in the human microcosm. This is how the philosopher speaks. If he wants to speak as a physician, however, he must say: this marcasite is man's disease, hence it cures him. A hole rotting the skin and eating into the body, what else is it but a mineral?" Then follows: Colcothar - the caput mortuum of vitriol mends the hole. Why? Because Colcothar is the salt that makes that hole. Thus Mercury cures the holes which it has provoked and Arsenicals do likewise. 58

The homoeopathic principle as a consequence of the "Anatomy" of the Arcanum The specificity of the arcanum lies in its structure, its "anatomy". It is in its "anatomy" that the remedy is identical with the agent that caused the disease. Hence a scorpion's venom cures scorpion poisoning, arsenic cures disease due to an exaltation of the 56 Homoeopathic principle ("Morbus arsenicalis" cured by arsenic): Fragmenta Medica Liber quattuor columnarum medicinae. Huser, vol. I, p. 147. For a comprehensive account see: R. A. B. Oosterhuis: Paracelsus en Hahnemann, een Renaissance der Geneeskunst. A. W. Sijthoff, Leiden 1937 (with a preface by J. A. J. Barge). In this work the relevant passages from the works of Paracelsus have been compiled. 66 Medicinal virtue of the toad: Liber principiorum, cap. 3. Huser, vol. I, p. 1089. Biichlein von der Pestilentz an die Stadt Stertzingen, cap. I. Huser, vol. I, p. 358. 57 Homoeopathic principle in the cure of stone (Tartarus): Das Buch von den tartarischen Kranckheiten. Cap. XVIII. Huser, vol. I, p. 312. 58 Minerals (Marcasite, Colcothar, etc.) causing and curing the same disease: Op. Paramirum. Lib. IV. De Origine Morbor. Matricis. Huser, vol. I, p. 78.

148

149

Medicine

Wound Treatment. Signatures

"arsenical quality" in man; what corresponds to brain in the outside world cures diseases of the human brain and so on,69

"The root Satyrion (orchid) is it not formed like a man's private parts? Hence it pro· mises through magic and has been found by magic to restore manhood and sexual desire to man. Also the thistle - do not its leaves prick like needles? Hence there is no better remedy against internal stitches." 63 Eyebright (Eufragia) shows the image - signature of eyes, hence it is led by sympathy towards and cures the eye. Iris (dactyletus, aristolochia) cures cancer, for "its image locates itself in the body at the place to which it belongs by form. "64

The iso- and homoeopathic principles here put forward are connected with (a) the specificity of the arcanum which is found in its chemical structure, not in any quality, (b) the specificity of the disease as determined by its specific chemical cause, (c) the sympathy and magnetic attraction between cause and remedy and (d) the parallelism between an organism and the outside world. The Treatment of Wounds Its golden precepts in close proximity to superstitious injunctions These are shown for example in Paracelsus' treatise on wounds. It is not the surgeon but an inborn "balm" of the flesh, body, veins and bones that heals wounds, fractures, stabs and other injuries. Hence it is the surgeon's task to protect the wound so as to give this natural healing power its chance. It is for this reason that the formation of pus, i.e. putrefaction of the wound, must be avoided and the proper excrement of the wound produced instead. The remedy for the wound should not seal it off and prevent it from receiving its proper nourishment freely and producing and giving off its proper excrement. Sewing and encasing wounds in the whites of eggs are methods which should be avoided. "For nature desires nothing for its healing process but protection against putrefactiona guidance by the remedy."60 Not far away from these golden words we find Paracelsus expounding the effect of wrath in poisoning wounds with bile. The same applies to . other "saturnine" or "martial" influences as are found in jealous, hateful and perfidious women, and also to poisonous looks ("giftige Gesicht") which are projected into and contaminate the wounds. 61 Similar is the influence of the stars - for it is in the power of heaven to "impress" the plague and to poison wounds. An unpropitious heaven bodes ill for wounds and is difficult to influence. 62 The "Signatures" The doctrine of "Signatures" is based on a morphological principle: A herb reveals by a certain configuration or the colour of its leaves, flowers or roots an affinity with a certain star, organ or disease. 69 60 61 62

Paragranum (final redaction). Hb. I, Philos. Ed. Sudhoff, vol. VIII, p. 157. Von der grossen wundarznei das erst buch. Cap. 2. Ed. Sudhoff, vol. X, p. 36. Ibid., cap. 4, p. 41. Ibid., p. 42.

It is the shape of a medicine that directs it to the appropriate place of action without any further guide. For Nature by virtue of its "alchemy" has carved out this shape from formless "prime matter", converting it into "ultimate" matter endowed with a specific "form". This is closely connected with the "virtue" of a remedy and hence its chemical composition. There is thus no real contradiction between the morphological principle of "signatures" and Paracelsus' chemical theory of the "quintessence" - the effective extract of a plant or mineral without shape or form. Both principles culminate and ultimately agree in the specificity which they attribute to herbs and remedies - a specificity of form as well as of chemical essence. 65

63 De lmaginibus. Ed. Sudhoff, vol. XIII, p. 378. Here, signatures are discussed in the general context of images (such as found in old chapels, sepulchres, caves, secret passages, rocks, islands and uninhabited places), of colours, gems, amulets and their"astral", magic and curative power. If you wish to cure a person by means of an image, for example a "homunculus"-figure, you must treat the image, anointing it or doing to the image whatever the patient needs. 64 Labyrinthus Medicor, cap. X. Ed. Sudhoff, vol. XI, p. 210. 66 Chevreul, Considerations 1865, loc. cit. (footnote 218, p. 82), p. 22, regarded the naturalistic concept of signatures as different from the chemical doctrine of Paracelsus and attributes the former mainly to J. B. Porta and his "Phytognomonica" of 1588. A survey of the doctrine of signatures was given by Quecke, K.: Die Signaturenlehre im Schrifttum des Paracelsus. Pharmazie, Beiheft 2 (Beitrage zur Geschichte der Pharmazie.) Berlin 1955, pp. 41-52. In this the relationship between the "signatures" and the homoeopathic principle is well brought out. It is in fact an ancient principle (see J. Steudel: Woher kommt der Name Krebs?. Dtsch. med. Wschr., 1953, LXXVIII, p. 1574, with reference to Dioscorides, lib. II, cap. 12, where the ash of burnt river crayfish - Karkinoi - is recommended against Carcinoma. A pertinent passage in Paracelsus is found "Von den hinfallenden Siechtagen", ed. Sudhoff, vol. VIII, p. 293). Perhaps the best known example is the use of the yellow Chelidonia in jaundice. To Paracelsus "Signatures" are revealed by "Chiromantia", "Physionomia", "Proportio, Substantia, Habitus" and "Mos et Usus". "Chiromantia" gives the "fixed lines" in all beings, i.e. those furrows and wrinkles which are morphological entities. "Physionomia" embraces for example the changes of form and colour that are characteristic of an individual disease - an early attempt to elucidate something internal such as aetiology from external phenomena.

150

Disease and Stars. Psychiatry

Medicine

151

Disease and the Stars The HAnim.al in Man" and Lunacy. The Psychiatry of Paracelsus The relationship between Disease and Star is presented as particularly close in mental illness. This is due to the subjugation of man and his divine spirit by his low animal instincts, notably lust, covetousness and the passions of the soul in general. These act like drugs, notably hemlock, and are elicited by the stars. Each star corresponds to an animal with its characteristic emotional behaviour and also to a single passion of man. When he falls a prey to these passions, the star awakens in him the one that corresponds to its own animal nature. This action is not as acute and deadly as that of hemlock, but it engenders a chronic condition of mania. 66 In other words, lunacy spells the victory of "animal nature" ("Viehischer ve~stant") over the divine spirit in man - that spirit by which he is raised above and protected from the stars. This interaction of animal-star and animal-man is yet a further application of the principle of "Sympathy" which, according to Paracelsus and to Renaissance philosophy at large, is the main force in the cosmos. The principle that "like unites with like" explains in this case the biological process of mental disease. Consequently, the physician must study the "inclinations" of his patient - the particular passion to which he is liable and the star which corresponds to this passion. "He who is prone to meanness has chosen Saturn as his wife; for each star is a woman. Hence in this case the cure must be directed against Saturn." 67 The patient must be talked to, admonished and encouraged to confess in church; his disease must be explained to him. If he is not accessible to !1dvice, he must be taken into custody "lest he lead astray with his animal spirits ("vichgeistern") the whole town, his house and the country." 68 In the same way gamblers, fornicators, usurers, merchants should be dealth with - "remind them of the ten commandments, of the words of Christ, of love to one's neighbour; do so first yourself, then let your neighbours do it, then the church; and when all this is of no avail, have them locked up."69 Goitre, though occurring m the mentally normal, is common in the 66

67 68

69

Liber De Lunaticis. Philos. Magna, vol. primum. Ed Sudhoff, vol. XIV, p. 59. On Gnosticism as a source of this concept seep. 209. Liber De Lunaticis, loc. cit. Ed. Sudhoff, vol. XIV, p. 67. Ibid. p. 68. In this connection Paracelsus' idea of the causation of an epidemic, notably plague, through overbearing human passion and its sympathetic action on a star should be mentioned. See our detailed account on p. 179. Ibid., p. 69.

Fig. 11. Devil inflicting ulcers. From: Paracelsus Opus Chirurgicum. Feyerabend, Frankfurt a.M. 1566, p. 178. Ander Theil der grossen Wundartzney, cap. 18: Von den offnen schaden, so durch Unholden zauberey entspringen. - On the artist see caption to fig. 3.

mentally deficient - indicating a morbid condition of body and mind. Goitre in turn is due to an action of minerals taken in with drinking water. 70 We recognise in all this a~ attempt at integrating the somatic and psychological aspects of mental disease. Galdston thus rightly calls Paracelsus a "psychosomaticist" centuries before this concept was reborn and rechristened. 71 This follows in Paracelsus' case from his view of lunacy as 70 71

De Generatione Stultorum, tract. I, loc. cit., p. 82. The Psychiatry of Paracelsus. Bull. Hist. Med. 1950, XXIV, 211; also in Science, Medicine and History. Essays in honour of Ch. Singer. Ed. E. Ashworth Underwood. Oxford 1953, vol. I, p. 408; and Biodynamic Medicine versus Psychosomatic Medicine. Bull. Menninger Clinic 1944, VIII, 4.

152

Medicine

Psychiatry. Doctrine of "Tartar"

the result of an emotional discord between man and "his world", in other words, of the microcosmic character of man. Paracelsus regarded emotion as such as a cause of mental illness, as Zilboorg has pointed out. 72 Admittedly these ideas have a modern ring and strike us as "progressive". It would be misleading, however, to forget that in some treatises Paracelsus reveals an attitude quite removed from the understanding and humanitarian treatment of the insane that seems to have informed the ideas reported so far. In fact, Paracelsus was deeply immersed in the contemporary belief in witches and in demoniacal and devilish possession as causes of insanity. In some of his treatises not the physician and naturalist, but an inquisitor of the church seems to address the reader 73, when he recommends the avoidance of lunacy by confession or the burning of patients lest they become an instrument of the devil. This is one example of those statements which impress us as crass selfcontradiction and which already provoked the anger and scorn of contemporaries and such early critics as Erastus. 74 Ackerknecht rightly reminds us of Paracelsus' ambivalent attitude towards mental illness - the product of confused thinking and inconsistency rather than of depth of insight and understanding.75 At all events, as in many other fields, Paracelsus presents a tangle of observations and speculations - partly contradictory and fantastic - from which some sound, progressive and even modern ideas emerge. It would be very misleading indeed to isolate the latter and present them as the Psychiatry of Paracelsus.

Special Pathological Theories

In Paracelsus' therapy of mental illness the emphasis clearly lies on psychological methods 76 , but it is true that he also recommended a kind of shock-therapy such as venaesection and trephining (see footnote 43). He was deeply conscious of the healing action of sleep and sedation - as achieved by sulphur preparations. 77 This. again is the result of his thinking in terms of "sympathy": Sulphur ascending to and acting on the brain causes stupor in epilepsy (see p. 167). Hence sulphur by its sedative effect will support the healing power of the soul and cure mental illness. 72

73

74 75 76

77

In Sigerist, H. E.: Four Treatises of Theophrastus von Hohenheim. Baltimore 1941, p. 133. J. Strebel with reference to tract. IV, De Lunaticis in his edition, vol. II, St. Gallen 1945, p. 129. See later Erastus' Censure of Paracelsus in the third part of the present book, p. 314. Ackerknecht, E. H.: Kurze Geschichte der Psychiatrie. Stuttgart 1957, p. 26. See above. According to Galdston (loc. cit., p. 213) these represent "a series of stages in the progressive development of modern psychiatric thought and knowledge" and include "magnetism, mesmerism, hypnotism, suggestion, psychocatharsis and psychoanalysis". However, as W. Riese says: "Paracelsus' achievements in this field (sc. planned psychotherapy) did not reach beyond his psychotherapeutic intentions and some sketchy indications." (A History ofldeas in Psychotherapy. Bull. Hist. Med.1951, xxv, 445.) See our account p. 276.

153

A. Diseases due to "Tartar" The general principles of Paracelsus' pathology so far discussed are best illustrated by his doctrine of "Tartar". This comprises not only calculus in the modern sense, but a number of other changes - notably those in which a tubular system such as the bronchial tree is obstructed by inspissated and often calcifying material, e.g. lung-stones, known to us as the product of tubercular infection. All that is growing and living in nature must eat. In fact, things, including man, "are what they eat". Food taken in has constituents pure and impure which must be separated from each other before it can be used. For an impure thing cannot "be assimilated by the anatomy of the organism, but retains its own anatomy. Yet it remains in that organism." 78 The body thus contains refuse as well as nourishment. It is this refuse "stercus" - which matters here. The stomach can separate what is useful for itself, i.e. it can eliminate its own "stercus". It is the stomach of the textbooks of human anatomy, the stomach which is "suspended from the neck-tube" ("am Halsrohr hangend"); to Paracelsus it is the "first stomach". This can but achieve the first crude digestion, i.e. the separation of nutritious material from "human stercora'', but not from the "stercora of the food". This task falls to the "subtle stomach that is in the mesenteric vessels, in the liver, kidneys, bladder and gut".

There is, therefore, material which finds its way from outside into the body; substances that are neither "faeces" in the ordinary sense nor subject to incorporation in man. "They cannot be broken down ("sind nit zerbrechlich"), yet they are not man"; they are the "Tartarus" of Paracelsus. Human faeces, being the product of decay, have an inherent tendency to be excreted. By contrast, the "refuse" contained in food and drink has a tendency to coagulate and to stay. As "refuse", it is not subject to further transmutation; it forms "ultimate matter" ("ultima materia"). In fact, it remains what it always has been. "These diseases are stone and gravel, mud ("Letten") and glue. How could humours become stone, gravel, mud and glue without being so originally?" In other words, tartar is not a product of the humours, but an agent from outside. · A source of tartar is cereals, such as barley and peas. For these are productive of mucus, an ultima materia that is sweet. If cooking has eliminated this mucus, no stone will develop, but the material will be excreted with the faeces. Milk, meat and fish are also productive of "bolus" and hence of tartarus. Among drinks, fruit juice, wine and, in particular, beer contain tartarus. The tartar content of food varies with countries and places.

78

Tartarus obstructing tubular systems (bronchial tree): Op. Paramirum Lib. Ill. De Origine Morb. ex tartaro. Tract. III. Huser, vol. I, pp. 51 et seq.

154

Medicine

Thus it happens that a Swiss may suffer from a "Nuremberg or W esterburg tartar" owing to the consumption of com or cereals imported from these places. Such differences in origin also explain why various types of tartar develop and mature at their own times. Just as do trees and herbs, they differ according to rate of growth. Such differences may be found to parallel differences in the growth rates and times of flowering of certain herbs. The knowledge of such correspondences is the marrow of physic, its theory and its practice. 79

Localism and Specificity as based on Paracelsus' concept of digestion and "Tartarus" formation Tartar is due to the action of salt. Salt stands for solidity and gives matter its form. It is a "spirit of salt" which dries up and coagulates mucoid matter. The spirit of salt acts on mucilaginous matter in a manner comparable to that of the Sun, but more specifically. For the sun cannot make a stone, nor can any other general force such as heat. Tartar is formed by a kind of digestion and this is a specific process, bound up primarily with a specific function of the stomach. Moreover, as the product of a specific process, tartar varies in quality with the locality where it is formed. It results from a strictly local change. "You shall know that the spirit of salt coagulates and forms Tartara: This coagulation and formation it undergoes according to the place wherein it lies." A specific digestive process already takes place in the mouth - and this process is potent enough to sustain life. Its waste products are deposited as "Tartar" on the teeth 79

Das Buch von den tartarischen Krankheiten (1537 /38), cap. VII. Ed. Sudhoff, vol. XI, p. 54. Dietary causes of calculus known since antiquity: Paracelsus emphasised the exogenous - dietary - causes of stone, but he did not discover them. They had been known since antiquity. Among the foods incriminated, cheese assumed a prominent position; for the density of its texture it was regarded as the main example of "cibus crassus" ("edesma pachyn"; see Galen, Methodus Medendi, lib. XIV, cap. 16, ed. Kiihn vol. X, pp. 997-999; Comment. III to Hippocrates Epid. VI, cap. 15, Kiihn XVII B, p. 47; cheese owes its stoneforming property to its origin from milk - in itself a "dense" food which may cause calculus when used excessively: De Sanit. tuenda, lib. V, cap. 7, Kiihn VI, p. 344. - Milk and cheese render the urine "dense" and cause a predisposition to calculus, particularly of the bladder in children. Other - constitutional - factors include narrowness of the channels in the kidney and dependent structures and increased internal heat, responsible especially in children for the formation of deposits from "dense" food. See for example: Galen in Hippocrates, De Humoribus III, 4; Kiihn XVI, p. 366). What was new in Paracelsus' doctrine of "Tartar" is therefore not the recognition of exogenous - dietary - causes of certain diseases such as stone, but the wide range of diseases covered by this concept. What had been a chapter of special pathology assumed the role of a principle of general medicine: the causation of disease by faulty digestion resulting in local as against humoral changes.

Tartar of Organs

155

- with resulting "decay of the gums ('Fll.ulung der Biller'), wearing down of teeth, pain due to the acerbity ('Acridet') with which each tartarus is endowed." Tooth-ache is thus comparable to the pain caused by calculus elsewhere. A new digestion follows in the stomach; it is specifically different from oral digestion. It leaves another tartarus which sticks to the gastric wall - causing burning, oppression in the pit of the stomach "and other compressions and tortures ... and paroxysm, the Paroxysmus calculi." Tartarus may also be "born" when food "ascends" in the stomach and forms vapours - a process comparable to the distillation of wine. Tartar of the stomach is a progressive ailment, for with each digestion (distillation) it increases its acidity. "For each substance that is distilled and digested waxes sharper in its properties."80

Tartar of the various organs. Its volatility (like "alcohol") The nutritive centre of an organ; its "stomach" How does tartar finally develop in the lungs, bile ducts, heart, spleen, brain and kidneys? Here we come back to Paracelsus' idea of "stomach". Each of these organs takes in its - specific - food which it selects from what it is offered. It thus acts as its own "stomach", but not as the first "stomach" which works for the common weal. What the stomach does, "it does on behalf of the liver, kidneys, bladder, urine, i.e. on behalf of a whole community of organs". 81 This communal function of the "first stomach" is not sufficient, however. Each organ must take it up and thereby achieve its own "specific" nutrition. In doing so it must dispose of the refuse. Each organ has its own "exit" for this purpose, the lung coughing it up, the brain emitting it through the nose, the spleen through the vessels, the bile through the stomach, the kidneys through the bladder, the heart "into a chaos" (i.e. by a vaporous exhalation). The tartar in these organs is not visible because it is volatile "and goes into these organs like a spirit that ascends and appears to be devoid of body - it is there, however, and even if it is placed in a still (pelican) and circulates (is distilled), it has its tartar in itself". s2 80 "Dann ein jeglich destilliert und digiriert ding acuirt sich in seinen eigenschafften." Ibid. 81 "ist auch von wegen einer gantzen gemein aller gliedern." Ibid. 82 Volatile state of tartarus: Op. Paramirum. Lib. III, tract. IV. Huser, vol. I, p. 59. "Wie ein Brenterwein der auffsteiget." Paracelsus does not here use the word "Alcohol", but "distilled liquor". As well known, Paracelsus was the first to use the term "alcohol" in the modern sense. (See E. 0. von Lippmann, Beitrll.ge zur Geschichte des Alkohols. Chemiker-Ztg. 1913, p. 1313; reprinted in Beitrage zur Geschichte der Naturwissenschaften und der Technik. Springer, Berlin 1923, p. 60). But at the same time he retains its original sense of "fine powder" - "subtile powder like alcool"; e.g. with reference to antimony, rust, metals, salt and sal-ammoniac, tartarus alcali, and organic substances

156

Medicine

Principles emerging from Tartar - Doctrine

Tartar in the lung8 3 is not as coIIlJilon and widespread as in the pathways of faeces and urine. The volume of nutritive material reaching the lung is comparatively small. Lung tartar appears in the form of small stones, wheat or millet seeds. The bronchial tubes are the "stomach" of the lung in which it separates the pure from the impure. Hence there is a specific lung excrement in the air tubes in which it is distilled ("darinnen es sich Pellicaniert und Circuliert"), and from which it should be coughed up. If it is not, but instead transformed into fine leaves, slate particles and tablets, these will obstruct the air passages, prevent their free up and down movement in respiration and thus cause many diseases. These are called asthma, coughing, phthisis, hectic fever - yet they are all but Tartar and Tartaric disease. The "stomach" of the brain lies outside it in the upper interior parts of the nose and it is through the latter that brain excrement is voided. It is from here, the brain's "stomach'', that Tartar causes insanity, mania and similar disorders, commonly attributed to blood changes. The specific excrement of the kidneys appears as the deposit in urine and from the latter kidney diseases can be diagnosed. "This excrement is contained in the urine and excreted with it and is the deposit (hypostasis): Hence the deposit appraises the kidneys in their distempers. " 84 The separation of urine from its deposit requires a special technique, through which the way to diagnosis of kidney disease is opened. Tartar and stone have an astral correspondence. They are like meteorites, and like these follow appointed times and astral courses. Nobody escapes that variety of stone in which the astral correspondence is particularly potent, for the spirit of salt causing it is an "astrum". It is, therefore, in the universe as well as in man. It is subject to macrocosmic paroxysms that produce thunderbolts. 85

Summary of the Pathology of Paracelsus as emanating from the concept of Tartar

83

84

85

such as manna or flowers. "Alcool is the most subtile constituent of each individual thing" ("Alcool ist das subtileste eines jeglichen Dinges"). Only in a_ derivative sense is it also used of spirit of wine. (See the loci given by Lippmann, loc. cit.). According to Lippmann, Paracelsus transferred the Arabic term denoting a fine powder to spfrit of wine as the refined - very fine - product of distillation (see Lippmann, E. 0. von, Chemiker-Ztg. 1909, pp. 615 and 1233; also with regard to the Arabic nomenclature, Richter P., Arch. Gesch. Naturwiss. und Technik 1913, IV, 429; especially pp. 448 and 452 the references to Paracelsus). Accordingly, the early Paracelsus "Onomastica" give alcohol as a general term meaning "pulvis subtilissimus", and in the modern sense only with the epithet: "Alcohol vini" (s. vini exsiccati). This develops when all "superfluity" is separated from wine so that it "burns" and is completely consumed without leaving a residue ("fecum aut phlegmatis") in the vessel. (Toxites Mich., Onomastica II. Argentorati 1574, p. 385. See also: Dorn, G.: Fasciculus Paracelsicae Medicinae Francof. ad Moenum 1581. Paracelsi Dictionarium, fol. 120: "Alcol, aliquando scriptum alcool, vel alcohol, est, pulvis in minutissimum pollinem factus, ubi nihil additur ad nudam vocem, alioqui restringitur per adiunctum. Alco} vini est aqua ardens rectificata. ") Tartar of Lung: Op. Paramirum. Lib. Ill, tract. IV. Huser, vol. I, pp. 59-60. Tartar in kidney and urine: "Diss excrementum vermischt sich in den harn und geht mit dem harn auss und ist der Hypostasis: Darumb der Hypostasis die Nieren urtheilt in ihren gebrasten." Op. Paramirum. Lib. Ill, tract. 4. Huser, vol. I, p. 60. Other organs in which tartar develops include the heart (notably the pericardium), gall bladder, spleen, blood, flesh and marrow. Fluxions, sciatica, arthritis, gout are manifestations of tartar in flesh and marrow. "The still world harbours in itself the generation of these strange things - invisible to the searching mind ('Philosophy')- but visible in their ultimate result ('ultima materia').

157

This complicated and strange conception of "Tartar" and "tartaric disease" is prominent among the nosological theories of Paracelsus; it was conceived early and consistently repeated in various phases of his life. In fact, it epitomises and applies all that is essential in Paracelsus' reform of pathology. Nor should it be overlooked that, embedded in this idea of tartar, one can find such notable protoscientific observations as the appreciation of acid as a potent factor in digestion and of albumen in urine as an important indicator of disease. Before discussing these, however, we should give a short summary of the general pathological conceptions which inspired and emanated from the idea of Tartarus: (1) Disease is recognised as a concrete entity. This can be made visible, felt and examined, in contrast to disease in the ancient sense - a mere upset of the humoral balance, conceived on purely theoretical grounds. (2) Disease is exogenous - it is due to indigestible matter introduced with food and drink. According to ancient medicine, disease was largely endogenous; the cause of humor al upsets lay in man himself. Yet ancient physicians had emphasised the damage done by food and drink. The humoral changes which they envisaged, however, were in Paracelsus' opinion late after-effects of the disease. Not these, but the exogenous cause of the disease is the target of Paracelsus' therapy. (3) The disease entity can be defined in chemical terms. It is the product of a coagulation connected with the action of Salt on the harmful substance entering from outside. It is a metabolic disorder, a failure to separate "pure" from "impure", nourishment from refuse. (4) This process is "specific", a chemical process in its own right. It thereby differs from such general effects as are achieved by heat, for example the evaporation of fluid and subsequent condensation of solutions. (5) Disease is a local process. This may be followed by effects on other parts of the body and finally generalised. Ancient medicine, on the other Now when among the spirits the offsprings of salt prevail in heaven, they will meet with an ascending dew that is born of those waters of the elements which are productive of stone. These are the "primae materiae" of stone formation which end up in heaven." By the conjunction of the salt-spirit with this dew, condensed matter is formed which drops down to earth, where it hardens into stone. The rapid congelation of the spirit of salt causes thunder at that moment. "Now original matter (prima materia) in man is all spirits and all astra and is subject to the same course in time. So you shall know that he who has the same astrally predestined course will not escape the stone." Op. Paramir. Lib. III, tract. 6. Huser, vol. I? p. 66.

158

Medicine

hand, saw the process in the reverse order; man as a whole falls ill, and decaying or displaced humours ("catarrh") may produce local changes in a later phase. (6) From Paracelsus' interpretation of disease as a primarily local process emerges a different appreciation of the morbid anatomical changes. "Tartar" is the anatomical change in which the invisible action of the pathogenic agent and the invisible failure of local digestive faculties become visible and lend themselves to investigation in the processes of coagulation, obstruction of channels and stone formation which they have caused. These points, though they simplify and modernise Paracelsus' exposition of pathology, lent the basis for the further development of chemical, localising and aetiological pathology. This is seen particularly well in the nosological system of Jean Baptiste Van Helmont - the greatest follower of Paracelsus - which will be discussed in another book. Appendix New ideas in the physiology of gastric digestion and the excretion of albumen in the urine as associated with "Tartarus" We mentioned that the Tartarus treatises contain two observations in which Paracelsus foreshadowed discovecies belonging to a later age. Here again, Van Helmont forms the next landmark, with his discovery of acid digestion and hydrochloric acid in the stomach and his investigations of the specific gravity of urine. In ancient physiology, heat was an almost universal factor to which many of the vital functions were ascribed. Life was "intrinsic warmth"; digestion in the stomach was also supposed to be due to the action of heat and to crude mechanical trituration of the food. Already Reuchlin and Agrippa of Nettesheym had regarded the transformation of food in the stomach as the effect of an "occult virtue". It is true, the latter says, that a known elemental quality such as heat "digests" - but no exposure of food to heat or fire will ever perform what the stomach accomplishes in digestion. This is due to a specific virtue unknown to us, as is evident, for example, in the ostrich, which is able to "cook" even cold and very hard iron, converting it into nutriment. Other such occult virtues are those that drive away poison or boils, attract iron, enable the salamander to dwell in fire and a certain bitumen to be insoluble in fire or molten iron. They defy human understanding and can only be grasped by empirical

Acid in Gastric Digestion

159

experience.86 These ideas were later taken up by Fernel, who cannot claim originality in this field. Paracelsus first of all emphasised that a "specific" process is involved i.e. digestion in the stomach differs from digestion in other organs, such as the mouth.87 He still mentions "the heat of digestion" in the mouth, and especially that in the stomach. The latter "is a mighty heat which so efficiently seethes and cooks - not unlike the fire outside". It is this digestive heat of the stomach that distributes itself to all organs. Heat of the body is therefore that which is communicated to it by the process of digestion. 88 Ordinary heat has many divers functions, whereas the heat of digestion solely serves one function, just as it takes place in one special organ. Our account of Tartarus so far is based on the third book of the "Paramirum" (1531). In the "Book of Tartaric Diseases", which was written several years later (1537/38), Paracelsus mentions the action of acid on food in the stomach.89 It is responsible for tartar formation in the organ. The process is compared with the curdling of milk which requires heat and the presence of acid. Then the whey ("Serum") will separate from the curd ("Dopffen").90 The whey is excreted, whereas the curd is "materia Tartari". Paracelsus is thus aware of the albumen-coagulating action of acid. Later we shall discuss a second example, namely the precipitation of albumen from urine by means of rennet, which Paracelsus also describes in a treatise on "tartar". While Paracelsus thus seems to know of the action of acid in the sto36

87

88

39

90

Reuchlin, De Verbo Mirifico, lib. II, cap. 6, in Artis Cabalisticae, tom. I. Ed. Pistorius Niddanus, Basileae 1587, p. 912. Agrippa of Nettesheym, Occulta Philosophia. Lib. I, cap. 10. Ed. Lugduni apud Godofridum et Marcellum Beringos fratres 1550, p. 24. For details, see Pagel W., J. B. Van Belmont's Reformation of the Galenic Doctrine of Digestion - and Paracelsus. Bull. Hist. Med. 1955, XXIX, 563-568; and idem, Van Belmont's Ideas on Gastric Digestion and the Gastric Acid. Ibid. 1956, XXX, pp. 524-536. Digestion in mouth and stomach differ from each other. " ... es ist im Magenmund ein andere digestion zu verstehn wie im Mund." Op. Paramir. Lib. III. De Orig. Morbor. ex Tart. Tract. 2. Huser, vol. I, p. 55. lgnis digestionis in and from the stomach: " ... nun aber so muss ein Hitz da seyn ... die nimbt sich auss dem Magen, derselbig wermbt den Leib." It is this Ignis digestionis, not the humours, that account for the complexion of man and its variation in different age groups. Opus Paramirum. Lib. II. De Orig. Morb. ex Tribus Primis. Cap. 1. Huser, vol. I, p. 4.0. "sollen ihr endtlich im Magen auch verstehen, dass ein seure zur Speiss Kompt oder Sawer an ihr selbst wirdt und· scheidet sich." Das Buch von den Tartarischen Kranckheiten. Cap. 10. Huser, vol. I, p. 299. "Wirdt die Milch heiss und empfacht ein seure, so bricht und scheidt sich in zwo arth, in Dopffen und in das Serum." Ibid.

160

Albumen in Urine

Medicine

roach, he mentions this only incidentally and it is doubtful whether he realised that acid was a normal factor in gastric digestion. If he did, it would he surprising that he should not have exploited this discovery polemically to counter the ancient physiological theories and given it due prominence as the correct interpretation of a basic physiological function. He is obviously more concerned with the role of acid in the pathological event of tartar formation than in normal digestion. Shortly afterwards follows the remark that what gives ash (i.e. a "salt") gives tartar and that the stomach must produce "alkali" if tartar is to form. 91 Then follows: Sweets are highly productive of tartar where they "are subject to such digestion and the acid as indicated. "92 These passages are somewhat obscure and, at first sight, contradictory. The meaning seems to he that the stomach must he well balanced in its function if disease is to he avoided. 93 If digestion is normal, it "boils food down to two parts", one of which is liquid and converted to blood and flesh, while the other is excreted. Then no tartar is formed. As, however, something that is overcooked in a saucepan may he converted into carbon, so an ill-tempered stomach may overcook the food and thus interfere with the excretion of the parts which should not, and could not, he assimilated. "Incineratum" becomes "materia tartari". Milk moderately warmed will produce good cheese; if overcooked, an inhomogeneous and useless substance will form. In the same way "too hot digestion" in the stomach makes out of cheese two kinds of cheese, one of which is digested and the other is "gluten", becoming "materia tartari". When acid has access to food in the stomach, a separation will follow, comparable to that of milk into whey and eurd and "where such separations take place, it cannot end without tartar formation. " 94

From the passage discussed, Paracelsus is aware of the action of acid in the stomach as a contingency indicating hyperactive digestion - rather than the normal event. An ill-balanced stomach will produce acid, causing curdling of food, as well as alkali, i.e. a salt or its product, the two main requisites of tartar formation. This is borne out by later discourses in which Paracelsus says nothing about acid as a normal digestive factor, hut recognises the additional digestive power which acid can lend to the stomach. Acids endowed with this power are comprised under the name Acetosa esurina. They are found in spa water ( acetosum naturale, acetosum fontale) and can also he prepared artificially. The latter is called acetosum vitriolatum. The acid prepared from copper vitriol can digest copper and so on with other metals. The universal digestive powers of such acids explain why the ostrich is able to consume iron, steel,' copper, as easily as we consume beer or nuts, why a

dog may digest hone as easily as flesh, why a blackbird eats spiders as if they were hemp seed, why the stork eats venomous frogs and snakes with impunity. In the same way, the intake of acid will protect man against tartar. The ostrich possesses it naturally, man has to add it to his food. Thus he who uses the spa "in Egendin zu Sanct Mauritz", which "runs most acid in August" will keep healthy and "knows of no stone, nor sand, of no podagra, no Artetica. For the stomach is so fortified that it digests tartar as an ostrich digests iron, as a blackbird a spider."95 Summing up, it must he admitted in fairness that Paracelsus paved the way to the discovery of acid digestion, achieved by Van Helmont about a century later.96 How conscious Paracelsus was of the power of acid in bringing about biological effects is also shown in another by-product of his work on "Tartar" - his observation of the deposition of albumen in urine by the action of acid. This is found in the chapter: "On the Milk of the Kidneys", from his Basie lecture on Diseases developing from Tartar (1527). 97 It says there, in a comment to the third chapter of the third treatise of the second hook: Food and drink are separated in the stomach into impure excrement of the nature of Sulphur and a fluid which is transmitted to the liver, where it changes the colour of the food to red. The part of this fluid that the liver does not keep for its own nutriment is sent to the kidneys. The kidneys digest this in turn, and the first product is white, like milk, because of the Sulphur contained in the fluid; the second product is red; from the third phase of digestion, the kidney retains its nutriment and excretes the rest with the urine. Each of these three digestive phases takes fifty minutes. Failure of the second digestion in the kidney will leave the milky product of the first phase unchanged, and a milky urine will he voided. If rennet is added to this ("ein Kiissmagen"), it cu;rdles and produces a whey ("molcken"), or if vinegar is added, a separation takes place. This deposit is not pus, hut milk. I have seen, says Paracelsus, a beggar who voided "milk" with his urine for five years and this weakened him to death. When he added wine or vinegar to this milk, it coagulated, or when he left it standing for a few days, cream separated on top.

Van Helmont's Criticism of the Doctrine of Tartar It was Fabius Violet, Sieur de Coqueray, who, in the seventeenth century, made sweeping claims on. behalf of the theory of "Tartar" as the 95

91

92

93

94

"Unnd aher in dem ligt es allein, dass der Magen dahin in ein alkali hringen muss, sonst geschicht diese generatio Tartari nicht." Ibid. "Unnd Zucker, Honig, gehen viel Tartara, wo sie in solche Digestion kommen und die seure wie gemelt ist." Ibid. "Dann der Magen muss ein Temperament in ihme haben, sonst ist es alles umbsonst: W o das nicht ist, da seind viel Kranckheit zu erwarten." Ibid. "Wo solche scheidung gesehehen, damages ohn ein Tartarum nicht zergehen." Ibid.

161

96

97

Aeetosa esurina in spa water: Das Buch von den Tartarischen Kranckheiten. Cap,' XVI. Huser, vol. I, p. 309. For detail see the present author in Bull. Hist. Med. 1955 and 1956 loe. cit. in footnote 86 p. 159. Acid depositing albumen in urine: De Tartaro Lib. II, tract. 3, cap. 3: De laete Renum. Huser, vol. I, p. 437 - see to this Paul Richter, Med. Klin. 1909, p. 1450, and Strehel's note in Paracelsus, Samtliehe Werke in zeitgemasser Kiirzung. Vol. VI, St. Gallen 1948, p. 183.

162

Violet, Van Helmont and the Doctrine of Tartar

Medicine

163

Following the lead of Paracelsus' hook "Paragranum" - the "Four Column Book" - Violet extols Alchemy as one of the pillars of medicine. He also subscribes to the view that faulty gastric digestion produces disease without causing any visible changes in the stomach. In fact, Violet is an orthodox Paracelsist and his treatise is couched in the familiar Paracelsean terms. He rejects humoral medicine and attributes disease to a coagulation of sulphur and mercury brought about by salt. At the same time, Van Helmont raised the stomach to the rank of the centre of the body and indeed regarded it as the "seat of the soul". He also adopted the principle of localising diseases - a principle based on the theory of local precipitation. In other words, Van Helmont incorporated into his system the main pathological "moral" of Paracelsus' doctrine of "Tartar". He opposed the latter, however, in so far as it had been based on the analogy with the simple deposition of a sediment, notably of wine in the vat. Van Helmont took great pains to show that stones are not the product of the simple settling of matter at the bottom of a fluid, hut

Fig. 12. Fabius Violet's Book defending Paracelsus' doctrine of Tartar as the cause of diseases. Paris 1635. Title page.

general basis of Pathology. His hook is entitled: "The Perfect and Complete Knowledge of All Diseases of the Human Body Caused by Ohstruction." 98 98

Violet, Fabius: La parfaite et entiere cognoissance de toutes les maladies du corps humain, causees par obstruction. P. Billaine, Paris 1635. It contains chapters on: "L'Alchimie, Colonne de la medecine"; "Que le Tartre est la matiere qui fait l'ohstruction"; "De I' Anatomie des Tartres". For a short abstract of the work see: Portal, M.: Histoire de l'Anatomie et de la Chirurgie. Vol. II, Paris 1770, p. 531. Violet's name is just mentioned in G. Matthiae's Conspectus Historiae Medicorum, Gottingae 1761, p. 451, hut is not listed in Hirsch's Biographisches Lexicon. Tl::ere is little that is original in Violet's book, hut it contains one statement that is

arresting: On p. 142 he refers to the "Acetum Esurinum" which causes the sensation of appetite and, if pathologically increased owing to irritation of the stomach by tartar, that of pain. He continues: "car c'est un esprit dissoluant, qui fait les digestions (et non une chaleur simplement, ainsi que le sue de limons, qui est froid, digere la perle aussi hien que !'esprit de vin qui est chaud) ... "With this he seems to identify the digestive factor in the stomach with the "Hungry Acid" of Paracelsus and to reject heat in its favour. He is thus more definite than Paracelsus, who had regarded acid as an adjuvant to digestion rather than as the digestive factor itself, except in certain animals such as the ostrich (see above p. 161). Violet therefore assumes a position intermediate between Paracelsus and Van Helmont, who definitely establishes acid gastric digestion and comes close to the suggestion that the "Hungry Acid" is hydrochloric acid (see Pagel, W.: Van Helmont's Ideas on Gastric Digestion and the Gastric Acid. Bull. Hist. Med. 1956, XXX, 524-536). Van Helmont's most relevant treatise was not published until 1648 with his collected works ("Ortus Medicinae"). He had touched upon acid gastric digestion in his treatise On Stone (cap. Ill, :par. 24). In the same treatise he had mentioned the preparation of hydrochloric acid as a preventive against the stone - in close proximity to his observation of the stone-dissolving properties of the acid "ferment" in the stomachs of pigeons (cap. VII, par. 28). The treatise On Stone, however, was published nearly ten years after Violet's hook had appeared (1644). In the "Supplement on the Waters of Spa" - published in 1624 - Van Helmont did deal with the "Hungry Acid" of Paracelsus as a common basis to mineral and metal matter in general, and mentioned its preventive action against the stone, hut did not refer to gastric digestion. Violet's statement does not therefore seem to have been inspired by ·van Helmont - nor is this to he expected from its tenor and wording as a whole. Nor finally is there any evidence that Violet borrowed from such Paracelsists as Severinus, Croll or the author of the "Introductio in Vitalem Philosophiam" (see later p. 232). Severinus dwells on the pathogenic action of acid and attributes gastric "concoction" to the virtue ("scientia") of "mechanical spirits", i.e. salt, sulphur and mercury (Idea Medicinae Philosophicae. Basil. 1571, p. 141 and 184). Violet shares Croll's idea that Tartar - the "mucilago of salt" - is the mother of almost all diseases (Basilica Chymica. 1609; Ed. Hartmann, Genevae 1643, p. 146).

164

Medicine

require the action of a "ferment" that actively produces and separates a solid deposit. The analogy with tartar in wine vats is wrong. For this is a mere admixture to wine deposited on long standing without alteration to the latter. Stone, however, is not merely a deposit, hut due to a chemical transmutation of urine. Moreover, tartar is water-soluble; stone material in urine, however, is not. Urine left standing will not yield sand or stone material simply by deposition - either in the cold or at body temperature. Van Helmont's quest for "specific causes" "Fermentation" as the true - specific - cause of deposits

"It once happened", says Van Helmont99, "that I was conversant with some Noble Women, the Wives of Noblemen, and so also with the Queen her self, from the third hour after noon, even to the third hour after midnight, at London in the Court of Whitehall; for they were the HolydayEvens of Feasting in the Twelf-dayes. But I made water, when those Women first drew me along with them to the King's Palace: wherefore, for civility sake, I with-held my urine for at least 12 houres space. And then, having returned home, I could not, even by the most exact viewing, find so much as the least mote of sand in my urine. For I feared, least my urine, having been long detained and cocted beyond measure, would now he of a sandy grain. Wherefore I made water the more curiously through a Napkin; hut my urine was free from all sand." A different picture, however, was seen, when, on the morrow, "I pissed new urine through a Towel and detained it in a glass-urinal as many houres (to wit, twelve): And at length, I manifestly saw the adhering sand, to he equally dispensed round about where the urine had stood." Van Helmont concluded that neither mucoid matter (as maintained by scholastic medicine) nor heat were the causes of this coagulative process. "With a great courage, therefore, I again disdaining all the Books of Writers, cast them away, and expelled them far from me. Neither determined I to expect the ayd of my Calling from any other way than from the Father of Lights, the ·one and onely Master of Truth. And presently I gave a divorce to all accidental occasions and mockeries of Tartar". Van Helmont was led to what he regarded as the solution of his problem by seeing through the fallacy of the heat and deposition theory. A mere leaving of the urine will not yield the desired result. This will obtain, 99

De Lithiasi II, 13. Chandler's translation. London 1662, p. 838.

Van Helmont on Tartar and Fermentation

165

.however, when a new factor is added from outside: the fermenting of urine. In this condition a new agent is introduced, a "seminal ens", more powerful than ancillary factors such as heat and cold. For Nature works no transmutation without a "specific" factor, i.e. a "ferment", "odor", " semen " or " arch eus " . Th.Is IS . V an H e1mont ' s natura1 phi1osophy throughout all realms of Nature. It is stated in "vitalistic" terms and his idea of stone formation is based on it. To Van Helmont, then, stone formation is a coagulatlve process for which two "spirits" are required: the "spirit of urine"lOO and the "spirit of wine". Hence he adopts the Paracelsian name of the process, Duelech, for it depends upon the interaction of two components. Van Helmont adduces in vitro experiments for his theory, for example, if an ammonium carbonate solution from urine is mixed with alcohol, immediately a white though subtle and transient coagulum ("offa alba") develops.

From the point of view of modern medicine, it may he hard to say where there was more error: in the Tartar of Paracelsus or the Coagulation theory of Van Helmont. The latter made fermentation the first act in the tragedy, although today this would he regarded as auxiliary or a sequel, rather than a cause of stone. Paracelsus incriminating food and drink and demonstrating albumen in the urine seems to he more to the point, however much he loses himself in wild metaphors. Yet Van Helmont laid down a body of remarkable original experiments and acute observations; he dropped the semi-poetic language and analogies freely used by Paracelsus and replaced them by genuinely scientific chemical - terms. Moreover, he developed the modern idea of pathology contained in the doctrine of tartar: the new ontological view of diseases as specific entities determined by exogenous agents and local (anatomical) changes.

B. Paracelsus' version of the ancient Doctrine of "Catarrh" and the Causes of Epilepsy As we have seen (p. 135), humoral pathology is pre-eminently and typically reflected in the doctrine of "Catarrh". "Catarrh" had been visualised as a process consisting of three phases: the ascent of vapours from the stomach to the brain, their condensation to mucus therein and the flow of the latter from the brain through the skull down to the nose, ioo As Partington says: "For the volatile ammonium salt (ammonium carbonate) Van Helmont uses the names spiritus urinae, sal volatile (also for ammonium chloride in soot), spiritus lotii etc." (Joan Baptista Van Helmont. Ann. Sci. 1936, I, 379.)

166

Medicine

Catarrh and Epilepsy

pharynx, lungs, joints, hones and other organs ("rhume de cerveau", "rheumatism"). This process had been supposed to cause the majority of diseases. The tenacity of this theory is one of the arresting features in medical history101, for it dated from pre-Socratic times and survived for more than a hundred years the severe battering administered to it in the XVIIth century by Jean Baptist Van Helmont, the Paracelsist, and Conrad Victor Schneider, the discoverer of the mucous membranes (1660). To assess Paracelsus' role as reformer of pathology, it will he imperative to examine his attitude to "Catarrh". Paracelsus retained the old Aristotelian view of the brain as a muci· parous gland - one of the original sources of the catarrh idea. Nor did he abolish the latter. But he modified it into his own characteristic version and, as we shall see later, achieved emancipation from it in one particular respect. In the works of Paracelsus as a whole, "catarrh" is not accorded the prominence which it enjoyed in ancient medicine, though it does occur in the traditional sense of displaced mucus that flows down from the brain and moves from place to place in the hody. 102 Finally, distinct traces of ancient catarrh speculation are recognisable in the chemical theory of Paracelsus - in which the changeable and agile

mercury takes the place of the catarrh-fluid. Owing to overeating and drinking, mercury may "ascend" in the body and fall hack again, or he precipitated and move about as in a retort (pelican). Its precipitation causes gout and arthritis, its sublimation disease of the brain and mania. It may become so subtle that it penetrates hone and muscle, thus causing pustulae and the changes observed in syphilis and leprosy. Rigor may he due to the ascent of mercury through heating - vapours will then develop which cannot find an outlet.103

lOl

102

See the present author in: Humoral pathology - a lingering anachronism in the History of Tuberculosis. Bull. Hist. Med. 1955, XXIX, 299-308. In a pharmacological treatise, the members of the catarrh family (Foetor, Apostemata, Putrefactio, Fluxus, Catarrhus, Rheuma, Brancha, Anthrax, Pituita, Sanies gingivarum) appear as diseases due to mucoid excremental matter. These diseases have their origin in the brain or the head in general, and are liable to move with the intake of food, changes of weather and the development of putrefaction. They bring up discharges in the lungs and pharynx in Asthma, Coughing, Pneumonia or Pustulae. De Modo Pharmacandi II, cap. I (Noinina Aegritudinum). Huser, vol. I, p. 783. Consilium Medicum to Johann von der Leipnick. Huser, vol. I, p. 687. De Phlehotoinia. Fiinff Tractat von lrrung der Aderlassin. V. Huser, vol. I, p. 725. - In Paracelsus' Consilia, catarrh traditionally figures together with apoplexy, podagra and arthritis. Das Erste Consilium zur sterckung des hims und magens, fiir Verhiitung der fl.iiss ..• an Adam Reissner. Huser, vol. I, p. 684. "Catarrh" appears in a slightly more masked form in the surgical treatises on Syphilis. Here, "catarrh" is said to lend itself as a "body for the Franzosen" (i.e. syphilis). As we mentioned (p. 139), Paracelsus regarded the latter, not as an independent disease, hut as an affection modifying an already existing disease in a characteristic way. The latter "was made French" - it assumed syphilitic appearance and followed a syphilitic course. In this way, catarrh can become syphilitic, and paralysis will develop here or there - owing to syphilis "going up and down" with the catarrh. Perforation of the uvula and palate with subsequent emergence of food and drink through the nose, quinsy, croup, and membranes may develop. Catarrh and syphilis: Das sechste Buch von den Blattern, Lahme, Beulen, Liicheren und Zittrachten der Frantzosen. Cap. 4. Chirurg. Schrifften. Ed. Huser, p. 284.

167

Traces of catarrh theory in Paracelsus' chemical and symholistic speculations on Epilepsy Reminiscences of the ancient "catarrh" are even more diluted in Paracelsus' pathology of the "Falling Sickness". In this, the action of an "ascendant" is essential - in this case sulphur vitrioli which lies dormant in the body, hut may he ignited by an outside force and ascend in the form of fumes to the brain. Overpowering the brain and its cells which control reason, it causes madness, stupefies, intoxicates, corrodes and acts somewhat like narcotic drugs such as hemlock and opium.104 We have here, therefore, the same idea of a substance ascending to the brain, as in catarrh. The chemical and catarrhal elements are, however, overshadowed by the astral correspondences in the process. The "igniter" from outside which causes the sulphur to "ascend" is an "ascendant" as well, i.e. a cosinic - astral or mineral - force in an active phase in which it seeks conjunction with its counterpart in the body. Such a conjunction is comparable to that of stars and thus able to convert passive material lying in the body into something fine, spiritual and active, i.e. into fumes with the tendency to "ascend". The conjunction takes place at an appointed time.

Elsewhere, epilepsy is compared to the bursting of a shell.105 Earthquakes and thunder are corresponding phenomena. Both develop in a shell, which they burst when they are "ripe". Thus the earth forms such a shell, which is called an "egg". When the earthquake matter contained in it has matured, an earthy thunder spells imminent destruction.106 103 104

105

166

Penetrating action of Mercury: Op. Parainirum. Lib. II, cap. 4. Huser, vol. I, p. 45. Vom Fallendt. Causa. Eilff Tractat vom Ursprung der Wassersucht, Farhsuchten, etc. - an early work (ca. 1520). Huser, vol. I, p. 543. Falling Sickness and its macrocosinic analogues: Liher de Caducis, das ist von Hinfallenden Siechtagen (1530). Paragraphus II. Huser, vol. I, p. 593. Corresponding phenomena in water are the "Lorind" - a tidal wave; in air, thunder that occurs in a clear sky. The prodromal symptoms of epilepsy correspond to the weather changes preceding a

168

Epilepsy - Localism v. Catarrh

The Spirit of Life as the ••ascendant" causing Epilepsy

this pathological concept as contained in the Liber de Caducis of 1530 which Temkin made the basis of a brilliant presentation of Paracelsean and Hermetic medicine in his comprehensive work on the history of Epilepsy .109 Epilepsy, then, in the theory of Paracelsus, is preeminently a process in man analogous to a thunderstorm in the greater world. This may break out in one of the four cosmic "mother" strata: Earth, Water, Fire or Air. This "symbolistic" and "analogical" theory is Paracelsus' original contribution and marks its own epoch in the history of epilepsy. Also the incrimination of certain chemical substances such as Sulfur Vitrioli is Paracelsean. It is not unlikely that Paracelsus knew the role of sulphur in the preparation of narcotic substances (possibly ether), and brought this knowledge to bear upon his theory of "the diseases which rob man of reason". We shall discuss this later under "Paracelsus and Chemistry" (p. 276). Further, it fits well into the Paracelsean system that the dangerous substance should be lying preformed in the body and ignited by its counterpart in the greater world. Finally, it is typically Paracelsean that it should he a "smoke" or the "spirit oflife" in the blood which causes the symptoms, and not a humour or (water) vapour. Yet, in the emphasis laid by Paracelsus on the "ascendant", we recognise the imprint of the ancient doctrine of"catarrh". A strange overlapping of two meanings of "ascend" emerges in Paracelsus' theory. In the ancient theory it simply meant that vapours ascend to the brain where they are condensed and sent down again in fluid form. To Paracelsus, "ascend" also implies astral activity, the tendency of spiritual forces to conjugate with and subjugate matter, to spiritualise it and thereby enable it to climb up, to "ascend" in its turn. A further reminiscence of catarrh is the corrosiveness ascribed by Paracelsus to the "ascendant", for the ancients attributed the pathogenic action of catarrh to the sharpness of the fluid. On the other hand, Paracelsus dissociated himself from crude materialistic humoralism. He tended to "rarefy" the matter responsible for epilepsy, to see it as an active spirit comparable to an astral force in the cosmos. Yet, while he modified ancient "catarrh" and gave it his own characteristic imprint, he did not break its spell, let alone abolish it. It was not before Van Helmont that the "ascendant" and with it the whole "madness of catarrh" was demolished.

The fa<:tor responsible for the epileptic attack cannot he one of the humours in the ancient sense - for these are not active. Yet it is one of these humours which contains and conveys it, namely the blood, for the latter is the vector of the "spirit of Life". This is a subtle spirit which is set into motion and "breaks out" - as when a spirit distilled from wine becomes in time more acid, subtle and volatile. Thus, when acted upon by salt, it is converted into a dynamic and explosive agent, raising the blood and causing fits, dancing and mania. 107 In addition to this spirit, smoke-like emanations may reach the brain and "suifocate" the intellect. Such smoke may develop from decaying matter in the stomach in which worms are formed; it ascends and "darkens" the brain. Or else the brain is hit in a more indirect way, when the smoke first reaches the heart, whereby blood and humours "effervesce and rave" as if sulphur and nitre had been set alight together. This process goes on until the harmful matter has spent itself, unless life is extinguished first. The same may happen in the uterus, in which some matter becomes acid and causes the organ and subsequently all limbs to contract.108

A humour distilled into the head also forms the matter that causes mania. Which of its varieties will develop depends upon the place of distillation. Survey of Paracelsus' Ideas on Epilepsy in the light of Ancient and XVIlth Century Pathology (Localism versus Catarrh) The three treatises from which we have quoted belong to the first decade of Paracelsus' literary activity. A full account of his ideas is already found in his "Eleven Tracts" of about 1520 and supplemented by the "Liher de Caducis" of 1530. These two develop the theory of the disease from the general analogy between macrocosm and microcosm. It is

107

108

169

Medicine

storm the clouds to disturbed vision. This is followed by a strong wind, recognisable in ma~ by swelling of the abdomen and neck. Then thunder breaks out, moving heaven and earth - this corresponds to spastic extension and traction of all limbs in man when the eyes are flashing and nothing hut fire is sensed by them. As thunder splashes rain, so the patient brings out froth. The flash as well as the wind develops pressure which may break walls and disrupt everything. It is the same power that heats, breaks and curves the limbs. Schreihen von den Kranckheyten so die V ernuuift herauhen, als da sein S. Veyts Tantz, Hinfallender Siechtage, Melancholia und Unsinnigkeit 1525/26. Ed. princeps by Ad. von Bodenstein, Basle 1567, fol. D. loc. cit., fol D 4 verso. At the same time, the hereditary character of epilepsy is fully recognised (ibid., sig. A 4). Weakness of the semen and inordinate and excessive habits on the part of the parents prevent a healthy vital spirit from developing in the child. The spirit, thus impaired, is unable to expel pathological matter.

109

Temkin, 0.: The Falling Sickness. A history of Epilepsy from the Greeks to the Beginnings of Modern Neurology. Johns Hopkins Press, Baltimore 1945, pp. 159-172.

170

Medicine

Accordingly Van Helmont's concept of epilepsy is thoroughly cleansed of such notions. It is a purely dynamic theory - tracing its first origin to the vegetative centres around the stomach, locating it in the brain when fully developed and identifying it in principle with asthma, the "falling sickness" of the lungs.110 "Obstruction" as a primary and local change causing disease Its divorce from "Catarrh' and its role as a further germ cell of "localism" We cannot leave catarrh theories and their modification by Paracelsus without discussing one aspect in which he already achieved emancipation from them - in favour of a localistic view. It is of particular interest that this result was reached through replacing "catarrh" by "tartar". As we have seen, we can give Paracelsus' doctrine of "tartar" the credit of being an early attempt at localising disease. It also drew attention to the ana· tomical changes indicative of specific - chemical - causes. The one province in which Paracelsus achieved complete emancipation from the all-powerful "catarrh" in favour of the local origin of the changes is the doctrine of "obstruction" as a cause of consumption. At first sight Paracelsus seems to object to this theory (see above p. 68). He says that "obstruction" causes "drying up" of a limb, but that this is not comparable to its "fading away", its consumption. By "drying up" ("Ariditas", "membrum aridum") owing to "obstruction", Paracelsus primarily means dry gangrene of a linib following arterial thrombosis. It is comparable in effect to the severing of a limb, but is not a real" Schwinung", or "consumption". The latter is due to lack of material which ought to pass through the channels, not to obstruction.111 This criticism of "obstruction" as a cause of phthisis is levelled at a classical and widely propagated theory. It can be followed up from its origin in Galen via Arabic authors to Femel, and even 18th century authors such as Stahl, Selle and Huxham.112 110

111

112

It should he added that Van Helmont was a keen student of clonic and tonic contraction, which he subordinated to immediate action of the vegetative centres as against Galen's theory of a fight between voluntary motion and the natural heaviness of the limbs. He regarded clonus and tonus as a universal expression of life, as the cause of pain, fever and even anatomical changes such as ulceration and empyema, referring them to abnormal tissue acidity. See for example Van Helmont: De Febribus, IX, 8. Temkin (loc. cit., p. 187) mentions the interesting and unjustly forgotten theory of Charles le Pois (1563-1636) who attributed epilepsy to the brain, rejecting any "sympathetic" form originating in the stomach or uterus. V om Schwienen. Priores quinque tract. alio modo descripti - other redaction of the eleven tracts. Huser, vol. I, pp. 554-555. Ed. Sudhoff, vol. I, p. 39. See Pagel, W. : Die K.rankheitslehre der Phthise in den Phasen ihrer geschichtlichen Entwicklung. Beitr. z. Klin. d. Tuberk. 1927, LXVI, 66-98 and: Zur Geschichte der Lungensteine und der Ohstmktionstheorie der Phthise, ibidem 1928, LXIX, 315-323. The main loci from Galen are: De Difficult. respir. I, 9 (crude "tubercula" obstructing the

Localistic Theory of "Obstruction"

171

Galen's theory of "obstruction" is bound up with that of "catarrh", particularly the inspissation of catarrh fluid in the bronchi, converting it into "hailstones". Hence the emphasis laid on dyspnoea as an early symptom of phthisis. Inspissation of super-abundant catarrh fluid is a cause of dyspnoea and phthisis, also according to Femel.113 Femel was apparently the first to designate the inspissated obstructing material as having the "consistency of old cheese".1H

It is in one of his early tracts on diseases115 that Paracelsus objects to "obstruction" as a cause of phthisis. Later on, in his Opus Paramirum on Tartaric Diseasell6 as well as his work on Miners' Disease117, he himself subscribes to "obstruction" - enlarging on the dyspnoea that follows it, in the same way as did Galen and Fernel. By contrast, Paracelsus attributes obstruction not to fluid reaching the area from elsewhere - "catarrh" - but to a metabolic product formed locally - "tartar". It is "tartar'', not "catarrh", that causes "asthma, coughing, phthisis, ethica febris", by obstruction of the bronchial tree, preventing the lung from free expansion and contraction. This "tartar" has been observed in the form of stony concretions in the human and animal lung.118 Paracelsus' opposition to the ancient theory ofphthisis by "obstruction" is therefore directed not so much against the actual occurrence and harmful effect of obstruction, as against the ancient theory of its causation by "catarrh". Obstruction is due not to the latter but to "tartar", the product of a chemical and metabolic disorder revealing itself locally. It follows that therapy must not aim at the "drying up" of a "catarrh"ll9 , but that the tissue damage, due to "drying up", must be repaired by a redistribution of fluid into them.120 Like Paracelsus, Van Helmont took up the theory of obstruction inci· bronchi; oppilation of the lung in pneumonia), De Locis affectis IV, 8 and 9 (catarrh blocking the bronchi). 113 Univ. Medicina, V, 10, pulmonum morbi. See also Long E. R.: Jean Femel's conception of tuberculosis, Sci. Med. Hist. Essays in honour of Ch. Singer, Oxford 1953, vol. I, p. 401. IH "Veteris casei constantiam". See Pagel, loc. cit. 1928, p. 318. 115 Printed in the first volume of Sudhoff's edition and according to the latter written about 1520. 116 Appearing in Sudhoff's edition, vol. IV and dated 1531. 117 Von der Bergsucht. Lib. I, cap. 2 and 3. Huser, vol. I, 643-644. 118 Opus Paramirum. Lib. III, tract. IV. Huser, vol. I, p. 59. 11 9 For example, Avicenna, Canon III, fen. 10, tract. 5. 12o See Pagel, loc. cit. 1927, p. 74. It should he noted, however, that abnormal "dryness" of the lung as a cause of dyspnoea and phthisis was not entirely unknown to Arabic authorities: see Rhazes, lib. divisionum Gerardo Toledano Cremonensi interprete Basil. 1544, p. 372.

172

173

Medicine

Ancient Plague Theories

dentally adopting the Fernelian term "caseous" ("'grumi caseosi"} 121. In his work the divorce of obstruction from catarrh is much more consciously and significantly established than in the work of Paracelsus, and ancient pathology including that of Fernel is decisively refuted. 122 This is particularly evident in Van Helmont's appraisal of phthisical changes such as the lung cavity ("vomica"). For Van Helmont says: "I deny that the cavity is due to catarrh; even more so that it derives from a vapour ascending from the stomach. Thus I do not assign consumption to a fl.owing down into the lung hut I know that it is due to a local distemper of the lung".1 23 How all this is intimately connected with the new localistic and aetiological pathology by which Van Helmont anticipates and even overtakes much that has been credited to Morgagni (1761) will he discussed in its proper place. 124

the ground. The agent in this air is a poison of hot quality inhaled by the lungs, :finding· its way to the heart and thence to all parts of the body - which are set alight with a "hectic" pestilential fever. 126 It is transmitted from person to person "by contagion and a pestiferous odour" 127 , through the air tubes or the pores of the skin - through the latter by the contamination of underwear and bedding. Hence it is wise to follow the Florentine government in burning all clothing left by victims of the plague. 128 A second hut much less common cause can he "the heavens". These may vitiate the air by conferring too much moisture upon it through prolonged rain and fog, especially after a warm spring with prevalent east wind. Such a "pestifera coeli intemperies" leads to an over-production of small animals by spontaneous generation - notably of mice, frogs, flies and other harmful insects, which act as transmitters. Or else celestial portents such as comets may directly cause morbid "exhalations", especially in autumn. A third still less frequent type of plague is due to the action of had food rendering the humours prone to putrefaction and fevers.

C. Paracelsus on Plague. The Influence of Ficino. Traditional Plague Theories and Paracelsus' "Anthropocentric" Doctrine. Its further Development in Van Helmont's "Tomb of the Plague" It is in his ideas on the plague that we find actual contacts in the medical teaching of the famous Florentine Neo-Platonist Marsilio Ficino (1433-99) and Paracelsus. The influence of the general philosophical ideas of Ficino on Paracelsus will be examined later.125 Here we propose to compare the plague treatises of Ficino and Paracelsus with traditional Galenic doctrine. The latter we shall find presented in the tracts of Agricola, Thayer, Beroaldus and Rhazes. 1. Agricola: De Peste George Agricola (1490-1555), famous for his work on mines, has left hut one work on a medical subject: De Peste, published in 1554. Agricola regards a special heavy and pestilential air as the common cause of plague. It originates in "putrid exhalations", arising from unburied corpses, notably of soldiers, of the victims of famine or of people drowned, or from stagnant lakes, swamps or caves in 121 122 12s 1 24 125

Asthma et tussis, cap. 42-43, Ortus Med. Amstelod. 1648, p. 370. See Pagel, loc. cit. 1928, p. 320. Catarrhi Deliramenta 41 and 63. For detail see Pagel, W.: Joh. Ba pt. Van Helmont. Einfiihrung in die philosophische Medizin des Barock. Berlin 1930, pp. 44 et seq. In a subsequent work on Van Helmont and Harvey. In the third part of the present hook, p. 218.

What Agricola has to say on plague is in substance Galenic. In the sixth chapter of his hook on differences in fevers, Galen had said that there were two causes of the "Pestilence". "The one cause is an infected, corrupted and putrefied aire: the other cause is evill and superfluous humors gathered in the hodie through naughtie and corrupt diet which humors he apt and ready to putrefaction."129 Galen had also emphasised the role of uncremated corpses of war victims and stagnant waters as sources of the contagion - the seeds of the plague (").oiµov aneeµa-ra"). This must meet with a faulty mixture of humours such as frequently occurs at times of famine. Hence not everybody is liable to he affected by the plague. Agricola has to add some interesting facts about the efficient methods of segregation practised by the government of Venice. This had allocated two islands - the Lazaretum Vetus and Novum - for quarantine - the former for the infected and sick and the latter for convalescents and those who had attended the sick. Incoming ships were also inspected, all food and drink supervised and aromatic wood burnt in public places.

2. Thomas Thayre's Plague Tract Thomas Thayre's "Excellent and best approved Treatise of the Plague" of 1625 - to single out one of a myriad of similar tracts - is chiefly designed as a collection of "preservatives" against pestilence. It also gives the traditional Galenic doctrine - "this contagious sicknes which is generally called the Plague or Pestilence, is no other thing than a corrupt and venomous aire deadly enemie unto the vitall spirits ... by reason whereof those 126 127 128 129

Agricola: De Peste lihri tres. Frohen, Basileae 1554, pp. 11-21. Loe. cit., p. 22. Loe. cit., pp. 22 et seq. The passage is thus translated by Thomas Thayre in "An Excellent and best Approved Treatise of the Plague". Printed for Thomas Archer, London 1625, p. 4. For the original Text see: Galen Opp. Ed. Kiihn, vol. vii, Lips 1824, p. 289.

174

Medicine

Ficinus on Plague

bodies wherein there is Cacochymia, corrupt and superfluous humours abounding, are apt and lightly infected, those humours being of themselves inclined and disposed unto putrifaction". He adds a sermonal chapter on "sinne" as the ••first and chiefest" cause, as proved from Scriptures which ••giveth many examples how the Lord oftentimes punisheth his people for their sinne and impietie of life with the Pestilence".130

TRACTATVS

175

SINGVLARIS DOCTISSIMI VIRI MARSI$ lij Picini de ~idimiz morbo,cxltalico in

3. Beroaldus on plague

Latinum vafus.

This idea of divine punishment leads us to an additional point - the connection between earthquakes and pestilence, which was emphasised by Philippus Beroaldus.1 31 An earthquake is a ••praesagium" foreshadowing plague - "a portent of dire things". The connection, however, is not a mystical one; it is simply the liberation of a pestilential spirit or nocuous waters from the bowels of the earth. These contaminate the air, spread widely, and - as bad things are wont to overcome good things - invade and kill man. 182

4. Rhazes (app. 865-923) de Pestilentia

In this book we find that an original thought has been introduced into the traditional story, a chemical concept. This connects the general cause of plague, namely putrefaction, with effervescence of the blood. Blood, Rhazes says, can be compared with wine in its developmental stages: in infants it is like grape juice before fermentation, in adolescents like hot fermenting must, and in the elderly like wine which tends to be cool, acid and free from all ebullience. Pestilence is contracted when blood decays and effervesces in order to drive out foamy and muddy redundancies. It is a condition resembling that of adolescent blood - linking pestilence with a foam-producing heat like that which acts in the must at a certain time. Hence infants and adolescents, in whom the blood is not yet in a perfect state, hardly ever escape in epideiuics.133

5. Ficinus on Plague Rhazes' fermentation hypothesis does not seem to have been popular among the later writers on plague. Ficinus, quoting Rhazes in his "Antidote to Epidemics"1 34, followed him in describing the putrefaction of the 130 131

132 133

13'

Thayre, loc. cit., pp. 1-4. Opusculum Philippi Beroaldi De Terrae Motu et Pestilentia. Cum Annotamentis Galeni. Bononiae. Per Benedictum Bibliopolam Bononiensem 1505. Sm. 4°. Loe. cit., fol. C 4: "Praesagia". Rhazae De Pestilentia liher Georgio Valla Placentino interprete. In: Pselli De Victus Ratione ad Constantinum lmperatorem and Joannis Manardi Ferrariensis in Artem Galeni medicinalem luculenta expositio. Cratander, Basileae 1529, p. 42. Epideiuiarum Antidotus ex idiomate Thusco ab Hieronymo Ricio Latinit. donata. Excudebat Jo. Le Preux (n.1.) 1595, p. 259. The first and only XVth century edition is: Ficino, Marsilio Consilio di Marsilio Ficino fiorentino contro la pestilentia. Apud Sanctum J acobum de Ripolis, Florence 1481. Reprinted: Firenze heredi di Ph. di Giunta 1523 (together with II Consiglio di maestro Tommaso del Garbo; Una ricetta d'una polvere composta da maestro Mingo da Faenza; Una ricetta fatta nello Studio di Bo-

CVM PRIVILEGIO IMPERIAL!. Fig. 13. Marsilius Ficinus' Treatise on the Plague. First Latin edition, Augsburg 1519. Title page with woodcut.

blood in plague as an effervescence and, in addition, developed chemical connotations of his own - which in turn foreshadow those of Paracelsus. To Ficinus, plague is a poisonous vapour which gathers in the air1 35 - just as it is to Galen. But to Ficinus its action is not by virtue of an elementary

135

logna, etc.). Latin text in: Tractatus singularis doctissimi viri Marsilii Ficini de epidiiuiae morbo, ex Italico in Latinum versus. August. Vindelicor. Sig. Grimm and Marci Vuyrsung. 1518 (preface by Riccius dated 1516). This edition is distinguished by its large title woodcut showing a patient attended by a doctor in the presence of his family. Venenosus quidam vapor est in aere concretus, vitali inimicus spiritui Loe. cit., p. 248.

176

quality, such as heat and moisture, hut by reason of its specific properties. This specific poison is comparable to theriac which acts beneficially not because it is hot or cold, dry or humid, hut because of the "specific form" as a whole, that is harmonious with ("accommodata") the vital spirit as a species ("forma"). Similarly the pestiferous vapour is in its whole structure ("proportio") contrary to that of the vital spirit contained in the heart. It is continually produced in the earth, and on certain occasions finds its way into the air as a poisonous vapour. The air, however, being pure and adapted to spirit and fire, is not liable to putrefaction and thus normally prevents this vapour from establishing itself in it. Hence only individuals predisposed to fever or putrefaction will catch it; others in whom the vital spirit is strong, repel it. It will thrive in the plethoric in whom humours and vapours are abi:indant and at times when they are effervescent. This effervescence indicates a certain grade of putrefaction ("certo quodam gradu putrefiunt humores simul et ebbulliunt"), and the earlier its appearance the more the body abounds in humours.

The poison displays the destructive - corrosive and inflammatory nature of calcium and arsenic. Adverse astral constellations, notably a conjunction of Mars and Saturn, and eclipses, produce, strengthen and sustain the poison, especially in places exposed to the ill-effects of such constellations. Astral influence also decides which animals will he affected by the plague, or whether man will he affected alone. Just as sulphur is set alight earlier than wood, so the predisposed ones will he the first victims. If the poison is strong in itself, however, it will attack even those that are not predisposed. When this happens nobody knows. However weak in the beginning, the poison propagates itself even more rapidly than does sulphur when ignited. It attacks the vital spirit of the heart even more strongly than sulphur affects the nose. It is an ignition comparable to that of sulphur which makes it virulent and causes it to expand rapidly in a predisposed body, particularly if sudden ignition takes place in summer time, when humours are diluted and the air is thin. The pestilential fever is essentially due to effervescence, first of the spirit, then of the humours. Effervescence and inflation first affect the blood, then bile and mucus and finally black bile. Hence the sanguinic are most exposed, the choleric and phlegmatic a little less so, and the melancholic type least. For the cold and dry complexion of the latter is least prone to inflammation and putrefaction, and keeps the pathways of the humours, and thus of the poison, narrow. This also explains the comparative resistance of the elderly. The latter will not prevail, however, when Saturn is the master of the year as happened in the Florentine plague of 1479, which took a toll of 150 dead per day. At times of pestilence this is the only disease that appears. With the emergence of other diseases, plague recedes. 136 Any prolonged contami13&

Arsenical Nature of·Agent causing Plague

Medicine

Loe. cit., cap. 4, p. 256: De signis indiciisque pestis.

177

nation of the air with pestiferous vapour will infect water and the fruit of the earth. Hence it is safe to boil drinking water or to mix it with iron and wine.137 The point of interest brought up by Ficino is that the pestilential poison has the corrosive action of the arsenical vapour that develops in mines - in this he appears to have influenced the theories of Paracelsus as we shall see presently. In Paracelsus' life time, Ficino's concept found its way into the popular plague treatise by Jo. Ammonius Agricola (Pewrlin), Professor of Medicine and Greek at lngolstadt (1533). 138 He quotes Ficinus in several places as an authority on the same level as the classics. He says: When the poisoned vapour of the air has seized a body which is full of moisture and thus prone to catch the fever, the moisture decays, boils over and ferments, usually on the third day. It is then overcome by the malignancy which lime or arsenic contained in mine-smoke carry - a power which causes decay, corrosion and burning inside and outside. 139 The poison is therefore of an arsenical nature as evidenced by the similarity between its corroding effects and those of corrosive smoke in mines. It is transmitted by the air and acts on the humours, which are made to ferment and effervesce. 137

138

139

There is no point in discussing in detail the prophylaxis and therapy of the plague as recommended by Ficino. It is largely on traditional lines with its prescription of aromatic and acid condiments (for example the "theriacal pills" and "Marsilius' own pills"), fumigation of houses and streets, smelling salts and the wearing around the neck of unicorn's horn, hyacinths, topaz and emeralds. An interesting point is that most of the ingredients are also recommended by Agrippa of N ettesheym in his short Contra Pestem Antidota Securissima addressed to Theodoric of Cyrene, Archipraesulatus in suffragiis (Epist. lib. II, 19). Opp. Pars post. Lugd. Ap. Beringos s. a., pp. 578-582. They are composed, Agrippa says, according to the advice of most excellent doctors and found by himself and his family most efficacious. The best preventive, however, is to seek out those places from which the plague has receded for more than a year and not go to those not yet visited by it (loc. cit., p. 739). Ain griintlicher fieissiger ausszug aus alien hewerten Kriechischen und Lateinischen lerem . . . von ursachen, zaichen, fiirsehung und haylung der grewlichen Pestilentz ... alles aus gutem grund, on all Sophistisch oder Arahisch, in der Artzney ungegriindt, zusetz und erdichtes geschwetz. Augspurg (Phil. Ulhart) 1533, fol. 13 verso. " ••• Und so er des giffts natur an sich genommen hat, dann iiherkommet er die hosshait, die der Kalck oder Arsenicum, das man Hiitrauch nennet an jnen hahen, welcher krafft ist feulen, nagen und prennen innen und aussen." Loe. cit. - Arsenic, at Galen's time, was regarded as a "septic" substance, i.e. one that causes putrefaction and is suitable for therapeutic purposes because of its corrosive and caustic properties. (Galen, De Simplicium Medicament. Temperam. ac Facultat., lib. V, cap. 15, ed. Kiihn, vol. XI, p. 756; ibid. lib. IX, cap. 3, Kiihn, vol. XII, p. 212. See also Paulus Aegineta, The Seven Books with commentary by Francis Adams, London 1847, vol. III, p. 52, to Book VII, sect. 3).

178

Medicine

6. Paracelsus on Plague (a) The decomposition of material parts in nature and man as causes of plague The Paracelsean ideas on the plague were neatly summarised by Matthias Untzer in 1615.140 His book on the plague is none too original and is similar in style to that on Epilepsy.141 Like the latter, it offers a well arranged comparative survey of the Galenic and "Hermetic" opinions. Plague, according to the Hermetic, is an astral disease, fiery and contagious. · · a Mercur1a, . 1 Arseruc . al or "Napelline " B y means of a poisonous vapour, i.e. (aconite) spirit, it enters the pores and canals of the body, and rapidly invades the principal seats ( subjecta) of the spirits namely the heart, brain and head, to infect, corrupt and dissolve them with its malignant acuity. Finally, with the help of ignited bodily sulphur, it causes the deposition of salt behind the ears, at the shoulder and groin, which in turn leads to abscesses and carbuncles. Not far removed from this definition, though even more obscure, is that of Paracelsus in the third chapter of the second book on Tartar: plague is due to arsenical air trapped in a tartaric deposit, the latter being caused by the coagulation of an arsenical spirit. Arsenic burns, ignites and causes swelling - this happens in the plague when the body is heated up the heat becomes more and more intense until the tartarus is separated from the arsenic and a febrile paroxysm is caused thereby. Then the arsenical poison "ascends'', causing abscesses, delirium and coma. This is indeed the gist of the comparatively concise lecture notes on Tartaric diseases (Winter 1527-28).142 According to these, plague is hound up with a metabolic process in nature at large as well as in ourselves. It is therefore time-conditioned.us It is essentially the separation of a substance with arsenical properties, a partial splitting up of the whole. Arsenical 140

141

142 143

Katoptron Loimodes hoc est De Lue Pestifera Lihri tres. Halae Saxonum 1615, p. 9: Definitio Pestis sec. Hermeticos and Definitio Paracelsi. leronosologia Chymiatrica. Hoc est Epilepsiae s. Morhi Sacri Accuratissima juxta Hippocratico-Galenica atque Hermetica principia descriptio Halae Sax. 1616. Ed. Sudhoffin vol. V, Miinchen and Berlin 1931, p. 77, notably pp. 81-87. "Pestis est aer suae regionis ex primo corpore generatus, oppilatus sine egressu de materia arsenicali et opprimechioli,j de illo Vero tartaro velocis mutationis dicendum est; fit enim per digestionem naturae." The pathological condition (namely the trapping of "arsenical air" in a coagulum and its conversion from a freely moveable "spirit" into corrosive "tartar") affects the mineral world, notably the "Opprimechiolum", i.e. the "smoke that arises from an ore" (Ioc. cit., ed. Sudhoff, vol. V, p. 79). The disease in man is hut a "compassio" with a similar affection of the "elements" outside. - Displaced arsenic sets the body "alight" like sulphur, causing paroxysms that are comparable to an earthquake ("Sulphurische Zufell laufen mit in gleicher weis dem arsenikalischen gift", ed. Sudhoff, vol. VIII, loc. cit., p. 385).

Paracelsus on Plague

179

substances thus liberated may he trapped while in an airy form and display their corrosive and putrefying effects everywhere in nature, notably in minerals and in man. In man this occurs in the ducts of the liver.

(b) The Role of the Stars In these lecture-notes nothing is said about the correlation of the plague with the stars. We are informed on this point in Paracelsus' Two Books on Pestilence, the "Nllrdlingen tract" (1529-1530)144 and in his Three Books on the Plague (probably from the middle thirties of the century). 145 In the Niirdlingen plague treatise, Mars and Sulphur as the chemical corresponding to it, are given as the immediate causes of plague. This is a process of combustion. The body is set alight, sulphur igniting it and Mars making the sulphur burn. The story in the later treatise is similar: Mars, Venus or Luna are called "Masters of this disease" ("wer herr sei diser K.rankheiten als in peste ist Mars, Venus, Luna"). The process is compared to the burning of wood.

(c) Anthropocentric view. Man himself as the first cause of plague. The original causation of the plague, however, is more complicated than a mere chain of metabolic-chemical events in nature at large and in Man. It lies in a psycho-physical interaction between man and the stars. It originates in sin - as expressed in wicked passions and the sinful imagination, which "infect" heaven and arouse the wrath of God. Thus Man himse]f brings down the scourge of the plague upon mankind. This anthropocentric view of an individual disease is in harmony with Paracelsus' whole philosophy and indeed with Renaissance philosophy in general.146 This is not merely a psychical process, but, according to Paracelsus, emotions and passions are convertible into something physical, into a body. "Any lust, desire, volition ... which arises in man's memory or imagination, engenders a body in him, just as wrath and jealousy grow into a body."147 All this takes its course in the celestial ("supernatural") half of man which 144 145

146

147

Zwei Biicher von der Pestilenz und ihren Zufiillen. Niirdlingen. Ed. Sudhoff, vol. VIII, p. 369. De peste lihri tres cum quihusdam ipsius autoris additionihus. Ed. Sudhoff, vol. IX, p. 565. See above. Paracelsus' Theory of the Plague and Natural Magic: The interaction between man and star involves a "ricochetting" effect - it is man who first acts on the star whereby he touches off a chain of repercussions that fall hack on the operator and mankind at large. In this the causation of the plague is conceived as a typical magic phenomenon. The magician strikes not only at ordinary animate or inanimate bodies hut also at the stars themselves from which he derives the most powerful effects (see also: D. P. Walker, Spiritual and Demonic Magic from Ficino to Campanella. The Warburg Institute, London 1958, p. 76). Loe. cit. Ed. Sudhoff, vol. IX, pp. 593-594.

180

Medicine

embraces his fiery and airy parts. Varying with the individual, this half in man corresponds to different planets, such as Saturn and Mars. Any "body" engendered by the passions partly remains in Man and partly as it is volatile - ascends to the appropriate planet, the latter attracting it like a magnet. Jealousy will find its way to Saturn, mendacity to Mars. Lying dormant in the planets, such "bodies" are the "semina" which work against us and will bring down upon us plague and similar supernatural diseases. Thus plague strikes the body like an arrow that hits three places, the ears, the axillae and the groin. It is, therefore, an external disease ("eusserliche krankheit") without any humoral cause. 148 It strikes the body like a thunderbolt from heaven which beats and rocks the earth, house and yard. It is an earthquake, an "invisible thunderclap in nature shaking the body as long as it passes through it, until it settles and concentrates towards some particular place". The thunderclap sets the organs and members alight. 149 (d) Cure of the plague Cure must be directed against the agent causing the disease, not against accidents such as the comatose sleep which has been combated with diaphoretics (though not without success). Changing diet and habits is of no avail. It is not what is too much or too little that matters - as ancient humoral pathology believed whence its reliance on dietetics. 150 But one must know "what is infected". From this the disease is propagated ("erbt sich die krankheit") . .It is "fixed in its poison" ("fix in irem gift"). We learn its source through astronomy. There are various approaches to prophylaxis and therapy in pestilence. The most important one is to interrupt the magnetic attraction with which the "Magnes Spiritus" in the human body attracts the infected air ("chaos") outside. This can he achieved by various "insulators" ("zenexton") - various amulets to he worn around the neck, such as sapphires, amber, coagulated gum, resins and turpentine. For internal therapy one should remember that plague causes internal as well as external wounds. This calls for an "incarnativum": the spirit of gold to he administered in sweat-producing waters mixed with gems.161 Loe. cit. Ed. Sudhoff, vol. IX, p. 577. Loe. cit. Ed. Sudhoff, vol. IX, p. 587. 160 "dan zu wenig hringet keinen schaden also zu vil hringt auch keinen schaden." Loe. cit. Ed. Sudhoff, vol. VIII, p. 390. 161 Prescriptions against plague vary according to the element in which signs of plague are first observed - if in water, take a mixture prepared from elder tree, wallflowers, harebells, metallic substances, white corals and amethyst; if in earth, colts foot, water lily, wild rue, rosemary, elixir (of gold or pearls); if in fire, take an infusion of sea holly, red corals and spodium. Paracelsus' plague remedies include sulphur (spirit of vitriol, sulphur sublimate) and HS

149

Paracelsus on Plague. Summary

181

(e) Summary: Originality of Paracelsus' doctrine and its Neoplatonic background This, then, is Paracelsus' doctrine of the plague (see the diagram). It preserves some of the traditional Galenic material and widely elaborates Ficinus' chemical theory, but mainly presents an original Paracelsean complicated interplay of macrocosmic and microcosmic forces. In this interaction the reciprocity between man and heaven is of the utmost interest. Plague comes to us as a thunderbolt from heaven affecting a certain metabolism in nature at large and the corresponding process in man. But first it is man who creates the astral semina of the disease, the contagium. This is a physical entity, a body. But it is created by something non-corporeal, the sinful passion and imagination of man. In all this the Neoplatonic principle of the force of imagination seems to be involved. "In Nature contemplation is to be something" - as Ficino says.152 It finally leads to the concept of a psychic element in bodies and vice versa, and thus to an abolition of strict dualism. The non-corporeal spirit begets corporeal matter. This train of thought is recognisable in Campanella's "Sensus Rerum" and especially in the philosophy of Van Helmont, Glisson and Leibniz. It is not accidental that Van Helmont gave it pointed expression in his treatise on the plague, which we shall compare with Paracelsus' doctrine. Before doing so, however, we must review briefly the theory of Contagion. The Origin of the Plague according to Paracelsus: Human passion

* *

Conversion into "body" metals, also - for external treatment of boils - toads and decoctions of beetles (designed to remove the evil by magnetic attraction), hut herbs and drugs as prescribed by Ficino and Agrippa are greatly amplified and still appear in a prominent place. See for detail the footnotes to the edition published by Aschner, Jena 1926-1932, vol. I. p. 895. 162 "In natiira quidem intueri nihil aliud est quam esse tale et tale quiddam facere." Plotini Opp. ad Ennead. III, 8, 1 et seq. Basileae 1615, p. 339 et seq. See later our chapter on Paracelsus and Plotinus. For a more general appraisal of the force of imagination in mystical philosophy see Koyre, A.: La Philosophie de Jacob Bohme. Paris 1929, p. 205. Paracelsus Revue d'Hist. et de Philos. relig. 1933, XIII, 46 and 145. Pagel, W.: Bull. Hist. Med., 1935, Ill, 103. Ibid. 1945, XVIII, 21 and Suppl. Bull. Hist. Med., II, 1944, 31 and 39.

182

Medicine

Fracastor on Contagion

183

Ascent of "body" to appropriate star where it rests as "Seed"

*

Shooting down of seed by the wrath of God

*

Causing disturbance in Iliados (Nature at large) liberation of arsenical (i.e. corrosive) substances to be trapped in a coagulate (tartar)

* * Plague

Parallel process in man producing contagium.

7. The Contagium. Fracastor, Saracenus and Kircher on Plague Developed by Fracastor (1483-1553) in a classical treatise (1546), the contagium theory essentially conforms with the modern idea. It is noteworthy that the view of the plague agent as a chemical corrosive should have survived it for some length of time. By introducing a specific agent - the contagium - Fracastor believed he could explain a special case of "sympathy" in nature - his treatise on Contagium forms the appendix to one on "Sympathy and Antipathy" in the cosmos at large. 153 153

Hieronymi Fracastorii Veronensis: De Sympathia et Antipathia Rerum lib. unus. De Contagione et Contagiosis Morbis et Curatione lib. III. V enetiis ap. hered. Lucaeantonii Juntae. April, 1546. In Fracastor's hands the doctrine of contagia retained a realistic and scientific air. Later, this doctrine provided a platform for formal-logical exercises about the various possible contingencies which would make the "sympathy" between two people effective in transmitting the contagium. This is seen, for example, in the purely speculative treatise of the Venetian Joannes Marinelli, De Peste ac de pestilenti contagio liber: in quo disputatur, quantum inter se distent pestis et pestilens contagium et quae contagioni pestilenti, quales sunt bubones pestiferi et carbunculi qui aliquas ltaliae civitates inquinarunt, curatio sit adhibenda. Venetiis ap. Gratiosum Perchacinum 1577. 3, 21, 2 ff. In Fracastor's concept it is from the specificity of the contagium that the specificity of the disease is derived. This is of particular interest in view of Paracelsus' ideas that each disease is a specific "Ens" determined by an outside agent acting upon the body. Fracastor ascribed to his contagium "life", comparable to that of seed ("seminaria") and opposed to "occult qualities" as well as "miasma" and putrefaction (see E.W. Goodall in Proc. R. Soc. Med. 1936, XXX, 341)- a further point of contact with Paracelses' ideas. Finally the importance attributed by Fracastor to the air as the most powerful cause and vector of contagion is reminiscent of Paracelsus' view of the air as the carrier of "astral poison" as well as the mysterious "MM" by which life is maintained on earth (seep. 140).

: HIE~NYMV.S

3_::::.:::!::J.~)' 0 '~"-»··c1~;~$ Fig. 14. Portrait of Fracastor - related to an anonymous woodcut prefixed to his Homocentrica. Impression in the Wellcome Collection. Neg. 14799.

The concept of contagion is closely related to "Natural Magic" - for both are based on the belief in sympathy and antipathy in the cosmos. This connection can be traced to Ficino's treatise on the Plague (1481). Here Ficino, more than sixty years before the work of Fracastor, says: Infection is transmutation of like into like - comparable to the resonance given by one of two guitars attuned to each other when the twin instrument is played. Hence the more two persons are related to each other by birth, complexion or constellation, the greater the danger of one being infected by the other (De Epid. Morbo, loc. cit., 1518, sig. Giii, cap. XXIII: De astantium conservatione qui infirmum regunt). - For a general appraisal of Fracastor see: Singer, C. and D. W., Ann. Med. Hist. 1917, I, l; and Wilmer Cave Wright in the translation of De Contagione. New York 1930.

184

Contagion. Van Helmont's Theory

Medicine

Fracastor's view is "atomistic" - in it small particles and their capa· bility of penetration and action at a distance are paramount. Their activity largely depends upon humidity, which allows them to become adhesive. 154 That they are beings in their own right emerges from the differences which separate them from the agents causing putrefaction, which is the simple dissolution of a composite object. Rabies, for example, though contagious, presents no evidence of putrefaction. 155 Wine turns acid by contagion but not by putrefaction. Contagion is a matter of particles, unlike putrefaction or combustion which affect an object as a whole. 156 In spite of superficial similarity (notably in their malignancy), contagium is fundamentally different from poison. For the latter cannot generate anything cognate to itself. Arsenic, orpiment, rokett157 and cantharides are corrosives which simply bum. They are often wrongly called putrefactive. Nor can their vapours give rise to the seeds of contagium. 158

ConselJuently, in works on the plague which are based on the doctrine of the contagium, no mention is made of any resemblance or identity between the causative agent and a chemical corrosive. This is seen for example in Saracenus' work on the plague. 159 In this.the contagium, as defined by Fra'castor, assumes the central place in the causation of plague as a cor· ruptive process of the body "as a whole". Among the more remote causes, human wickedness is given considerable attention, but not connected with the astrological causes of a depravation of the air, or with the pestilential vapours arising in it. On the other hand, arsenic and other chemicals and metals are recommended as preventives chiefly to be worn around the neck - in order to attract the poison "magnetically~' and neutralise it by "sympathy".160 This may contain a trace of the idea that the poison is something akin to a chemical substance. Kircherl61, though argning on lines similar to those of Saracenus, issues a warning just against chemical corrosives worn as amnlets, because of their highly poisonous action on respiration and the heart. A new feature is the broad exposition of the spontaneous gener· ation of a contagium animatum ("Vermes") from putrid material, supported by experiments and microscopic observations. 162 Close to this proto-scientific effort, we find a long chapter on the traditional topic of "magic" plague brought about by diabolical art, in154 Fracastorius, Hier.: De Contagione. Lib. I, cap. 10. Opp., Secunda Ed. Venetiis, 1574, p. 81 (verso). 155 Ibid. Lib. I, 9, p. 81 (recto). 156 Ibid. Lib. I, 1, p. 77. 157 "Pythiocampe" meaning "Eruca", an anti'scorbutic plant of sharp, burning, pene· trating quality. It also stands for an insect with properties similar to Cantharides the meaning intended here (see Castelli Lexicon Med. Lipsiae 1713, sub "Eruca", p. 316). 155 Ibid. Lib. I, cap. 11, loc. cit., p. 82. 159 I. Antonii Saraceni Lugdunaei: De Peste Commentarius. Ex. Off. Jo. Gregorii, 1572. 160 Saracenus, Ioc. cit., p. 215. 161 Athanasii Kircher Scrutinium Physico-medicum Contagiosae Luis quae dicitur pestis. 1658. Second Ed. Leipzig 1659, p. 339. 1s2 Loe. cit., pp. 69 et seq.

185

eluding a lengthy explanation of how vindictive Jews, lepers and beggars manufactured the plague in France in about 1320 by poisoning wells, as they admitted under torture. 163 ~What the poison was, however, he does not say, but suspects that it was provided by poisonous animals or plants,164 replete with poisonous vapours from the earth. It is in Kircher'.s book that we meet again with arsenical and mercurial exhalations, but these are not actually thought to be pestiferous. Malignant astral spirits notably of Mars and Saturn, mixed with diverse elemental matters such as arsenical, mercurial, bituminous, saline, antimonial, snlphurous and other vapours, can be contributory, however. Hence the various forms and degrees of malignancy of plague epidemics. 165 It is the same malignant astral spirit that begets in the earth and sea those monstrous insects which swarm out just before the plague and spell forthcoming doom. 166 This spirit again "tinges" plants with its malignant breath.

8. Van Helmont's Tomb of the Plague Van Helmont's treatise: "The Tomb of the Plague", is outstanding in several respects. It contains a version of Plato's simile of the cave adapted to the history of medicine, notably with respect to his predecessors Galen and Paracelsus. It also epitomises the whole of Van Helmont's reform of medicine and his religious-ethical demands upon the medical profession. It finally incorporates his doctrine of the "Sensus Reruni.", which foreshadows Glisson and Leibniz' philosophy of Monads. Like all Van Helmont's treatises, it sets out with a widely sweeping rejection of previous theories. Heaven is in no way responsible for the plague. The Astra are ordained to be signs indicating the seasons and the future of things, but not their causes. These latter are the "seeds" of things - which existed before the stars were made. Thus plants were created earlier than the stars. There is no plague in China and in some countries plague still rises afresh. Yet the same stars undergo the same type of revolutions in all countries. If the plague agent was star-made, it would envelop the whole atmosphere of the earth at once, because of the great distances of the stars from the earth. The Paracelsean theory that man's sinful passions infect the stars means that heaven is defiled by the deeds of mere non-entities. With regard to the wrath of God invoked by Paracelsus, Van Helmont asks, why should the executioner be angry with his victim ? Why should our iniquities elicit the punishing action of Saturn and Mars rather than of other and nearer planets like the moon? Moreover, the first to be caught in an epidemic is often an innocent child. 163 164 165 166

Loe. cit., p. 113. P. 114. Loe. cit., p. 134. P. 141.

186

Medicine

In Van Helmont's own opinion, the agent of the plague is a poisonous "gas", i.e. a volatile ("wild") spirit of a specific nature. '"Gas", by virtue of its specificity, is different from other volatile bodies, notably air and water vapour - general media of which all things in nature partake.167 The plague spirit either comes to us from outside sources such as plague patients or carcases or is formed in ourselves - when an internal ferment attaches itself to a crude, putrefying gas from the earth. But the action of this agent formed in ourselves is not a direct stroke of the poison at our vital powers (the Archeus), for these are of the celestial nature of light and therefore not immediately open to an attack by something coporeal like the poison gas of plague. Plague develops, however, when the Archeus, by a perturbation, confusion or passion, conceives the image of his own change. The imagination of an "image of death" inside the Archeus thus prepares the nest in which the poison can settle by a kind of sympathetic or magnetic attraction. This is made possible by the existence of a kind of sensus inside the poison as well. Van Helmont says :168 "All which things (namely those which subsist by a real essence) do enclose in them an obscure act of feeling, imagination and a certain image of choice. For else, by what mean.s shall a thing be moved, or altered at the presence of its object, unlesse it feel or perceive that very object to be present with it self? And unlesse that felt conception doth include some certain imagination in it self? "There is almost nothing made in nature without a proper motion: and nothing is moved voluntarily or by itself, but by reason of the property put into it by the Creator, which property, the Ancients name a proper love, and for this cause they will have selflove to be the first born daughter of nature, given unto it, and bred in it for its own preservation: And when this is present, there is of necessity also a sympathy and antipathy, in respect of the diversity of objects .... " There is an internal sensus, i.e. "feeling, imagination and image of choice" in objects of nature. It exists in man, animals and plants, but also in minerals, stones and any part of matter that acts and functions even in the most primitive way. It thus explains all phenomena and actions, and particularly those that are attributed to the "occult qualities" or the tota substantia. Among these the phenomenon of contagion is paramount. "Take notice Reader that in this corner all the abstruse knowledge of occult or hidden properties layeth which the schools have banished from their diligent search .... "

Van Helmont thus erects a complicated hierarchy of factors in the causation of plague in a way very similar to that of Paracelsus. But his order is different in content as well as in its arrangement. He recognises the traditional Galenic "primary" plague poison which comes to us from outside (notably from plague patients or carcases) and attempts to classify it as a chemical substance ("Gas"). He also recognises the Paracelsean idea of its partial formation in ourselves, but drops the macrocosmicmicrocosmic parallel, the action in nature at large, its corrosive - arsenical167

168

On "Gas" and the significance of Van Helmont's discovery see Pagel, W. in: Religious and Philosophical Aspects of Van Helmont's Science and Medicine. Baltimore 1944. Translated by Chandler. Oriatrike, 1662, p. 1113.

Van Helmont's Theory. Hodges' Loimologia

187

property, and particularly the concept of the "infection" of the stars from which the poison finds its way back to man. He also adopts from Paracelsus the conversion of a process of imagination into a physical entity the Plague - by sympathetic attraction of a corporeal ferment. In this he elaborates Campanella's theory of the Sensus Rerum which in his hands becomes the precursor of the ideas of Glisson and Leibniz. 169 Unlike Paracelsus, however, he subordinates man to the action of the poison which exists independently, whereas in Paracelsus' opinion the poison is the product of the sinful actions of man. The following diagram permits an easy comparison 'with the ideas of Paracelsus. The Origin of the Plague according to Van Helmont:

Pestilential Poison - a Gas combining with a Ferment

I Endogenous (Gas of Earth plus ferment from body)

Exogenous (Patients, carcases)

Stirs up Archeus forming

I Image of Disease Image+ Poison

I = Plague = Contagium

9. Traits of Paracelsean theory in Hodges' Loimologia By the time of Nathanael Hodges, who described the plague of London (1665) in his Loimologia of 167217°, divine wrath as the cause of plague had become a mere formula promulgated chiefly in order to avoid the suspicion of atheism. To Hodges, the admission of a supernatural cause cannot mean an evasion of the search for the natural causes which is paramount l69

l70

See Pagel, W. in: The Speculative Basis of Modern Pathology. Bull. Hist. Med. 1945, XVIII, 18-21, and in: The Reaction to Aristotle in XVIIth Century Biological Thought. Science, Medicine and History. Essays in honour of Ch. Singer. Ed. E. Ashworth Underwood. Oxford 1953, vol. I, p. 503. Loimologia sive Pestis Nuperae apud p:ipulum Londinensem grassantis Narratio Historica. Londini 1672.

188

in medicine. It would be beneath the dignity of the Hippocratic art and injurious to reason.1 71 Plague is a disease caused by a fatal and poisonous, fine contagious aura, which spells corruption and is in turn the product of a peculiar alteration of the nitrous-aerial spirits in the earth.172 It is a fine "pneumatic" aura rather than a thick earthy miasma. The poisonous quality of the aura invites a comparison with a chemical substance, to wit any "arsenical tinctures" as contained in minerals. In all this we easily recognise a transformed Paracelsean plague concept. It is stripped of its metaphysical and symbolic implications based on the correlations between cosmos, earth and man. What remains is the designation of the virus as arsenical and its derivation from the bowels of the earth. The coincidence of plagues with earthquakes is now qnite rationally explained in terms of a liberation of the fatal poison from its hiding place in tlle depths of the earth by the natural catastrophe. The chemical theory is elaborated upon by introducing the Helmontian concept of the Alkahest in order to illustrate the devastating effects of the poison likened to an omnipotent chemical solvent - on organic substance. Another, to him still more contemporary, chemical concept ori which Hodges draws is that of the nitro-aerial spirits. On January 4th, 1664/5, Robert Hooke had made an experiment by which he showed that coal in a closed glass vessel ceases to bum but revives when brought into air. He concluded that "air is the universal dissolvent of all sulphurous bodies and that this dissolution is fire" in which process the effective cause is a "nitrous substance inherent and mixt with the air". 173 Against this Boyle assumed the mere enclosure of "little aerial particles between the very minute solid ones" of nitre when commenting on Hooke's theory. 174 In 1674, Boyle suggested that the "springyness" of fresh air necessary for animal life is due to "some vital substance diffus'd through the Air whether it be a volatile Nitre or (rather) some yet anonymous substance, Sydereal or Subterraneal ... " 175 At the same time and probably independently, Mayow concluded that air contained nitro-aerial 171 172

173

174

175

Nitro-aerial Particles. - Uroscopy

Medicine

Loe. cit., p. 38. "Pestis est morbus, ab aura venenata; subtilissima, maxime exitiosa, simul ac Contagiosa, complures eodem tempore diversarum Regionum corripiens, a peculiari potissimum Spiritus Nitroaerei alteratione velut Corruptiva ortus." Ibid., p. 39. McKie, D.: Fire and the Flamma Vitalis: Boyle, Hooke and Mayow. Science, Medicine and History. Essays in hon. of C. Singer, Oxford 1953, vol. I, p. 474, with reference to Birch, T.: History 'of the Royal Society of London, London 17 56-1767, vol. II, p. 2. Compare for the background of this and similar experiments : Kopp H. : Geschichte der Chemie, vol. III. Braunschweig 1845, p. 133. Boyle, Tracts cont. New Experiments touching the Relation betwixt Flame and Air. Oxford 1672, p. 76. See McKie, loc. cit., p. 479. On the actual year of publication of Boyle's work (1673) see Partington, J. R.: The Life and Work of John Mayow (16411679). Isis 1956, XLVII, p. 409. Boyle, Tracts ... about some Hidden Qualities of the Air. London, 1674, p. 24-27. See McKie, loc. cit., p. 484.

189

particles which were consumed in combustion and respiration.176 Mayow's belief in the assumption of nitro-aerial particles from the air into the blood177 must have had a special appeal for any theory of the plague as a disease communicated by the air.

The nitro-aerial particles are now the mediators between man, earth and cosmos. Divine wrath as the primary cause of an upsetting of elementary balance in the earth, causing the stars to send down the deadly poison - all this has been dropped; and in place of this complicated astrometaphysical and symbolistic mirage, in which Paracelsus had enveloped his chemical hypothesis of the arsenical nature of the poison, the latter alone remains in a form approximated to reality by the contemporary concept of the nitro-aerial particles in earth, air and man.

Traces of a suggested quantitative and chemical analysis of urine to replace mediaeval uroscopy We may conclude this chapter with one other example of the strange and intimate blending of sound scientific principles with a system of magical and fantastic analogies: the replacement of ancient and mediaeval uroscopy by the weighing and chemical examination of urine. Mediaeval uroscopy Since the 13th century A.D., uroscopy had been brought into a closed system and, at this time, Walter Agilon presented diseases no longer in the order from head to foot, but according to the changes recognisable by simple inspection of the urine. Diseases such as malaria, vertigo, alcoholism were lumped together because they all give urine a white colour. The urine was supposed to indicate the pathological changes in the humours. Four regions from top to bottom were distinguished in the urinal and were correlated with the head, chest, abdomen and uro-genital system. Urinary changes appearing in one of these regions pointed to the system affected. A granular deposit found in the upper layer and descending into the second layer on shaking indicated "catarrh", i.e. the downward flow from the head to the chest. 178 176

177

178

Mayow, John: Tractatus qninque medico-physici. Oxford 1674, pp. 104--105. See McKie, loc. cit., p. 485. Hoefer, F.: Histoire de la Chimie. 2°d ed., Paris 1866, vol. II, p. 253. For a recent assessment of John Mayow as an independent observer and savant see Partington, loc. cit. Isis 1956, XLVII, pp. 217 and 405. Tract. de Respiratione Bihl. Anat., ed. le Clerk and Manget, Genevae 1685, vol. II, p. 224. See Pagel, W.: Harvey and the Purpose of Circulation. Isis 1951, vol. XLII, p. 24. Mediaeval Uroscopy: For a clear and profound survey see: Diepgen, P.: Geschichte der

190

191

Chemical "Uroscopy"

Medicine

AV RORA

T HESAVR VSQ..VE

PHILOSOPHORVM,

Theophrafti Paracel6 , Germani Philofophi,& Medici pra: cundis omnibus accuratifsimi. A.cceflit

Monarchia Phyflca per GB R A R... v M Do RN B V M,in defenli'onem Para.. celficorum Principiorum, afuo Przcepro. re pofi'rorum.

D

Przterea Anatomia uiiu Pttrttctlfi, qua docet autor prttterft• tfionem corporum ,& ante mortem, patienti•

6us effe faccurrendum. Fig. 15. Mediaeval Uroscopy. Disc exhibiting the colours of urine. From: Ulrich Binder (Pinder) Epiphanie Medicorum. Speculum videndi urinas hominum. Peypus, Niirnberg 1506.

Paracelsus' demand for a chemical examination of urine - Chemical

I

5

77.

"uroscopy" and "dissection" ("Anatomy") of urine by Paracelsists. Assessment of the specific gravity of urine by Van Helmont Paracelsus opposes "uroscopy" on the ancient lines. No information, he says, can be obtained from the urine short of its examination by "extraction", coagulation and distillation ("ebullition"), i.e. by chemical methods. These will reveal what is hidden during a mere inspection of an untreated specimen - for example the true colour of urine, its sweet, bitter or sour quality, its salt content, and changes due to fever paroxysms. Medizin. Berlin 1949, vol. 1, p. 213, and idem, Gualteri Agilonis Summa Medicinalis. Ed. princ., Leipzig 1911.

BASILE AE· Fig. 16. Title page of the "Paracelsean" treatise in which a "chemical-anatomical dissection" of the urine is recommended. The same work contains Dorn's l\fonarchia Triadis as referred to in footnote 271 on p. 104.

192

Medicine

Signs of tartaric disease are just as hidden in urine as is silver dissolved in Aqua fortis. 179 They are detected, however, when a deposit is precipitated.180 This is formed by coagulation whereby the morbid "species" are separated out from the urine. 181 Diseases will thus be diagnosed in terms of an abnormal quantity or condition of s,alt, sulphur and mercury. 182 In short, the doctor must know how to "separate" the contents of urine by chemical means. Detailed instructions are given for "reading" the deposits - revealing a disappointing albeit subtle new brand of uroscopy. Yet the principle of chemical examination stands out as a remarkably progressive step. This remains true in spite of the fantastic versions which the principle assumed in the hands of the Paracelsists. Such versions are prominent in a treatise ascribed to Paracelsus himself, but regarded as spurious already by Huser. 183 It is of great interest to follow up how the Paracelsists elaborated the ideas of the master in the matter of urine examination - until the sound scientific reform of Van Helmont, the Paracelsean naturalist. The author of the treatise just mentioned still aims at a quantitative analysis by means of the balance and accurate measurement of volume. This proto-scientific procedure is still bound up however, with the idea that in the urine the whole anatomy of man is somehow represented. This is the old idea of "uroscopy" - but with a chemical twist. Simple inspection of the urine teaches nothing. It is necessary to subject urine to distillation in a carefully gauged measuring cylinder, the parts of which correspond in length and width to those of the human body. Careful observation of the airy, fluid and earthy parts and the sequence in which they ascend and are deposited will then reveal the seat of the disease. It is thus that the body will be "chemically dissected". Hence the title of the 179

180 181 182 183

Schedula de Urinis. Scholia in libros de Urinis in librum de urinarum ac pulsuum judiciis. Huser, vol. I, p. 764. Ibid., pp. 738 and 752. Kurtzes Biichlein de Urinis auss Theophrasti eigner Hand abcopiert. Huser I, p. 745 A. Ibid. Huser I, p. 746 C. Anatomia Corporum adhuc viventium, qua docet Theophrastus Paracelsus . . . ante mortem aegris consulendum ... in: Aurora Thesaurusque Philosophorum Theophrasti Paracelsi accessit Monarchia Physica per Gerardum Domeum ... praeterea Anatomia Viva Paracelsi qua docet autor praeter sectionem corporum et ante mortem patientibus esse succurrendum. Basileae 1577, pp. 129-191. - Anatomi, das ist zerlegung der lebendigen Ciirper, oder von distillierung des hams. Ein Tractatlin etwan von dem Hochgelehrten Herren Gerhardo Domaeo Lateinisch beschriben und Theophrasto Paracelso zugeeignet. Nunmehr aber gemeinem Nutz zum besten Ins Teutsch versetzt. Chirurgischer Biicher Appendix ... geordnet durch Joh. Huserum. Strassburg 1605, p. 58-70.

Chemical "Uroscopy" and "Dissection"

VIVORVM

193

IJ7

J.O H

u. J3

,4 f,.J'

t6

•7 •9 19 ~I)

Fig. 17. The "Anatomical Furnace" for the distillationofurine and diagnosis of the locus morbi (for explanation see text, p. 194). From: Aurora Thesaurusque Philosophorum Paracelsi with "Anatomia Viva Paracelsi" by which help should be given to the patient ante mortem. Basileae 1577. Title page in fig. 16.

'.2.J l-2. ~~

2.4

De fornace anatomica.

on abfimili fornacit N proporcio, con:clpondeat pra!cedenti1 s ratione , nofirz

treatise: "Anatomy that is the dissection of the living body. Or of distillation of the urine." It contains first of all a minute description of the equipment, notably measuring cylinders, weights and a balance. The urine should be kept in a vessel of glass or stone, not

194

Chemical "Uroscopy" and "Dissection"

Medicine

of any other material which might alter its chemical composition. The arms of the balance should consist of copper or silver but not of iron, which is liable to rust, owing to the corrosive properties of urine. Glass vessels should be used for the weighing and should be suspended by specially firm cords, not liable to decay when contaminated by urine. The assessment of the urine is based on specific gravity, the weight of gold being used as the standard for comparison. 18 4 Urine in which the salty property predominates is the lightest of all, "mercurial" urine the heaviest and the "sulphurous" variety stands between the two. The assessment of the urine by specific gravity, however, is much overshadowed by the significance attached to distillation. For this a cylindrical vessel divided along its length into 24 equal parts ("Daumen") is recommended, its length being six times its width. It is juxtaposed to the figure of a man exhibiting the same proportions. This vessel is used for the distillation of urine in a tripartite furnace, which is as long as the cylinder and of meticulously determined measurements. With this equipment, all the chemical anatomy of man can be studied. The urine represents "spagyrical and anatomical man hidden in his own urine". The carefully regulated fire takes the place of the anatomist's scalpel and will dissect man by the "chemical barber's art" ("auff Chimische Balbierkunst"). When, after heating the longitudinal vessel in the furnace, humours or vapours ascend from that part which corresponds to the site of the human heart towards the anterior part of the vessel, the disease is due to too much joy; if to the posterior part, to sadness; if to the apex, to wrath (cholera); if to the lower part to fright, etc. If earthy parts ascend before fluid parts (obviously a pathological sign), a strong tartaric disease is indicated. If the humour at the first distillation is tinged with many different colours such as blue, yellow, green, it indicates that the uterus is "infected" by sperms, especially if the colours are discernible in the middle of the glass, i.e. the region of the genital parts. There is no need to go into further detail.

195

Thurneisser zum Thurn's "Probierung der Harnen" This method was exploited by the Paracelsist Leonhart Thurneisser zum Thurn (1530-1595).

In conclusion: We see ancient uroscopy replaced by a new system hardly inferior to the old one in the construction of scholastic rules remote from reality. Yet the new system incorporates sound scientific principles such as the careful collection of urine in special non-metal containers, its accurate measuring and weighing and finally a kind of chemical examination. But all this is bound up with the assertion that the urine mirrors human anatomy. By giving the still the proportions of a human figure, a workable analogy seemed to be achieved by means of which the normal and pathological formation of urine in the body could be recaptured in vitro. Moreover it seemed possible to locate the phases of this process by observing in which order various vapours appeared and in which parts of the still they were condensed.

Fig. 18. Leonhardt Thurneisser zum Thurm. Portrait from: Magna Alchymia. Das ist ein Lehr ... von den offenbaren und verborgenlichen Naturen ... und was der dingen zum theil hoch in den Liifften, zum theil in der Tieffe der Erden, und zum Theil in den W assern, welche auss dem Chaos oder der Confusion und Vermischung elementischer Substantzen, als Geistlicher und doch subtiler, noch uubestandiger weiss verursacht, empfangen und radiciert. BerlinNic. Voltz. 1583.

What he calls his "fifty-ninth book", professedly published before the fifty-eight others in 1571185, treated of the "Probierung der Harnen" (testing of urine) "to forestall future 184

On Nicolaus Cusanus as a predecessor in recommending examination of the specific gravity of the urine for diagnostic purposes, see below, p. 199.

186

At Frankfurt an der Oder by Johan. Eichorn.

196

Medicine

importumties by boastful and opinionated persons". 186 It is a collection of "consilia" based on urine examination. Each consilium proceeds from the weight and naked-eye appearance of the urine to the description of what happened in its distillation. For example, the urine of a woman aged 46 is described as fairly heavy, indicating "mercurial"properties.187 It forecasts dropsy followed by a tumour of the limbs and tympanites of the lower part of the abdomen to be relieved by camphor oil, amber and pearls. When separating the phlegm from the subtle parts of the urine, Thurneisser says he found a blue and yellow vapour mixed with green fumes at the site of the still corresponding to the uterus, pointing to some putrefaction and impure nature. These fumes ascended to the very top; unwilling to resolve into fluid, they remained a fog, becoming thick and turbid, circulating like a globe and moving hither and thither. All this revealed that vapours were permeating the ducts of the liver, the tracheo-bronchial tree and the cavities of the heart, leading to fainting, putrefaction and tartar formation. They would finally attack the brain causing apoplexy, convulsions, torpor. Deposited - coagulated - matter had the appearance of "tartar".

end that Paracelsus and his disciples might be thought to surpasse all other Physicians, devised a new way to judge of diseases by Urines: to wit, by dividing it into three generall principles, Mercury, Sulphur and Salt: and so by distillation to finde out that which we demanded." Libavius mentions a "water of separation", one drop of which added to the patient's urine will accomplish the separation of these "elements" so that the predominant one will "lay it selfe open to the sight of the eye, and shall withall declare and lay open the cause of the disease." But, says Hart: "Great cry and little wooll. Our Paracelsists would

THE

ANATOMIE OF VRINES. CONTAINING THE CONVIC-

Thurneisser's descriptions of the distillation of urine largely paraphrase the theory of catarrh in chemical terms. There are vapours ascending from the abdomen to the brain, which are condensed in the top part of the alembic - human or chemical - and flow down to organs having ducts that are liable to be obstructed by the condensed and coagulated material (tartar).

tion and condemnation ofthem. Or,theje,ond Pm ofourdifcourfe of'JriM1, Dc1cl\ing and vnfolding 1hc manifold fallhooclsand abufcs commi11cd by 1hc vulgar fo11 of Praaitioncrs, in 1hc iudgw:mcnt ofdifcafcs by the vrincs oncly : co• gcthcr with a nwow furucy of thcirfubtbiicc, chicfc colalln,and manifold con1cm1,ioyning withaU the righ1 vfe of vrlna,

whmi• ii "nt•i1mlpk111i11fp,,jil4fft mUJ/f(/111/I Hijlotlt1t11Utrtii"!1!N f•'1tdl.

James Hart's criticism of chemical uroscopy For a criticism of this alchemical "urosophy" we turn to "The Anatomie of Urines containing the conviction and condemnation of them", by James Hart of Northampton. 188 Standing firmly on his humoralistic convictions he "detects and unfolds the manifold falsehoods and abuses committed by the vulgar sort of Practitioners, in the judgement of diseases by the urines onely." The tenth chapter - at the end of the book - treats of the "fond and foolish opinion concerning the distillation of urines: of the water of separation, together with the uncertaintie of judgement by such meanes". Hart says 189: "One of the great masters of alchemy Thurnheuserus by name, to the 186 A more comprehensive work adorned with anatomical folding plates with movable parts appeared at Berlin (Im Grawen Closter) in 1576: Bebaiosis Agonismou Das ist Confirmatio concertationis oder ein Bestettigung ... der ... Kunst des Harnprobirens. In Dreytzehen kurtze Bucher an tag geben. Folio. VI, 107 fol. No. IX in Moehsen's list of Thurneisser's printed books (p. 191). (Beitriige zur Geschichte der Wissenschaften in der Mark Brandenburg. Berlin 1783.) 187 "die mensur 16 lot 3 quintlein und 2 / wegend." 16 1 Quint = about l drachm. 1 Lot= about 17 grammes (4 drachms). 188 London 1625. 189 P. 119.

197

Chemical "Uroscopy" criticised. J. Hart

Collei!led, ••well our ofihc aacl•nt Oreeh, Lalno, Ph,iidllW orr.u...u Nationo: theirauthorldes qu01ed 1ndu1nfltted0111of th• origlo•ll tong-,tognhcrwid1 fomc oftht Authon owne obfctu1tlon>.

B1 huu

Fig. 19. Title page of James Hart (Fl. 1633), Anatomie of Urines.

Hu.T

efN 01.TH.AMPJOllo

LONDON.

Pri11tcd i., 1u&.t,Fitllr«Rohn&(Jtf-, 110d 111uolle tol.tat!lls lh•nau.blltolllbdoorcof Pawa. I hs•

faine feed us with many such smoaky promises." Nor has he any confidence in the weighing of the urine as practised by the alchemists in order to trace a "heavy tartar or terrestrious substance". Nor finally has he any patience with the "anatomizing" of the urine, i.e. Thumeisser's method, ·as described above and summarised by Hart in the words of Reusner: "After the separation of the aforesaid elements the vapours ascending sticke to some part of the Still, answering in situation to that part of the body of man in the which lyeth hid the very fountaine and spring of the disease." 190 Hart argues that the urine is a distillate of the blood and that separation of its "elements" can at best reveal "the number 190 De Spagiricorum nova urinae probatione quae fit per separationem et resolutionem Mercurii, Sulphurii et Salis. In Willichii, Jodoci Reselliani Urinarum probationes illustratae scholis medicis Hier. Reusneri. Henricpetri, Basileae 1582, p. 286.

198

Medicine

of the parts which are in the substance of the blood, and of what nature and kind it is". Perhaps one may thereby put something down to the action of mercury, sulphur or salt. Hart then asks the courteous reader: "If when thou hadst used all thy art and cunning, a countrey-man should aske thine opinion concerning his urine, and thou shouldst tell him bee were troubled with some sulphureous, mercuriall or saltish and tartareous disease, would he not laugh thee to scorne, and thinke, it may be, thou hadst beene that day too well acquainted with some pots and pipes of Tobacco? ... and if he ... tell his wife ... who knowes but she might call him Goodman Wood-cocke for telling her such a tale of RobinHood". If it be a "sulphureous disease" there are many of them and which should it be? Ifit be a fever how should it be possible to conjecture its type and nature from the methods of the alchemical "urine-mongers"?

Hart is a humoralist who would see in colour differences the reflection of humoral changes and crises, but on the whole deprecates any diagnosis and prognosis from the urine in a critical and enlightened manner. Van Helmont's criticism of chemical uroscopy It was not very long before Van Helmont ridiculed the "chemical anatomy" of urine which he ascribes to Thurneisser alone. 191 He sees in it one application of the analogy of the macrocosm and microcosm, basic to the world of Paracelsus and one of the main targets of Van Helmont's polemic. Van Helmont says that Thurneisser talks nonsense about the multitude of "species" hallucinated by him in the urine. He not only wants man to be a microcosm, but also urine "to enjoy this privilege" believing that urinary vapours ascending in distillation are condensed at that part of the still which corresponds to the region affected by disease in the patient. This is how Thurneisser is satisfied, to impose on the world his "uroscopies", suspect of deceit and magic nonsense, by excusing them as a kind of distillation and "hydromantics". Unlike Van Helmont's own chemical methods, Thurneisser's invention served only to deceive its author and others. It was ludicrously, if not dishonestly, introduced into medicine. Yet the idea of weighing the urine was taken up and greatly promoted by Van Helmont, who also recommended comparative readings and the determination of the specific gravity. In this, Van Helmont is preceded by Nicolaus Cusanus (1401-1464). In his small treatise: "On Experiments with the Balance", Cusanus insists on the expression and interpretation of all natural phenomena and processes in quantitative terms. For this he recommends the use of the balance, particularly to determine the specific weight of blood and urine. Weight

Chemical "Uroscopy" criticised. Van Helmont

and colour of urine will thus make a better diagnosis possible than colour alone, for the latter is fallacious. Tables should be prepared in which the average normal figures valid for young and old people, for Germans and Africans, are shown for comparison with the urine of a given case. 1 92 We shall return to Cusanus in a more general context later. 1 9 3 Here it suffices to say that he influenced Van Helmont's quantitative experiments and deliberations. Van Helmont says194 : "There is, in the meantime, a safe method of examining urines by their weight; to wit, an ounce weigheth 600 grains. But I had a glassen vessel, of a narrow neck, weighing 1354 grains: But it was filled with rain water, weighing besides 4670 grains: the urine of an old man was found to weigh in the same vessel 4720 grains; or to exceed the weight of the rain water, 50 grains: But the urine of a healthy woman of 55 years old weighed 4745 grains: The urine of an healthy young man of 19 years old, weighed 4766 grains: But that of another young man of like age, being abstentions from drink, weighed 4800 grains: The Urine of a young man of 36 years old, undergoing a tertian ague with a cough weighed 4763 grains: But the aforesaid youth of 19 years old, with a double Tertian, had drunk little in the night aforegoing: but his urine weighed 4848 grains: which was 82 grains more than while he was healthy. A maid having suffered the beating or passion of the heart, made a water like unto rain water, and the which therefore, was of equal weight with rain water: A lukewarm urine is always a few grains lighter as also more extended than itself being cold: And therefore, let the vessel be of a short neck and sharp pointed that it may measure the urine almost in a poynt. Another shall add and meditate of more things: And it is a far more easy method, than. that which is reduced into Aphorisms by weighing of the whole man: I have always breathed about the essences, remedies and applications, or for the curing of a disease : and who am one that have hated the common applause: I have hated also the prognostication, prediction and fore knowledge that was familiar to divinations: I have rather rejoyced to heal the sick party, than by speaking doubtfully, to have foretold many things." 192

193 194

191

De Lithiasi, cap. III, Contentum urinae, 20; Opuscula. Ed.Valentini, p. 17.

199

Cusanus, Dialogus quartus Idiotae: De Staticis experimentis. Operum clarissimi P. Nicolai Cusae Card. Ex. officina Ascensiana recenter emissa, vol. I, Parisiis 1514, fol. 94 v. Vitruvius had recommended that water near human habitations should be examined for purity by weight. In the same way should be tested: "Sanguis, Urina, Sanus, lnfirmus, Juvenis, Senex, Alemannus, Mer, Haerbae, Radices, Doses, Pulsus, Anhelitus, Complexio, Periodus, Calor, Frigus, Climata, Homo, etc." (Marginal summary of text). For separate editions: Vitruvius, De Architectura. Knobloch, Strasburg 1543. In German: Nicolai Cusani Dialogus Von Wag und Gewicht in Benj. Brameri, Kurtze Meynung vom Vacuo. Marburg 1617. More recently in No. 5 in Nicolaus von Cues, Schriften in deutscher il"bersetzung. Ed. Ernst Hoffmann, translated by H. Menzel-Rogner. Leipzig 1944. (Bibliography including German translations prior to Bramer: pp. 82-83; the mid-XVIlth cent. English translation in: The Idiot in Four Books, London 1650, should be mentioned in addition.) For an appreciation of Cusanus as a founder of chemical and physico-chemica~ methods in medicine: Hans Fischer, Roger Bacon and Nicolaus Cusanus. Schweiz. med. Wschr. 1940, LXX, 97-109. P. 279 on Paracelsus and Nicolaus Cusanus. Scholarum Humoristarum Passiva Deceptio 31. Ed. Valentini, Franco£. 1707, vol. 11, p. 193. - Translated by Chandler 1662, p. 1056.

200

Medicine

Whoever wishes to judge history by the yardstick of modern science may thus compare Van Helmont's reduction of Paracelsean "uroscopy" to a scientific minimum with the flowery imagination of Thurneisser, and the scientific terms used by Van Helmont with the obscure language of Paracelsus and his immediate followers.

Progressive Aspects of Paracelsus in Medecine and their limitations So far we have discussed Paracelsus' medical ideas and theories - the main subject of the present book. It remains to survey briefly the progressive aspects of his work in various branches of medicine. 195 Paracelsus let light and air into the sickroom and exhibited distinct humanitarian and ethical traits in his attitude towards the patient, notably including the mentally sick. He recognised the healing power of nature especially in surgery where he restricted activity to the utmost. Consequently, he adhered to the basic antiseptic principles of the schools of Hugo, Theodoric and Mondeville - without necessarily being conscious of predecessors in this field.1 96 Nor did he recommend the use of hot oil in wounds - a method then in common use, but possibly not known to him. Such sound and judicious principles did not prevent Paracelsus from including astrological injunctions, for example in the handling of haemorrhages and prognostication of wounds. 197 Moreover, he ignored ligature and probably did not practice colostomy.198 We mentioned his unrealistic syphilis theories. 199 His observations of syphilis in its many protean manifestations, including visceral and congenital syphilis, were, however, advanced, and so was his rejection of guaiac and heroic mercurial treatment. Though recognising the bone 195

196

1 97 198 199

·For a critical assessment of these aspects see the masterly essay by J. K. Proksch, Paracelsus als medizinischer Schriftsteller, Safar, Wien und Leipzig 1911. Mediaeval surgeons are mostly mentioned in a deprecating vein, for example Lanfranc and Argelata in: Drei Chirurgische Biicher von Syphilis etc. Liher quartus Chirurgiae de hulcerihus in genere. Tract. I, cap. I. Ed. Sudhoff, vol. X, p. 509; also in several places: Von Apostemen. Ed. Sudhoff, vol. IV, pp. 168, 284, 367, 368, Theodoric is quoted as the author of an - improbable - theory of scrophull\ (Von Apostemen, Geschwiiren etc. 1527. Cap. 28. Ed. Sudhoff, vol. IV, p. 255). "Rogerius mentitur" with reference to his theory of goitre. Ibid., cap. 19, p. 223; against Roger's explanation of haemorrhoids and peri-anal papilloma. Ibid., cap. 21, p. 229. See above p. 71; p. 148. Proksch, loc. cit., pp. 20 et seq. See above p. 139.

Progressive Aspects

201

lesions as syphilitic, he regarded other syphilitic changes as the result of "mercurialism" .200 His knowledge of the diuretic action of mercury and its curative action in dropsy201 remains a remarkable fact - especially in view of his antimercurialist attitude. Another progressive feature is that he connected goitre with the deposition of minerals (as against an upset of humoral balance), the drinking of water202 and the presence of marcasites in certain places. He recommended a salt as a cure. 203 Paracelsus' merit in this is not greatly diminished by the fact that the role of drinking water in the causation of goitre was a matter of popular belief at the. time. Modern research has confirmed Paracelsus' 'hydro-telluric' theory of goitre. 204 There are several fields in which Paracelsus is given credit as being the "founder". One of these is modern Balneology. 2 05 He certainly was a keen student of mineral waters and their action on the sick and made many shrewd observations, for example on the appetising and beneficial digestive affects of the acid water of St.Maurice. He is even said to have anticipated modern geological findings from his examination of Spa water. 206 His theory concerning the medicinal action of waters has a sound observational component: that it is due to their mineral contents. It is these that the physician must know - as Paracelsus already emphasises in his Baderbiichlein (1525). The main part of his theory, however, is the correspondence of each water with the specific action of a medicinal plant. For example, Pfafer's water corresponds to melissa and hellebor. 207 It is difficult to separate the 200 201

202

203

204

205

208

207

Proksch, loc. cit., p. 45. "Die arznei ... ist der mercurius, dan er ist der, der gewalt hat das resolvirte salz zu treiben und das rechte herfiir zu fiirdern" (Mercury is the remedy, for it wields the power of expelling the dissolved salt and of promoting the appropriate salt). Elf Traktat. Von der Wassersucht. Huser, vol. I, p. 551. Ed. Sudhoff, vol. I, p. 16. "Ubi fontes si quis diu bibat, strumam accipit. Ergo uhi non humor mineralis, ibi non struma." Von Apostemen, Geschweren etc. Cap. 19: De Struma, vulgo kropf. Ed. Sudhoff, vol. IV, p. 223. "Hungarian Salt". See Strebel, J.: Paracelsus iiber den Kropf, seine Entstehung und Behandlung. Praxis, Bern 1949, Nr. 10. Breitner, B.: Das Kropfproblem bei Paracelsus und heute. Cilia-Symposium 1956, IV, 128-132. Strebel, J.: Paracelsus als Begriinder der allgemeinen und speziellen Balneologie. Nova Acta Paracels. 1948, V, 121-134. Strebel, loc. cit. 1948, p. 131, with reference to his knowledge of the common origin of the waters of Baden-Baden, Wildhad and Zellerbad of which only those of BadenBaden retain their original power owing to their uninterrupted flow from the source. For detail see Strebel, J.: -Ober Heilpfianzen und Heilbiider in der Balneologie Hohen· heims und iiber seine korrigierenden Zusiitze zu den Heilhiidern. Nova Acta Paracels. 1948, V, 135-138. The author endeavours to show the empirical truth in the "phyto-

202

Medicine

empirical and these "cosmological" components of this theory. At all events it is not possible to ascribe scientific balneology to Paracelsus in simple terms - although his work is certainly interspersed with sound observations. A second field accredited to Paracelsus is Miners' Disease.2os Indeed, he was the first to treat it comprehensively and under one heading ("Bergsucht" 1534). Here again we find fine observations and clinical descriptions - notably of chronic arsenic and mercury poisoning. In detail, Paracelsus is aware of the toxicity of inhaled lead, arsenic and mercury. He presents reports of skin lesions in salt miners. He knows that the latter are not exposed to risks comparable to those of metal miners. He vividly describes the asthmatical attacks and gastro-intestinal symptoms of Miners' Disease. Here again, however, theory as well as practice are interwoven with general ideas of correspondences between astra, minerals and organs and their "signatures". Paracelsus, then, presents not only an application of chemical theories to medicine that was largely original, but also a number of protoscientific and advanced observations. In assessing such progressive aspects of his work we should not forget, however, that they emerge from a mantic and cosmological system which is removed from scientific medicine. We are tempted to-day to select and isolate observations that are sound and have a modern ring, from a context that strikes us as utterly speculative and fantastic. Correct interpretations and descriptions of phenomena are often juxtaposed to and contradicted by reports that are widely different from reality. It is in this that the limitations of the progressive aspects of Paracelsus' work must be found. To call him the "founder" of any branch of medicine or pathology is therefore misleading.

208

pharmacological metaphors" of Paracelsus concerning the action of mineral waters. Melissa has a sedative action on the heart - so have the waters of Pflifers, etc. Strebel, J.: Paracelsus als Begriinder der Lehre von den Gewerhekrankheiten und der Gewerhe-Hygiene. Acta Nova Paracels. 1948, V, 86-96 and: id., Nachwort mit Kommentaren zu Hohenheims erster Monographie in der W eltliteratur iiher GewerheKrankheiten und Gewerhe-Hygiene, ibid., pp. 97-111. - For a more critical appraisal see Rosen, G., The History of Miners' Diseases. New York 1943.

The Sources of Paracelsus (Ancient • Mediaeval • Contemporary) Paracelsus and the ancient, mediaeval and Renaissance sources It has been said1 that Paracelsus derived his ideas on Nature neither from the books nor from the doctrines of classical philosophy; it was not Stoicism, nor Cabala, nor Florentine Neo-Platonism which provided the sources of his "philosophy". He did not look for its elements in Picus della Mirandola, Reuchlin or Agrippa of Nettesheym, although he certainly utilised traditional doctrine in developing his view of the world. It is largely in himself that he found the image of his world - conforming in this to the usual practice of the Renaissance philosopher and naturalist. We can give but a qualified assent to this statement. We have endeavoured to show that Paracelsus was original in his heroic attempt at integrating the study of nature and particularly of medicine with chemistry and cosmology. His achievement seems to lie in the elaboratio~ of the latter into naturalistic and medical detail. "Natural Magic", "Astrosophy", "Microcosmic" Correspondences, Alchemy and the vision of Unity in all realms of creation were ideas traditionally and widely cherished in the Renaissance. Moreover, all these trends of thought implied opposition to the ruling Aristotelian and syllogistic philosophy - an opposition that is already recognisable in Plotinus. All such trends had something of the "Occult", and it is these trends of oppositional - occult - naturalism which we find developed in Paracelsus on a grand scale. He could not help drawing upon the contemporary sources of pertinent ideas. How far he went in doing so is difficult to say in detail - quotation of authors and sources was not the usual practice and was particularly distasteful to Paracelsus. A comparison with mediaeval and contemporary savants and alchemists will immediately show that Paracelsus' famous 1

Koyre, A.: Mystiques, Spirituels, Alchimistes du XVIe siecle allemand. (Cah. des Ann. X), Paris 1955, p. 50 (in "Paracelse", originally published in Rev. Hist. Philos. Relig. 1933, XIII, 46-75; 145-163).

204

Gnosticism

The Sources of Paracelsus

device: "Alterius non sit qui suus esse potest" must be taken with a large grain of salt.

Paracelsus and Gnosticism The gnostic concept of microcosm Following the lead of Thomas Erastus, Daniel Sennert calls the Paracelsean concept of innumerable seeds of disease scattered over the world a "Manichean" idea. These seeds of disease embody the evil principle which, after the Fall of Adam, supervened and invaded the seeds created by God in purity. This, says Sennert, is the belief in evil as a substance seen as a repulsive and formless mass either thick and earthy or fine and airy, and as opposed to good.11 The basic dualism expressed in this idea is indeed the chief distinguishing feature of Gnosticism and Manicheism. Both are trends of Christian thought which throughout the Middle Ages led the subterranean life of heretic doctrines and as such might well have found their way to the surface in the works of Paracelsus - just as did much of the Hellenistic and Cabalistic lore of alchemy and magic. It was the avowed aim of Gnosticism to search for the germs of Christian truth in pagan Persian philosophy and in Judaism. To connect these with the Christian doctrine seemed to pave the way from ignorance to knowledge, concerning the problem of the world and of life, and thereby from mere belief - "Pistis" - to higher understanding - "Gnosis". In this the main driving force was Neo-Platonism - so much so that Tertullian called Plato the "Patriarch of the Gnostics" and gnosticism "Platonism Christianized". In this endeavour we recognize two main problems which gnosticism set itself to solve: First, to find a transition from the world of ideas to the world of reality, from the Absolute to the Finite.3 Such transitions were not formulated as concepts and doctrines, but in terms of mythological personification. Gnosis is not rational knowledge, but one which penetrates to the hidden world of the Invisible. It sets out to do so by reading its seals, symbols and traces in the Visible. To do this we must observe nature with an eye on the "signatures" emerging in natural objects. In addition there are "signatures" revealed by the mystic interpretation of the letters De Chymicorum cum Aristotelicis et Galenicis consensu ac dissensu. Ed. Ill, Paris 1633, p. 259. - For Erastus and his vociferous accusations of Gnosticism levelled against Paracelsus see p. 315. a Baur, F. Ch.: Die christliche Gnosis oder die christliche Religionsphilosophie in ihrer geschichtlichen Entwicklung. Tiibingen 1835, p. 569.

205

of the alphabet and of numbers, notably the excellence of the number seven. Finally a body of traditional myths and symbols concerning the universe and beings which inhabit it calls for integration with the "signatures" in nature. Natural objects and phenomena are described and explained in terms of human figures, of life, of generation and begetting. Everything is animated and alive. 4 The second problem was the origin of evil. Both problems implied dualism, though not as unqualified as in the Persian separation of the principle of Light and Darkness by which gnosticism was originally inspired. Manes interprets the development of the world as a whole in terms of a progressive contraction of the original gap between fundamental opposites. This process culminates in the creation of man, the central point in which the rays from each opposite side converge. Man bound to matter is faulty and evil. But the spirit of the world which lives on in man as a "Dew of Light" ("humectatio luminis" - "lkmas tou photos") finds its way back towards the highest Being. It is thus that man is distinguished from all other beings, and the human body the most powerful link ("fleaµo~ µeyun:o~") connecting the soul, which is in the nature of light, with matter. It is in this sense that man is a microcosm. "This body is called a cosmos as related to the great cosmos".5 Man owes this position to the Fall of Lucifer and his subordinate angels. This "Fall" implies the loss of a whole world; in its place another cosmos, the microcosm of man, arises. A new world takes the place of a preceding world. It is a better world in that man is accessible to redemption whereas Lucifer is not. Forming a "Microcosm" is therefore the distinguishing feature of Man in the Cosmos. His creation thereby redeems not only evil itself, but also the original dualism and what it implied, namely the limitation of light and spirit by darkness and matter. Man, qua microcosm, finds his way hack to the realm of light, developing into psychic and finally purely spiritual ("pneumatic") man. In the world of Paracelsus man is a microcosm because in him body is united with soul, which is an invisible divine fire. In this he was created over and above all an:gels including Lucifer. For when they have fallen there is no returning to God. Man on the other hand, by virtue of the spark of divine love in his soul, is attracted towards God as by a magnet. 6

2

4 5 6

Leise gang, H.: Die Gnosis. Leipzig 1924. Introduction pp. 1 et seq. See Baur, L.: Das Manichiiische Religionssystem. Tiibingen 1831, p. 147. Secretum magicum. Von dreien gebenedeiten magischen Steinen. Huser, fol. edit., vol. II, p. 673.

206


Gnosticism

207

These views are basically "dualistic". Yet there is the tendency to unite the opposites and in this lies the redemption and perfection of the world and man. It is achieved by the original divine light descending in its fullness into the world and enabling man to return to his origin. In addition to a soul, the world and man receive the pure Pneuma which becomes "Innermost Man". The soul is thereby liberated from the burden of the flesh; it is purified, and a "new" man, "Pneumatic Man", emerges. 7 In this view man and the outside world are the same. The divine light, the Logos, is the "Upper Man" inasmuch as it is a purely spiritual Being, and it is the "Great Man" inasmuch as it is the Cosmos itself. Outside creation the divine light is formless. Inside creation it is formed. 8 In Gnosticism the highest principle, the original Father and Light, is also called "Original Man". His first emanation is designated as "Son of Man" or "Second Man". 9 This is the concept of the "Protoplastus" or "Adam Kadmon". Such designations are the natural consequence of the whole analogy drawn between macrocosm and microcosm. They are therefore also found in the nomenclature of Paracelsus. A famous passage in the Paragranum says "Heaven is man and man is heaven, and all men one heaven and heaven but one man". 10 Unification is in "heaven" and "Upper Man" will restore man on earth to long life. How to achieve this is the subject of Paracelsus' treatise "De Vita Longa". 11 It is tempting to follow up the gnostic pattern in the ideas of Paracelsus in greater detail. Only a few hints can be given here.

Fig. 20. Verso of title page to Suso's Horologium Sapientiae. Colon. 1503. Christ as "Cosmos-Man" spanning the whole width of the mantle of God Father. The title page itself is given in fig. 24.

Perhaps the best illustration of this connection is found in the ideas of Jakob Bi:ihme. According to him, man is the "bright transparent centre", in which the great battle of principles has its innermost and deepest significance. To Bi:ihme in the same way as to the Gnostics and to Manes it is in man that the Fall of Lucifer is redeemed and the great gap, caused by it, bridged. "Man created for the realm of Light compensates for the defection of the spirits into the realm of darkness." Baur: Gnosis, loc. cit., p. 591, with reference to Bi:ihme's Aurora 16, 75; 14, 62; Drei Prinzipien 10, 8; 10, 11 seq. The Paracelsist Oswald Croll (1580-1609) said in the introduction to the Basilica Chymica (1609): "God created man that the number and losse of the rebellious Angells might be made up in the kingdome of Heaven." Philosophy reformed in four tractates translated by H. Pinnell. London 1657, p. 54. 7 Leisegang, loc. cit. 1924, p. 133. s Leisegang, ibid. 9 Baur: Gnosis, loc. cit, p. 171. 10 Paragranum. Der antler grund, gesetzt auff die Astronomey. 1st edition by Adam of Bodenstein. Franckfurt 1565, fol. 50 verso. Ed. Strunz, p. 56. 11 Published by Adam of Bodenstein in 1562. A penetrating analysis of it, in terms of psychology of the unconscious, is found in Jung, C. G.: Paracelsica. Zwei Vorlesungen iiber den Arzt und Philosophen Theophrastus. Zurich und Leipzig 1942, p. 82 seq.

208


Gnosticism sees in the world-soul a derivative of the highest principle which is purely spiritual. Distributed through nature, the world-soul assumes the form of light - a principle of corporality, however fine.12 The spirit thus becomes gradually materialised. This tendency is closely bound up with the idea of microcosm. For each particle of the microcosm is supposed to contain something of the cosmos outside, not primarily in a material form, but represented by its spiritual virtue, a part of the worldsoul. This gnostic idea is also one of the basic principles of Paracelsus. It is in such "monistic" tendencies of Gnosticism rather than its original "dualistic" position that its kinship with the ideas of Paracelsus emerges. For the latter advocated what has been called a "vitalistic monism",13 His ideas of God, the world, nature and man are based on the unity of spirit and nature. Indeed, one of his main trends of thought is to dissolve the body and to trace in it the all-pervading spirit. The latter, in turn, is not regarded as alien to matter, but as a substance of finest corporality. It is divine, uncreated and forms that "Prime Matter" ("Iliaster") which precedes and unites all form and matter.14 Similarlf it was a gnostic thought that the soul of the world flows constantly into us with our food, for it is the same soul that dwells in plants, animals and man. The idea that man "is what he eats" is Paracelsean. One of the links which connects man with the world is his food and because of his basic identity with the latter, food is one of the main factors determining his nature in health and disease. We have mentioned before the "Dew of Light", a gnostic term which designates the · divine spark of light, the link between man and the transcendent world. Paracelsfi.s. ~ay well have been inspired by this in his concept of the "Tereniabin", a- sweet dew co~g' from heaven and thereby conveying a particularly effective virtue. · ..

Paracelsus' concept of the elements is pervaded by the "mother" principle. The elements are seen as the "mothers" from which all natural objects receive their origin and the seal of specific form and function. In the gnostic (ophitic) story of creation it is the "mother" ("Sophia") which became entangled with matter. Weighed down by it she was unable to join the pure light of the Father and the Son. Forced into a position intermediate between light and darkness she formed heaven and gave birth to a demiurge who in turn, together with the spirits of the planets, formed a world of bodies and finally communicated the spark of divine light to man.15 12

13 14 15

Baur: Gnosis, loc. cit., p. 197. Goldammer: Paracelsus. Natur und Offenbarung. 1953, p. 95. See below our chapter on Prime Matter, p. 227. Baur: Gnosis, loc. cit., pp.173-175. The fall of Sophia into the waters of chaos (matter) and her endeavour to be redeemed became one of the basic symbols in alchemy. In

Gnosticism

209

Gnosticism had restricted the belief in an unlimited power of the stars in. a similar way as Paracelsus did. The stars in themselves do nothing but indicate the action of the powers of nature. There is, however, in us an influence of the stars, connected with our animal nature. They impress on our souls the images of wolves, monkeys and lions and thereby stir up desires that are similar to those of animals. As such they are the "attachments" ("Prosartemata") to the rational soul which account for evil in man.16 They have power over man only in his ordinary state of earthly existence ("Genesis"), but not after rebirth ("Anagenesis"). A connection between the stars and animal nature in man was incessantly emphasised by Paracelsus. We refer for example to his theory of insanity.17 Traces of gnostic thinking can be recognized even in the Pathology of Paracelsus. As we have seen, to Paracelsus diseases are entities in themselves, evil principles which enter from outside and are identical with such forces as are immanent in stars, plants and minerals. Disease to Paracelsus is thus much more determined by its specific cause than ever before in the history of medicine. To him disease is caused by a cosmic force which may exert its harmful effect for example in the form of an arsenical vapour. At the same time, however, it is a special star or a special plant whose nature is "arsenical". Finally it is also the product of an "arsenical" imagination - an evil thought and desire which by a kind of magnetism and sympathy attracts a corresponding outside power or virtue, a pathogenetic agent. Similarly in gnosticism evil thought and desire is an evil demon which attaches itself to man, on whom it acts like a parasite. These are the "Prosartemata" which we mentioned above.18 It is demons which induce man to imagine and desire things which are foreign and beyond him. Perhaps the best illustration of the external causes of disease in the form of demons lying in wait to attack man is the engraving entitled "Homo Sanus", designed by Fludd for his "Medicine Catholica". 18 In this man is seen praying in the centre of a platform the writings of Paracelsus it is symbolised by the Melusine and all that is "melusinicum". A nymph-like being dwelling in the human blood, Melusine finally assumes the meaning of the .deeper strata of the - unconscious - soul and its origin in the worldsoul. Jung: Paracelsica, loc. cit. p. 101 et seq. 16 ·Baur: ibid., pp. 214 and 595. The latter locus refers to Biihme: Drei Principien, 16, 22-25 and 31: "The stars and elements under whose sway man lies captive, often cause man's mind to imagine a lion, wolf, dog, snake and such like". Similarly Oswald Croll attributes the sensual life which causes man to behave like dogs, foxes and wolves to the "syderiall spirit" - in contrast to rational life that derives from the breath of God, i.e. the holy spirit. Philosophy reformed, loc. cit., 1657, p. 57. 17 See before p. ISO. ls Baur: Gnosis, loc. cit., p. 215. l9 Francofurti 1629. The picture is reproduced in Pagel, W.: Religious motives in the medical biology of the XVII century. Bull. Hist. Med. 1935, 3, p. 279.

210

211


Mediaeval Speculation. St Hildegard of Bingen

- each of its four corners being occupied by a protecting angel with sword drawn and brandished against the four demons, Azael, Azazel, Samael and Mahazael. These are mounted on weird animals - including fish and snake - surrounded by swarms of winged creatures half bird, half insect, and propelled by the original sources of disease - the winds. For it was Paracelsus' idea that evil spirits and invisible seeds of disease come from the aerial chaos above us. Each of the four demons bears the hallmarks of one of the four elements. Azael, the demon dwelling in moisture, causes infections such as plague, small-pox and phthisis; Mahazael, the earthy demon, melancholy, stupor, leprosy and scabies; Azazel, the principle in water, apoplexy and epilepsy.

forms the focal point in which oriental, Judeo-Christian und Greek cosmological ideas were united into an original and specific pattern23 and as such transmitted to the writers of the Renaissance. Trithemius had seen and copied for himself the original manuscript of Hildegard's work on medicine and natural history. 24 Her book of visions, the "Scivias", was first edited by Jae. Fabre d'Etaples in 1513. 25 Though belonging to the Xllth century her works may thus have come to the attention of Paracelsus, although we have no evidence for this. Resemblances in doctrines and theories can easily be found, but do not prove anything and are offset by points in which their doctrines strongly diverge. 26 A few points may be mentioned, however.

In conclusion: There are close parallels and contacts between the doctrines of Paracelsus and Gnosticism. They largely follow from the idea of microcosm which they have in common. To explain this there is no need to postulate a special acquaintance of Para-celsus with the gnostic texts and fragments transmitted by the Fathers of the Church or Plotinus. Gnostic tradition was alive at the time of Paracelsus in magic and alchemical writings, printed and unprinted. 20

The comparison of the world with an egg and of the layers composing it with skins is common to Hildegard and Paracelsus. 27 Another example is the designation of meteorites as "excrements" of the stars. Hildegard says that glowing spheres and missiles appear at night when the stars send their fire into the air. At this time the latter discharges "excrement" whereby it purifies itself of the stellar fire and heat. 28 Paracelsus speaks of stellar "excrementum" which becomes visible at night. 29 The deeds of man have repercussions on the stars - they obscure the sun and moon, which react in turn by raising tempests or droughts, says Hildegard. 30 Paracel!,us' theory of the plague and other calamities is based on the same speculation. 31 Hildegard and Paracelsus have in common a tendency to limit the power of the stars in favour of the correspondences between man's activity and stellar configuration. 32

Mediaeval sources of Gnostic speculation and Paracelsus The mediaeval sources commonly quoted in connection with gnostic speculation, in addition to alchemical writings, are the Elucidarium of Honorius Augustodunensis, the Hortus Deliciarum of Herrad of Landsberg21 and the Scivias of Hildegard of Bermersheim (1098-1179), known as Hildegard of Bingen. The latter, however, stands aloof from Gnostic and Manichean dualistic heresies. 22 Yet her work is based on the idea of microcosm and for this reason alone deserves our attention. Moreover it 20

21

22

In fact, traditional alchemy had always been closely bound up with gnosticism, especially in Hellenistic times. Berthelot as well as Lippmann devote a principal chapter in their classical works on the Origins of Alchemy to gnostic sources. Berthelot refers most alchemical symbols, such as the "Ouroborus'', i.e. the serpent that swallows its own tail, the Salamander and Dragon, the three-circle system, the eight-cornered star, the homunculus and indeed the representation of metals by persons, to gnosticism. Moreover, the specific "gnostic" language is recognisable in alchemical writings and both alchemists and gnostics have in common the connection of magic with religious practices. Berthelot, M.: Les Origines de l'Alchimie. Paris 1885, pp. 57-66. Lippmann, E, 0. v.: Entstehung und Ausbreitung der Alchemie. Springer, Berlin 1919, pp. 235-247. The long survival of gnostic symbolism in alchemy emerges in such entries in Ruland's Lexicon Alchymiae of 1612 in which the "Water is Adam", the "Earth is Eve" or in the mediaeval denomination of Mercury as the "Mother of Metals". Berthelot, M.: Introduction a l'etude de la Chimie des Anciens et du Moyen Age. Paris 1889, p. 258. Reitzenstein, R., and Schaeder, H, H.: Studien zum antiken Synkretismus. Leipzig 1926, p. 136. On this point and her position as an original and quite independent author see in particular H. Schipperges in his recent translation and interpretation of the "Causae

I I

However, there are differences m principle that are more important than such similarities in individual doctrines. Hildegard freely draws upon

23

24

25 26 27

28

29 3

°

31 32

et Curae": Hildegard von Bingen, Heilkunde. 0. Miiller, Salzburg 1957, pp. 15 and 43. On differences from gnostic speculations notably the concept of androgynous man: pp. 25; 318 and 321. Singer, C.: Scientific views and visions of Saint Hildegard. Stud. Hist. Meth. Sci;, vol. I, Oxford 1917, with special reference to the illustrations closely paraphrasing the text. - Liebeschiitz, H.: Das allegorische W eltbild der heiligen Hildegard von Bingen. Stud. Bihl. Warburg. Leipzig 1930, for a detailed appraisal of doctrines and theories. Schrader, M., und Fiihrki:itter, A.: Die Echtheit des Schrifttums der heiligen Hildegard von Bingen. Ki:iln und Graz 1956, p. 57; 155. Liber trium virorum et trium spiritualium. Paris 1513, fol. 28-118. Schipperges, loc. cit., p. 318 and below. For the relevant passages from Hildegard see Liebeschiitz, loc. cit., 1930, p. 65, footnote 2. Paracelsus particularly refers to the air in this connection, He says: Air forms the heaven and is like the membrane or shell of an egg - encompassing all that is alive and separating it from the rest of the world. Philos. de generat. et fruct. quattuor elementor. Lib. I: De Elemento Aeris. Ed. Sudhoff, vol. XIII, p. 15. Causae et Curae II, transl. by Schipperges, loc. cit., p. 61. De Meteoris, cap. 10, De Exhalationibus. Ed. Sudhoff, vol. XIII, p. 203. Causae et Curae II, loc. cit., p. 69. See above pp. 179-182. Causae et Curae II, loc. cit., p. 67.

212


and adapts (albeit in her original way) the humoral doctrines of the ancients and nowhere reveals the chemical bias which informed Paracelsus. Gnostic concepts occur in the "Book of the Holy Trinity" - a product of the early XVth century and therefore much nearer to the era of Paracelsus than the sources mentioned so far. 33 Relevant gnostic concepts in this book include the parallelism of things natural and supernatural, the latter being expressed "occulte" through symbols such as the passion of Christ and the nativity of Mary. There is also the idea that the planets have communicated some of their own substance to man and there is the story that Adam was created from eight pieces - a belief widely held in the Middle Ages, though decidedly divergent from recognised church doctrine. 34 A further gnostic idea - probably Persian in origin is that of the "Black Fire of the Sun" forming one constituent of the eight pieces that composed Adam. This idea is also found in Hildegard of Bingen, and such writers of the Renaissance as Ficinus, Reuchlin, and Agrippa of Nettesheym. 35 Neither the "Black Fire" nor Adam's composition from eight pieces is mentioned specifically in the Paracelsean Corpus - except in the spurious tract "On the Secrets of Creation" in which - significantly - both these concepts occur. 36 Corresponding ideas can be found, however, in the genuine works - notably the distinction between visible and 33

84 35

36

"Buch der Heiligen Dreifaltigkeit" written by a cleric in Konstanz between 1410 and 1419, and analysed in detail by Ganzenmiiller, W.: Das Buch der Heiligen Dreifaltigkeit. Eine deutsche Alchemie aus dem Anfang des 15. Jahrhunderts. Arch. Kulturgesch. 1939, XXIX, 93. Reprinted in: Beitriige zur Geschichte der Technologie und der Alchemie. Weinheim 1956, pp. 231-272. - The book was never printed, but manuscript copies were in circulation among alchemists at the time of Paracelsus and the Paracelsists - of the latter Nicolaus Niger Hapelius mentions two: one possessed and lost by Thurneisser and an older one belonging to the Schobinger Library at St. Gallen (where it is still extant). See Hapelius Cheiragogia Heliana De Auro Philosophico necdum cognito. Marpurgi Cattorum 1612, pp. 72-74. The book is also mentioned in "De Arte Chemica" wrongly attributed to Ficino (in Manget: Bibliotheca Chemica 1702, vol. II, p. 172. On the spurious author see Kristeller, P. 0.: Supplement. Ficinianum 1937, I, CLXVI). See Ganzenmiiller: loc. cit. with reference to R. Kohler: Adams Erschaffung. Kleine Schriften, vol. II, 1900, p. 1-7. Hildegard: Scivias, lib. I, vis. 3; lib. divin. oper. vis. II. - Ficinus: "lgnem caliginosum .. . luminis expers." - De Vita coelitus comp. cap. 16, ed. Aldina 1516, fol. 160 verso. - Reuchlin: "Deus legem ... conscripsit per ignem fuscum super ignem candidum (ut asserunt Cabalaei, notably Rambam Gerundensis). De Arte Cabalistica III. Ed. Pistorius, vol. I, p. 705; Basileae 1587. - See also: Kabbalah Denudata Fmncof. 1677-1684, vol. II, tract. IV, in Siphra de Zeniutha, p. 128 (commentary by R. Chajim Vital). Here, "Fire" ("Esh") is said to denote "Red" ("Edom") and "Black" ("Sh'chor"). Agrippa of Nettesheym: "lgnis in coelo dilatatus, in inferno coarctatus, tenebrosus" De Occulta Philosophia, lib. I, cap. 5. Ed. Lugduni 1600, p. 7. De Secretis Creationis. In: Chirurgische Biicher Paracelsi. Appendix. Ed. Huser. Zetzner, Strassburg 1605, p. 103, C: "Gott gleich einem fewer in einem diesteren Flammen", comparable to an invisible spirit in a visible body. - Adam composed from eight pieces, ibid., p. 114: " ... und die componierung der Menschen Ciirper ist die subtilheit der vier Elementen, welche subtilheit auch sowol die acht stuck oder substantien in ihr hat, von welchen Gott Adam gemacht hatte ... "

Mediaeval Speculation. The Cabalah

213

invisible, "material" and "essential" fire. 87 The latter indicates the intrinsic virtue and power of natural objects, such as balsam, salt, iron, tinctures. In this connection the life of man is called a "celestial and invisible fire". 86 In all these analogies visible or bodily fire corresponds to the "dark fire" of gnostic, mediaeval and alchemical parlance.

The Book of the Holy Trinity" could have easily become a source of gnostic ideas known and used by Paracelsus. At all events it foreshadows the new enthusiasm for the "occult" in the Renaissance when it enjoyed wide publicity in alchemist and "occult" circles. The Cabalah Gnosticism is closely related to Jewish mysticism and the Cabalah. 39 Cabalistic studies were popular at the time of Paracelsus and cannot have failed to come to his notice. In this connection it is sufficient to mention Picus della Mirandola, Reuchlin, Agrippa of Nettesheym and Georgius Ven:etus ("Zorzi"). Adelung, in his "History of Human Folly'', calls Paracelsus: "A Cabalist and Charlatan"40 , and Steinschneider says that "Paracelsus and his associates popularised the Cabalah."41 In fact the Cabalah, an "occult" current opposed to the privileged teaching of the schools, was bound to attract Paracelsus and to strike him as superior wisdom. Consequently the terms Cabalah and cabalistic occur in the Paracelsean Corpus at frequent intervals. They are used to denote the quest for the invisible meaning, the "divine seals", in objects and phenomena in a general sense. Specific cabalistic methods and aims, however, such as the mystical interpretation of letters and their numerical value and the cabalistic cosmology as a whole are not elaborated. Paracelsus himself regarded the Cabalah as a Persian doctrine perverted by the Jews. 42 This seems to be contradicted 37

86

39

40

41

42

"Darum uns zwei Fewr verstanden werden, materialisch und essentialisch. Das Materialisch wircket mit Flammen und brennen: Essentialisch durch sein Essentiam und Virtutes." Liber Azoth. Ed. Huser, vol. II, p. 534. "lgnis invisibilis vita est hominis" - "Leben des Menschen ... ein Himmlisches und Unsichtbares Fewr, ein eingeschlossener Lufft und ein tingierender Saltz-Geist". De Natura Rerum (nine books). Lib. IV. Ed. Huser, vol. I, p. 889a. See Graetz, H.: Gnosticismus und Judenthum, Krotoschin 1846, and Joel, M.: Blicke in die Religionsgeschichte zu Anfang des Zweiten Christlichen Jahrhunderts. I: Excurs Die Gnosis. Breslau 18Bo, p. 114 et seq. (Die jiidische Gnosis und die platonisch-pythagoreischen Anschauungen der palestinischen Lehrer). Guttmann, Jul., Philosophie des Judentums. Miinchen 1933, pp. 51 et seq. and p. 238 with ref. to Scholem, G., Correspbl. Akad. Jud. IX, pp. 4-26. "Theophrastus Paracelsus, ein Kabbalist und Charlatan". Geschichte der mensch· lichen Narrheit. Vol. VII. Leipzig 1789, p. 189. . Steinschneider, M.: Jiidische Literatur in Ersch and Gruber's Realencyklopiidie. Leipzig 1850, p. 455, with reference to Sprengel. Philosophia Sagax I. Probat. in Scient. Necromant. Huser, vol. II, p. 387.

214


by the praise accorded to the Jew "Techellus" and his wisdom ("Techellische Wissenschaft") - "a great teacher in Israel and true naturalist". But then, references to Techellus are only found in two treatises that are strongly suspect of being spurious. 43 On the other hand, their author must have felt his positive attitude towards Jewish wisdom to be in line with genuine Paracelsean tendencies - an attitude that would strike his con· temporaries as authentic. 44 Moreover, even if Paracelsus had no first hand knowledge of cabalistic ideas and sources, he could not fail to arrive at concordant views in his doctrine as a whole as well as in certain specific points. Such concordances are largely the result of the dominant role played by the theory of Microcosm in both. 45 It is therefore imperative to 43

44

45

Liber Principior. s De Myst. Vermium (on the virtues of snakes). Huser, vol. I, p. 1090; Ed. Sudhoff, vol. XIV, p. 503. - De Pestilitate, Das ist vom Ursprung und Herkommen Pestis, tract. I. Huser, vol. I, p. 326; ed. Sudhoff, vol. XIV, p. 597. There does not appear to exist any "Techellus" as an author or the personal origin of a tradition. "Techellische Wissenschaft" suggests basic knowledge of perfection or perfect knowledge, to he derived from the Hebrew "thachal" to begin, to initiate or "th'chila", the beginning, or else from "Thichlah" or "Thachlith", perfection. To connect Techellus with "Tesillus" - the <;orrupt form of Thessalus, the second founder of the methodical school under Nero, a form used by Pietro d' Ahano, Mondeville, Lanfranchi and Guy de Chauliac - appears to he unrealistic, although Thessalus is mentioned by Paracelsus. On d'Ahano (Conciliator Venet. Junta 1526, fol 3 r) see: Norpoth, L.: Zur Bio-Bibliographie und Wissenschaftslehre des Pietro d'Ahano. Kyklos, Leipzig 1930, vol. Ill, p. 335; on the mediaeval surgeons in this connection: Pagel, Jul.: Die Chirurgie des Heinrich von Mondeville. Berlin 1892, p. 556. This is home out by the way in which Techellus is mentioned by Daniel Sennett; see later p. 335. For the history of the idea of microcosm in general compare for the classical sources: Loheck, C. A.: Aglaophamus sive de Theologiae Mysticae Graecorum Causis. Tom. II. Regimont. Pruss. 1829, p. 908 (lib. 2, Orphica, cap. 9, De Macrocosmo et Microcosmo). - For general surveys: Meyer, A.: Wesen und Geschichte der Theorie von Mikro- und Makrokosmos. Bemer Studien zur Philosophie und ihrer Geschichte, 1900, XXV, 1-122, and Conger, G. P.: Theories of Macrocosmos and Microcosmos in the History of Philosophy. Columbia University Press, New York, 1922. A strong influence of the microcosm idea on medicine can already he demonstrated in antiquity. As we are told by the Platonic Phaidros (270C), it was the opinion of Hippocrates, "the Asclepiade", that the nature of the body cannot be understood without knowledge of the "nature of the whole", i.e. of the universe. This, Plato infers, is even more true of the understanding of the soul. In other words, body and soul were regarded as integral parts of the cosmos, its matter and its spirit, respectively. The cosmic analogies of the organism and its parts are prominently displayed in two Hippocratic treatises which show traits of the style and philosophy of Heracleitos (Peri Diaites - Regimen - lib. I, ed. W. H. S. Jones in Loeb's Class. Library, Hippocrates vol. IV, p. 246; Diels, H., Vorsokratiker. -Herakleitos Imitation 1, Hippocrates De Victu I, 10 - 4th ed. Berlin 1922, vol. I, p. 107; Hippocrates, On the Seven, in Roscher, W.H., Die Hebdomadenlehre der Griechischen Philosophen und Arzte. Ahhand. Saechs. Akad. d. Wiss. XXIV, no. 6. Leipzig 1906, p. 48). It is this Pre-Socratic thinker who is said to have originated the concept of microcosm and it is perhaps not accidental that this critic of his age and

The Cahalah

215

review, however briefly, the contacts between Jewish mysticism and Paracelsus. The cosmos of the Cahalah is one of graded divine emanations in which the whole of nature is spiritualised, i.e. penetrated by divine impulses - a "nature divinisee",46 Such a "divinised nature" well describes the world of Paracelsus. The cabalist visualises the world as a human figure - "Original Man" or "Heavenly Adam". It was he who formed "Earthly Adam".47 The latter, even after the fall, remained a "microcosm whose every member corresponds to a constituent part of the visible universe".48 These are comparable to the stars, while his skin corresponds to the sky, indicating "secret things and profound mysteries". 49

A further cabalistic concept relevant to the ideas of Paracelsus is that of the three primordial elements, ether, water, and air, visualised as the three 'Mothers'. These were first ideal and ethereal and in the course of emanation developed into the more concrete and palpable elements.so Fire became the visible heaven, water became earth, air became atmosphere. Heaven, earth (including sea and land) and air are the three basic forms (mothers), in which the universe appears to us. It is a Jewish-Gnostic idea that seems to have inspired Paracelsus' speculations on the "Homunculus" 51 - the idea of the "Golem", a human of humanity at large should have been represented as a critic of traditional medicine because of its ignorance of the cosmos. A deliberate imitation of Heracleitos from Hellenistic times voices a censure of contemporary medicine in terms that are reminiscent of Paracelsus (Bernays, Jacob, Die Heraklitischen Briefe. Berlin 1869, pp. 47 et seq.). The philosopher, suffering from dropsy, is made to say that through knowledge of the universe he obtained insight into the nature of man, of health and disease and would thus cure himself - imitating God who balances out excess in the universe by drying up moisture and cooling down heat. He told the physicians: You shall heal me if you know how drought can he made to replace inundation. Alas - there was no response. It is God who heals the great cosmic bodies by restoring their balance. - The anthropocentric - Paracelsean - view of microcosm is strikingly expressed in the Life of Pythagoras by an anonymous author (Photii Biblioth. cod. 249. Loheck, C. A., loc. cit. 1829, vol. II, p. 924; M. Joel, lhn Gahirols' (Avicehron's) Bedeutung f. d. Gesch. d. Philos. 1857 - repr. in Beitr. z. Gesch. d. Philos. Breslau 1876, vol. I, Anhang p. 30). It says here that man is called microcosm not because he consists of the four elements (which can also he said of any animal, including the lowest one), but because in him all forces of the universe are joined together. For in the universe there are the Gods and the four elements, hut also the lower animals and the plants. Man possesses all these forces. For he has the divine power of mind, the physical power of the elements, and the power of nutrition, growth and procreation of his like. 46 Munk, S.: Melanges de Philosophie Juive et Arahe. Paris 1859, p. 494. 47 Munk, loc. cit., p. 275, 288 and 492-493; Ginsburg, C. D.: The Kahhalah. London 1865, p. 111. 48 Ginsburg, loc. cit., p. 112. 49 Ginsburg, loc. cit., p. 113. 50 Ginsburg, loc. cit., p. 151; Franck, A.: Die Kahhala oder die Religionsphilosophie der Hehriier. Transl. Ad. Gelinek. 1844. Reprinted Berlin s. a., p. 112. 51 See above p. 117.

216


figure of clay that is called to life and activity by affixing an amulet bearing a certain inscription and turned back into a lifeless mass by its removal. 52 Finally, Paracelsus visualised diseases as beings ready made in the form of "Semina" which invade man from outside, and transplant themselves and their own schedule on to man. In this "ontological" concept, diseases are identified with their causes and seen as real living "entia". The worlds of the Cabalah and of Paracelsus are full of invisible "souls", "sparks", "demons", "homunculi", "semina", of beings particular to each of the elements - beings which tend to attach themselves to man in order to partake of his soul or body. It is a multitude of sensitive and vegetative "souls", generally called "spirits", that migrate from body to body, rather than the immortal soul. This was Pythagoras' "metempsychosis". The latter visualised a "circular" process in which the spirits of plants transfer to animals, from animals to man, then to air and from air to earth and again to plants. 53 The Cabalah speaks of the "lbbur" 54, a "psychic" . . d t o an a dult . pregnancy w h ereb y one or more " spark s" or " soul s" are JOIIle The object of this process is to help either the "parasite" (who may thus use the host body to fulfil some commandment neglected during its own life) or the host (by guiding him to righteousness). This connection with sin is similarly present in the case of diseases. The accessory soul has to suffer all the pains and mortifications through which the host goes and thereby gains an opportunity to atone for its own transgressions. Moreover, disease-demons may attach themselves, "stick to" and possess man. 52 Scholem, G. : Die Vorstellung vom Golem in ihren tellurischen und magischen Beziehungen. Eranos-Jahrhuch 1954, XXII, 235-289. Whereas Paracelsus prescribed urine, semen and blood as ingredients for the preparation of the "Homunculus", the "Golem" is made from earth and water. However, according to Scholem, a rabbinical injunction from the first half of the XJVth century that vessels should he used, shows that the production of the "Golem" was visualised as a chemical process comparable to that of "Homunculus". It is doubtful whether a parallel can he found in the limitation of the Golem's activity to forty days with the time prescribed by Paracelsus for the "gestation" of the Homunculus, as the same period is recommended for other chemical operations: Scholem, loc. cit., p. 287, with reference to a XVIlth century source in which the Golem-story has assumed its "modern" form, as adopted by novelists and poets. - Forty days as the period of alchemical "gestation" are prescribed for example by George Ripley (second half of the XVth century) for "sublimation" - whereby a body is made spiritual and a spirit is fixed to a body (Liher Duodecim Portarum, Porta VIII. In: Manget Bihlioth. Chemica 1702, vol. II, p. 282). 53 See Sebastian Wirdig (a pupil of Sennert), Nova Medicina Spirituum ... Ad Regiam Societatem Londinensem. Hamhurgi 1673, part I, p. ll 7. 54 "lhhur" - "emhryonatus". See R. Jitzchak Lorja: De Revolutionihus Animarum. In: Kahhala Denudata, vol. II, Francofurti 1684, part Ill, tractat. secundus pneuma· ticus, p. 263; see also vol. I, Sulzbach 1677, p. 614.

The Cahalah

217

It is a "soul" that "sticks to" man, the "Dibkuth"55 or "Dibbuk" of the Cabalists which accounts for "possession". Evil demons - "Mazzikin" - are innumerable, surrounding everybody, causing the ill effects of over-crowding, tiredness in the knees, and the deterioration of garments. They are supported by the devils - "Shedim" who are just as numerous. They were created by God on a Friday, or according to a different tradition by Adam after his banishment. Ruchoth - spirits which seize man - are originally the souls of the deceased. They are particularly dangerous, and the spirits of leprosy, heart disease and tetanus are mentioned separately and expressly. 56 In all this, source material may be found for the "ontological" concept of disease of Paracelsus, who may well have drawn upon it. Another cahalistic idea probably relevant for Paracelsus' concept of disease is the pro· creation of demons, ill spirits and "lemurs" from semen not used for its proper purpose. Lilith and N aemah make from every drop of such semen the bodies of demons and spirits. This process started with Adam's "gonorrhoea" - meaning the flow of semen, in excess of the single drop needed for the procreation of normal offspring, in his case of Cain and Ahel. 57 Paracelsus discusses at length the monstrous products of superfluous semen. If it finds access in an "exalted state" to fish, monsters such as mermen, mermaids, merdogs, merspiders are created. Similarly "sperma from the stars" is productive of monsters in the air. Those in the earth, for example dragons, are due to the intercourse of different animals with each other.58

These examples may suffice to suggest concordances in detail between the lore of the Cabalah and the teaching of Paracelsus. 59 55 Kahhala Denudata, loc. cit., vol. I, 1677, p. 245. See Blau, Ludwig: Das altjiidische Zauherwesen. Strassburg 1898, pp. 10-15, with reference to talmudic tradition and its origin in Egypt, Babylonia and Persia. See also Delitzsch, F.: System der hihlischen Psychologie. Leipzig 1855, pp. 249, 262, 405. 57 Kahhala Denudata, loc. cit., vol. II, p. 358. 58 Fragmentum lihri de Animalihus ex Sodomia Natis. Philosophia Magna. Byrckman, Coln 1567, p. 240. Ibid., De Maleficis, p. 228, with reference to "Animalische Spermata" used by demons ("Ascendentes") for begetting monsters out of witches. 59 In passing some Rabbinical sources may he mentioned which provide a religious background for the homoeopathic principle, so conspiciously employed by Paracelsus. The late Herbert Loewe drew the attention of the present writer to Shemoth Rabba (a homiletic compendium of exegetical material on the hook of· Exodus), cap. 26, par. 2: Moses, when told to take the rod with which he smote the Nile, said: That was the rod of punishment which brought the plagues. How shall it now bring forth water for the thirsting people? God answered: My nature is not as man's nature. A surgeon cuts with a knife and heals with a plaster, hut as for Me, with that very substance with which I smite, I heal. - Salomon h. Jehudah, the Babylonian (X-XJth century) expresses the same in a poem (Zulath for Sabbath Bereshith in Davidson's Thesaurus, vol. I, p. 122, no. 2595). - On the other hand, the Mishnah prohibited the eating of a mad dog's liver by those bitten, since it was regarded by the Sages as sheer superstition. Matthew hen Heresh allowed it, however, probably on empirical grounds. -

56

218


Neo-Platonism. Ficino

219

Paracelsus and Neoplatonism The influence of Marsilio Ficino. Ficino's ideal of the "Magus" as Priest-Physician. Paracelsus and the Philosophy of Plotinus The search for the hidden invisible spirit which governs and moves visible bodies is the keynote of Paracelsus' natural philosophy. In this it followed one of the main tenets of Platonism as revived by Ficino: that all corporeal activity derives from a non-corporeal vital principle joined to matter. This principle owes its power to the immaterial soul which subordinates corporeal life to uniform and persistent order. The soul in its highest form is the Soul of the World, followed by the souls of the celestial spheres and finally the soul of all creatures alive. The world is full of souls and demons. Marsilius Ficinus (1433-1499), Neoplatonist, head of the Florentine Academy, physician and Christian philosopher, forms with Hippocrates, the Father of all Medicine, the small group of medical figures not reviled by Paracelsus. To him Ficinus was "Italorum medicorum optimus". 60 His hook on "Three-fold Life" had inspired Paracelsus' De Vita Longa, and he quoted the work of the "egregius medicus Marsilius Ficinus ". 61 So far, the influence of Ficinus on Paracelsus has been pointed out in general terms. 62 In our chapter on Paracelsus' ideas about the plague63 we endeavoured to show that Ficino's influence extended into individual medical theories and the application of chemical principles therein. General philosophical parallels between Ficino and Paracelsus are, according to Strebel, the result of the doctrine of Plotinus, notably his critical and restricting attitude towards the influence of the stars. For Plotinus said that these "indicate" rather than cause phenomena such as the inclinations and qualities of beings. Both Plotinus 64 and Paracelsus 65 emphasise the

60 61

62

63 64 65

For further material see Zimmels, H. J.: Magicians, Theologians and Doctors ... in the Rabbinical Response (12tL19th century). London 1952, p. ll4. In recommending homoeopathy, Paracelsus was actuated by belief in the "occult" principle of sympathy rather than by religious motives in the strict sense. Letter to Christoph Clauser 1527. Sudhoff, vol IV, p. 71. For example, his recommendation of fennel therein as a life-prolonging herb. De Foeniculo. In Macri poemata de virtutihus herbarum, radicum etc. scholia et observationes. Sudhoff, vol. III, p. 4ll. See for example: Sudhoff, Introduction to vol. III of his Paracelsus edition, 1930, p. xxxii. Also: Strebel, J.: Plotin und Paracelsus iiber Horoskopie und Schicksal. Nova Acta Paracels., vol. III, Basel 1946, p. 95. See above p. 174-181. Ennead III. Peri Heimannenes. In: De lnventione Artium and the second Book of the Philosophia Magna (De Vera influentia rerum) where it says that true influence is from God and not from the stars.

MARSILIVS FJCINVS, FLORENTINVS.

Fig. 21. Portrait of Marsilius Ficinus. Line engraving in the Wellcome Collection PD 237-2-1.

220

221



internal, notably hereditary, tendencies in man as against the more external influence of the stars. Paracelsus' attitude to astrology has been discussed before at length (see p. 65). He certainly did say much against it, hut his "astrosophic" system could not fail to admit and he inspired by much of traditional astrological lore. Yet anthropocentric tendencies are dominant in the philosophy of Paracelsus. The concept of Man, the microcosm, so prevalent in it, is in itself anthropocentric and restricts astrology. Man, especially his intellectual power, overcomes the astral influence, hut his animal nature remains subject to it.66 Ficinus, on the other hand, is well known to have subscribed to astrology67 - dissenting in this respect from Picus. Even to Ficinus, however, the power of the stars was not unlimited. Otherwise he could not have written his hook De Vita. For its first and third part contain detailed prescriptions which will enable the scholar to overcome his "saturnine" propensities. He cannot escape the power of his star hut, by observing a certain regime, he can make the best of the star's beneficial virtues by strengthening them in himself and warding off the harmful influences as far as possible. He must achieve perfection in a life within the confines of the circles of his star. Man cannot choose the latter hut can work his own direction towards its beneficial aspects. Saturn is at the same time the harbinger of melancholy and inertia and the donor of intellect and contemplation. Thus Saturn works against those whose life is base and contemptible, hut supports the seeker of truth and contemplation. By virtue of intelligence and reason, man can break some of his bonds with "Nature" and thereby even choose a "spiritual planet". In all these reservations towards an unlimited power of the stars on man, Cassirer finds the appeal which Ficino's works had for Paracelsus 68 . Still, astrology retains a much stronger place in Ficino's philosophy than it does in the world of Paracelsus. Therefore antagonism to astrology cannot he adduced as a point common

to Paracelsus and Ficinus . .It remains true, however, that the two of them agreed in their general adherence to Neoplatonism.69 In 1482 Ficino's main work, the "Platonic Theology", had appeared.70 It presented an attempt at reconciling the Platonic system of philosophy with Christian theology - utilising Neo-Platonic, Gnostic, Cahalistic and Hermetic elements and the Aristotelian doctrine of form and matter; it ultimately intended a demonstration of the divine origin of the human soul and its communion with God. Ten years later, Ficino's translation and paraphrases of Plotinus, the Prince of Platonists, was published. 71 Further Neo-Platonic treatises together with Ficino's dietetic and astrosophical work: "On Threefold Life" (1489) followed in 1516.72 It was in the third hook of this work, entitled 'Life to be adjusted to Heaven', that Ficinus emphasised the superiority of the occult - celestial over the elementary - material - forces. The former - with negligible body and weight - achieve effects for which elementary forces would require the impact of heavy bodily masses. As these occult effects and properties are not from the elements, they must he "vital", i.e. derive from the life and spirit of the world and he transmitted by the rays of the stars. Precious stones exposed to such stellar rays are particularly productive of occult virtues. 73 It is these rays which kindle and maintain the occult fire in sulphur and thus account for its inflammability. The action of the celestial spirit in objects on earth is an expression of the unity of the world in all its parts. This is illustrated in the theory of microcosm. Thus the life of the world is immanent in plants and trees for they are the hair, and in stones and minerals which are the teeth and hones of the world. The same life animates and permanently moves water and earth and, in particular, air and fire. Finally, the same life is in the celestial bodies - the head, heart and eyes of the world - which like the animal eye emit rays not only visible, hut also invisible and occult. All action is by sympathy and antipathy. It is therefore essential to know the correspondences between the celestial and sublunary worlds. Hence if you wish to concentrate solar forces on your body, seek out what is "solar" among metals, stones and particularly plants and administer

66

67

68

See for a judicious survey: Goldammer, loc. cit. and our chapter on Imagination and on the Psychiatry of Paracelsus. De Vita libri tres, quorum primus de Studiosorum sanitate tuenda, secundus de Vita producenda, tertius de Vita coelitus comparanda. 1489. Fifth edition: Venice 1498 (Pelus.). For a detailed analysis see: Panofsky and Saxl. F.: Diirer's Melancholia I. Stud. Bihl. Warburg, vol. II. Leipzig and Berlin 1923, p. 32 et seq. Cassirer, E.: Individuum und Kosmos in der Philosophie der Renaissance. Stud. Bihl. Warburg, vol. X. Teuhner, Leipzig and Berlin 1927, p. 105 and 119.

69

70

71 72

73

Seep. 226 and Goldammer, loc. cit. p. 34 on the limited acceptance of Neoplatonism by Paracelsus. Platonica Theologia; de immortalitate videlicet animarum ac aeterna felicitate libri XVIII, Ant. Miscominus, Florence 1482. Plotinus. Opera. Ant. Miscominus, Florence 1492. Jamblichus, De Mysteriis Aegyptorum ... 1497. Marsilii Ficini De triplici vita etc. we quote from the second edition. In aedibus Aldi, Venice 1516. De Vita coel. comp. Ed. 1516, loc. cit., fol. 158 recto. See above p. 64.

222


them on the days and hours of the sun and when the sun prevails in the aspect of heaven. The "solar" plants and stones are those that are called "heliotropic" - because they turn to the sun. Such are gold and orpiment, golden colours, the chrysolith, carbuncle, myrrh, musk, ambergris, balsam, honey, the ram, cock, lion, crocodile, light-coloured men who are often bold and magnanimous, and so on. If it is the liver which seems at fault, draw "liverish" faculties to the abdomen by friction and fomentation, chicory, endives, liver-wort, agrimony, spodium. 74

It is not difficult to demonstrate that the neoplatonic doctrine as embodied in Ficino's work was a fundamental source for Paracelsus. This particularly emerges from Ficino's "Apology" for his own attitude to life and philosophy.75 It is dated 1489 and defends his preoccupation with astronomy and medicine - fields regarded by some as alien to philosophy. "Surely Marsilius is a priest", people will say. "What has a priest to do with medicine?" "What again with astrology? Why should he, a Christian, interest himself in Magic and Images, and the life anim~t ing the whole of the world?" Still others - unworthy to live - will deny Life to the world and heaven. The answer is that the most ancient priests - Chaldean, Persian, Egyptian - were also physicians as well as astronomers, and thereby served piety and charity. For it is the foremost act of charity to maintain in man a sound mind in a healthy body. This, however, is best effected by combining the attitude of the priest with that of the physician. As, however, medicine without heavenly grace is ineffective and even harmful, the physician must embrace astronomy as an essential part leading to that priestly charity which is exercised through medicine. It is the priest-physician whom the sacred writings hid us to honour, because God on High created him to meet the needs of man. And Christ, the giver of Life, ordered his disciples to cure all sufferers on earth. He enjoins the priests to heal by means of herbs and stones, as unlike the disciples of old they no longer possess the power of healing by words. In composing medicines it is not sufficient to choose the correct ingredients, for they in themselves are often quite ineffective, hut one should acquire their power through celestial influx ("afflatus coeli") at certain times. It is therefore essential to prepare medicines under a propitious sky. In the same way, by inspiration and a celestial instinct, ser74 75

Ibid., fol. 151 verso. Apologia quaedam, in qua de medicine, Astrologia, Vita mundi, item de magis, qui Christum statim natum salutaverunt. Appended to: J amblichus, De Mysteriis etc., loc. cit., fol. 169-170. Aldus, Venet. 1516.


223

pents heal eye diseases with fennel and swallows with the swallow-wort76 ; eagles suffering the pangs of childbirth discovered the "Echites" or viperstone by means of which they lay their eggs happily and quickly. The power to heal thus flows from celestial inspiration: in the same way as this is given to an animal, it comes to the priest who drives out disease by charity. The same applies to "Magic". This is not a profane cultivation of demons, hut captures the heavenly gifts hidden in natural objects for the promotion of health. It is 'natural magic' that requires a superior mind in which celestial and earthly elements are combined and perfectly balanced. Such a mind enables the Magus to adapt the inferior world to heavenly influence for the benefit of human happiness - just as the farmer prepares the field, heeding weather and air, for the benefit of growing food. Such Magi first apprehended the birth of Christ - wisdom and priesthood, not sinister practices and poison, were the source of their activities and achievements. Neither meddling with demons nor the artificial production of birds and serpents from plants decaying under certain constellations, hut the conjunction of medicine and astronomy is the task of that magic which is essential for the maintenance of human life. In this view it is life that pervades the universe. If it is recognised in the smallest animals and humblest vegetation on earth, it must he common to all objects everywhere. Could it he denied to heaven, which by itself fertilises the earth and creates all that is alive by an act of vision ? Paracelsus' whole life and work seems to he an attempt at implementing this ideal of Ficino's priest-physician. Indeed, the contacts and parallels between the ideas of Ficino and Paracelsus are close and our discussion of the plague has shown that they extend into medical detail. 77 It is from Ficino as the exponent of Neo-Platonism that Paracelsus derives his inspiration. It is therefore imperative to examine in this respect the main source of Neo-Platonism: Plotinus. Plotinus was critical of the influence conceded to the stars in the life and fate of man. He restricted it in favour of powers immanent in man 76 77

Chelidonium, spelled "celidonium" by Ficinus and interpreted by some as "the present of heaven". See before p. 174. On the differences between the "spiritual" magic of Ficino and the "demonic" magic of Paracelsus, Trithemius and Agrippa see: Walker, D.P., Spiritual and Demonic Magic from Ficino to Campanella. The Warburg Institute. London 1958. See also above p. 64, footnote 169, on the "Gamaheu" and Ficino's belief in their efficacy. On Ficino's concept of "Appetitus Naturalis" and the specificity of objects cf. Kristeller, P. 0., The Philosophy of Marsilio Ficino. New York 1943, pp. 171 et seq.

225


Neo-Platonism. Plotinus

himself and transmitted to him by heredity. Plotinus also criticised the exalted position which humours and qualities enjoyed in ancient philosophy. Generally speaking, in the world of Plotinus qualities are hut accidental and fleeting changes of the surface of reality, as against activity and form which constitute the "archetypes" of things.78 ·

form and are active in matter. Such forces, however, cannot he different in kind from the "intelligences", the ultimate and original forces which emanated from God. Matter itself is seen as an emanation, lower in dignity and later in appearance than the Soul of the World and the Nous. Paracelsus' quest is therefore for the "Seminal Reasons" - the forces and acting powers which alone matter in any object. This view of Nature is preformed in the philosophy of Plotinus to whom "Nature" stands for activity, for "soul" and "logos" -in short, something spiritual. As such it is unconscious, a "sleeping spirit" 82 - yet owing to its spirituality it is real, in contrast to "dead" matter which is not. In Plotinus this close relationship between "nature" and "spirit" emerges in Nature's urge towards contemplation. It is common to all living beings, whether endowed with reason or not, and to all vegetables and to the earth which produces them. 83 The process of production is the outcome of contemplation - to contemplate is to produce. This is perhaps best epito· mised in the comment of Ficinus to this chapter: "In Nature to contem· plate is nothing hut to he something and to do something". (In Natura quiddam intueri nihil aliud est quam esse tale et tale quiddam facere) 84• There is "Life" in Nature, and it acts through "contemplative reasons" which are infused into it by the divine intellect. These are the "reasons" for that which is generated. Elemental quality and motion, regarded as the driving forces by the ancient natural philosophers, Plotinus replaces by incorporeal forms which are not subjected to motion hut direct it. These intrinsic forms are the seminal reasons from which flow the modulation and determination of motion and qualities adapting them to the purposes of Nature. So far from needing matter, Nature gives it its quality and motion. It is an intrinsic urge in Nature - an "essential act" which is in itself "stupid and oblivious to everything, like the behaviour of the thunderstruck". By a kind of transference it is called Contemplation (Intuitus), best compared to the Sensus attributed by some to plants. "For this is the common plant of the universe which enjoys life through

224

In detail, criticism is directed against the creative role attributed to "primary" qual· ities such as warmth and cold and to mixtures of these qualities. How, for example, could jealousy and intrigue be referred to such factors, let alone luck in being of noble birth or detecting treasures. It is therefore not something corporeal but the sympathy between objects in nature that accounts for differences in character and fate. This sympathy follows from the ultimate unity of the universe which is one living organism embracing all individual organisms, linking them by means of the world-soul. Where like acts on like, there is health and sanity, where the acting subject is not like the object acted upon, something foreign and disagreeable is perceptible, as for example the effect of bile and wrath. "Indeed there is also in the universe something analogous to wrath and bile . . . and also in plants one part may be inimical and even destructive to another. This universe is not only one being alive, but also appears as a multitude. Hence each thing qua being one is preserved by the whole, but qua being one of many and combining with many others causes much damage by its diversity."79

It follows that objects of the world below may act on the world ahove80, a concept of importance for the "anthropocentric" ideas of Paracelsus who credited man with the power of influencing the stars. All this is due to the general sympathy prevailing in the universe, the "chain" which connects everything with everything else. It is this and not the stars that accounts for "natural magic". 81 In the same way, "signatures" in nature indicate attraction and repulsion which in themselves imply the possibility of predictions. In all this it is notably the rejection of the claim of humours and qualities in favour of sympathy between all objects in the cosmos that strikes us as congenial to the ideas of Paracelsus. Perhaps an even closer parallel may he found in the general view of nature which Paracelsus seems to have in common with Plotinus. The main problem besetting Paracelsus is the supremacy of the "occult" spirit and the way in which it acts on visible bodies. It belongs to the field of "natural magic" which also provides the explanation for what appears to the superficial observer as miraculous or supernatural. "Nature" to Para· celsus is the total of the acting Invisible, the spiritual forces that create 78 Ennead. II, lib. 6, cap. 3. See on this: Inge, W. R.: The Philosophy of Plotinus. Lon· don 1918, vol. I, p. 152. 79 Ennead. IV, lib. 4, cap. 32. 80 Ennead. IV, lib. 4, cap. 31 and 45. Ed. H. F. Miiller, Berlin 1880, vol. II, p. 72 (transl. II, p. 71) and p. 86 (transl. II, 86). 81 Ibid., cap. 40.

82 As expressed by Schelling and quoted by Inge, loc. cit., p. 155. 83 Ennead. Ill, lib. 8, cap. 1. Translated in parts by Inge, loc. cit., pp. 156-161. 84 Plotini Opp. ad Ennead III, 8, 1 et seq. Basileae 1615, p. 339 et seq. The subject formed a topic for the medieval commentators of Dionysius Areopagita. Thus Hugo says: The motion that in the higher world is contemplation is in the lower world "operatio". It tends towards the superior world in order to come to rest in it. And it tends to the lower world in order to lead it back to itself. Charity thus moves upward in order to remain there - and downwards in order to return. Hence the motion of charity in the superior world is called reverting to the inferior sphere and active. Hugo, Comment. on Dion. Areopag. Celestis Hierarchia. Ed. Argent. (G. Husner) 1502, vol. I, fol. 66, verso.

226

Neo-Platonism. Mediaeval Pantheism


its sensus that works quietly and intrinsically in its substance and con· ceives things natural. " 85 What is brought forth in matter as the product of this lntuitus is a Spectaculum - a visible event comparable with a child's birthmark which we believe to express the concupiscence and imagination of the mother. The Intuitus - contemplation - intrinsic in Nature thus occupies a rank similar to that of the Sensus Rerum - a dim unconscious psychic force present in all objects of nature, plants and even stone and rubble. It is also comparable to Imagination. This leaves its seal on the body, thus indicating the power of the spirit in directing the course of nature. In the world of Paracelsus the power of imagination is paramount, and it is here that we see a basic and fairly detailed contact with Neo· Platonism and the philosophy of Plotinus - although it would he difficult to say whether he derived these ideas from Plotinus directly, or where the Plotinian lead is specifically reflected in his works. The Neo-Platonic trend in the concept of Nature supplies the over· riding doctrinal basis for the work of Paracelsus. The supremacy of the spirit, the flow of action into matter from it through the power of imagination as a force distributed over the universe and all its parts - these ideas form the principle which Paracelsus follows up through all realms of nature. He thereby filled the conceptual framework of N eoplatonism with a wealth of naturalistic observations and allegorical interpretations of natural phenomena - and it is all this that gives his work its original flavour. Was Paracelsus really a N eoplatonist? Goldammer, while admitting the strong influence of Neoplatonism on Paracelsus in general86 , nevertheless finds important differences. 87 However, in an appraisal of the influences on Paracelsus we have to remember that the latter left no closed system and indeed was not a systematic thinker. We can certainly find in Paracelsus passages in which a "dualistic" personal contrast between Creator and creature is emphasised, and we may oppose this to the view that all beings emanate from and possibly return to the Creator. This is the "unitarian" Neoplatonic position - as held for B5 Ficinus ad loc. cit. ss Goldammer, Kurt: Paracelsus. Natur und Offenbarung. Hannover 1935 (Heilkunde und Geisteswelt, herausgegeben von Joh. Steudel, Bd. V), p. 61. s7 Loe. cit., p. 34.

227

example by Agrippa von Nettesheym - a position in which the Creator "loses concreteness", as Goldammer says.88 On the other hand, Paracelsus saw no difference between God and the original - uncreated - virtues which penetrate the - created - objects of the world. Indeed, Paracelsus was no "dualist" - as Goldammer himself pointed out. 89 On the contrary, it is suggestive that his "unitarian" tendency to spiritualise matter and to materialise the spirit followed from the neoplatonic idea of the cosmos of "steps" and emanations. Moreover, the Platonic Macrocosm-Microcosm theory (so fundamental to Paracelsus) centres around the analogies rather than the specific differences between various objects or phenomena. Against this, his emphasis on the unique· ness of events in time and the absence of the gnostic-emanationist views of a continuous return of souls and worlds to the One do not seem to carry weight. For the "return" of material parts, of"astral bodies" and the divine spirit into the greater world (although not of "worlds" into the One) is one of the doctrines consistently maintained by Paracelsus. 90 Finally, Paracelsus' "dualistic" traits such as the fundamental distinc· tion between a visible and an invisible world support rather than refute his connection with Neoplatonism.

The "Prime Matter" of Paracelsus as foreshadowed by the philosophy of Salomo ihn Gehirol (Avicehron) and the "Popular Pantheism" of the Middle Ages. Giordano Bruno. The anonymous "Introduction to the Philosophy of Life" (1623) We have already discussed Paracelsus' concept of "Prime Matter" in the course of our analysis of the "Philosophia ad Athenienses", in which we developed some general considerations regarding the "Elements" and "Three Principles".91 We concluded that, to Paracelsus, prime matter (the "Mysterium Magnum", "lliaster") does not stand for the matter from wii.hrend der Archetypus, die Trinitii.t, der Weltbaumeister Agrippas sich im Sinne des N eoplatonismus auf dem Wege zur Entpersonlichung und Ahstraktion befindet." Goldammer, loc. cit. s9 Goldammer, loc. cit., p. 35. Contrasting Nicolaus Cusanus and Paracelsus, Ernst Hoffmann already drew attention to the absence of a "dualistic" view of God and world in the philosophy of Paracelsus. Cusanus' "dualism" is here seen as the expression of "genuine Platonism". See later the chapter on Cusanus, p. 284. 90 Philos. Sagax. Lib. I, cap. 2. Huser's Fol. Ed. 1603, vol. II, p. 34. Edit. Prine. by Toxites, Frankfurt 1571, fol. 13 verso and passim. 91 See before p. 89 et seq. BB " •••

228


which the stars are made and of which every object on earth partakes, hut for matter which essentially is and expresses the sum total of specific actions possible and realisable in nature. 92 We also endeavoured to show that Paracelsus had ascribed a spiritual and metaphysical rather than material meaning to his "three principles" salt, sulphur and mercury. Paracelsus' idea of "Prime Matter" is closely connected with the idea that man epitomises in himself the greater world. This is the greater "limbus, the semen, from which all creatures emerged - comparable to a tree which grows out of a minute seed, with the difference, however, that what the earth is to the tree, the word of God is to the limbus ..• the lesser limhus is the last creature towards which the greater limhus tends. This is man; all that had been created before was used in making him - as a son is engendered by his father, the limbus was taken from the greater limbus, and as the son is endowed with all the limbs of the father, man comprises all creatures in himself". 93 The "limhus' from which man was created is "prime matter" because "nothing was excluded from it. All its kind._ and property, all its essence and nature were again comprised together into a limbus". 94

From this the concept of "Limbus" would appear to he of fundamental importance in the world of Paracelsus. It is nothing ''specific", hut stands for certain manifestations of the Divine - a "margin", comparable to the hem of a garment, at which eternal principles become concrete. It is the "border" of the Iliaster or "Prime Matter". In this sense both man (as the bearer of the divine spark) and Christ are examples of a minor "Limb us". For Christ - his immortal body and flesh - represents the created world and it is this of which man, by virtue of the sacrament, partakes, to which he eventually returns and by which he acquires immortality. 95 92

P. II2.

93

Von den podagrischen Krankheiten und was in anhiingig ist. Vom Limbo. Ed. Sudhoff, vol. I, p. 355. "Limbus", the undefined "border" between creatures and their non-material (spiritual, dynamic) matrix, means according to the Paracelsists "the greater and universal world, the semen and prime matter of man; also heaven and earth above and the sphere below with the four elements and all that they comprise" (Domeus, Gerhard, Fascic. Paracels. Medicinae ... Paracelsi Dictionarium. Francof. 1581, fol. 133 verso). Ibid. On the christological and eschatological aspects of "Limbus" see Goldammer, K.: Nova Acta Paracels. 1948, V, pp. 70 et seq. It may be noted in passing that the concept of "Limbus" also serves to explain the fundamental differences between the male and female principles - differences that per· vade the whole world of Paracelsus. According to him mankind is closer to the cosmos - of which man is composed - than men are to women. ("Dann die Element und der Mensch sind nii.her und gefreunter dann Mann und Weih." Labyrinth. Medicor, cap. 3. Huser, vol. I, p. 268). Adam was created from a "matrix" that was the whole world. The semen which begot him was the spirit of God, the "Limbus" in which the whole world was contained. Man was then separated from this matrix and out of him was made a human matrix (Eve), the womb which mirrors the whole world in itself; "the

94 95

Mediaeval Pantheism. Gebirol

229

It must he admitted, "prime matter" is often not used in this lofty, all-embracing and metaphysical sense. Paracelsus also uses the term simply to denote something raw and unprepared which, through chemical preparation, reaches a final state of perfection, in other words, becomes the fully developed object. For example, wheat is "primary matter" which by the chemical activity of the baker becomes bread - "intermediate matter" - and finally part of the organism. As such it has, again through chemical activity (namely that of the stomach), achieved a climax and has become "ultimate matter". At this stage it is subject to putrefaction and returns to the "primary matter" that is dust and earth.96 However, this concept is more than a chemical theory. It is visualised as a general law of the reversion of all things to their origin, thus making possible the preservation of matter. Or, as Darmstaedter97 puts it, "'Primary Matter' thus serves to illustrate the circulation or, in other words, the law of preservation of matter." We suggest that Paracelsus' concept, whatever the form in which it was used or developed, was profoundJy influenced by the ancient ideas of "Prime matter", notably in the form transmitted by Salomon ihn Gehirol (the "Avicehron" of scholastic philosophy, 1020-1070). Ancient ideas as transmitted by Salomo ihn Gehirol When discussing Paracelsus' doctrine of the Elements and Principles we referred to the monistic theory of Stoicism. In this, "Prime Matter" was not visualised as purely corporeal, hut also as spiritual to an equal extent. In the same way, finest corporality was attributed to Spirit ("Pneuma"). Hence, Prime Matter is called "Arche" - Beginning - and "Ousia" - Being. It stands for the basis of all Being - in which spirit and "Soma" are united in "living" matter. We mentioned the traces of this

96

97

spirit of the Lord· is in it, embosses itself on it and plants fruit into it". What is missing in the female is, therefore, not the divine spirit, hut the "Limbus", the semen from which the world and Adam were created. Man cannot beget man from Earth (as first man was begotten). Therefore God has ordained a special matrix for him, and he has his own semen ("Limbus") whereby "he is his own son". Man, therefore, is not "from one", but "from two" - never from the matrix alone "hut from the male posited in the matrix". Paracelsus sees in the male the active ("Limbus") and in the female the passive part in generation - just as Aristotle did. - Op. Paramirum. Lib. IV. De Origine Morhor. Matricis. Huser, vol. I, pp. 72-73. See also Diepgen, P., Paracelsus und das Problem der Frau. Nova Acta Paracels. 1957, VIII, 49-54. See above the role of the "Alchemist" ("Archeus") in nature and human art, promoting prime - through the stage of middle - into ultimate matter; p. 106. Arznei und Alchemie. Leipzig 1931, p. 43.

230

doctrine in Philo. It reaches pre-eminence in the philosophy of Salomo ihn Gehirol ("Avicehron"). In this, matter occupies a central place; it immediately follows the Creator in the hierarchy of the steps which constitute the world both in its real existence and in its contemplation by the mind. The more we deprive objects of their individual characteristics, notably colour, shape and quantity, and go hack from the coarse, palpable objects in nature to the simple and general, the less remains of the "forms". For "form" is the entity which makes simple "matter" more and more complex; form "limits" matter, introducing diversity, specification and finiteness into something simple, undifferentiated and infinite. In contrast to Aristotelian philosophy, it is, therefore, the forms and not matter which account for individuation and specificity. Matter is thus conceived as free of quantity and corporality, for these already imply specification and limitation. It is primarily""a hidden substratum, not corporeal hut spiritual, not accessible to the senses hut only to the intellect, and made manifest by the forms. It is unlimited, infinite, and "Primary". Such spiritualisation of matter as is recognisable in Gehirol 's philosophy follows from his tendency to admit only spiritual causes of phenomena. All is full of life and force. There is nothing dead in nature.98 Gehirol's Prime Matter as fundamental to popular pantheism in the Middle Ages and Reformation Gehirol's doctrine of "Prime Matter" became a fundamental source for mediaeval pantheism - as first professed and propagated by David of Dinant (d. 1209). To him "Prime matter" - the indivisible substance that originates, sustains, and exists in all things - is God. Through David, the doctrine of "Prime matter" reached and powerfully influenced such popular "puritan" movements as the Amalricans, Waldenses, Ortlihians, Beguards 98

Mediaeval Pantheism


Munk, S.: Melanges de Philosophie Juive et Arabe. Paris 1859, pp. 72-83; pp. 116-11 'i, 183. - Ritter, H.: Geschichte der Philosophie, vol. VIII (Geschichte der christlichen Philosophie, vol. IV), Hamburg 1845, pp. 94-104. Ritter, H.: Die christliche Philosophie. Gottingen 1858, vol. I, p. 6la. - Eisler, M.: Vorlesungen iiber die jiidische Philosophie des Mittelalters, vol. I. Wien 1876, pp. 62 et seq. - Joel, M.: Beitrage zur Geschichte der Philosophie. Breslau 1876, vol. I, Appendix: ibn Gebirol's (Avicebrons) Bedeutung fiir die Geschichte der Philosophie, p. 48 (emphasises Gebirol's dependence upon Plotinus; against this: Kaufmann, David: Geschichte der Attributenlehre in der jiidischen Religionsphilosophie des Mittelalters von Saadja bis Maimuni. Gotha 1877, p. 109). - Kaufmann, D.: Studien iiber Salomon lbn Gebirol. Budapest 1899 (ps. - Empedocles "On the Five Substances" as source of Gebirol). - For a more recent account see: Guttmann, Jul.: Die Philosophie des Judentums. Miinchen 1933, pp. 102119.

231

and Beguines, the Brothers of the Free Spirit, the lntelligentials of Brussels, and the Bohemian Adamites. 99 It is thus in the last resort from Gehirol's doctrine that the identity of God and the World was derived. It was notably the Brothers of the Free Spirit 100 who visualised God as the sum total of His creatures - each representing one of the infinite forms of divine intelligence. His separation into forms, however, indicates a deficiency from perfection, calling for a reversion to original unity. To reach this, the soul is in no need of outside support. It must only follow its natural inclination. For there is no difference between the perfect soul and God or Christ. The spirit is free and not subject to limitation by any outside law. 101 Eckart said: "God has created nothing like Himself but the Soul ... as certainly as I am a man, so certainly God begets His own nature in the depths of my soul as much as in heaven."1° 2 Anti-trinitarian tendencies from Eckart to Servetus can also he traced to pantheistic speculation. The duality of Father and Son breaks the original unity of the Divine being - a unity which calls for restoration. For infinite essence cannot dwell in the realm of forms (i.e. the distinctness and relatedness of individuals). 103

At Paracelsus' time the pantheistic tradition flared up in these independent movements, which were condemned by the Church of Rome and more so by the Reformers. As Jundt says 104, this pantheistic doctrine its metaphysics and moral principles - remained alive up to the seventeenth century with little deviation from the Neoplatonic tenets of the twelfth century. The Reformation carried theology and the gospel to the people, thus legitimising and paving the way for the secret and heretical doctrines 99

See for a detailed account including the survival and influence of these movements in those of the XVItll century: Jundt, Auguste: Histoire du Pantheisme Populaire au Moyen Age et au Seizieme Siecle. Paris 1875, passim. "Heretical" Traits in the Life of Paracelsus: Certain traits exhibited in Paracelsus' life and behaviour as an individual are reminiscent of those displayed by the groups of heretics which emerged in the "autumn of the Middle Ages", notably the Beghards and the Beguines. Driven by feverish unrest, these preachers in the name of the unique "spirit of the world" found their main satisfaction in acts of agitation and in wandering from place to place through Switzerland, Strasburg and Colmar - familiar haunts in the life of Paracelsus - and through Mainz, Cologne, Bohemia and Milan. Homeless, they made their home everywhere. Practical people, most of whom had learned a craft, they felt keenly the need for social reform and for liberation from feudal slavery. Dedicated to the other world, they nevertheless adopted the attitude of temporal rulers and did not hesitate to use threats in launching their demands for the communal distribution of goods. They preached wisdom from spiritual experience as against books, even including the Scriptures. For them there was no God outside the world. The soul of man was divine, and man's duty was to unite with it completely so that thus God might be caused to descend into man and man to ascend to divinity. Through superior knowledge man could thus acquire a power not given to the ignorant. - However, inspite of many parallels, the attitude of these heretics towards church and religion was more radical than that of Paracelsus, since the former would admit neither the necessity for a mediator between God and man, nor the uniqueness and superhumanity of Christ. See for detail: Reuter, H.F., Geschichte der religiosen Aufklarung im Mittelalter. Berlin 1877, vol. II, p. 241.

232


Joh. E. Burggrav's Vit.alis Philosophia

of the Middle Ages. Paracelsus' life and work offer many contacts with these.

He published in 1623 an "Introduction to the Philosophy of Life Embracing the Interpretation and Cure of all Diseases - astral and material, elementary and hereditary from the Book of Nature, the Codex of philosophical and medical Truth ... in which first the experience of Galen, then that of Paracelsus, Turnheuser, Quercetanus and other moderns is expounded and the remedies of all Diseases are demonstrated from Anatomy and the Art of Signatures". 108 The exposition is influenced by Severinus 109, who is often quoted, and is reminiscent, to a certain extent, of the efforts to reconcile Paracelsism with Hippocrates and Galen - as shown, for example, in the contemporary work of Daniel Sennert. 110 The author of the "Introduction", however, is a staunch Paracelsist. He says that in Aristotelian philosophy Prime Matter is the "Hyle" and

Giordano Bruno Gehirol's concept of "Primary Matter" was revived in the second half of the sixteenth century - some forty years after Paracelsus - by Giordano Bruno (1548-1600). He quotes Gehirol in his dialogue "Of the Cause, the Principle and the One" 105, first together with Democritus and the Epicureans as the authority for the assertion that matter is the only substance of things and at the same time the divine essence - whereas forms are hut accidental qualities of matter. Later106 Bruno expresses agreement with his distinction between two kinds of matter: (i) matter as the opposite to form and (ii) matter on a level higher than this antithesis, i.e. original matter which embraces corporeal and non-corporeal (form) and transient as well as permanent Nature. This matter is conceived as something existing prior to its "contraction" into corporality and individual objects. As Ritter says, there is no idea on Bruno's part of introducing a "materialistic" view which explains the spirit in terms of material changes. On the contrary the tendency is towards a spiritualisation of matter as a consequence of the unity of the cosmos. In this sense Bruno enjoins us not to regard matter as a merely passive receptacle, nor to despise it as something inferior, transient or evil in the terms of Aristotelian philosophers. It is rather the fountain of all being and becoming which sends forth the forms from its bosom- an eternal principle, a divine virtue. "Nature" is "Matter" unfolded in its creative power.107

lOS

The "lntroductio in Vitalem Philosophiam" (1623) Paracelsus' concept of the "Prima Materia" as a spiritual force was developed by Johan Ernst Burggrav of the early seventeenth century who belonged to the circle of the Frankfort publisher Joh. Th. de Bry. 100 101 102

103 104 l0 6

1 06

107

Jundt, loc. cit., p. 55. Jundt, loc. cit., p. 55. Von der sele werdikeit und eigenschaft. Ed. Pfeiffer: Deutsche Mystiker, vol. II, 1857, 394, 8 and 399, 31. - Jundt, loc cit., p. 62. Jundt, loc. cit., p. 85. Loe. cit., p. 205. De la Causa, Principio et Uno (Venezia 1584) Dial. III in Opere di Giordano Bruno. Ed. Ad. Wagner, Lips. 1830, vol. I, p. 251; Von der Ursache, dem Prinzip und dem Einen. German transl. by Ad. Lasson. 2nd ed., Heidelberg 1889, pp. 74 and 102. Ibid. Ed. Wagner I, p. 269; Lasson, p. 102. Ritter, H., Die christliche Philosophie, vol. II. Gottingen 1859, p. 125.

l09

110

233

lntroductio in Vitalem Philosophiam cui cohaeret omnium morborum astralium et materialium; seu morborum omnium, Elementatorum et haereditariorum ex lihro N aturae Codioe philosophiae et medicae veritatis . . . deinde Paracelsi, Turnheuseri, Quercetani aliorumque Neotericorum philosophorum experientia demonstratur, medicamenta omnium morborum ex Anatomia et Arte Signata; tam Simplicia quam Composite ostendendo. Francofurti Typis Hartm. Palthenii, Sumptihus Joh. Th. de Bry et Joh. Ammonii 1623. Title in woodcut border, identical with that of Michael Maier's "Atalanta Fugiens", Oppenheim, de Bry, 1618 (depicting the story of Hippomenes and Atalanta and their metamorphosis into lions by Cybele whose temple is shown being profaned by their impatience to consummate their nuptials). With reference to the alchemical significance of the Atalanta story see Michael Maier, Arcana Arcanissima hoc est Hieroglyphica Aegyptio-Graeca vulgo necdum cognita ad demonstrandam falsorum apud antiquos deorum . . . pro sacris .receptorum, originem ex uno Aegyptiorum artificio, quod aureum animi et Corporis medicamentum peregit. S. l. et a., p. 87. In this work an attempt was made at interpreting the whole of Greek mythology in terms of Alchemy, tracing the origin of all the "false gods, goddesses, heroes, sacred animals and institutions to the preparation of the golden medicine of soul and body by the Egyptians." - Atalanta, a princely and elusive virgin, symbolises matter, and her winged feet allude to mercury. Picking up the golden apples she shows herself content with ephemeral results and fails to persevere in the search for the true Philosophers' Stone. Drawing water from a rock she shows herself on the way to its discovery. Her untimely conjunction with Hippomenes and conversion into lions symbolises phases of the alchemical process in vitro. On the alchemical allusions in the Hercules myth and Hercules as the author of the "golden medicine", see ibid., pp. 77 and 80. For a bibliographical appraisal of the "Atalanta Fleeing" and its contents, see: Read, J.: Prelude to Chemistry. London 1939, pp. 236-246. Maier's alchemical mythology was resumed by Jae. Tollius (notably in his Fortuita in quihus praeter Critica nonnulla, tota fabularis Historia Graeca, Phoenicia, Aegyptiaca, ad Chemiam pertinere asseritur. Amstelod. 1687). There does not seem to be a reference to Atalanta, however. Peter Soerenssen (1542-1602), author of Idea Medicinae Philosophicae Fundamenta. Basileae 1571. See W. Pagel in .his essay on Harvey and the Purpose of Circulation. Isis 1951, XLll, p. 34. De Chymicorum cum Aristotelicis et Galenicis Consensu. 1619. See our detailed account of this work later on p. 333-343.

234


Rosicrucian Symbolism

235

INTRODPCTIO.

IN VlTALEM PHILOSOPHIAM. {ui &oh.mt OMNIVM MORBORVM Aftralium & · Matcriahum; feu , Morborum. omni um, Elementatorurti & ha:..rcditariorum ex libro Natura: Gudiec pl!.i!ofophicx & mcdica: veritatis, ac.dttls Vc:tci:'timpiacitis, Hip- . poc11Qris , (fafoni , Celli• .tlionnri~

Explit.1tiQ atque Ouratio. lN SPP.C•I.A!.I EXP!.IC.ATIO'liJ'II morhorum agitur de C11r11twnum myfleriu, Indi&11tion11m eompendiu , Remediorum 11reani4. E~ primum Galeni & 11liorum vettrummedit11men14 proferuntr"O"OS.-

francoforti Typis Hartm. Palrhenij, Sumtibut Joh. Th.de Bry, & Iob.Ammonij. ~Jd,1.!C.XX~

Fig. 22. Title page of "lntroductio in Vitalem Philosophiam" with the woodcut border of Michael Meier's Atalanta Fugiens. See description in footnote 108 to p. 233. Like Michael Meier, the author of the "lntroductio" was influenced by "Rosicrucianism" - the mystical movement usually dated about 1620 and onwards. For the earlier use of Rosicrucian svmbols and its connection with the portraiture of Paracelsus see the legends to figgs 23 . and 24-25.

Fig. 23. Portrait of Paracelsus against a background of early Rosicrucian symbols from the first edition of the Philosophia Magna (Colon. A. Birckmann 1567) - a modification of the Hirschvogel portrait of 1540, probably by Franz Hoogenbergh under the direction of the Paracelsist Dr Theodor Birckmann. The interesting feature of the portrait is the presentation of unmistakable Rosicrucian symbols - the child's head emerging through a cleft in the ground and other symbols of rebirth - prior to 1620, the date usually given for the advent of Rosicrucianism. In this respect the male figure in front of" Jacob's ladder" is of particular interest (right upper inset). The left eye is not represented - symbolising the "cagastric", earthly or temporal eye that should be kept closed while the right "iliastric" - eye contemplates eternity and the higher sphere of the Creator. Interpretation by J. Strebel, Paracelsus und die Rosenkreuzer. Acta Nova Paracelsica. 1946, III, p. 122 and 125. id., Entstehung und Bildkomponenten des sog. Rosenkreuzerportraits Hohenheims des Kiilnischen Birckmann Holzschnittes von Franz Hoogenbergh 1567. Nova Acta Parac. 1947, IV, 122-127. See also: B. de Telepnef, Paracelsus und die

236


Joh. E. Burggrav's Vitalis Philosophia

237

"Chaos" - a merely passive receptacle of the forms, and therefore quite different from "our", i.e. Paracelsean, "Prime Matter". This is the principle which confers form on all objects of nature and sustains them not as the material, hut as the efficient and formal cause. As such it is, therefore, not subject to corruption or alteration. It is invisible - a "naked Diana" who does not enter the orbit of mortals. It is clothed in vestments, which protect it from the gaze of the impious and stupid. These vestments the elements - Aristotle and Galen mistook for the essential form and the nucleus of creatures. The latter, however, is not elemental hut spiritual, although it dwells with us and acts in us. This Prime Matter corresponds to the Platonic Idea - the species which always "is", i.e. remains the same and neither develops nor perishes. That is to say, it derives from no other pre-existing composite matter, nor is it resolved into any other matter. Hence it is not accessible to sensual perception hut only to intellectual contemplation. From this it emerges that the differences between all objects are determined by Prime Matter. The "prime matter" of philosophers is therefore the internal form, the principle of life, the source of activity and fertility, the governor of generation, alteration and indeed of all natural actions. It is through its offices that elements antagonistic to ea~h other are held together by the unifying action of mixing. It is thus that the principle of life, and the root and species of an object, remains in spite of the gradual corruption and consumption of its material components. In this lies the superiority of prime matter over the ordinary qualities of the elements.

The exalted position accorded to a spiritualised "Prime Matter"111 by the Paracelsist author of the "Introduction to Vital Philosophy" implicitly reveals the influence of ancient and mediaeval "popular pantheism" on Paracelsus and his followers.

111

The same tendency to substitute spirit for matter and body is recognisable in the author's discussion of "Innate Heat". This, our author argues, had been taken in a material sense by the liumoral school. According to Aristotle, plants and animals live by virtue of this heat, and death is due to its extinction. In this, however, the fundamental difference between spiritual ("ethereal") and elementary heat had been overlooked. Elementary heat comes to objects by virtue of the mixture and proportion of their elementary components. It is sterile, inane, "empty" and not more than accidental to the object. Natural and vital heat, however, is quite different in nature from the elements. For this reason it has been called celestial and divine. It is present in plants and animals which in terms of elementary qualities are absolutely cold, such as poppies, lattuce, mandragora and the serpent. The vital heat is the "Internal Mineral Sun" of the alchemists. In it lies the universal force of nature, the "Vital Sulphur", the "Radical Moisture" of the whole of nature.

Fig. 24. A possible "Rosicrucian" symbolical picture even earlier than the Paracelsus portrait of the Birckmann print shown in fig. 23. Title page of Suso's Horologium Sapientiae Cologne 1503. Survey: Trinity presented after the "Pieta" pattern (as shown for example in Petrus de Castroval Tractatus vel Expositio in Symbolum quicumque vult. Pampelona ca. 1496). Angel top left has the left eye merely outlined (compare with the Rosicrucian figure in our illustration No. 23). The omission of the eye may be accidental in the Suso print of 1503; however (it might be argued), if it were accidental, such a fault in reproduction should be observed more often.

238


239

Womb and Earth

Phia.d.Alberti.M.

Fig. 25. Close up: The two angels of the top part.

The microcosmic pattern as reflected by the womb and the earth Leonicenus, Cesalpino and Aristotle Comparing the womb ("Mother") with the earth, Paracelsus views it as a cosmos in the cosmos. For in it all properties of the greater and lesser worlds are united. Here Paracelsus is using a symbol that was popular in his time. The frontispiece to an early edition of an elementary tract on Natural History - the "Philosophia Pauperum" of Albertus Magnus 112 - represents the Cosmos as a circle. Its upper half - bright rimmed - carries the sun, and its lower half - dark rimmed - the moon. In the centre the upright human figure of a cosmic man spans the vertical distance between the sun and moon. The lower abdomen of the figure is occupied by the Earth, as if it were pregnant with it. The earth is thus represented as the womb of the cosmos; it occupies its centre and symbolises fertility and life. What the earth is to a plant, the womb is to animals and man. The seed of the plant needs the earth to he nourished and to grow from it, and it is for this same purpose that we need the uterus. The plant generates roots for itself by means of which it attracts nutriment from the earth. In the fetus, vessels take the place of the roots. The seed sends forth the trunk and from it the branches and twigs down to the smallest buds. In all this we easily recognise the analogues of the aorta, vena cava and spine, with all their ramifications. An animal is thus a plant with flesh and blood - a "planta sanguinea et carnea". In this view there is no difference between the vegetable and animal kingdoms for both share the same workman - the vegetative soul. From the same instru· ment that gives life, nutrition and growth to the plant, namely the seed or semen, the animal forms arteries, veins, nerves, bones and membranes. The plant in animals, i.e. their 112

Alhertus Magnus, Philosophia Pauperum. Baptista de Farfengo, Brescia 1493. This woodcut does not occur in the first edition of 1482. The idea on which it is based is recognisable in alchemical woodcuts depicting the earth as "Prima Materia" nourishing the "Son of the Philosophers" - for example an illustration from Mylius, Philosophia Reformata. Francof. 1622, p. 96. Reproduced by Jung, C. G.: Psychologie und Al· chemie. Zurich 1954, p. 438 with reference to "Prime Matter", the uncreated "Mother of the Elements and all Creatures" of the Paracelsean treatise Philosophia ad Athe· nienses.

~

Cl')

("'!

0

C)

;z: 0

v,

n (")

< :z:

~I

it'

c

'"i

.~ *\ L.;j

•

< ~

;I

r.i

'(J

II . .. . . . . . . :=g:n ~~g;;;~~~~

I

VIS

i:::

.; lT1 ..... I'-'

3:

AMAR.I AM Ar PO RI GE PORIGETlf§ J

Fig. 26. The Earth as the Womb of the Cosmos. Allegorical frontispiece to Albertus Magnus Philosophia Pauperum. Brescia. Bapt. de Farfengo 1493.

vegetative soul, acquires the two further faculties which are afforded by the blood, namely warmth and locomotion. The animal thus represents the "plant of the future" - "haec planta futura est animal". This development is due to the acquisition of new faculties rather than to the abolition of plant life in the animal as though it were obsolete.

240


This evolutionist perspective was propounded by Nicolaus Leonicenus (1428-1524), who with Manardus (1462-1536) was a teacher of Paracelsus at Ferrara. We find it in one of his minor treatises, the "Letter on the Formative Virtue to the illustrious physician Caesar Optatus of Naples" .113 Leonicenus takes up Galen's argument114, opposing Aristotle. In addition to his critical attitude towards Aristotle, the emphasis laid by Leonicenus on the analogy between the womb and the Earth should have appealed to Paracelsus. It is well to remember, however, that this criticism of Aristotle lends support in Leonicenus' opinion to the views of Galen, which in itself would be no recommendation to Paracelsus. Later on, the comparative anatomical perspective was taken up in the celebrated work "On Plants" by the Aristotelian naturalist Andreas Cesalpinus (1523-1603). He says that the veins of the animal body which draw nourishment from the abdomen correspond in some respects to the roots of plants. 115 Cesalpin does not, however, mention the womb as corresponding to the earth. This latter idea had been put forward by Aristotle himself, in spite of the criticism levelled against him by Galen for having treated plants and animals as fundamentally different forms of life. 1~6 Aristotle had linked this analogy with his doctrine that the womb is responsible for the bodily substance and shape of the foetus. "For it is the soil that gives to the seeds the material and the body of the plant." Hence the uterus (unlike the male parts) is not a mere passage but an organ of considerable width.11 7 113 Nicolai Leoniceni ad excellentissimum Medicum Caesarem Optatum Neapolitanum de Virtute Formative Epistola. Bonon. 1506. Opuscula, Cratander, Basileae 1532, p. 84. 114 Galen, De Semine. Lib. I, cap. 9. In Galen's opinion, Aristotle failed to see the consequences of his own work in the matter of the correspondence between plants and animals, seeming to have abandoned his own insistence on the comparative anatomical perspective. For he gave different explanations for the working of nature in plants and animals. In the former, he regarded the seed as such as the active principle and material - but not so in animals. Galen on the other hand, supported by Leonicenus, shows the fundamental identity of the developing plant and animal, the latter supplementing rather than abandoning the faculties of plant life. 115 Caesalpini, And., De Plantis libri XVI, Florentiae 1583, p. 1. This may be compared with the Hippocratic dictum that what the earth is to the trees, the abdomen is to the animal body. The abdomen nourishes, warms by intake and cools by evacuation. Galen commenting on this compares the roots of the tree drawing nourishment from the soil with the veins which nourish all parts from the abdomen. Hippocrates, Humours Opp. ed. W. H. S. Jones (Loeb Library), vol. IV, p. 82, and Galen, Hippocratis de Humoribus liber et Galeni in eum Commentarii tres. Lib. II, 37 Opp. Galeni ed. Kiihn, vol. XVI (1829), p. 340. 116 This criticism was answered in favour of Aristotle by the Averroist Cremonini (15521631) in an involved argument in which no place is given to the analogy between womb and earth. Cremoninus, Caesar Centensis de Calido innato et semine pro Aristotele versus Galenum. Lugd. Bat. Elzevir 1634, p. 158. 117 De Generat. Animal. Lib. II, cap. 4, 738b, 25-40. The womb is responsible for the body, the male for the "soul", i.e. the "reality of a particular body". Crossbreeds finally resemble the female parent, just as the offspring of foreign seeds varies according to the nature of the soil. See also: ibid., lib. 1, cap. 2, 716 a, 13: "By a male animal we mean that which generates in another, and by a female that which generates in itself, wherefore men apply these terms to the macrocosm also, naming mother Earth as being female, but addressing Heaven and the Sun and other like entities as fathers, as causing generation." Transl. A. Platt. Oxford 1910. On the Earth as centre of fer-

Ramon Lull

241

Paracelsus and Ramon Lull Ramon Lull (1234-1315), Doctor Illuminatus, renowned as a philosopher, logician, alchemist, mystic and martyr, conjured up the vista of encyclopaedic knowledge. This was supposed to he producible at the will of the adept by means of tables, movable circles and geometrical patterns. These represented certain general notions symbolised in letters of the alphabet; permutations and combinations of groups of these letters were to enable the "Lullist" to arrive at the invention of new and indeed all

Fig. 27. The Martyrdom of Ramon Lull at Bugia. From: Raymundus Lullus, Ars Inventiva Veritatis. Valencia. Didacus de Gumiel. 1515.

242

possible facts. This is the "Lullian art". It must have appeared to its inventor and his pupils as the most splendid achievement of the human intellect so far reached in history. It is hardly accidental that "Lullism" had its great vogue at the time which "discovered" man and his intellectual powers, i.e. the Renaissance and the XVIIth century, from Nicolaus Cusanus and Pico to Leibniz. Lullism then was coupled with the revival of Cahalah and the mysticism of numbers; it may he said to have found its climax in Leibniz's discovery of Calculus and its main exponent in Giordano Bruno. It is difficult for us today who are no longer able to understand, let alone practise the Lullian Art, to realise the attraction that it exerted on the best minds of the age. It is usually dealt with in the history of logic in which it forms a foreign body rather than a stage of organic development. It would now appear, however, that it is just this approach from the history of logic which has so far barred an understanding of Lullism, since, as has been recently shown by Miss Yates, more sense can he made of it when it is approached through Lull's theory of the elements and of astrology. 118 Such an approach would have to start from the correspondences with the elements that were assigned to the stars. These are expressed in letters of the alphabet. There are further correspondences of elements, stars, the complexion and temperament of man, of metals, plants and animals. For example, one could speak "of a 'B-complexion' man, metal, plant, animal and so on - that is of a man, metal, plant or animal in which the B, or fiery, element predominated because he was under the influence of a B star." Such correspondences and therefore "fortunes" in the astrological sense can be thus read in the tables provided by Lull. The basic principle of working them out in detail is that

118

The Lullian Art. Devictio. Graded Medicine


tility in Greek mythology, see Creuzer, F.: Symbolik und Mythologie der Alten Volker, besonders der Griechen. 3rd Ed. Leipzig and Darmstadt 1836, vol. I, pp. 25, 28 and 156. There is no point in following the comparison of the womb with the earth back to its origin in religion, mythology and folklore. That it was traditional and older than Aristotle is shown by a saying of Empedocles that, prior to animals and before the sun moved round, trees developed from the earth. In these, male and female are first undivided; later under the influence of solar heat in the earth they are differentiated and form parts of the earth comparable to embryos which form parts in the womb of the mother. Empedocles, No.164, 70, in Diels, H.: Fragmente der Vorsokratiker. 4th ed., Berlin 1922, vol. I, p. 212. See also ibid. No. 190, 57-62, pp. 245-247. For further relevant passages from the Presocratics see: Anaxagoras: The animals originate in celestial semina sown into the earth. (Diels; H.: loc. cit., vol. I, p. 398, No. 113). Earth and ether of Zeus bring forth the mortals - earth is the mother of all (ibid. No. 112; No. 62). Hekataios of Abdera: the Earth as a kind of vessel harbouring all that grows, hence called womb (mother). (Diels, loc. cit., vol. II, p. 152; No. 460, 22). Zeno: Man stems from the earth (Diels, loc. cit., vol. I, p. 166, No. 127, 5). Yates, Frances A.: The Art of Ramon Lull. An approach to it through Lull's theory of the elements. J. Warburg Inst. 1954, XVII, 115-173.

i

243

of "Devictio" - the precedence in a given combination of the letter (or property) which occurs more often than the others. The principle of "Devictio" of one property over others in a combination of objects or notions immediately calls to mind "graded medicine", which has its principal sources in Aristotle119 and Galen120. In this the elementary qualities had been worked out in minute detail for every herb and drug. First, "priniary" and "secondary" qualities had been distinguished. The primary qualities - warm, cold, moist and dry - combine and thereby give rise to the secondary qualities - taste, smell, hard, soft, damp-cold, dry-warm. Drugs in general fall into three categories: those which act by virtue of (l) the primary, (2) the secondary and (3) the specific qualities inherent in the substance of the drug as a whole ("tota substantia"). Those in the second category are the sweet, bitter, astringent, sharp and softening drugs, of which the sweet and bitter ones are at the same time warm, while the acid ones are cold. Emetics, laxatives, antidotes belong to the third category of specific medicines. Pepper is hot like fire, but only "potentially" so and not like the latter "actually". This elementary quality may display four grades of intensity; the first grade in which it is hardly perceptible, the second grade in which its action is evident, the third in which it is intense and the fourth in which it is destructive. Opium, mandragora and hemlock are cold in the fourth grade; spurge is hot in the fourth grade, roses cool in the second grade and so forth. Following the principle of "Contraria Contrariis", mixtures of herbs and drugs could be finely balanced and adjusted for individuals according to temperament and complexion and for disease according to the excess or deficiency of the elementary qualities that it caused. For example opium, which is cold in the fourth degree, needs to be combined with heating substances such as castor which moderate its action. A cooling remedy will be needed in fever and so on (Max Neuburger).121

It is clear that this Galenic pharmacology formed a prominent target for Paracelsus. According to him it is a "foreign" system, grown in Greece and Arabia and used in modern times and other countries as a result of "peregrina arrogantia" and "patriae error". In this, Paracelsus does not voice narrow-minded parochialism and German nationalism. It is rather his conviction that every age and every place forms a world by itself. For the "fruits" of the elements, notably the earth, are different according to time and place. These "fruits" of an age and of a certain part of the earth include diseases which change their face in different times and localities. Arabic Balsam is of no use in districts remote from Arabia. In the same way, each time and each country produce their own physician appropriate to the diseases ("necessities") peculiar to age and country. Hippocrates, Avicenna and finally Lull were physicians perfect for their country and 119 De Generatione et Corruptione II, 3; 331 a. 120 De Simplic. medicamentor. facultat. ac temperamentis libri XI - De Compositione medicamentor. sec. locos I. X - De Compos. med. per genera I. VII - De Antidotis I. II - De Theriaca ad Pisonem - De Theriaca ad Pamphilium - De Ponderibus et mensuris - De succedaneis medicamentis - Synopsis simplicium medicamentorum. 121 Neuburger, M.: Geschichte der Medizin. Stuttgart 1906, vol. I, pp. 398-399.

244

horn from the necessities of the soil. But of what use is Rhazes for Vienna, Savonarola for Freihurg, Arnaldus for Swahia ?122 It is thus hardly surprising that Lull comes in for severe censure by Paracelsus, and that he is chiefly mentioned in the treatises on the grades and composition of medicines. "Long is the error and the way between thorns", i.e. throughout Lull's hook called "Lily between thorns".123 Ancient medicine reached its natural end a long time ago. Hence the necessity for new inventive work in medicine. Moreover many good methods and prescriptions of old have not come to us, and those which have are confused by gibberish, notably that of monks such as Rupescissa. Nor will Paracelsus admit any debt to Raymundus Lullus as the acquirer of the "appropriate prescriptions of philosophy".124 Lull, Paracelsus says, erred in his doctrine of the "Quinta Essentia" and remained far behind the'!:esults achieved and laid down by himself in his "Archidoxen". Lull mistook mere "extractio" and "melioratio" for the "Quinta Essentia". 125 His pupils, searching for the real "Quinta Essentia" of wine - the "vinum salutis" - emptied many vats of wine, found nothing and wasted their time, mistaking brandy for the spirit of wine ("branten wein fiir spiritum vini"),126 The followers of Lull falsely called the "Rubigo" of Mercury its "flower", whereas it is really a deadly corrosive. 127 Against all this the chance remark in a pupil's notebook that Lull was the first to cure leprosy wherein he was followed by Arnaldus128 cannot claim any siguificance - any more than can occasional quotations of Lullian prescriptions. 129

Lull is thus one of Paracelsus' targets for opposition and censure. Yet 122

128

124

125

126 127 128

129

Lull - Paracelsus - Bruno


De Gradibus. Begleitbrief an Cluser (November lOth 1527). Ed. Sudhoff, vol. IV, pp. 71-73. In a similar way Paracelsus says of himself: "That I am solitary, that I am new, that I am German, should not cause you to despise my works ... " (Paragranum, Third tract "Von der Alchimia" ed. Sudhoff, vol. VIII, p. 201). With this and similar designations such as "Philosophus nach der teutschen Art") he "only meant one who speaks German and turns away from Roman Scholasticism", as Friedrich Gundolf has convincingly shown. (Paracelsus. 2nd Ed. Bondi. Berlin 1928, p. 66). From student notebooks to De Gradibus. Ed. Sudhoff, loc. cit., vol. IV, p. 91. The argument (loc. cit. at p. 96) goes into technical detail with regard to difficulties arising from the application of the doctrine of grades to corrosives. Here Lull figures together with Arnaldus, Johannes de Rupescissa, Hermes, Albertus Magnus and St. Thomas Aquinas. Das Zweite Buch, Grosse Wundarznei (1536). Dritter Tractat von den ofnen scheden. Cap. 6. Von der tinctur geheissen sal philosophorum. Ed. Sudhoff, vol. X, p. 365. De Vita longa (1526/27). Lib. III, cap. I. Ed. Sudhoff, vol. III, p. 272. Also Deutsche Originalfragmente zu den Fiinf Biichern De Vita longa. Lib. III, cap. 1, loc. cit., p. 301. Deutsche Fragmente zu: De Vita long a. Lib. III, cap. 5, loc. cit., p. 305. Ibid., cap. 8, p. 277 and Deutsche Fragmente, p. 307. Kolleg-Niederschriften zu den Biichern der Paragraphen (3b). Ed. Sudhoff, vol. V, p. 305. Paragraphor. Lib. XIII and XIV. Nachschrift aus dem Kolleg. Ed. Sudhoff, vol. V, p. 264. - Scholia et observat. in Macri poemata. De Foeniculo. Ed. Sudhoff, vol. III, p. 411.

245

Giordano Bruno was to find a strong Lullian trait in the work of Paracelsus. There was no tendency on Bruno's part to minimise the achievement of Paracelsus in medicine at large, or to show that he was not really original therein. On the contrary he praised Paracelsus as "medicorum princeps" who alone could claim a seat close to Hippocrates himself. Nevertheless Bruno accused Paracelsus of having, in one part of his medicine, reaped what Lull had sown, of having appropriated the "Majorcan cloth" without giving his source, veiling it in preposterous, newly invented names, and of having fashioned it into a mantle here and cut it up into short Swiss trousers ("femoralia") there. What Lull calls B for "light", Paracelsus names ''Fire"; Lull's C for "Oil" is Paracelsus' "Sulphur"; the Lullian D for "Smoke" is Paracelsus' "Mercury'', Lull's E for "Ash" Paracelsus' "Salt" and so on. 130 Bruno here seems to be referring to the use of letters as summarised for example in the table "De significatione literarum" or in the "Arbor operationis" and of similar symbols appended to some of the Lullian alchemical treatises, notably the "Testamentum". 131 The letters used in the "Testament" do not correspond to those given by Bruno, but the principle is the same.

Bruno's accusation would have to he judged from the debt which Para· celsus owed to alchemy in general and not to Lull in particular. For it is generally agreed that the Lullian corpus of alchemical treatises is not by Lull himself. Lull deprecates alchemy in his genuine work in unmistakable terms and there are gross inconsistencies in the stories connecting his life with alchemical activity.132 180

131

132

Bruno, G.: De Lampade Corubinatoria Lulliana (praefatio), Wittenberg 1587. Opp. Lat. vol. II, part 2, pp. 234-235. Prior to the recent work of Yates (loc. cit, p. 131), Heinrich Ritter drew attention to this as early as 1850 ("Seltsamerweise wird die Lehre des Paracelsus auf Lullus zuriickgefiihrt." Geschichte der cliristlichen Philosophie, vol. V, Haruburg 1850, p. 605, footnote 2). Testamentum Raymundi Lulli duobus libris universam artem chymicam complectens. Item ejusdem compendium animae transmutationis artis metallorum. 2nd ed. Coloniae Agripp. ap. Jo. Birckmannum 1573, fol. 231 verso. Manget Bibliotheca Chemica, vol. I, p. 778, p. 822, p. 852; Lux Mercuriorum, ibid., p. 824. - Arbor operationis Manget I, 826. The identity of the author of all "Lullian" treatises, philosophical and alchemical, was assumed as late as 1832 by Schmieder, K. C.: Geschichte der Alchemie, Halle 1832, p. 166 et seq. Against this identification see for example Kopp H.: Beitrage zur Geschichte der Chemie, vol. III, Braunschweig 1875, pp. 102-107; Kopp: Die Alchemie in alterer und neuerer Zeit. Heidelberg 1886, vol. I, pp. 25-26. Lippmann, E. 0. von: Entstehung und Ausbreitung der Alchemie, Berlin 1919, p. 494. Waite A. E., Raymund Lully, in: Three Famous Alchemists, pp. 9-75, Rider & Co., London; Taylor, F. Sherwood, The Alchemists, London 1951. The Lullian diagrams, notably circles and triangles, are closely reminiscent of those traditionally used in magic (see for example Petri de Abano Heptameron s. Elementa Magica in Agrippa, Opp. ed. Lug-

246


It is true that the use ofletters and symbols gives some of the treatises an outward resemblance to the "Lullian Art", i.e. the genuine natural philosophy and cosmology of Lull. 133 But the letters and symbols in the chemical works do not appear to be meant as an "alphabet of concepts", an instruction and guide for combination and permutation whereby new concepts or constellations or facts were to be invented. It seems, on the con· trary, that letters and symbols were introduced in order to give the chemical treatises a genuine Lullian stamp. For otherwise the Lullian alchemy differs in no way from other brands of mediaeval alchemy, notably Arnaldian and Rupescissian.

What then did Bruno mean ? Was there any justification in his priority claim for Lull against Paracelsus ? The doctrines of Paracelsus stand and fall by the theory of microcosm and the correspondences which he found everywhere in the greater and lesser worlds. It was Lull who probably for the first time formulated and tabulated correspondences between the greater and the lesser worlds in great detail. His "Art" implies throughout the analogies between man and the cosmos. Lull sees the influence of the stars on inferior bodies as the imprint of a seal rather than as a physical effect. It is a correspondence in form and function, a directive impulse, rather than the transmission of anything physical. Thus the inferior substances, directed by the astral seal which they have received, act in consonance with the stars, hut the action itself is theirs - just as more heat is produced in summer in consonance with the sun, and fountains and rivers increase and decrease in parallel with the waxing and waning of the moon. 134 According to Miss Yates, it is of particular importance for the understanding of the Lullian art that in these and similar passages the influences of signs and planets are identified with the 18 fundamental notions of his general table, such as Bonitas, Magnitudo, Duratio, Potestas, etc.135 The latter correspondences are even more important to Lull than any elemental qualities which inferior things have in common with celestial bodies. "For example, Sol and Fire concord more through mutual honitas, magnitudo and so on than through calor and siccitas, for Sol is not formally calidus and siccus hut he is formally bonus, magnus, durans, potens etc." 136 All "ratios" on earth - the equality between men of the same size or in any human science such as mathematics, music, law and medicine, are caused by the equality in heaven. It is the

duni 1600, vol. I, p. 455). As we have seen, Paracelsus incorporated traditional "magic" in his work. Lull's diagrams should have appealed to him for this reason. 1 88 As pointed out by Hoefer, P., Histoire de la Chimie, Paris, 1842, vol. I, p. 401. 13 4 Lull, R.: Tractatus Novus de Astronomia (written in 1297). Paris lat. 17, 827, fol. 17 v. Quoted from Yates, loc. cit., p. 124. 13 6 Yates, loc. cit., p. 124. 1aa Yates, loc. cit., p. 126.

Lullian Traits in Paracelsus

247

latter which becomes the influencing principle and impresses its likeness on the equalities in inferior things". 137 By the principle of equality the crude principle of "Contraria Contrariis" appears to he superseded to some extent, as it permits herbs that are contrary in complexion to he equal in honitas, potestas and virtus.138 In this insistence on correspondences as against influences, Lull believed himself original and superior to traditional astrology, which had conceded absolute power to the stars. Such power, Lull emphasises, belongs to the Creator, who can alter the astral influences and move the soul of man against the constellation under which he was horn. Finally Lull appears to have restricted the principle of "Contraria Contrariis" by the overruling power of the equality principle. In all this we are reminded of the views of Paracelsus, to whom the correspondences were paramount and superseded the power of elemental quality. Paracelsus rejected traditional astrology and the power ascribed by it to the stars in favour of correspondences. The free action of God and of the human soul was to Paracelsus far above that of the stars, which was "animal" in nature and subject to alteration by the will of God as well as of man. Paracelsus emphasises constantly that "virtue" does not by any means depend on complexion, for example in a herb or drug, and one may well compare this with Lull's restriction of the "Contraria Contrariis" principle by that of "Equality". According to Paracelsus, many herbs and drugs that differ in "complexion" are identical in "virtue" and effect. 139 "Virtues" to Paracelsus are divine and uncreated.140 It is unlikely that Paracelsus remained unacquainted with those Lullian and pseudo-Lullian treatises which were in circulation among adepts of the secret arts, such as Trithemius and Agrippa on the one hand, and metallurgists and alchemists on the other. There is, however, no direct evidence of the Lullian art in the work of Paracelsus and a possible influence of Lullian ideas should not, therefore, he overrated. Carried away in his enthusiasm for Lull, Bruno may well have done this, including Paracelsus in the series of his admired "predecessors in Lull" such as Nicolaus Cusanus, Agrippa, Bovillus and J ac. Faber Stapulensis.

1 37 138 139

1 40

Yates, loc. cit., p. 127. Yates, loc. cit., p. 129. See above p. 93. See above, p. 54.

248


Arnald of Villanova

Paracelsus and Arnald of Villanova

ling for most of the time. Then, there is Arnald's propensity to mix with unorthodox circles, notably Franciscan divines and exponents of "chiliastic" and "Joachimite" ideas of the impending end of the world and the advent of the Antichrist. 142 Arnald, like Paracelsus, was subject to abrupt vicissitudes, such as his imprisonment at Paris (1299) as a heretic, on account of his chiliastic ideas and criticism of church institutions. Like Paracelsus, Arnald ministered with great success to prominent persons, notably kings and popes. On the whole, however, Arnald moved in circles and classes altogether different from those which formed the background of Paracelsus' chequered life and career. He remained throughout a high dignitary at secular as well as ecclesiastical courts, where he received castles as presents.

Among the outstanding figures of mediaeval medicine, Arnald of Villanova (1235-1311) has always invited a comparison with Paracelsus. Already in Arnald's biography1 41 there is much which bears comparison with the life of Paracelsus, notably his restlessness, which kept him travel-

t!\mald' tt ~llla UOlJa

249

Independence of thought. Use of empirical remedies

Fig. 28. Arnald of Villanova. From: Hartmann Schedel, Registrum hujus operis libri cronicarum. Niirnberg 1493. From the copy in the British Museum (Wellcome Collection neg. 4113).

Further parallels can be found in Arnald's independence of outlook and views, notably on such hotly debated questions as sorcery and magic. In spite of enlightened criticism of vulgar superstition and belief, notably in human powers over planets and demons, Arnald - like Paracelsus remained a firm believer in the actual existence of demons. Moreover, he made much use of amulets and seals, especially in the cure of poisoning, and of the stone (so successfully employed by him in the case of Pope Boniface VIll).143 Much of this probably belongs to what Arnald confesses to having learned from simple folk and empirics. 144 In the same way, Paracelsus acknowledged his indebtedness to ordinary and even illiterate people; but Arnald emphasises in the first place what he had learned from his academic teachers, the "magistri in medicina expertissimi" - an emphasis hardly to be met with in Paracelsus.

142

l4l

On this and related questions see the comprehensive work of Paul Diepgen: Arnald von Villanova als Politiker und Laientheologe. Abh. zur mittleren und neueren Geschichte. 1909, Heft IX; id., Studien zu Arnald von Villanova III, Arnald und die Alchemie. Arch. Gesch. Med. 1910, III, 369, und IV, Arnalds Stellung zur Magie, Astrologie und Oneiromantaie. Arch. Gesch. Med. 1912, V, 88. Arnaldus de improba-

143 1 44

tione maleficiorum. Arch. Kulturgesch. 1912, IX, 385. With special reference to parallels with Paracelsus in: Theophrastus von Hohenheim, the physician who bridged the Ages. Research and Progress 1942, VII, 107-124, esp. pp. 111-112. See also Thorndike, L.: History of Magic and Experimental Science. New York 1923, vol. II, pp. 841-861. See Diepgen, P.: Die Weltanschauung Arnalds von Villanova und seine Medizin. Scientia Milano 1937, January, p. 40 et seq. See also Grundmann, H., Die Papstprophetien des Mittelalters. Arch. f. Kulturgesch. 1929, XIX, loc. cit. p. 93 with ref. to Diepgen loc. cit. 1909, p. 15. As the latter has shown, Arnald was in intimate contact with southern French Beguines and praised the prophetic literature that was popular with them. See for detail: Thorndike, loc. cit., p. 848 et seq. Breviarium. Lib. I, Prooem. Opp. Omnia cum Nicolai Taurelli annot. Perneus et Waldkirch, Basileae 1585, col. 1055 b-c.

250

Naturalism and Empiricism Yet in his medical teaching, Arnald professes independence and emphasises personal and objective experience as the main source of knowledge. He said that he who takes everything from his predecessors and complacently tries to put this into practice resembles cattle that are led by a rope and go along hlindly. 145 He has much to say against pure empiricism on the one hand and against excessive reasoning that neglects experience and experiment on the other. 146 The physician who knows the natures and powers of simple things and possesses a strong gift of imaginative combination in the use of natural forces will appear to work miracles, for example by bestowing a laxative effect on wine. "Blessed, therefore, is the physician whom God has endowed with knowledge (Scientia) and intelligence, for he is the associate of nature ( naturae socius). Alas, many are called, hut few are chosen. For the science of medicine is relegated to the opinion of those who ponder about universals. For he who reduces many single facts to one universal is esteemed the better man. Hence somebody well defined medicine as the science which is unknown. But may the blessed God cause us to know and understand and act according to his benevolence. " 147 Parisian and Italian physicians spend all their energies in search of the knowledge of universals, not bothering about detailed facts and experience. A celebrated master in the theory and logic of natural science knew not when and how to order a clyster or to cure an ephemeral fever. The schools of Naples and Montpellier, where Arnald himself studied, however, would not lose sight of the knowledge of detailed facts and true l45

146

147

Arnald of Villanova. Naturalism


"Recitant sicut hauriunt ex scriptura nequeuntes discernere, utrum terram pertranseant propriam vel alienam: sed sicut brutum cliorda trahitur, et etiam detinetur, sic et eorum intellectus in scripturis chartapellorum detinetur, et etiam alligatur." De Considerat. Operis Medicinae Prooem. Opp., col. 848g-849a. See also Diepgen, P.: Geschichte der Medizin. Berlin 1949, vol. I, p. 211 et seq. See Pagel, W.: Religious Motives in the Medical Biology of the XVIIth century. Bull. Hist. Med. 1935, III, 112 et seq. Diepgen, P.: Die Weltanschauung Arnalds von Villanova und seine Medizin. Scientia 1937, p. 43. "Qui enim plura singularia ad universale reduxerit, melior habetur: Ideo bene definit quidam dicens: Medicina scientia est, quae nescitur: Deus autem benedictus faciat nos scire et intelligere, et secundum suum beneplacitum operari." De Vino. Opp. Omnia, loc. cit., col. 588a-c. Diepgen gives the gist of this passage as: "Der Arzt ist auf dem besten Wege, der die Singularia zu den Universalia fiihrt" (the physician who reduces particulars to universals is on the best way to success; loc. cit., Scientia 1937, p. 43) and calls this "a hint at the principle of the inductive method" in which we re· cognise in Arnald's albeit scholastic thought "the spirit of a new science". Such a spirit, however, lies in Arnald's obvious criticism of those who reduce particulars to universals (although they are reputed to be successful) and not in a recommendation of this principle.

251

experience. 148 Ratio and Experiment are the leading stars towards the "certainty of the art". Experiment alone will he insufficient for the knowledge of the composition ("complexion") of an object. It will need confirmation by reason. 149 For experiment as distinct from reason reveals the immediate and actual qualities and effects, those common to several as well as those limited to individual objects ("virtutes communes et propriae"). Reason, however, is restricted to the knowledge of virtues that are common to more than one object. In conjunction with experiment it can reveal the potential properties of an object. With the help of experience, reason will thus teach us that certain substances act in a certain way on animals of diverse species - for example, wine will inebriate man as well as the ape - whereas others act in a certain way on one species, hut not on another; for example, wheat is good for man hut not for horses.150 It thus remains imperative to acquire in the first place knowledge of the miraculous works of nature, instead of letting blind and presumptuous imagination and delusion run away with the mind of the young student.151 What can he perceived with the senses must he taught to the student. For it is through the "Sensibilia" that the intellect ascends to the "Insensibilia", i.e. to what is hidden ( occulta ), arduous and subtle - as shown in the whole working of theology just as well as in that of medicine. For all real knowledge derives from sensual perception.152 148

"Et propter hoc Parisienses et Ultramontani medici plurimum student, ut habeant scientiam de universali, non curantes habere particulares cognitiones et experimenta. Et medici montis Pessulani, sicut Magister meus et alii probi viri ... qui student satis habere scientiam de universali, non praetermittentes scientiam particularem: unde magis respiciunt ad curationes particulares, et didascola et vera experimenta habere quam semper universalibus incumbere." Breviarium, lib. IV, cap. 10, Opp., loc. cit., col. 1392e. 149 De graduationibus medicinarum. Cap. 36, Opp., loc. cit., col. 555g. See also Explic. sup. Can. Vita Brevis. Cap. l, Opp., col. l679c. 150 "De Modo cognoscendi virtutes complexionatorum primo per experimentum." Spec. lntroduct. Med., cap. 20, col. 57f. "Experimento cognoscuntur virtutes communes et propriae. Ratione vero cognoscuntur communes." Ibid., col. 58a. 151 "Mira valde sunt opera naturae, sine quorum notitia caecutit superbus et indomitus iuvenum intellectus, qui contemtis veris imaginaria quadam delusione, defraudatur praecipue, cum elata praesumptio faciat eos suis imaginationibus pertinaciter inhaerere." De Dosis Theriacalibus. Opp., loc. cit., col. 50lc-d. 15 2 "Doctor gratiosus et efficax parabolis utitur ad occulta per sensibilia declaranda. Cum omnis vera cognitio a sensu oriatur ... necessario ipsa sensibilia debent gratiose et efficaciter demonstrari iuvenibus et addiscentibus: quia tune intellectus discurrens per ea, abstrahit multa media et multas conclusiones. Unde per sensibilia venit intellectus ad cognitionem insensibilium et occultorum et arduorum et subtilium, ut declaratur per totem processum theologiae et per totum processum medicinae: Et ideo tales parabolae utiles sunt, sicut dicit canon." Parabolae Medicationis. Opp., col. 1038b-c.

252


In Arnald's case the quest for empirical knowledge and experience as against the dictates of "industrious" reason is associated with the fight against superstition, just as it is with Paracelsus. The knowledge that matters in devising remedies is of the virtues of their components rather than of their composition and complexion. This virtue is learnt not by reason but by experiment. 153 A celestial virtue regulates and perfects it. All this, however, is purely natural. It is due to sympathy and antipathy as natural forces and has nothing to do with demons or products of superstition. "Reject therefore the shameful incantators, conjurors, invocators of spirits, diviners and augurers in the service of man's health, who have already become the helpers of the devil in opposition to the highest physician, Christ. For, as Origen said, it is better to be ignorant than to learn from demons and better to learn from scientists than to invoke divination" .154 The quest for medical reform in a new age One "rationale" of Arnald's criticism of ancient medicine is indeed very much like the argument used by Paracelsus. Since antiquity the world has changed. Prescriptions and precepts that were salutary in ancient times are insufficient or even highly dangerous to-day. No wonder that, after Christ has appeared, much more can be done in medicine than in Hippocrates'times,manyyears "ante adventum summi medici Jesu Christi". And this is necessary - for already "the world has become senescent, both macrocosm and microcosm have grown old, and with this human nature progressively became weak, exhausted and prostrate. Thus the experience of the ancients must be adapted and converted according to the requirements of the present state of human intellect and personal experience.155 This proud and ambitious programme is reminiscent of the revolutionary propositions of Paracelsus. Moreover, it uses the same argument which the latter adduces in order to justify his reformation of medicine. Each time with its own constellation needs its own new medicine. For there is a new generation of man with its own constitution of body and mind, and its own illnesses against which ancient medicine will not be sufficient help. Yet, in what follows in Arnald's text on the cure of the stone, little if any discrepancy can be seen from the prevailing opinions of Galen and the Arabs. Herein lies the difference from Paracelsus.

Arnald of Villanova. Medical Reform. Religion

Religious ideas and motives in medical theory and practice Religious motives and the frequent invocation of God and Christ as the "greatest physicians" in Arnald's works are features reminiscent of Paracelsus. Temkin drew attention to this with reference to epilepsy. Paracelsus was not the first, Temkin says, to ask for divine help in the treatment of epilepsy or to be moved by love for the sick. Arnald too had appealed to Jesus Christ and his compassion for the sufferers from this "unfortunate disease" .156 To Arnald, God is indeed the source of Medicine. The short rules which he calls Parabolae medicationis are given secundum instinctum veritatis aeternae. For God on High created medicine, just as all that is good and perfect comes down from the Father of Light. Medicine studies the visible body in order to penetrate to what is invisible, from the ailments of the body to those of the non-corporeal spirit. For "lnvisibilia per visibilia designantur" 157, a rule which formed the basis of Paracelsus' philosophy.158 God punishes man for his moral shortcomings with disease, but, in his infinite clemency, has given him the means of repairing this "shipwreck", notably an excellent theriac.159 The true physician is divine; for he is the harbinger of truth. For all truth lies with God. The physician should, therefore, be "informed" by God and must be a specially chosen vessel of eternal truth.160 We learn in order to grow wise, not for the sake oflucre. He who studies for this latter will stop short of wisdom and be comparable to an "aborted" mole, chiefly because he will not arrive at the "perfect end" of any study which is the "cognition" of the Creator.161 In the invention of remedies, reason is superseded by inspiration and grace. The Magna Opiata which are the glory of medicine because of the manifest and sure help which they afford were discovered by force of the special grace of divine inspiration rather than by the industry of human

156

157

158 153 154 155

De Epilepsia. Opp., col. 1629b. Ibid. Contra Calculum. Cap. IV, Opp., col. 1568d.

253

159 160 161

Temkin, 0.: The Falling Sickness. A History of Epilepsy. Baltimore 1945, p. 160, with ref. to Arnald, De epilepsia, cap. 21, Opp., loc. cit., col. 1624 and 1617. Temkin also drew attention to Arnald's recommendation of fever treatment for epilepsy, at least for that caused by black bile. (Loe. cit., col. 1075). Parabolae medicationis secundum instinctum veritatis aeternae quae dicuntur a medicis regulae generales curationis morborum. Opp., col. 913e-f. See above p. 56. De Venenis. Opp., col. 153le. Opp., 914d. Parabolae I, 4., Opp., col. 920f-g.

254


reason - as Avicenna says of the theriac, and Mithridates in his treatise on the virtues of the heart and its medicine.1 62 The knowledge of remedies that act by an intrinsic unknown quality the tota species - rather than by an analysable combination of well known elementary qualities, comes to the individual physician by the grace of God. Such remedies include magic cures, notably of epilepsy, for example a pendant consisting of peony and burnt oakwood, or an emerald suspended from the neck. 163 No human physician will cure such conditions as complete paralysis in epilepsy (analepsis), only the Summus Medicus Jesus Christus. 164 Influence of the Stars Finally, it is divine action that explains the influence of the stars on us. Hence the religious background of astrology. God has commissioned the stars to govern nature ( ducatus naturae) by means of their motions throughout the millennia. Saturn, by nature cold and dry, governs the stomach of man; Jupiter, warm and moist, the liver; Mars, hot and dry, the kidneys; the Sun, hot and dry, the heart; Venus, warm and moist, the testicles; Mercury, cold and moist, the bladder; the moon, cold and moist, the brain. The action of the stars is the result of their linkage with the elements. Like these, they owe their activity to a double virtue - one that is common to all, and one that is limited to the individual. Elemental actions common to all, for example, are heat and cold. But heat may be produced by something that is either warm or cold in itself. Moreover, heat and cold are present in something that, besides this, has a specific "celestial" property, for example of dissolving or attracting, of producing stupor, or of fixing, or of corrupting. 162

1 63 164

Explic. super can. Vita Brevis, cap. 4. Opp., col. 1703a-b. Here Avicenna is quoted in support of Arnald's own opinion. That he even protected Avicenna against misunderstanding by "commercialised and vaporous" physicians is shown in De considerat. op. medicinae, cap. 4, col. 879b. Arnald here blames those who fail to under· stand Avicenna rather than Avicenna himself, Arnald's opposition to Arabic medicine is largely based on scholastic considerations. For example he blames Averroes for his opinion that poison and remedy do not belong to the same genus. Arnald objects that all poison acts in the same way as does the remedy, namely by alteration of the body (De Dosibus Theriacalib., Opp. 497c-498b and Taurellus' note pointing out the diffi. culties inherent in Amald's argument 504d). Not all of Amald's arguments against Avicenna are allegations that he misrepresented Galen. For example, he rejects Avicenna's recommendation to alleviate pain by abolishing sensitivity. Arnald argues that sensitivity is a requisite of the sound body and must not be repressed. The aim must be the restitution of continuity and the ejection of pathological matter. If necessary, a limb must be sacrificed, but not merely its sensitivity. (De consid. operis medic., pars II, Opp., 890e.) Loe. cit., Opp., col. 1606. Opp., col. 1617c.

Arnald of Villanova. Astrological Medicine

255

It is from this "celestial" virtue that rhubarb salubriously and commonly purges choleric matter, and similarly, though more powerfully, does scammonea.1H In the same way, the stars have a double action; primarily one which they all have in common and which is exerted by means of rays of light that heat the air and give rise to comets. Secondarily, each star has its individual activity, associated with the revolving motion that leads the planet through the various parts of the "orb of signs". Its action varies with the constellations. Crises are hours determined for a rapid change for good or evil, depending on the position of the moon. 166 The latter tends to moisten and dissipate what has become solid and will thus directly infiuence the work of the physician in composing medicines. Such influence of the moon is particularly noticeable in cerebral - lunatic - diseases of which epilepsy is the prototype. 167 Humours expand and contract according to the position of the sun and moon which act like a magnet. In this way, all that consists of the four elements is affected by the motion and properties of the planets.

As Hippocrates said, astrology is no small part of medicine. Nor can there he any doubt of the influence of the upper world on the lower one as has been established by experience. We know, for example, that if somebody is wounded with an iron weapon, that member will he affected which corresponds to the sign in which the moon happens to stand at the time. Hence astrology and medicine are linked together, medicine being in need of astrology. It is also indispensable as an aid to medical practice and prognostication, and the physician who fails to study it is liable to intolerable error.168 On the other hand, the power of the stars, however great, does not preclude interference by the physician. The wise man will he able to overrule the stars by dint of his superior reason ( sua rationabilitate ). He will prevail over an evil disposition, improving it by giving the appropriate remedy. Or else, if the disposition is favourable, he will make use of it in his direction and thereby obtain a superior result. 169 165 166

16 7

168

16 9

De Epil., cap. 24. Opp., col. 1628. Parah. Medic. Opp., col. 963b, De Epil., cap. I. Opp., col. 1603a-b. Parah. Medic., col. 964b. The short treatise De Iudiciis Astronomiae, Arnald says, is not meant to be a discursive exposition of medical astrology, but a brief manual revealing "how the practising physician may be helped in his work and prognostication by the knowledge of the stars, and how those physicians who do not attend to this may avoid intolerable error." ("Quo modo medicus operans potest iuvari in opere et in prognosticatione per scien· tiam astrorum, et quomodo medici non incurrant in errores intolerabiles illi, qui ad hoc non considerant"). De Iudiciis Astronomiae, cap. 10, Opp., col. 2070c-d. Neuburger, in his excellent account of Arnald, finds in this passage an indication that Arnald "recognised the unreliability of astrology . , , where he says the physician who neglects astrology avoids falling into intolerable error." Neuburger, M.: Geschichte der Medizin, Stuttgart 1908, vol. II, p. 402. We cannot agree with this translation and interpretation. Moreover, Neuburger's quotation of the passage is marred by a misprint ("untriigliche lrrtiimer" instead of "unertriigliche lrrtiimer") which obscures the meaning completely. De conservanda juventute, cap. 3. Opp. 832c-d.

256

The.Sources of Paracelsus

This outwitting of the stars by the physician may he said to reflect an anthropocentric or iatrocentric view similar to that of Paracelsus. In detail, however, Arnald's medical astrosophy has little in common with that of the latter. For it is purely humoralistic - allocating humours and qualities to the various stars and deducing their sphere of influence from this allocation. Specificity of objects (including diseases) and the Stars It is the stars that endow objects with specific forms and functions.17° This is well shown by gold, the most perfect and secret object in nature. It owes its perfection to the unique and admirable balance of elementary constituents and virtues therein. In addition, it harbours specific virtues which are due to celestial in· fiuence. In it~ stability and permanence, gold is itself like a star of heaven. Though an object composed of elements, it is unalterable, insoluble, incorruptible - a miracle of nature. It helps vision and, above all, cleanses and clears the substance of the heart and the fountain of life. It also cures leprosy. All these properties, however, are only found in the natural gold that was created at the command of God. Hence the alchemists deceive themselves: for although they reproduce the substance and colour of gold, they fail to infuse into it the virtues of natural gold. Only the latter can therefore be used for medicinal purposes i.e. for those purposes for which it was created by God. The artificial product will only damage the vital organs. Moreover, it must be used with moderation and not hoarded, which will lead to damnation rather than bliss. But hope and reliance may be placed in God's mercy. 171

Specificity in objects is thus star-borne and derives from astral cor· respondences with sublunary things. In this view any species of disease has "its star" under which it is engendered and lives. 172 In the same way, a remedy possesses a "vis contraria" derived from its star. This power does 110

171 172

Specificity, as determined by the planets, is a common medieval concept. It was expressed, for example, by Dante who said that the "stars emboss the seal of Form upon the Wax of the world". See Lippmann, E. 0.: Beitrage zur Geschichte der Naturwissenschaften und der Technik. Springer, Berlin 1923, p. 192, on: Chemisclies und Technologisches bei Dante. The main passages quoted are from: Parad. 7, 138; 13, 66; 27, 144; 21, 15; 8, 127; 13, 67. Canz. 12, I. De Monarchia II. The forms assumed by matter depend upon the planets and the qualities of the rays by means of which they influence matter, and also upon the constellations in which they happen to be situated. On the other hand, matter is not uniform and is therefore liable in turn to influence the ultimate form assumed, but it is the seminal virtues which are conveyed by the stars, emanations in a true Neoplatonic sense of the intelligences - popularly called the Angels. Parad. 2, 120; conv. 2, 7; canz. 16, 4. Ores growing under planetary influence: conv. 3, 3; 4, I. See above p. 89. De Vinis. Opp., col. 59ld-g. "Like each element, so each disease species has its star, under which it is generated and lives, as Rabbi Moyses says." De Epilepsia, cap. 24. Opp., col. 1628d.

Arnald of Villanova. Stars. Humoralism

257

not act "magically" or by itself "as a whole" (tota species) on the disease as such, hut works rather through action on pathological products which impede normal function. For example, peony cures epilepsy by means of a virtue contrary to the disease. This virtue the herb acquires from heaven, when the moon occupies that position in which it is liable to cause epilepsy by moving noxious matter which obstructs the outlet of the anterior ventricle of the brain. The herb immobilises this matter by simple contact with the body of the patient, for example when worn as an amulet round the neck. The belief in correspondences between the star on the one hand and a disease as an entity in its own right (species) and its cure on the other, is indeed common to the worlds of Arnald and Paracelsus. The cure is effected by a herb which acquired its specific virtue from above (a coelo) under the same constellation which caused the disease. This applies in particular to the moon, which governs the movement of water in the macrocosm as well as in the microcosm and causes disease by mobilising humours at a certain time during its course. It is at this very time that the herb possesses and displays its curative virtue. This implies a homoeopathic view which, as we have seen, is character· istic of the medical philosophy of Paracelsus. There is, however, one fundamental difference between the medicine of Arnald and that of Paracelsus. The former is in its content pure Galenism, i.e. humoral pathology - whereas Paracelsus continually tries to get away from the latter. Indeed, humoralism penetrates Arnald's medical system throughout. Arnald and Humoralism A.maid's basic position is that of ancient humoralism and materialism. He holds with Galen that the soul is largely dependent upon the mixture of the humours. Its main instrument is the spirit - a subtle vapour of the blood endowed with great penetrative power. It conveys natural heat to the members through the arteries. It is formed in the heart ( spiritus vitalis) and modified in the liver ( spiritus naturalis) and brain ( spiritus animalis). Hence the diversity in the composition of the blood of the individual will he reflected in the behaviour of the spirit and consequently of the organs that are "informed" by it. If its substance is well mixed throughout ( subtilis et clarus) and well tempered in its qualities, well disposed spirits ( splendidi et temperatissimi) will he formed and will ensure happiness and a joyful life - whereas a slight increase in heat will already cause heavy

258

Alchemy. General Principles


emotions, such as wrath. It is therefore incumbent upon the physician to bring about a cure by improving the blood. 1 73 Those in whom phlegm abounds will frequently see rain in their dreams when phlegm flows down through the shoulders and limbs. If, on the other hand, a well tempered person dreams of rain, it forecasts something specific, namely instruction which somebody will impart, or some divine command. 174 It is true that Arnald also subjects humours and spiritus to the power of the soul, which is in turn governed by the stars. Just as in generation the formative virtue is subordinated to the constellation of the stars, the latter directs the movements of the soul throughout life. When the celestial bodies disturb and swell the air, the soul in the heart causes the spirit to surge up and disturb it with an appropriate repercussion on the body.175

In conclusion: Some of Arnald's theories anticipated those of Paracelsus - such as his appraisal of each disease as a specific entity resulting from a specific cosmic constellation. His quest for naturalism, empiricism and the reform of medicine adapted to the specific requirements of a new age is strikingly reminiscent of the demands of Paracelsus, and so is the basic religious attitude which pervades his life and work. On the other hand, Arnald abides with Galenism, and the humours remain the basic frame of reference for all action and change in nature. Arnald's preoccupation with alchemy in no way modified his adherence to humoralism, and it is in this that his philosophy differs basically from that of Paracelsus.

It is in these that we find empiricism and experimentalism opposed to the supremacy of the reasoning intellect as implied in scholastic and Aristotelian philosophy. Before discussing individual authors, however, we propose to survey the general principles of mediaeval alchemy as. transmitted in one of its encyclopaedic presentations, and to compare them with the ideas of Paracelsus. (1) The New Precious Pearl on the Philosophers' Stone (a) The Quest for Empiricism Alchemy, the author of the "New Precious Pearl"1 77 tells us, is based upon facts of Nature - such as medicine, horticulture and glass blowing. It is not a systematising art like grammar, logic and rhetoric. Yet it is preceded by a theory and investigation of its own that is devoted to the search for causes. It is proven by the testimonies of the Sages who like Hermes based it on correspondences between the greater and the lesser world. 178 However, it does not admit of a logical argument, but calls for

Paracelsus and Alchemy Both in substance and in trends, Paracelsus' work was foreshadowed by such mediaeval alchemists as Arnald of Villanova, the Lullists and John of Rupescissa, who applied chemistry and alchemy to medicine. 176 173 174 175 l76

Spec. Introd. Med., cap. 8, col. 24c. Ibid., cap. 75, col. 160a. Expositiones visionum. Lib. I, 4. Opp., col. 631. Expositiones visionum. Lib. I, 2. Opp., col. 627. Their works were available in printed form at the time of Paracelsus and so was that of Geber. The latter had appeared already in the XVth century and was printed again in Paracelsus' lifetime in 1525 at Rome, and in 1529 and 1531 at Strassburg. See: E. Darmst!idter, Die Geber Inkunabel, Hain 7504. Arch. Gesch. Med. 1925, XVI, 214; Lynn Thorndike, Alchemy during the first half of the Sixteenth Century. Ambix 1938, II, 26. F. N. L. Poynter: A Catalogue oflncunabula in the Wellcome Historical Medical Library, Oxford 1954, p. 53, lists Darmstadter's copy and gives 1490 as the approximate date of publication. The Lullian De Secretis Naturae which deals with the preparation of the quintessence, notably alcohol, by means of distillation was partly published in Joh. Math. de Gradi, Consilia, Venice 1514, in 1518 at Augsburg, and later complete in 1521 (Venice) and 1535 (Lyons). The most popular works epitomising the doctrines of Rupescissa, the Lullists, Arnald and Albertus Magnus were those of Hieronymus Brunschwig (1500)

259

177

178

and the famous "Heaven of the Philosophers" by Philip Ulstad. It first appeared in Fribourg in 1525 and was reprinted at Strassburg in 1526 and 1528 before its wide dispersion in many editions, small and large. (Thorndike, loc. cit., p. 32, with ref. to Gesner, Conr.: Bihl. Univers. Tiguri 1545, fol. 559r). Rupescissa's original text was not published in Paracelsus' lifetime - the first complete Latin edition being that of Gratarolus in 1561. But some of Arnalds chemical treatises had been printed in the early editions of his works (1504, 1532). The first work of Pantheus - "Ars Transmutationis metallicae" - must be mentioned as it already appeared in 1519. This work is largely devoted to mysticism of numbers and letters in the Lullian tradition and therefore hardly influenced Paracelsus. There are, however, objections to and modifications of the traditional theory of the elements which might be considered in connection with the work of Paracelsus. Augurellus' poem Chrysopoeia (1515) may finally be mentioned as an alchemical work that appeared during Paracelsus' earlier years. For a more detailed bibliography see: Hirsch, R., The invention of Printing and the diffusion of alchemical and chemical knowledge. Chymia 1950, II, 115. Lacinius, Janus, Praeciosa ac Nobilissima Artis Chymicae Collectanea de Occultissimo ac Praeciosissimo Philosophorum Lapide. Norimbergae ap. Gabrielem Hayn. 1554. The title of the Aldine edition is: Pretiosa Margarita Novella De Thesauro Ac Pretiosissimo Philosophorum Lapide. Artis huius divinae Typus et Methodus: Collectanea ex Arnaldo, Rhaymundo, Rhasi, Alberto et Michaele Scoto; per lanum Lacinium Calabrum nunc primum ... edita. Venetiis 1546. The contents give the traditional mediaeval alchemy, although it would be difficult to date the individual entries and the collection as a whole. On the probable authors, Lacinius and Petrus Bonus, and the bibliographical history of the book see Ferguson, J., Bibliotheca Chemica, vol. I, p. ll5, and vol. II, p. 2, and in particular Lynn Thorndike: History of Magic and Experimental Science, vol. III, New York, 1934, pp. 147 et seq. Parts were translated by A. E. Waite in The New Pearl of Great Price. A treatise concerning the treasure and most precious stone of the philosophers. J. Elliott & Co., London 1894, p. 50. Ibid., Waite's translation, p. 79.

261


Alchemy: Spirit, Virtue, Fermentation

ocular demonstration - as an operative science which, according to Aris· totle, deals with particulars that are subject to sensual perception, as against universals which belong to the domain of reason. 179 Similarly in medicine empirical proof is required of a certain action of a remedy, say the purging effect of rhubarb or scamonea. 180

Baseness of metals is a kind of leprosy affecting the bile in iron, the blood in copper, phlegm in tin and black bile in lead. Hence a "theriac and poison" contained in the Stone - its proper ferment - is needed to "cure" and convert these metals into gold by cleansing all impurities, notably impure sulphur. The "work" has two parts: first comes a digestive process. This is followed by "fixation'', which makes the newly prepared substance permanent by the entry of a spirit. In the latter process an earthly substance is united with a heavenly principle - the spirit.185

260

(h) The Superiority of Spirit and Virtue What matters in alchemy is the volatile substances, their protection against evaporation and their retention in solid ("fixed") hodies. 181 In this lies the perfection of the work, for it is in the volatile state that a substance is recognised by its qualities and virtues. These alone - and not products of reasoning such as the "substantial forms" reveal the nature of a substance. What exhibits the properties of gold, is gold. Hence the alchemical gold is identical, with that which occurs in nature.182 All motion, activity and form depends upon volatile, i.e. "spiritual" airy and fiery principles. They are the virtues hidden in objects. It is in this sense that Rhazes calls fire and air the occult, water and earth the manifest principles of a compound. The enclosing principles are weaker than the enclosed virtues. Hence compounds easily disintegrate. 183 The way in which substances are produced in alchemy is akin to that of generation in nature, especially to spontaneous generation. Here again, it is the volatile state by which the most profitable conversions are accom· plished - conversions comparable to those achieved by the Philosophers' Stone. Alchemy, imitating the natural generation of diverse species, achieves the conversion of base - "diseased" - into perfect - "healthy" metals and thus resembles medicine, for it replaces disease by health. 184

(c) The Role of Heat and Fermentation

In the hatching of an egg, heat plays hut an auxiliary role. In the same way it is not the fierce heat of the furnace which completes the work so quickly, hut the specific factor of the "Stone".186 Nor is the influence of the stars and seasons of decisive significance, for by creating a certain degree of warmth artificially one can overcome the seasonal changes and generate worms at will in a putrefying hody.187 Transmutation is a process of digestion in which the action of a "ferment" is paramount. If, by definition, the latter is an agent which converts matter into its own substance, the "Stone" is the leaven of all other metals and changes them into its own nature. It is itself a metallic substance, for like the metals it is generated from sulphur and mercury.188 As ordinary leaven receives its fermenting power through heat, the Stone is rendered capable of fermenting, converting and altering metals by means of a certain digestive heat which brings out the potential and latent properties. (d) Comparison with Paracelsus

Ibid., p. 84. See also Manget: Bibliotheca Chemica et Curiosa, 1702, vol. II, p. 38, quoting from Rhazes in Libro Perfecti Magisterii: "Meditatio enim sine experientia nihil valet, sed experientia absque meditatione perficit, unde plus est experientia quam meditatio perquirenda. Operatio autem haec et experientia, aget continua operatione manuum quasi, et intuitu visus, in suis horis determinatis, ut artifex mundet elementa et ipsa mundata videat et conjungat." Divine inspiration is needed for this work just as much as ocular demonstration and experiment. But book-learning will not lead to it, for it is an affair of the soul and the spirit. For example the chemical method of sublimation is the creation of a soul. Indeed, there is an intimate relationship between the adept and the substance on which he works. For his soul and imagination impart their concept of the result to be obtained to the minerals used, thus enabling them to digest and liquefy matter. Waite, pp. llO and 123. lso Waite, p. 86. 181 Waite, p. 89. 182 Ibid., p. 91. 188 Ibid., p. 245. 184 Ibid., p. 101. As Temkin has shown (The Falling Sickness loc. cit. Baltimore 1945,

179

Comparing this with the basic tendencies recognisable in the work of Paracelsus, there is first of all the call for empiricism. This is followed by

185 186 187

1 88

p. 167), the search for a deeper - symbolical - meaning of pathological processes and therapeutical action is common to mediaeval figures such as Hildegard of Bingen and the alchemists on the one hand and to Paracelsus on the other. It is in this that one of the main mediaeval traits of Paracelsus can be found. For the mediaeval naturalist used analogy as evidence and proof on a large scale. This was pointed out by Charles Singer in: A Review of the Medical Literature of the Dark Ages with a new text of ab. lllO. Proc. R. Soc. Med. 1917, X, 107-160 (p. 16-17 of the paper). Ibid., p. 144. Ibid., p. 154. Ibid., p. 158. Cap. XI, Manget, lib. III, sect. I, subsect. I, vol. II, p. 40, with reference to Rhazes: Book of the Three Words. On the nature of the ferment in detail see ibid., footnote top. 40.

262

263


Alchemy: Aristotle, Arnald and Rupescissa

the quest for the "Volatile" and "Invisible". Alchemy is compared with medicine and the baseness of metals with disease. Moreover, there is the insistence on the interaction of substances as against the reputed creative action of heat, which is degraded to the rank of an auxiliary factor. Trans· mutation is ascribed to fermentation, i.e. the assimilation of one substance by another which causes it to assume its own properties. The "Stone" is the "leaven" of metals. All these propositions of the "Margarita" have a Paracelsean ring and are easy to recognise as such. It is much more difficult to assess the differences. One might find them in the attitude of the mediaeval writer to Aristotle and Scholasticism. Indeed, the whole tenor of the treatise is in the Aristotelian and scholastic tradition. A strictly methodical and scien· tific approach on Aristotelian (and for that matter Avicennian and Aver· roesian) lines is inculcated as against the prevalent allegorical approach of the ancient - pre-Aristotelian - sages. 189

organs and memhers. 194 As late as in the middle of the XVIIth century, the compatibility between Alchemy and Peripatetic philosophy was estah· lished in detail. 190

It is true that a defence of alchemy against its rejection by Aristotle forms a large part of the work. But, it says, Aristotle erred on this point only in his younger years. "In his old age the secret became known to him. When he wrote against the art he was a young man and was reasoning in a general way. In his old age he gave the deliberate verdict of his experience and spoke from detailed knowledge ... As an old man, Aristotle agreed with the ancient Sages and was heartily willing to admit that this Art is true, and according to Nature, as he set forth at length in his Epistle to King Alexander."190 . Aristotle emphasised man's ability to imitate Nature, notably in the fourth chapter of his Meteorology.191

The mediaeval alchemist explains the whole mystery of transmutation in the Aristotelian terms of Form and Matter. The "tincture", i.e. the essential "generating principle", is derived from the quality and "form", or sulphur - quicksilver being the "matter" or quantity. 192 The Aristotelian theory of putrefaction of the semen is widely employed in generation "Gold must putrefy so as to he reduced to its first matter that it may become capable of germination". 193 Generation is a kind of nutrition. The conversion of a metal to gold is engendered by a sperm - an outward sulphur - that generates an innermost sulphur from quicksilver. The innermost sulphur acts like the heart in the Embryo which, according to Aristotle, takes over from the sperm and governs the development of all 189

190 191 192 193

P. 148. Manget II, p. 35. P. 208-209. P. 217. P. 237. P. 419.

Some of these "Aristotelian" positions, however, form a contrast to Paracelsus, not in their substance, but in the fact that they are so rigidly presented in their original formal logical - Aristotelian - setting.196 Paracelsus, for example, believed in the significance of putrefaction for generation and life - an Aristotelian principle widely adopted by mediaeval alchemy. 197 Nothing can exist, animated, born or created unless it has previously undergone corruption, putre· faction and mortification. The "active virtue" of a new form corrupts the existing form. 198

(2) Arnald of Villanova and John de Rupescissa (a) The Quinta Essentia The general ideas of Amald have been compared with those of Para· celsus in a previous chapter. 199 Here it remains to mention Amald as the chemical adept in possession of an "Elixir" whose virtue surpasses that of all known "professional" medicines in curing all disease and infirmity, he they of a warm or cold quality, through its occult and subtle nature. 2 00 It preserves health, strengthens vital energy, rejuvenates and expels all disease, staves off poison from the heart, moistens the arteries, dissolves deposits in the lungs, fills defects caused by ulceration, purifies the blood and the spirit. A disease that lasts for a month it will cure within a day, one that lasts for a year, in twelve days, one that has persisted for a long time, within a month. This super-medicine must he the ultimate aim, for he who possesses it commands an incompar~hle treasure. · John de Rupescissa (middle XIVth century) implores God not to let 1114

P. 289. 196 For example in: Bonvicinus, Valer.: Lanx Peripatetica qua vetus Arcani Physici veritas appenditur, et auctoris Mundi Subterranei nova objecta revocantur ad pondus. Patavii, 1667. 196 According to Thorndike: History of Magic, vol. III, p. 153, it was a "prime purpose of Peter in the Precious New Pearl ... to associate the name and philosophy of Aristotle in a favorable way with alchemy ... The reader is given the impression that alchemy is being measured by Peripatetic standards and formulated in Aristotelian terms. The effort is not wholly convincing since it is with the letter of Aristotelian texts and not with the spirit of Peripatetic Philosophy and scientific method that the art of trans· mutation is brought into rapport." 197 See above p. 115. 198 Raym. Lullii Testamentum. Cap. XXVII. Manget, Bihl. Chem., Vol. I, p. 725. 199 See p. 248-258. 200 Arnaldus of Villanova: Thesaurus Thesaurorum et Rosarium Philosophorum, omnium secretorum maximum secretum, de verissima compositione Naturalis Philosophiae, qua omne diminutum reducitur ad Solificum et Lunificum. Lib. II, cap. 31, Manget, Bibi. Chemica Curiosa. Genev. 1702, vol. I, p. 676.

264


Rupescissa and Paracelsus

his prescriptions for the Quinta Essentia fall into the hands of the un· worthy, vain and mean, who want lucre, instead of the charitable and God· fearing, who proffer remedies to the needy. In the quest for the Quinta Essentia, Rupescissa says, Physicians, intent ("ardent") only upon gain and honours have failed. For God will not let the unworthy into the secret and obviate his purposes. The "first secret" is that man, by his domination ("magisterium") over the virtue conferred by God upon Nature, can cure the infirmities of old age and restore youth. It is the power which prevents putrefaction and preserves without diminishing the substance of a body. There can he no question of conferring immortality, which God had refused to Adam even within the confines of Paradise. Only rejuvenation and preservation until the appointed day of death can he attempted. The means for it cannot he something elemental, i.e. corruptible, hut must he incorruptible like heaven, which is also called "Quinta Essentia". This is not like one of the four elements, which confers hut one or two qualities such as warm and dry (fire), cold and moist (water), warm and moist (air) or cold and dry (earth). By contrast, the Quinta Essentia can confer any quality according to what is required at the moment. It is thus the "root of life" created by God for the necessity of our bodies. It is contained "in nature", must he extracted "from the body of created nature" by human artifice and is called: Fire-water, Soul or Spirit of wine, Water of Life. It is a water - yet unlike elementary water it is combustible. It is an air - yet, unlike elementary air, it is not warm and moist and would not, like the latter, give rise to the spontaneous generation of insects. It is therefore incorruptible as long as evaporation is avoided. Its extreme sharpness and heat prevent it from being dry and cold like earth. That it is finally not dry and warm like fire is shown in the fact that, though hot in itself, it cools and cures inflammatory disease. That it confers incorruptibility is shown by the preservation of animal flesh in it. This Quinta Essentia is the human heaven which God created for the preservation of the four ele· mental qualities in the human body, just as He created Heaven for the preservation of the universe. Every object in nature contains its incorruptible Quinta Essentia. In us the blood - a perfect work of nature - contains it and with it the mar· vellous "virtue of our starry heaven". It is, therefore, able to "work the highest curative miracles". The Quinta Essentia can he extracted from blood and flesh by slow digestion with salt and distillation. The Quinta Essentia can he prepared from medicinal herbs and added to the classical Quinta Essentia that is produced in the distillation

of wine, i.e. alcohol. The action of such mixtures will vary according to the elementary qualities of the herbs used. These qualities and "grades" of qualities are those taught by Galen.

265

Herb extracts, however, only supplement the elaborate prescriptions for mineral extracts, notably from antimony, sulphur, orpiment, iron, copper, silver, mercury, vitriol, marcasites, etc. It is to these, and notably to the preparation of antimony, that the most miraculous effects are ascribed.201

(h) Comparison with Paracelsus There is much in this that invites comparison with the teachings of Paracelsus. Just as in the case of Arnald 262, there are similarities even in the lives of Rupescissa and Paracelsus. It is again the unorthodoxy and irregularity of a heretic's life that presents features similar to the life of Paracelsus. 203 Rupescissa spent some of his life - Franciscan and monastic - in prison; the circumstances of his death are unknown. He left prophecies, a "Vademecum in tribulatione", and was deeply immersed in alchemy and the application of the latter to medicine. 201 J oannis de Rupescissa qui ante CCCXX annos vixit de consideratione Quintae essentie rerum omnium opus sane egregium. Arnaldi de Villanova Epistola de Sanguine humano distillato. Raymundi Lulli Ars operativa et alia quaedam. Acc. Michaelis Savonarolae Libellus de aqua Vitae (item Hieron. Cardani Libellus de Aethere s. Quinta essentia Vini). Basileae n. d. (1561). Collected edition by Gratarolus. The above quotations are from Rupescissa's work passim, notably pp. 15-21, 22-28, 41-53, 60-61 (qualities and grades), 94-119 (Quinta Essentia from minerals). 202 See above p. 248. 2os For detail see Ferguson, Bibi. Chemica, vol. II, pp. 305-306, 1906; Thorndike, Lynn: Hist. of Magic ans Exper. Sci. in the M.A. 1934, vol. III, pp. 347-369, 722-740; Sarton, G.: lntrod. to the Hist. of Science, 1948, vol. 111,part, 2,pp.1572-1574. Sarton quotes an edition of Rupescissa's De consid. Quintae Essentiae in Gratarolus' Vera Alchemia, but not Gratarolus' edition of 1561 as quoted in the previous footnote. See also: Taylor, F. Sherwood: The Idea of the Quintessence, in Science, Medicine and History; Essays in hon. of C. Singer, ed. E. Ashworth Underwood, Oxford 1953, vol. I, p. 258 on Rupescissa, p. 262 on Paracelsus' use for the preparation of his potable metals ("magisteria") of the same process as indicated by Rupescissa but without giving him or anybody else as his source (in the Archidoxis, see footnote 236). On the contrary, as Taylor says, Paracelsus rejects the treatises of Arnald, Rupescissa and Ulstadius in a later work ("On the correction of impostures" printed in: Chirurgische Biicher und Schrifften. Ed. Huser, Strassburg 1605, vol. I, append. p. 55). According to E. F. Jacob (John of Roquetaillade. Bull. J. Rylands Library 1956, XXXIX, 75-96, p. 83): Rupescissa "is in the van of iatro-chemical study: more than a forerunner of Paracelsus, and one of those who used his chemical experiments for a curative purpose." He is "indicative of certain currents in the political and scientific speculation of contemporary Europe, of the break-up of the ordered mediaeval world and of the changing and divided state of the Franciscans in the middle of that period." (p. 96) See also ibid. for an account of his prophecies, the manuscript tradition and recent literature.

266


In Rupescissa's work the quest for the invisible and incorruptible in natural objects is preqominant - a genuine mediaeval motive which is just as paramount in the work of Paracelsus. Not the corruptible and mutable elements, with their Galenic qualities and grades, hut that which is superior to the elements by virtue of its stability and power, is the aim of Rupescissa as it was to he the aim of Paracelsus. This is the Quinta Essentia and Rupescissa's main work is devoted to its preparation. "Rupescissa goes on to bring the fifth essence decisively within the sublunary sphere by declaring that a fifth essence is not only obtainable from wine, hut from all other things as well. "204 This tradition is taken up in the hulk of Paracelsus' chemical treatises, notably the Archidoxis. There is also a belief common to Rupescissa and Paracelsus in the parallelism of macrocosm and microcosm, the concept of the stellate heaven in man and the sun as his Quinta Essentia. There is the knowledge of the curative effects of alcohol and of its superiority over the elements. It is tempting to regard this as one, if not the main, foundation stone from which Paracelsus built his rejection of the ancient theory of the elemental composition of matter. In alcohol, as Rupescissa pointed out with no uncertain emphasis on the inferiority of the elements - we have a water which, at the same time, is combustible and displays much of the action of fire. We have a fire that has a cooling effect on the skin and on wounds. It emits an airy vapour, hut unlike air this is not warm and moist, and it is incorruptible (i.e. will not give rise to spontaneous generation).205 (3) Comment (General Appraisal) A general and profound appraisal of Paracelsus in the light of Mediaeval Alchemy has been given by Ganzenmiiller.206 In this Paracelsus is presented as an original savant who broke away from mediaeval alchemy. More recently, however, the medical aspects of Paracelsus' chemistry have been surveyed by Multhauf 267, who finds the medico-chemical achievements 204 205 206 207

Multhauf, R. P.: John of Rupescissa and the Origin of Medical Chemistry. Isis 1954, XLV, p. 364. De consideratione Quintae essentiae, loc. cit. Basle 1561, pp. 20-21. Ganzenmiiller, W.: Paracelsus und die Alchemie des Mittelalters. Angewandte Chemie, 1941, LIV, 427-431. Multhauf, R.: Medical Chemistry and "The Paracelsians". Bull. Hist. Med. 1954, XXVIII, 101-126, and id., The Significance of Distillation in Renaissance Medical Chemistry. Bull. Hist. Med. 1956, XXX, 329-346.

Alchemy and Paracelsus

267

of Paracelsus essentially anticipated in the writings of his alchemical predecessors in the Middle Ages. (a) The parallels between mediaeval alchemy and Paracelsus as generally admitted Ganzenmiiller admits that some essential motives of Paracelsean chemistry and alchemy can he found in his mediaeval predecessors. Such motives include the rejection of gold-making as the ultimate aim of alchemy in favour of its utilisation for the cure of disease and prolongation of life. 268 The object of alchemy to Paracelsus, as well as to mediaeval chemists, is to perfect what Nature left in an imperfect state. Its study should he based on the parallelism between macrocosm and microcosm, the manifestation of "life" and organisation in inorganic nature and the various possible transformations of the three fundamental states of matter, the fluid (Mercury), the solid (Salt) and the combustible (Sulphur) which between them account for the multiplicity of objects. Mediaeval alchemists compare metals with organic bodies ascribing to them body, soul and spirit. For example, the "philosopher" says: The "dragon" is "live silver" extracted from bodies and possessing body, soul and spirit. Mercury ("Aurum vivum") is cold, moist and black in virtue of its body, hut warm, dry and white, in virtue of its spirit. 209 In this connection Paracelsus cites Hermes, who rightly said that all seven metals, and also the "tinctures" and the Philosopher's stone, derive from three substances, which he calls spirit, soul and body. These, to Paracelsus, are the three "Prima", namely Mercury ("spirit"), Sulphur ("soul") and salt ("body"). The sulphur mediates between spirit and body, joining together these two which are antagonistic to each other in themselves. 210 2os

209 21o

Roger Bacon, Opus majus. Ed. Bridges, London 1900, p. 215. See also the passages from Arnaldus and Johannes de Rupescissa as quoted in the following footnotes, and our general appraisal of Paracelsus' achievement in chemistry p. 278. Multhauf (loc. cit., 1956, p. 332) refers to a disillusionment as a probable cause of the attention given by alchemists to medicine in preference to gold-making in the sixteenth century, but alchemy proper, from about 1500, turned increasingly from technology to philosophy - technology becoming more and more. incorporated in medical chemistry. Rosarium Philosophorum. Ed. Manget, Bihl. Chemica, vol. II, p. 94. "das mitel aber zwischen dem spiritu und corpore, darvon auch Hennes sagt, ist die sel und ist der sulphur der die zwei widerwertige ding vereinbaret und in ein einiges wesen verkeret." Die 9 Biicher de Natura rerum (? Villach 1537). Lib. primus de generat. naturalium. Ed. Sudhoff, vol. XI, p. 318. In alchemical literature sulphur combines the properties of a physical substance with those of an occult spirit. See Jung, C. G.: De Sulphure. Nova Acta Paracels. 1948, V, 27-40, and above our chapter on Sulphur, Salt and Mercury p. 103-104.

268

Alchemy and Paracelsus. Divergencies


269

This tripartition of the essentials of material being follows the pattern of the sacred "Trinity" - for the mediaeval alchemist in the same way as for Paracelsus. Ganzenmiiller in this connection demonstrates the parallel between the mediaeval "Book of the Holy Trinity", which is entirely based on the tripartition of metals and the Philosopher's stone into Body, Soul and Spirit, and the elaboration of this in Paracelsus' work De Meteoris.211 From this parallel between the metals and the spirit, soul and body, the mediaeval alchemists concluded that mercury, standing for the spirit, deserves more attention than anything else. Its superior activity is comparable to that of the sun and of the "solar" metal, gold. 21 2 In turn, the superiority of the spirit - the invisible occult virtue - is one of the cardinal Paracelsean concepts. The power of the Arcana, i.e. the true remedies in contrast to the "soups" and concoctions of traditional Galenic Medicine, derives from their volatility and the absence of "body"; they are "chaos" transparent and directed by the star. 213 Such quotations could he multiplied 214 and show how much Paracelsus' ideas are indeed foreshadowed by the mediaeval alchemists. (h) The reputed points of difference Evidently, Ganzenmiiller has not ignored the parallels between mediaeval alchemists and Paracelsus. He sees a fundamental difference, however, between mediaeval alchemists and Paracelsus in that the former regarded sulphur and mercury as the fundamental components of natural objects, notably metals, hut did not admit of a third component. 215 By contrast, Paracelsus introduced such a third component, "salt". Ganzenmiiller, loc. cit. 1941 and id.: Das Buch der heiligen Dreifaltigkeit. Arch. Kultur· gesch. 1939, XXIX, 125. Paracelsus says: De Meteoris, cap. 2. De prima materia coeli et stellarum: "so hat got drei fiir sich genomen und alle ding in drei gesezt. Dander ursprung dieser Zal ist aus got am ersten, das ist der anfang ist drei in der gotheit ... also bei der zal werden wir erinnert der dreiheit in den drei speciebus •.. und wird in drei corpora widerumb gebracht, also das sichtbar seind und sich beweist, das ein ietlichs geschopf zerteilt mag werden in die drei stiick, ietlichs an sein ort ..• " Ed. Sud· hoff, vol. XIII, p. 135. Ganzenmiiller also cites in this connection Ripley, G.: Liber duodecim portarum Theat. Chem., vol. III, p. 807. See above p. 104 (n. 271). 212 Rogeri Baconis Angli:· De Arte Chymiae Scripta. Francof. 1603, p. 47 (Excerpta de libro Avicennae De Anima capit. secundum). 213 " ••• das sie arcana seind, die da tugent und kreft seind, darumb so seind sie volatilia und haben kein corpora und seind chaos und seind clarum und seind durchsichtig und seind in gewalt des gestims." Paragranum. Tract III, loc. cit. Ed. Sudhoff, vol. VIII, p.186. m See above p. 95 (n. 251). 215 According to Ganzenmiiller Geber's tripartite division of the natural principles into Mercury, Sulphur and Arsenic (Summa perfectionis Jiiagisterii in sua natura, lib. I, 211

Fig. 29. Alchemical - symbolical - representation of the "Tria Prima" from the "Pandora", an alchemical treatise incorporating the "new Magische art" of Paracelsus (who invented "veram magiam ... per quam actuando vel uniendo virtutes naturales, mirabilia efficimus opera in natura, et quasi mundum maritamus, ut Picus Mirandulanus scribit: quaeque in rerum supernaturalium cognitionem nos ducit"). The three principles are here presented as the "esoteric" or "sophic" salt, sulphur and mercury. Hence the "Queen" (bottom right) does not stand as usual for silver, but for "sophic" Mercury ("Die weisse Ross" - the elixir of which one part converts thousand parts of quicksilver into the purest silver). Accordingly Salt (top left) is the "Ash of the Philosophers" and Sulphur, impersonated by the dragon (bottom left), the "Schwebel der Philosophen". Pandora: Das ist die edleste Gab Gottes oder der W erde unnd Heilsamme Stein der Weisen mit welchen die alten Philosophi auch Theophrastus Paracelsus die unvollkommene Metallen durch gewalt des Fewrs verbessert ... Basel 1582, p. 39-45 (copy in possession of the present author).

270

Yet by some mediaeval alchemists the "Salt of Metals" had been called the "Philosopher's Stone", and - what is even more akin to the Paracelsean concept - "salt" was understood to he matter in a state of coagulation. "Our stone is water solidified in gold and silver •.. hence the reduction of bodies to first matter, i.e. mercury, is nothing hut the solution of congealed matter.216 Gratianus says that ash can he made from any matter and, from this ash, salt can he made and from the latter water, and from water mercury, and from mercury gold. Whoever wants to transform bodies and spirits must first reduce them to the nature of salt and alum and then dissolve them again, says the philosopher. Hence Arnaldus said: "He who possesses a fusible salt and incombustible oil should praise God." Avicenna called the salts the roots of the work. 217 Many more similar statements could he adduced. But, Ganzenmiiller says, there are differences in principle between the mediaeval and the Paracelsean Sulphur and Mercury. Paracelsus based his descriptions of these substances on their chemical behaviour, whereas the mediaeval alchemists used them to denote the spirit, soul and body of metals in a rigid, formal and scholastic way. Paracelsus' Sulphur and Mercury embrace all objects in nature, whereas they are restricted by the mediaeval alchemists to the metals. The old theory was "static", whereas that of Paracelsus is "dynamic", emphasising mercury as the force and virtue operating in sulphur as in the hody. 218 Yet the three principles as defined, for example, in Geher's Summa are

210

211

21s

Alchemy and Paracelsus. Divergencies


cap. 12, ed. Gedani 1682, p. 35) is an isolated case which had no influence on Paracelsus. We agree that "arsenic" in this case hardly deserves the name of a separate principle and is not at all comparable with the "Salt" of Paracelsus. It is hardly more than a special form of Geber's "Sulphur" (see Summa, lib. I, cap. 14). Compare also: Margarita Pretiosa by Lacinius. Transl. Waite, The New Great Pearl of Wisdom, London 1894, p. 302 (Epistle of Bonus). "Sal Metallorum est lapis philosophorum; lapis enim noster est aqua congelata in auro et argento, et repugnat igni et resolvitur in aqua sua, ex qua componitur in genere suo. Ergo reductio corporum in primam materiam seu in argentum vivum, non est alia nisi congelatae materiae resolutio ... " Liber Rosarium Philosophorum. Bib. Che· inica. Ed. Manget, vol. II, p. 88. "Gratianus: De omni re potest fieri cinis, et de illo cinere potest fieri sal et de illo sale fit aqua, et de ilia aqua fit mercurius, et de illo mercurio per diversas operationes fit Sol. Philosophus: Quicunque vult corpora et spiritus alterare, et mutare a sua natura oportet, ut prius reducat ad naturam salium et aluininum, aliter nil faciet, deinde solvat ea ... Unde Arnold us: Qui haberet sal fusibile, et oleum incombustibile laudaret Deum. Avicenna ait ... Sales sunt radices tui operis ... " Rosarium Philos. Ed. Manget, loc. cit., pp. 94-95. "do muss am ersten ein leib sein, in dem man das werke, das ist der sulfur, do muss sein die eigenschaft, das ist die kraft, das ist merkur; do muss sein die compaction, congelation, coadunation, das ist sal." De Mineral. III, p. 47.

271

not merely scholastic distinctions, hut real enough. Sulphur is a fatty substance in an earthy mineral matter, inspissated by temperate decoction and called sulphur when it has become hard. It is a homogeneous body and therefore does not allow its oil to he separated by distillation. Arsenic is similar to sulphur, hut different in its colour reactions. Mercury is a viscous fluid of subtle white earthy substance in the bowels of the earth, homogeneous in itself as long as its moisture and dryness are in equilibrium. Together with sulphur it forms the matter of metals - as some people say. 219 Moreover, the activity of "spiritual" mercury and hence its superiority over "corporeal" sulphur had been emphasised by the alchemists. 220 It is true that sulphur and mercury were regarded by the alchemists as the components of metals in the first place. Yet from the frequent comparisons of macrocosm and microcosm occurring in mediaeval alchemy it is evident that sulphur and mercury were regarded as the basic constituents of organic - microcosmic - substance too. 221 Thus, it says in a mediaeval alchemical tract: Man is called the lesser world because in him is the pattern of heaven, Sun and Moon. 222 Here then, we have a further set of parallels with the concepts of Paracelsus in which the analogies of macrocosm and microcosm are paramount. Finally Ganzenmiiller finds the most important difference between mediaeval alchemy and Paracelsus in the use by the former of human physiology as the pattern of inorganic chemical reaction. A chemical process - the production of the stone - is made comprehensible by com· parison with the creation of man for example. 223 Paracelsus, however, in

219

220

221

2 22

223

Summa perfectionis. Lib. I, cap. 13-15. Ed. Gedani 1682, pp. 39-42. That arsenic can display effects similar to those of sulphur was emphasised by Paracelsus in his plague concept. See above p. 178, footnote 143. See before quotations from the Rosarium and Roger Bacon, in footnotes 209, 212 and 216. Ganzenmiiller, loc. cit. 1941, quotes various instances in which cheinical reactions were compared with physiological and pathological processes. "Sick" metals com· pared with a sick foetus in the womb. Ruska: Das Buch der Alaune und Salze. Berlin 1935, p. 75. Albertus Magnus: De Alchiinia. Theat. Chem., vol. II, p. 425. Digestive nature of cheinical processes: Lullus Theorica, cap. 16, Theat. Chem., vol. IV, p. 25 and p. 71. Concordance of members of the body with planets and zodiacal signs; the inicrocosm as a symbol of the Philosopher's Stone in the Tabula Smaragdina. Tract. Micreris in Theatr. Chem.,vol. V, p. 97. - The generation of metals is also explained in terms of organic generation. "Sulphur" corresponds to the paternal semen, "mercury" ("argentum vivum") to the female foetal matter. Braceschi, De ligno Vitae, loc. cit. (in footnote 244), p. 913. According to Lull, the Philosopher's Stone is made in a way similar to the operations of animal, vegetable and mineral nature - for it must iinitate the creation of man who was made from mud. Lullus, Theorica Theat. Chem., vol. IV, p. 76.

272

273


Chemistry: Pure and Medical

Ganzenmiiller's opinion followed the opposite way. He used known che· mical reactions to explain physiological processes. We agree that the latter is the method that conspicuously occurs in Paracelsus. He says for example: What a disease is, its cause and its cure ("arcanum") is learnt from inorganic nature outside man, i.e. from the growth and transmutation of minerals and metals. "He who is ignorant of what makes copper and gives birth to Vitriolata does not know what makes leprosy; he who is ignorant of what makes rust on iron does not know what makes ulcers, or of what makes earthquakes what makes rigour. That which is outside teaches and indicates what is wrong with man". 224

doned the idea of"transmutation" in favour of"separation" and concerned himself with the elaboration of traditional alchemy for the benefit of his system of pathology and medicine.

However, the "mediaeval" explanation of chemical reactions in terms of animal physiology can also he found in Paracelsus; it was even regarded as characteristic of him by Sherlock. 225 One striking example of this is the high importance attributed by Paracelsus to putrefaction as the basic factor in generation and his explanation of chemical transmutation in terms of the biological processes of putrefaction and generation.226 In fact, both ways - the explanation of inorganic processes in "organic" terms and vice versa - were used by the mediaeval chemists, as well as Paracelsus, hut one finds the application of inorganic processes to organic life more developed in Paracelsus. In conclusion: Alchemical lore is extensively found and essentially adhered to in the work of Paracelsus. However, the latter shifts the emphasis to its natu· ralistic and medical aspects. Paracelsus abandoned much of the symbolical language of alchemy, replacing it by a new nomenclature. He also ahan224 Paragranum. Lib. I, Der erste grund .•. Philosophia. Ed. Sudhoff, vol. VIII, p. 79. 225 The Chemical Work of Paracelsus. Ambix, 1948, vol. III, p. 33. Yet, Sherlock too (loc. cit. Ambix 1948, p. 35) regards Paracelsus' view of alchemy as a fundamental departure from the traditional. For to Paracelsus alchemy embraced any process whereby natural products are made fit for some new end. According to this Paracelsian view (as set out in the Paragranum, ed. Sudhoff, vol. VIII, p. 185, and the Labyrinthus Medicorum, cap. V, ed. Sudhoff, vol. XI, p. 187) alchemy covers such diverse operations as the smelting and working of iron, the baking of bread or the digestion of food in the stomach under the control of the "inner alchemist" or Archeus. See above our chapter on the Archeus p. 106. See also Walden, P.: Paracelsus als Chemiker. Angewandte Chemie 1941, p. 434. Walden emphasis Paracelsus' antagonism to the search for the Philosophers' Stone concluding that his genuine works are devoid of alchemical sym· bolism and that the alchemical treatises ascribed to him are spurious. In fact, his theory of the Three Principles and his study of metals and minerals including attempts at inorganic analysis (as laid down in his "Archidoxis") constitute the basis of systematic chemistry, as achieved later in the "textbooks" of Libavius. 226 See above p. 116.

Paracelsus' achievement in pure and medical Chemistry (a) Introduction Our comparative survey of mediaeval alchemy has revealed close proximity if not identity in principle with Paracelsus' ideas and purposes. There were, however, differences in emphasis, and it is on these differences that the view of Paracelsus as a progressive naturalist must he based. Paracelsus' position in the development of chemistry and pharmacology is similar. Multhauf has advanced the thesis that the principal chemical prescriptions of Paracelsus were those of his mediaeval predecessors and that only the Paracelseans, notably Oswald Croll, gave them their modem form and usefulness. 227 This seemed to he home out by Urdang's research into the entry of chemical remedies, notably Calomel, into the British Pharmacopoeia. 22s Already Chevreul says, the work of Paracelsus is the product of ohser· vations made before him and not of discoveries of his own. But these observations were dispersed and isolated. It is the merit of Paracelsus that he subordinated them to the principle of specificity especially in therapy, thus creating a coherent body of medical doctrine. The basis of his doctrine is that of" Quintessence" as borrowed from Arnald, Lull and Rupescissa. Like the latter, he found the specific organotropic ("organoleptic") properties of wine in the volatile part separated by distillation and thus regarded distillation as the universal method of concentrating the specific properties of a substance in a small volume. If alcohol was the "Quintessence" of wine, all objects in nature must have such a "quintessence" attainable by distillation,229

Thus it was Paracelsus himself who prepared the ground for modern medical chemistry by his unorthodox methods, by his stimulating reformatory and revolutionising attitude and in spite of his blending of philosophical, religious and naturalistic ideas. 227 Multhauf in Bull. Hist. Med. 1954, loc. cit. 228 U rdang, G.: How Chemicals entered the Official Pharmacopoeias. Arch. Internat. Hist. Sci. 1954, vol. VII, pp. 303-314. 229 Chevreul, E.: Considerations sur l'histoire de la partie de la Medecine qui concerne la prescription des remedes •.• Pree. d'un examen des Archidoxia de Paracelse et du livre de Phytognomonica de J.B. Porta. Paris 1865, p. 10.

274


(h) Paracelsus' work in the chemical laboratory and its results in detail Paracelsus had first-hand experience in routine laboratory procedure (Sherlock23 0) and devised genuine chemical operations such as the concentration of alcohol by freezing out watery admixture. 231 This also emerges from his instructions for the preparation of Aqua fortis and for the solution in it of metals in laminated form until at length an oil is formed at the hottom.232 On the other hand, he had no correct idea of the course of the chemical changes involved in the processes described, for he thought that he had separated out liquids containing "elements" (i.e. fire, earth, water) of the metals, when he had for the most part only obtained distillates containing more or less nitric or hydrochloric acid. 233 Yet his chemical operations led to the preparation of medicinal chemicals and to the grouping of chemicals "in similar classes the members of which were susceptible of chemically similar processes. " 234 But, as Sherlock concludes 235, much in Paracelsus' chemistry derives from the Lullian school and Rupescissa. For example, his recipe for preparing potable metals 236 is directly taken over from Rupescissa. On the other hand, Darmstadter suggested that Paracelsus' ideas go beyond these mediaeval writers as well as such contemporary workers as IDstadius and Brunschwig who incorporated and popularised them. He refers to the difficulties which attend the reproduction of P,aracelsean preparations in a modern laboratory, notably the impurities of Paracelsus' reagents, the long exposures to heat and the clumsy apparatus used by the old chemists. Moreover, and this is probably the greatest stumbling block, in the description of procedure Paracelsus often deliberately omits an important link. 237 Concerning the idea of "potable metals", Darmstiidter believes 230 Ambix, loc. cit., 1948, vol. III, p. 47-52. 231 Archidoxis, lib. VI, "Auszuziehen das Magisterium aus dem Wein". Ed. Sudhoff, vol. III, p. 165-166. 232 Archidoxis. Ed. Sudhoff, vol. III, p. 108. 233 As Multhauf (loc. cit. 1956, p. 339) says: The Archidoxis "reveals that the processes were not fundamentally different, if indeed they were even superficially different. It is anything but clear how Paracelsus' fifth essence differed from the lighter fractions produced in his separation of the elements." 234 The latter notably include "auric chloride, mercuric chloride, stannic chloride, and to a lesser extent cupric and ferric chlorides and a series of nitrates all of which are affected to some extent by heat in such a way that a change is made visible by the evolution of the characteristic brown fumes of oxide of nitrogen." Sherlock, loc. cit., p. 48 and 52. 235 Loe. cit., p. 62-63. 238 Archidoxis. Ed. Sudhoff, vol. III, p. 157. 237 A striking example of this is the "tree" of gold which is said to form when Aqua Regia is poured on gold and distilled away (cohobation). In this, the production of the well known Arbor Dianae, the addition of Mercury is essential, which was omitted - deliberately or by mistake. (Archidoxis, lib. VI. Ed. Sudhoff, vol. III, p. 157.)

System of Chemistry: The Archidoxis

275

that Paracelsus prepared metals in a colloidal state. 238 Sherlock raised some doubts in this explanation and concludes that this process, like the majority of alchemical recipes, is not in accord with modern chemical knowledge.239 Nor can any information whatever be derived from the presumed "revelation" of Paracelsus' original method of making the Philosopher's Stone. 240 But then Paracelsus himself attributed its manifold wonderful effects not so much to its properties as a special chemical substance but to the powers conferred upon any sUbstance by the "subtle practice which is brought about by the preparations, reverberations, sublimations, digestions, separations and distillations." 241 What matters therefore is a chemical process rather than a chemical substance. Nor was Paracelsus really interested in the transmutation of metals and the making of gold.242

(c) Paracelsus' System of Chemistry (The "Archidoxis") It cannot he denied that Paracelsus' work forms a landmark in the development of Chemistry as a scientific subject, because it presented for the first time a kind of system of Chemistry. His chemical doctrine embraces all chemical substances known to him and evolves a classification of operations and materials. In this he precedes Andreas Libavius. On the other hand, his "Archidoxis" on which his claim as the creator of a System of Chemistry rests should not he overrated. In Multhauf's opinion, it depended too much upon distillation and was thus preoccupied with the lighter fractions in preference to the residues. In this respect Multhauf believes that the practical minds of the "herbal distillers" from Brunschwig to Gesner achieved more than Paracelsus' striving for theory and system.243 (d) Detoxication and medicinal use of chemicals Although preceded by mediaeval alchemists in this respect as well 244, 238 Paracelsus recommends the digestion of the leaves of gold with turpentine oil and similar substances which would in fact not alter metallic gold. It is quite different, however, when a solution of gold chloride is heated with oil of turpentine or rosemary. Then colloidal gold, mostly of a blue our mauve colour, is formed. Drei Bucher der Wundarznei. Ed. Sudhoff, vol. VI, p. 136. Dannstiidter, loc. cit., p. 25. 239 Sherlock objects (loc. cit., p. 60) that no Aqua Regia was used in the process and no "protective" mechanism - necessary for the preservation of metals in the colloid state - was introduced. 240 Archidoxis. Ed. Sudhoff, vol. Ill, p. 147. 241 Ibid., p. 145. 242 See Walden, loc. cit. 1941, and more recently: Dobler, loc. cit. (in footnote 253), 1957; and above p. 272. 243 Multhauf, loc. cit. 1956, pp. 339 and 333. A case in which Paracelsus does seem to have paid attention to residues rather than distillates is that of antimony preparations. See Dobler, loc. cit. (in footnote 253), 1957. As Dobler has shown, in assessing Paracelsus' position, much depends upon the interpretation of texts and their variants assisted by the experimental reproduction of Paracelsean preparations. 2« The principle that crude "foetid and horrible" metals - the "earth of metals" - must

276


Paracelsus deserves particular credit for the care which he took in the medicinal use of his chemical preparations. In fact, he made their de· toxication his main concern, and it is again this difference in elaboration and emphasis which distinguishes him from his mediaeval predecessors. Paracelsus freed the final product, such as the "Quintessence" of metals, from all sharpness by washing it with alcohol and water. 245 This parti• cularly applies to the heating with saltpetre which brings about oxidation and thereby renders soluble insoluble combinations of metals or minerals. Thus sulphides, for example of iron, are converted into sulphates. Such conversion made the minerals and metals suitable for medicinal use. 246 (e) Spiritus vitrioli and its narcotic action - a probable predecessor of ethe1:'._, and an example of Paracelsus' advanced medical chemistry As an example of Paracelsus' anticipation of an important drug through his proficiency in chemistry, we select his "stupefying vitriol salts". In the short treatise "On Sulphur or Earthly Resine" Paracelsus says: sulphur derived from vitriols and salts is stupefactive, narcotic, analgesic and hypnotic. It acts in a mild and transient way, unlike hyoscyamus, poppy and mandragora. In its natural condition it is sweet, and liked by chickens, in which it causes a quite harmless sleep.

Spiritus Vitrioli: Ether-like Action

The chemical nature of the "sweet sulphur" preparations to which Paracelsus here attributes narcotic effects was clearly indicated by Libavius and the Paracelsist Oswald Croll. In his "Alchemia" of 1597 Andreas Libavius describes Paracelsus' method of preparing spirit of vitriol by adding alcohol to the distillate of vitriol. 248 Croll says in his Basilica Chymica of 1609 that Paracelsus attributed many a great virtue to the spirit of vitriol because of its volatility. Croll himself recommends two preparations, the second of which employs alcohol added to the distillate of vitriol. An "oleum vitrioli" will develop of the sweetest odor, most pleasant taste and highest medical efficiency.249 Paracelsus is thus likely to have known the narcotic action of products of the action of sulphuric acid on alcohol and, in the history of our knowledge of ether, his "analeptic spirit of vitriol" has been recognised as the forerunner of the "sweet oil of vitriol" prepared by Valerius Cordus in 1540. 250 More recently Strebel 251 pointed out that from all this Paracelsus emerges as a describer of chemical combinations related to ether, including

Certain human diseases require analgesics and in these sulphur is called for in the first place - for it "lays all passions at rest and sedates without doing any liann, extinguishes all pain, mitigates all heat and all grave disease •.. This sulphur is sulphur philosophorum for all philosophers aim at long life, health and the combating of disease and these they have found paramount in this sulphur •.. " 247

246 248

247

be prepared by a kind of maturation process in order to become fit as remedies, is clearly expressed by the mediaeval alchemists. As long as the vapours of the crude "metallic earth" ascend when heated they cannot become "mature", i.e. sweet, just as fruit is sour and sharp early in summer and becomes sweet when it is ripe. Hence by the coagulation of these vapours the crude "earth" acquires a miraculous sweetness. Thus Amaldus says in the Rosarium: Make the bitter sweet and thereby have the magisterium. (Joh. Braceschi Lignum Vitae in Manget, Bihl. Chemica, vol. I, p. 916). At the same time the hard metal itself, even when made more subtle by alcohol, cannot act on human flesh, but only when its hardness has been removed and it has been purified, concocted and made sweet. In other words, medicine will act and act more universally the more it is "spiritual'', "formal", "simple", remote from crude matter and independent of mere quantity. It should then emulate the prime and universal cause in the inferior world, namely the celestial body, from which each metal receives its potency. Sherlock, loc. cit., p. 56. Dannstiidter, loc. cit., p. 36. For a detailed description of technique see the example given above p. 145. "Vom Schwebel oder erden hartz", edited by Adam von Bodenstein in: Dess hoch-

277

248 2 9 4

25

0

erfahrnesten Medici Aureoli Theophrasti Paracelsi schreyben von den Kranckheyten so die vernunfft berauben, et. (1525/26). Basel 1567, fol. M verso. See also the early work: "Von den natiirlichen Dingen (? 1525), vom Terpentin ... vom Schwefel, vom Vitriol, vom Arsenik". Ed. Sudhoff, vol. II, p. 133: "alle sulphura von den vitriolatis salibus stupefactiva seind, narcotica, anodyna, somnifera ... zum anderen hat er eine siisse, das in die hiiner all essen und aber entschlafen auf ein zeit, on schaden wider aufstont." On the other loca dealing with the curative effects of sulphur, see Sudhoff, preface to vol. II, p. XV; but in this a reference to Bodenstein's edition of Kranckheiten so die vernunfft berauben - Vom Schwebel oder erden hartz, Basel 1567, is omitted. In the Grosse Wundartzney of 1536 sulphur-vitriol is prescribed as the sedative in Rabies, lib. I, tract. 3, cap. 1. Ed. Sudhoff, vol. X, p. 170. Paracelsus' observation of the narcotic action of his sulphur preparations in chickens is interesting in view of the English designation for H yoscyamus - "henbane". D.O.M.A. Alchemia, Lib. II, tract. 2, cap. 26. Francof. 1597, pp. 340-341. Oswaldi Crollii Basilica Chymica aucta a J. Hartmanno, edita a J. Michaelis. Genevae 1643, p. 223 et seq. Of earlier Paracelsists Peter Severinus should be quoted in this connection (Idea Medicinae Philos. 1571, p. 334 where "Spiritus Sulphurei" are mentioned as the narcotic principle in poppies, mandrake, hemlock, henbane and similar herbs). Kopp, H.: Geschichte der Chemie, vol. IV, Braunschweig 1847, p. 312. On Basil Valentine as a hypothetical forerunner in the preparation of ether by distillation of vitriol oil with spirit of wine see: Kopp, loc. cit., pp. 307, 309; Hoefer, Histoire de la Chemie, Paris 1842, vol. I, p. 459; Kopp, H.: Beitriige zur Geschichte der Chemie, vol. III, Braunschweig 1875, p. 124. Cf. ibid. the evidence against Basil Valentine and lsaacus Hollandus having preceded Paracelsus (p. 109 et seq.). Already Adelung had rejected this priority claim raised in favour of Basil Valentine ( Geschichte der N arrheit, vol. VII, Leipzig 1789, p. 327).

278


mixtures of sulphuric acid, ethyl esters or alcohol with vitriol-ether, and of the narcotic action of these products. Paracelsus' preparation presents the oldest document of our knowledge of an ester formation resulting from the interaction of ethyl alcohol and an inorganic acid (Strebel). According to Strebel it is also likely that Paracelsus prepared ethyl chloride from alcohol and antimony trichloride. Apart from its importance in the history of our knowledge of ether, Paracelsus' "Spirit of Vitriol" can claim special interest as an early instance of the use of animals to test a drug. As F. H.K. Green has pointed out there are only scanty records of set trials of medicaments up to the XVIIIth century and these do not seem to include animal experiments. 252

Nie. Cusanus. Cosmology

279

Paracelsus and Nicolaus Cusanus The philosophy of Nicolaus Cusanus (1401-1464) led to a new perspective of the Cosmos as a whole. In this Cusanus anticipated the Copernican revolution of thought and in some respects went even farther than Copernicus. In the philosophy of Cusanus, a new position was allocated to man, and indeed to all objects in nature. However, Cusanus' principal concern

(f) Conclusion In pure and medical chemistry Paracelsus is evidently under the influence of mediaeval alchemists. This, however, is balanced if not overshadowed by certain advances. Paracelsus attempted systematic chemical research incorporating metallurgy and pharmacology - an attempt resumed later by Libavius. He introduced new laboratory methods. He made possible the use of new and probably efficacious therapeutic preparations by devising special methods of rendering them less harmful. Examples of advanced knowledge are the concentration of alcohol by freezing, the production of narcotic ether-like products arising from the reaction between sulphuric acid and alcohol and the preparation of tartar emetic. 253 His chemical achievements form the link between his mediaeval predecessors and the Paracelseans, notably Oswald Croll. Although the Paracelsists - like Paracelsus himself - largely utilised mediaeval preparations, they are unthinkable without Paracelsusfor it was he who created the stimulus to which they owed their existence and the atmosphere which they breathed. Fig. 30. Nicolaus Cusanus: The pope leading him by a halter and diverting him from 251

252

253

Paracelsus als Chemiker und Verfasser des ersten deutschsprachigen Lehrbuches der Chemie. Praxis, Bern 1949, No. 37. The clinical evaluation of remedies. The Bradshaw lecture for 1954. Lancet 1954, II, 1085-1091. Green refers to a Cambridge M. D. thesis by J. P. Bull: A study of the history and principles of clinical therapeutic trials, 1951. As Dobler, Pharm. Acta Helv. 1957, XXXII, pp. 245 et seq. has shown, Paracelsus long before Mynsicht (who is usually credited with it) prepared tartar emetic and used it chemotherapeutically. Dobler's argument is based on the original reproduction of the substance in the laboratory from the instructions given by Paracelsus himself.

bringing the gospel and the light of his wisdom to the common people. From the title page of Johannes Kymaeus Fuldensis, Des Babsts Hercules wider die Deutschen. Die auch vor dieser Zeit, nicht haben wollen dem Babst, beide die christliche, und des heiligen Riimischen Reichs freiheit und dignitet, libergeben. Witenberg 1538 (copy used: Brit. Mus. 3908 ccc 19). Cusanus, "in his weakness is against the Lutherans, but in his virtue and strength for us and against the pope", whose dictatorial power he rejected in favour of the rights of common man and the superiority of belief over works. For detail see: Menzel, 0., Cusanus Studien VI: Kymeus, Joh., Des Babsts Hercules wider die Deutschen. Heidelberg (Akad. Ahhand.) 1941 (new edition and on the attitude of Protestant reformers towards Cusanus) and Hoffmann, E., Nikolaus von Cues loc. cit. Heidelberg 1947, p. 77, footnote 18.

280


related to the cosmos and infinity, and not to man. Paracelsus, on the other hand, saw the world concentrated in man and felt man to he called upon to lead the world to perfection. Where the thoughts of Cusanus and Paracelsus meet is in their recognition of infinity in the finite, their search for the point where the finite object participates in divine infinity, and whereby man is thus elevated to the rank of microcosm. 254 We must, therefore, briefly review the cosmology of Nicolaus Cusanus. The mediaeval cosmos had been based on the ancient doctrine of a closed finite system of spheres. In this, graded steps lead from God via the intelligences and the world soul down to nature ("Stufenkosmos"). Continuity had been achieved by granting each stage a share in its "higher" predecessor. Cusanus demolished the whole concept - first by removing the top of the ladder. The universe was no longer regarded as "closed", hut as infinite. Where our world, where the so called eighth sphere (the end of the ancient cosmos) reached its limit, new worlds were visualised. In this way the world, though not identical with God, achieved similarity with Him. The Universe is an "infinite sphere" - for were it not, it would border on something else, a place outside the world which cannot exist. In an infinite universe which is known to us hut in an infinitely small proportion, no place remains for gradation, however. All objects of our world, though each different from the other, are on an equal footing in dignity. None of them reigns supreme. In other words, there is no room for a world "centre" - the earth as well as the sun being stars like other stars, all of which - including the earth - are in perpetual motion. Nor is the earth inferior to the sun in being "darker" or more perishable. Nor finally is any "sublunary" object less noble than a celestial body. Indeed, each object forms a world of its own. There are centres everywhere in the universe - the "infinite sphere". Nicolaus Cusanus arrived at this new cosmology about a century before Copernicus - who still adhered to the closed cosmos of the ancients, although he shifted its centre from the earth to the sun, and superseded Cusanus in detailed astronomy. 255 Cusanus, on the other hand, could not recognise any one centre. It was at this point that his philosophy was taken up by Giordano Bruno who acknowledges his debt to Cusanus in enthusiastic terms. 254 255

Hoffmann, Ernst: Nicolaus von Cues. Zwei V ortriige. Heidelberg 1947, p. 50. For his actual advance on the special astronomical knowledge and views of Cusanus in which the earth retained a central position of reference, see: Mahnke, D. : U nendliche Sphiire und Allmittelpunkt. Halle 1937, pp. 91-96.

Nie. Cusanus. Cosmology

281

Cusanus was led to his new view of the universe by his speculations on infinity. By comparing the finite objects that surround us with one another and the standards thus gained, we become aware of "Opposites": good - bad, great - small, warm - cold, soft hard, and so on. No such "opposites" can be conceived in the infinite in which the infinitely small in no way differs from the infinitely great, and indeed all "opposites coincide". This "coincidentia oppositorum" can be demonstrated for example with reference to the One. As the last unit comprising the All, the One stands for the infinitely Great. At the same time One - as the smallest of an infinite series of numbers - expresses the infinitely Small.

Hence, no knowledge can he acquired about the Infinite other than the fact that we are totally ignorant about it. This "learned ignorance" of Cusanus particularly applies to God and his attributes - based as it is on the main tenet of the "Negative Theology" of Dionysius Pseudo-Areopagita, the patristic Greek writer of the sixth century, who became the fountainhead of Christian Mysticism. On the other hand, our intellect tackles the finite world of "Opposites" and, by expressing them in mathematical terms, notably geometrical symbols, discovers their relationship with infinity. Cusanus' speculations on cosmology and infinity were hound to have strong repercussions on empirical research. This became evident not only in astronomy, hut also in mechanics and its application to medicine. We mentioned before (p. 199) that it was Cusanus who recommended exact measurement and the use of the balance (to determine specific gravity) in the examination of urine. We also gave an example of how this idea was taken up and carried out in the laboratory by Van Helmont. In the application of mathematics to the study of nature, Cu:sanus believed himself to he penetrating to eternal truth - the true kernel and virtues hidden behind the fallacious appearances of objects and phenomena. This can he achieved by laying hare the numerical proportions of measure and weight, that determine structure and function in each individual object - a Neopythagorean approach. Though not concerned with measurements and numbers, Paracelsus too searched for the "secreta natura", i.e. the specific properties of each suhstance. 2 56 He even said that "disease stands on weight, number and 2 5s

Compare Thorndike, Lynn: Hist. Magic, vol. IV, New York 1934., p. 392, with reference to the "Static Experiments" of Nicolaus Cusanus: "With this ideal of scientific measurement something of the old conception of magical virtue is still intermingled. Alchemy and astrology and the occult virtues of gems, herbs and fountains still play a larger part in contemporary science than do pure physics." It is indeed the "secret nature" of objects to which Cusanus hopes, access may be gained by the experimental and quantitative approach. The connection between the search for numerical proportions in natural objects, magic and mysticism of numbers is obvious in such authors as Reuchlin

282

measure".257 Cusanus recognised the ancient four elements as speculative. So did Paracelsus. To both Cusanus and Paracelsus, new scientific orientations and knowledge are inseparable from philosophical and cosmological speculation. Though primarily concerned with the Universe, Cusanus by no means neglected the individual. On the contrary, as we have seen, it was just through this new conception of the cosmos as a whole that the individual was lifted out of uniformity into the position of a centre, a world or sphere in his own right. This particularly applies to the multitude of creatures in whom God reproduced Himself, as it were in a multiple mirror image, with varying degrees of faithfulness. Each individual has infinite possibilities of imitating divine infinity, thus reflecting in his own limited way the infinity of the universe2ss - he is a "created or human God" 259 . Of th;- creatures man is the highest and almost reaches the angels in perfection. He epitomises the universe and is rightly called a microcosm. In this we may find a point of contact with Paracelsus and his "anthropocentric" position taken in contrast to traditional astrology which had subjected man to the totalitarian power of the stars. However Cusanus' concept of the microcosm, is focussed around the intellectual faculties of man - not, as in Paracelsus' concept, around the composition of his body. The differences between animal and human life are derived not from physical differences hut from the unio~ ("suhstantialis identitas") of the human vegetative and sensitive soul with incorruptible intellectual virtue. That it is not on physical properties that its permanence depends is shown by the persistence of the soul in a body with a gangrenous hand. Here the soul has not dried up as well hut has simply ceased to enliven the withered limb, while itself remaining incorruptible. How can it remain? The answer is: "Non possumus negare hominem dici microcosmum, hoc est parvum mundum qui hahet animam." We cannot deny that man he called microcosm, i.e. a lesser world endowed with soul. 260

257

2ss 259 260

Nie. Cusanus. Cosmos and Man


and Agrippa of Nettesheym who are palpably influenced by Cusanus. On .th~ ~ther hand Cusanus' search for the "secret nature" i.e. the specific property of each md1vidual suhst,ance, was rightly called by Hans Fischer "an eminently ~cientific enterprise within the natural limits imposed by the methods available at that time." (Roger Bacon and Nicolaus Cusanus als Begriinder chemischer und physikalisch-chemischer Methoden in der Medizin. Schweiz. med. Wschr. 1940, LXX, 97-109, p. 104). "Dan das sol der Arzt nit leugnen, die Krankheit stet in dem Gewicht, in der zal und in der mass." Opus Paramirum (St. Gallen 1531) part I, hook 1, cap. 1. Ed. Sudhoff, vol. IX, p. 40. Docta Ignorantia II, 2. Opp. Paris 1514, fol. 14 recto. De Conjecturis II, 14. Opp. Ed. cit., fol. 60. . . . "Humana vero natura est illa, quae est supra omma de1 opera elevata, et paulo mmus angelis minorata, intellectualem et sensibilem naturam complicans ac universa inter

283

That man is a part of the universe does not mean that he is not a world in himself. For in all parts the whole is reflected ("In omnibus enim partibus relucet totum") - just as a hand reflects the proportions of the whole body. Everything is determined by its proportion to the universe - and especially so man, who reflects the perfection of the universe more than does anything else. "Homo est perfectus mundus", though small and though hut one part of the bigger world. 26 1

This concept of man as a microcosm participating by virtue of his soul in spheres higher than himself is still based on the principle of gradation. First there are the graded faculties of the soul ranging from the nutritive to the intellectual. Secondly there are the cosmic "steps" from apparently lifeless stone via plants, animals and man, the stars, the universe and the intelligences, to God. What is "implicit" in the latter is "explicit" in the universe. This concept of the "unfolding" of the finite and perishable from the infinite and perpetual seems to contradict the principle of the complete remoteness of the latter from the finite world. As we have seen (see previous p. 280), the fundamental principle introduced by Cusanus and new to the mediaeval world was the abolition of the concept of step-ladder continuity leading from God the Infinite down to finite material objects. It was this new separation ("tmema") of the empirical world of the senses from the metaphysical world of the intellect which enabled Cusanus to conceive of a new cosmology and to oppose the ancient and mediaeval geocentric cosmos. It was in fact a renewal of the genuine Platonic idea of "separation" ("Chorismos"). 262 This idea of "Chorismos", however, in no way contradicted another Platonic idea - that of the "share" ("Methexis") which was also developed by Cusanus. In spite of its remoteness from the world of ideas, the empirical world has a "share" in it. For Cusanus, then, what matters in rendering man a "microcosm" is the intellect and its exalted position in the hierarchy of physical and mental faculties. In this lies the "miraculous work of God in which the discriminating virtue is gradually elevated from the senses to the highest kind of intellect through certain steps and organised channels: there the bonds of union of the finest bodily spirit are continually illuminated, simplified through the victory gained by the virtue of the soul in reaching the inner sanctum of the virtue of reason. After this it arrives at the highest order of intellectual virtue, as it were through a canal leading into the infinite sea". 263

261 262

2ea

se constringens ut microcosmus aut parvus mundus a veterihus rationaliter vocitetur." De Docta lgnorantia. l,ib. III, cap. 3. Ed. Paris 1514, fol. 25 verso. Ed·. Rotta, Bari 1913, p. 129. De Ludo Glohi. Opp. Ed. cit., fol. 156 verso and 157 recto. See Ernst Hoffmann: Platonismus und Mittelalter. Vortr. Bihl. Warburg, vol. III, p. 17. De Conjecturis II, 14. Opp. Ed. cit., fol. 59.

284


Pico della Mirandola. Against Astrology

Man is a microcosm by virtue of his intellect, which measures and compares the ob~ jects of the empirical world and in this process makes use of those ideas which provide the yardstick for this process of measuring and comparing. Everything that is finite and depends on other things that are finite can he recognised as such only by its contrast with the ideas, which are stable and independent. 264 But these ideas can never he reached or emulated by anything measurable. It is the recognition of this unbridgeable gulf between the intellect and God that makes the working of man's intellectual faculties possible. Man thereby acquires "learned ignorance" ("docta ignorantia") and a "share" in the world of ideas. He now acts as a "copula" and "microcosm". 266

285

lo. Picus Mirandula..

All this goes to show the differences between the position of Cusanus and that of Paracelsus, the former being epistemological and the latter largely physical and physiological in character. That Paracelsus received some general influence from Cusanus and the Cusanian climate of thought can not he denied categorically. We have, however, no direct or indirect evidence for it. Man as a microcosm is certainly of some importance and consistently occurs in Cusanus' philosophy, hut the demonstration of his idea differs from that given by Paracelsus. Moreover, as Hoffmann has shown, Paracelsus' idea of God is different from that of Cusanus. To Paracelsus (and indeed to Renaissance thought in general) God is the sum total of forces acting in nature and concentrated in man. To Cusanus, however, God is not the sum and multiplicity of these powers hut their master. This is the only dualism which Cusanus upheld, the dualism between cause and effect, infinity absolute and relative, ideas as a measure and the measuring mind; in Christian terms, between Creator and creature, or, in Platonic terms, between Eidos and eidolon. 266

Paracelsus and Pico della Mirandola

mtnto rognomine Phctnix ap .. pcllatus dl>qudd in eum,Dij fuptri,fuprafamilice clari~at~m,o.. mnis corporiJ,acanimivd rarifsimadonacontukrint. Mira<; ~fm alcitudiriefubtilis ingcntj. dc~ora facie,h:difsimisquc mo ..

Giovanni Pico, Count of Mirandola (1463-1494) is well known as an advocate of human liberty, a defender of "natural magic" and Kahhala and an adversary of traditional astrology. His views created much of the

0.A.MN Es Picu!tMiranduta

r1bus,tt iocornparablli quurrt difputarct,aut fcribcretfacundia

264

26 6

266

See also: Cassirer, E.: lndividuum und Kosmos in der Philosophie der Renaissance. Leipzig 1927, pp. 19-25. Hoffmann: Das Universum des Nikolaus von Cues. Heidelberg 1930, p. 14. Schneiderreit, G.: Die Einheit in dem System des Nikolaus von Kues. Gymnas.-Progr. Berlin 1902. De venatione sapientiae. Cap. XXXII. Ed. Paris 1514, fol. 214 verso. See also De Beryllo. Cap. 5, fol. 184 verso ("Unde in se homo repperit quasi in ratione mensurante omnia creata"). Hoffmann, E.: Nikolaus von Cues. Zwei Vortriige. F. H. Kerle, Heidelberg 194 7, p. 51. On the obvious and essential influence of Cusanus on such Paracelsists as Gerard Dorn and Van Helmont see footnote 271 on p. 104, p. 37 and p. 199 footnote 192.

cscius leculi fapi~ntcs in admiration cm fui facile <'ouutttit. Grauifs!m~ autcm opcrc,nccdum abfotuto,rantacruditiont, acq ucvchcmcntia Aftrolo..

o

Fig. 31. Port. of Picus della Mirandola. From Giovio Elogia p. 76.

climate of the Renaissance and of Humanism.26 7 They are consonant with those of Paracelsus in a general way - although special points of contact 267

For a general survey and lit. see Kristeller, P. 0.: Introduction to a translation of Pico's

286


are hardly demonstrable. Pico's uncompromising rejection of astrology 26 8 is difficult to reconcile with its qualified admission in Paracelsus' "Astrosophy". Pico deliberately separates astronomy from Medicine and other practical knowledge such as that of the husbandman and sailor. Astrology issues statements and warnings of a very general nature, based on the annual movement of the celestial bodies, that is an efficient cause remote from the individual object and its innumerable potentialities. Individual properties including temperament and mode of living may well turn the astrologer's forecast into its contrary. In this, one may be reminded of Paracelsus' belief that human freedom confers on man the power of influencing even the stars. But in the world of Paracelsus this very reciprocity implies an intimate connection between man and star in a close system of correspondences which is alien to Pico's attitude, which views the astrologer and the physician as contrary rather than helpful to each other. The astrologer indulges in generalities which are supposed to apply to many people and objects at the same time. The physician, however, judges from reason based on a study of the individual object which he carries out by means of sensual perception. He thereby elucidates the particular response of the object - which is different from the general tendencies prevailing in the universe at any given time.269 Moreover, astrologers have concocted fictitious and empty rules far removed from reality. Hence the physician should follow the precepts of Hippocratic Prognostics and rely upon an examination of the urine and the pulse, rather than upon observation of the spheres. 27 0 Finally, there are no "occult virtues" in the celestial bodies whereby they are responsible for the hidden properties of things on earth. All that they do transmit is light and heat. 271 For all the stars are like each other

268

269

270

271

Oration on the Dignity of Man in: Cassirer,E., Kristeller, P. 0. and Randall, J. H. jr.: The Renaissance Philosophy of Man. Chicago 1948, p. 215. It has been pointed out that Picus while rejecting astrology in his "Disputation against divining astrology", recognised a "true astrology" in his "Conclusions". It is the "cabalistic" brand of astrology - the "celestial alphabet" indicating correspondences between stars and the letters of the Alphabet and all that is symbolised by them which Picus, Reuchlin and "minor cabalists" such as Blaise de Vigenere, Pontus de Tyard, Claude Duret and others are inclined to admit. See: F. Secret, L'Astrologie et les Kabbalistes Chretiens a la Renaissance. La Tour St-Jaques 1956, pp. 45-56 (No. 4, May-June). I am indebted to Miss Desiree Hirst for this reference. The physician "ex propriis et propinquis indi cat causis". In Astrologiam, lib. II, cap. 3 : Non esse utilem astrologiam in decernendo quid sit agendum, quid fugiendum. Opera. Ed. post. Basileae 1601, p. 293. Ibid., lib. III, cap. 19: Cur nautae, medici, agricolae vera saepius praedicunt. quam astrologi. Opp. 1601, p. 339. Ibid., lib. III, cap: 24, loc. cit., p. 344.

Pico against Astrology. Magia Naturalis

287

and the earth is one of them. 272 This does not militate against the exalted state of the stars in general, but it does against the subordination of individual objects to individual stars. All physical virtue is derived from the participation of an object in a celestial faculty - just as all cognition is. participation in the light of intellect. The latter reaches perfection in reason, the former in the spirit of the heart. In this, however, diversity is not a result of the action of diverse stars, hut of matter and the form of individual objects. 273 Nor is there anything super- or extranatural in celestial causes. They are just as natural as any other causes. Hence, miracles can be neither caused nor indicated by celestial signs. 274 Nor, finally, does the "star" account for strange habits of an individual, such as abnormal sexual inclinations. Pico here adduces a case of Masochism which he graphically describes. 275 Not astral influence, but childhood experience - living with a horde of rough and violent people - accounts for the abnormal habit in Pico's opinion. From all this Pico derives a critical attitude towards the astrological basis of humoral pathology. The moon does not promote cold and moisture. In fact, there is more cold moisture in man when the moon is waning and less resistance is offered by the body against fluid collecting inside. Moonlight rather acts in the opposite way, drawing fluid from inside outwards and thus effecting a salubrious warming up of the body. Hence venaesection should take place with a waxing and not, as recommended by Haly Hamec, the Astrologer, with a waning moon. However, neither the moon nor the sun are necessarly warming - both may have a cooling effect: the sun when there is much evaporation and the moon when owing to the coolness of night its rays have to pass through narrowed pores and veins. 276

In contrast to astrology, Pico favours "Natural Magic". Its purport is to demonstrate the effects, virtues and limits of natural objects by adducing empirical evidence. That part of natural magic which is largely concerned with the virtues of the celestial bodies, is called "Cabala". The Magus studies the "gifts and virtues" of the upper world, and applies them to objects on earth - he thus weds earth to heaven, just as the husbandman weds elms to vines. 27 7 The "a posteriori" knowledge derived by magic from empirical facts meets revelation which knows "a priori". For by deter212 273 274 216 216 277

Ibid., III, cap. 25, p. 346. Ibid., p. 348. Ibid., IV, C!!p. 14, p. 369. Ibid., III, cap. 27, p. 350. Ibid., III, cap. 6, p. 315. ". • • sicut agricola nlmos vitibm, ita Magus terram coelo, id est inferiora superiorum dotibus virtutibusque maritat." De Hominis Dignitate. Opp. 1601, loc. cit., p. 217. Transl. by Kristeller, loc. cit., p. 249.

289


Pico. Pomponazzi

mining the limitations of natural action, magic and cabala implicitly prove "scientifically, most truly, religiously ("catholice") and without heresy and superstition" the divinity of Christ whose works transcend the laws of nature. 278 Man must he viewed in his relationship with the world at large, or more precisely with the three worlds that exist: the uppermost which the philosophers allocate to the intellect and the theologians to the angels, the celestial world and the sublunary world. Pico firmly believes in the essential identity of and parallelism between these worlds. There is nothing in any which is not found in all of them. What is in the lower world is also in the upper one, only of a higher perfection. Elementary fire burns, celestial fire makes alive, the supercelestial - seraphic - fire of the intellect is the seat of the synergism of the all, of cosmic "love". Elemental humour smothers the heat of life, celestial dew fosters it, supercelestial moisture is the vehicle of knowledge. Man represents a fourth world. In him, all those constituents are found which are present in the other worlds. 279 Accordingly, the fourth hook of Pico's "Heptaplus" is entitled: De Mundo Humano that is on the Nature of Man. 280 The featu~e distinguishing man from any other being is that he encompasses in himself the fulness of the universe. In this he is even superior to the angels. Man has the command of the elements which truly and naturally compose our terrestrial body. There is also the spiritual body which is more divine than the elements, since it corresponds to heaven. Man furthermore is possessed of the faculties of plant life such as nutrition, growth and generation, of the sensual animal life, and of celestial reason. He finally participates in the higher intellectual knowledge of the angels - in all a "divine possession recalling the word of

Mercury: A great miracle, 0 Asclepius, is man. It is in this that man can rejoice and claim the service of all other creatures". 281 These concepts relating to man as a microcosm are indeed congenial to the philosophy of Paracelsus - just as there are contacts and parallels with Pico's ideas of natural magic and of the Magus who "weds earth to heaven". It is precisely this which Paracelsus enjoins the physician to do. Paracelsus went farther than Pico - not only in elaborating this idea into a system of medicine and protoscientific detail. In his astrosophic system of close correspondences between man and the world, however, he incorporated much of that traditional astrology which Pico had rejected.

288

278 279

280

Apologia. De Magia naturali et Cabala disputatio. Opp. 1601; loc. cit., p. llO seq. In Heptaplum de Opere sex dierum Geneseos ad lectorem praefatio. Opp. 1601, loc. cit., p. 4 seq. It is from the belief in cosmic correspondences and in the all pervading spirit of the world that the symbolic thinking should he derived that forms a characteristic trait of the Renaissance common to Pico and Paracelsus. The consequences of such trends of thought for the understanding of Renaissance imagery have been demonstrated by E. H. Gombrich, lcones Symbolicae. The Visual Image in Neo-Platonic Thought. J. Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, 1948, XI, 163-192. Here images are shown to implement the "conception of revelation through symbolism" which is traced hack to Dionysius Pseudo-Areopagita and clearly revived in Pico's view of the Universe as "one vast symphony of correspondences in which each level of existence points to another level. It is by virtue of this interrelated harmony that one object can signify another and that by contemplating a visible thing we can gain insight into the invisible world" (p. 167-168). Opp. 1601, p. 21.

Pomponazzi and Paracelsus The present author is aware of no direct evidence of Paracelsus' acquaintance with the works of Pietro Pomponazzi (1462-1524). These were widely read and stirred up public opinion and ecclesiastic opposition in the twenties of the XVlth century, the first period of Paracelsus' literary activity. 282 The latter can have hardly failed to take notice of them and of the echo which they found. At all events, their writings show contacts and parallels in expressing the spirit of their period. It is for this reason that Erastus lumped them together as blasphemous heretics who reveal their basically atheistic attitude in the question of "Natural Magic" and the power of man extending to the stars. 2 83 281 282

283

Heptaplus, lib. IV, Opp., loc. cit., p. 27. See Thorndike: History of Magic. vol. V, New York 1941, pp. 94-110. For a general appraisal of Pomponatius and pertinent literature compare: Cassirer, E.: lndividuum und Kosmos in der Philosophie der Renaissance. Leipzig and Berlin 1927, p. 86, with special reference to causality in nature as guaranteed by the imperturbable course of the celestial bodies, p. 109. See also more recently: Randall, J. H. jr.: Pietro Pomponazzi in Cassirer, E., Kristeller, P. 0., and Randall, J. H. jr: The Renaissance Philosophy of Man. Chicago 1948, pp. 255-279; Kristeller, P. 0.: Ficino and Pomponazzi on the Place of Man in the Universe. J. Hist. Ideas 1944, v. 224. Disput. de Medicina Nova Philippi Paracelsi, pars prima, Basileae 1571, p. lll and p. 128. See our account of Erastus' criticism p. 317. Paracelsus as well as Pomponazzi regarded imagination and incantation as powerful forces in nature. They shared this view with many writers of the Renaissance, hut not with all of them. This is shown for example in the treatise "On Imagination" by Gianfrancesco Pico della Mirandola (1470-1533), the nephew of Giovanna Pico (see our chapter p. 121). The author holds with Aristotle that imagination is necessary to digest sensual perception and to convey it to the intellect. Owing to its irrational nature, however, imagination is subject to and should he guided by the intellect. Man should suppress it in order to uphold "that dignity in which he was created and placed and by which he is continually urged to direct the eye of the mind towards God." (Ed. and transl. Harry Caplan, Cornell

290


Reuchlin, Scholasticism censured

It is another question, however, whether they really belong together in Renaissance thought. Pomponazzi has been called the "last of the schoolmen", and the "first exponent of enlightenment" 284 - neither of these designations is applicable to Paracelsus. Hence they should not be compared and placed on the same level without careful qualification.

291

JOANNES REVCHLTNVS

Paracelsus and Johannes Reuchlin To have studied at Tiibingen towards the end of the fiftheenth century and remained unconscious of the presence and influence of Reuchlin (1455-1522), the star of the young university, is inconceivable. Hence, Paracelsus' father must have known him, and so might Paracelsus himself, who pcissibly passed through Swabia as a journeyman-scholar before his studies in Italy. Reuchlin belonged to the entourage of the ruler of Wiirttemberg, Eberhard "The Pious" (or "In the Beard"), where he could hardly have failed to meet Paracelsus' grandfather. Like the latter, he accompanied Eberhard on a journey abroad. It was Reuchlin's first visit to Italy - at the age of 27 in 1482. 285 A second journey to Italy (1490) brought him into touch with Pico and seems to have inspired and confirmed his studies in Neoplatonism and the Kabbala. In the latter he saw the source of the philosophy of Pythagoras and it was this which he meant to restore - in the same way as Ficino had restored Plato and Jacob Faber of Etaples, Aristotle. 286

284 28 5 286

Studies in English XVI, New Haven 1930, p. 45.) For, being at the mercy of sensual perception, imagination is liable to deceive the intellect, the "spiritual eye of the soul" - just as the bodily eye may see things wrongly tinted or distorted. It is deceitful imagination that runs riot in those women which are called witches (ibid., p. 57). By contrast, prophecy "flows into the intellect whenever God, as it were engraves therein the signs of the future". Man, therefore, "ought to follow reason and to shake off the allurements of sense and phantasy" (ibid., p. 65). Pico's position is that of ancient rationalistic philosophy. It is largely based on materialistic explanations in humoralistic terms, with the result that reason prevails against imagination. The gulf which separates this philosophy from the supernaturalist and mystic undercurrent which extolled imagination at the expense of reason and was supported by Paracelsus appears to he unbridgeable. Some of Pico's arguments were resumed in Thomas Fienus' De Viribus lmaginationis, Lovanii 1608. Cassirer, loc. cit., p ..86. Preface to De Arte Cahalistica. Ed. Pistorius Nidanus in Artis Cahalisticae. Tom I. Basileae 1587, p. 611. Preface to De Arte Cahalistica, loc. cit., p. 612. For the general trends of Reuchlin's ideas see Ritter, Heinrich: Geschichte der christlichen Philosophie. Vol. V (Geschichte der Philosophie, vol. IX). Hamburg 1850, pp. 315-326.

Fig. 32. Portrait of Johannes Reuchlin from Pantaleone Prosopographiae. Basel 1566. Part III, p. 23.

Reuchlin devoted himself to profound studies in Hebraic literature which led to his famous challenge of contemporary obscurantism. The Swabian wars and especially the despotism of the young ruler of Wiirttemberg involved him in much personal suffering and hardship in which he was helped by such independent spirits as Ulrich of Hutten and Sickingen.287 Among Reuchlin's main philosophical propositions the severe limitations which he imposed on reason and formal logic are of particular interest to us. Truth is implicit in the structure of our world and the proper and original "allusions" of nature. 288 Knowledge can therefore be obtained 287

288

See Meiners, C.: Lehensheschreibungen heriihmter Manner aus den Zeiten der Wiederherstellung der Wissenschaften. Zurich 1795, vol. I, pp. 44-212; p. 74. "in hac mundi structura, quam cernimus, aliquam triumphare veritatem .. , non fortuitis aut alicunde adventitiis, sed suis et propriis et originariis naturae illicihus, quae

292


either through scrutiny of the nature of an object or through divine inspiration. 289 However, the objects of our sublunary world are continually changing. True knowledge of these objects is therefore not given to man. He can merely pass an opinion based on reason, and this is just as much open to change as its ohject. 290 On things supercelestial, "nobody, absolutely nobody" can obtain even the most minute hit of knowledge. 291 Since therefore the divine world is beyond our reach and things of our world are fleeting, there remains no constant, total and unbreakable knowledge other than divine revelation. Your wisdom and your knowledge have deceived you. You failed in the multitude of your counsels; each of them erred in his own way - probing the causes of things below and taking care of celestial influences, you remained ignorant of the real driving force in natural processes and of the entirety of relevant factors. Hence faith is superior to knowledge, for it elevates the intellect to the summit, pure, lucid and radiant in the divine and supercelestial intelligences, reflecting the condition of all things mortal and immortal as it were in an eternal mirror. If our soul unites with things sensible by sensation and with those intelligible by intellect, it is through faith that our mind is united with the highest intelligences and God Himself. For the First Cause is more intimate to things than all the derivative causes which are contained in the former like rivulets in a stream. 292

God placed man in the centre of the universe, a region common to the lower and upper worlds. It has access to the latter by faith and to the former (however inadequately) by reason. The world is One - "Omnia Unum"; not the sum total of atoms that are subject to chance, devoid of reason and incapable of building up an orderly cosmos. Hence He who is the H)ghest is One, and He who is One is simple - ignorant of the disturbance, tedium, sorrow, inherent in anything composite. 293 Reuchlin thus presents the views of the mystic. He combats the claims

289

290

291

292 293

omnia, cum non fiunt frustra, utique contingit, ut veritatem eorum quae sunt, aliquo tandem opportuno tempore amplexemur." De verho mirifico. Lib. I, cap. 8, loc. cit., p. 892. "Quisquis igitur id, quod est, vel suapte natura vel divino adiutus adminiculo vere comprehenderit, quare non ilium eius scientiam sortitum existimaverim? lta enim scientiam appellahimus veram apprehensionem rei." Loe. cit., p. 892. "Quam quidem mutahilis rei susceptivam in nohis potestatem ... opinahilem rationem voco ... Et ego tibi assentior, quae certe ut cognita mutantur, ita et scientia mutahitur." - "Omnium rerum sub coeli domicilio commorantium, non est humanitus, quam vere scientiam vocamus, sed opinio potius." Ibid., loc. cit., cap. 9, p. 893. "De his itaque quoniam supercoelestia sunt nee ulli usquam sensui ohvia, quis ... mortalium praeter quam divinitus, ac nulla humana virtute, quantulamcumque tandem cognitionem ohtinere queat? Nemo, Hercle, nemo." Ibid., p. 893. On syllogism as the main enemy of cognition of the divine that depends upon "mera et nuda fides": De Arte Cahalistica. Lib. II. Ed. Pistorius, loc. cit., pp. 645, 649 and passim. De Verho mirifico. Lib. I, cap. 9. Ed. Pistorius, p. 893. Loe. cit., cap. 10, pp. 894-895.

Reuchlin. Specificity of individual objects

293

of reason and logic in favour of knowledge by revelation. This is obtained through insight into the divine unity and simplicity of the world - a knowledge that transcends reason and penetrates to the divine source of intelligence. Reuchlin is aware of the transcendence of God who is more than the mere cause and creator of things. He is the absolute Being that is immanent in everything, and present in all worlds. 294 He preaches "learned ignorance" of an infinite world in which ordinary "being" is not "Being" and "not being" recognised as true "Being". Unlike the mediaeval mystics, however, and following the inspiration given by Nicolaus Cusanus, Reuchlin does not close his eyes to Nature and the specific properties of individual objects therein. In emphasising specificity in natural objects and functions, Reuchlin opposes traditional interpretations of nature in terms of elementary qualities and mixtures. With this he expressly rejects heat as the agent which had been regarded as decisive in the animal economy since antiquity. To illustrate this point he selects as a leading instance gastric digestion. This effects the transmutation of food into body substance. Heat cannot achieve this - for if it could, food should be digestible by fire or heat outside much better and more rapidly than in the body and stomach. The effect is, therefore, due to an occult property intrinsic in the latter. In the same way, amulets around the neck, such as corals, display certain effects not because they are cold or hot, but by an intrinsic occult virtue. This cannot even be explained in terms of astral or any other mediating influence. Such occult virtues are the instruments by which God causes objects to be different from one another. They have variously been designated as Gods, angels or good demons. It is by means of a similar occult virtue that man, the microcosm, can move towards God ("migret in Deum") and in turn God can establish his dwelling in man ("Deus habitet in homine"). Of this proei~ss we can recognise no more than such outward expressions and symbols as words. Again, this is well illustrated by gastric digestion in which heat is the only phenomenon accessible to our senses. Heat, however, is but the medium supporting a vital function which is essentially different from it. In the same way, symbols act as "shadows" or "images" of the true process of our unification with God.295 294

295

In this, Reuchlin says, lies the difference between the talmudic and the cahalistic point of view - the former looking on God as the true cause and Creator, the latter as the transcendent and at the same time immanent absolute Being. De Arte Cahalistica. Ed. Pistorius, loc. cit., p. 632. Reuchlin: De Verho Mirifico. Lib. II, cap. 6. Ed. Joh. Pistorius, loc. cit., p. 912.

294


Further criticism of ancient elementary theories is based on an interpretation of the Hebrew designation of God. This is derived from the divine nature of the sun and fire. But this is not elementary fire, and not even stellar or celestial fire, hut an indescribable "splendor" - compared to which any other fire is like shadow and darkness. Thus, even the higher world of the archetypes and ideas is hut a shadow and image of the divine light, and how much more so our material and "faeculent" world which is called the shadow and image of the superior world. 296 The rational soul occupies a position intermediate between the world invisible - the world of the fire - and the world visible - the world of the earth. Yet it is intimately akin to the upper world. 297 Reuchlin thus appears as a figure with many facets - typical of the Renaissance. He was chiefly a humanist, concerned with the revival of classical tradition, notably the Hebrew and Greek sources for the study of Pythagorean, Platonic and cahalistic ideas. But he was more than that. He was a mystic intent on disentangling eternal truth from the dictates of human opinion as based on reason and logic. This opposition to reason not only failed to prevent hut actually encouraged him in advocating science within its own limits. He distinguished serious science such as the measurement of the sizes and distances of the stars - the certainty of which is proved by mathematics and experience itself - from fallacious and controversial astrology. 298 It is in this respect that Reuchlin, the humanist and mystic, can claim a place among those whose ideas prepared the soil for the foundation of science. His contacts with Paracelsean thinking are obvious, notably in his opposition to the traditional explanation of objects and phenomena in terms of elements, humours and qualities. Paracelsean ideas are eve.n more strongly foreshadowed in the emphasis which Reuchlin lays on the specific properties of individuals and species. It is of particular interest that he recognises a special property as the agent effecting gastric digestion as against heat which is a general factor of no more than auxiliary significance. This may well have inspired Paracelsus and certainly forms a background to one of Van Helmont's major discoveries in physiology. It is to Reuchlin that we must look for the source of the ideas of Fernel (1497-1558) and the extensive use which he made of the "Occult Property". It emerges clearly that Fernel was not original in this. 296 297 298

Ibid., lib. II, cap. 18, Ioc. cit., p. 930. Ibid., lib. II, cap. 21, loc. cit., p. 945. De Verbo Mir. Lib. II, cap. 1, loc. cit., p. 906. In this condemnation of astrology Reuchlin forms a fundamental source.

Agrippa of Nettesheym

295

Agrippa of Nettesheym's "Occult Philosophy" A source of Neoplatonic wisdom contemporary to Paracelsus was the Occult Philosophy of Agrippa of Nettesheym (1487-1535). It is true that this was only printed in (1531-)1533, i.e. when Paracelsus' literary productivity was already at its height, and his basic ideas had taken shape

Fig. 33. Portrait of Agrippa of Nettesheym from: J. J.Boissard, lcones et Effigies Virorum Doctorum. Francof. J.Ammon. 1645. Sig.Ee3.

296


for a long time. Yet Agrippa's hook had been composed much earlier, namely soon after 1510, and widely circulated in manuscript form. 299 Agrippa had been encouraged in the study of "Occult Philosophy" and the writing of his hook by Trithemius, one of the earlier teachers of Paracelsus3o0, hut it is improbable that Agrippa was in contact with Trithemius when Paracelsus received tuition from him. There is much in Agrippa's erratic and short life that is reminiscent of Paracelsus. Like the latter he died at the age of 48 bringing to a close a long series of disappointments and itinerations through France, Italy, England, Alsace, Switzerland, the Rhineland, Belgium and France again, interrupted by short periods of employment. He had studied and occasionally practised medicine, alchemy and the magic arts. He was primarily a humanist orator and jurist, however. Naturalism had a certain significance in,'his philosophy, hut it was mainly an attitude of the contemplating mind and an instrument to attract popular attention. There was nothing of the ardour and thirst for new knowledge and experience of nature which captivated the whole mind and personality of Paracelsus. There is, on the other hand, Agrippa's uncompromising rejection of all traditional sciences and arts and his passionate call for simple wisdom and experience as against the unrealistic theories and elaborate prescriptions of academic medicine. Agrippa's invectives against the latter and those who profess it are couched in the same terms and based on the same arguments as those of Paracelsus. Physicians, Agrippa says, acquire their knowledge from incorrect hooks, while the "old wife" searches wood and field for the individual plants, learning their colours, forms, taste, scent and species, and, according to her experience of their virtues, administers the surest remedy free of charge to everyone. 301 Agrippa's criticism like

299

300 301

Agrippa's Preface to the Reader and Meiners, C.: Lehensheschreihungen heriihmter Manner aus den Zeiten der Wiederherstellung der Wissenschaften. Zurich 1795, vol. 1, p. 390. See above, p. 8. See for further detail W. Pagel in: Religious Motives .in the Medical Biology of the XVIl 1h Century. Bull. Hist. Med. 1935, vol. Ill, pp. 120-123, with reference to Agrippa's famous work on the Uncertainty and Vanity of All Sciences and Arts (1530). It is quite true that Paracelsus himself disapproved of Agrippa whom - together with Pietro d'Ahano and Trithemius - he found wanting in illumination and true understanding of the occult (De Occulta Philosophia. Preface. Ed. Sudhoff, vol. XIV, p. 514). This in no way detracts from the debt which Paracelsus owes to Agrippa's work. See also: Strebel, J.: Plotin und Paracelsus iiher Horoskopie und Schicksal. Nova Acta Paracels. 1946, III, 100. It may he noted in passing that Lorenz Fries was an acquaintance common to Agrippa and Paracelsus (see above p. 23 and Wickersheimer, E., Deux Regimes de Sante: Laurent Fries etc. Themecht 1957, I, 4, with further references).

Agrippa: Occult Virtues. Spirit

297

that of Paracelsus is informed by religious ideas and motives and it is through these that he arrives at the recommendation of simple empiricism. The Occult Virtues, the World Soul, the Spirit (Quinta Essentia) and Sympathy We have quoted Agrippa's Occult Philosophy before when discussing his opinion that gastric digestion is not due to a known "elemental" quality, namely heat, hut to an "occult virtue'', unknown to us in its mode of operation, hut accessible to empirical experience.302 These "occult virtues" are the "seminal principles" or the "vestiges" and "shadows" (umbrae) of the divine ideas bestowed on all species of natural objects. For each species in the lower world there is a corresponding celestial species ("figura coelestis") in the stars.303 Democritus, Orpheus and many Pythagoreans agreed that "all is full of Gods'', i.e. of divine virtues pervading all things. The soul of one being can step out and enter another, and can deprive it of its power by fascination just as steel hinders a magnet from attracting iron. Since the soul is the first principle and mobile by itself in contrast to bodies and matter which are not, there is the need for something intermediate, as it were not body already soul, or not soul hut already body. Such an intermediary joining the soul to the body is the spirit of the world, the "fifth essence" - something not composed of the four elements, but above and outside them. The spirit in the body of the world is the same as the spirit in the body of man. Just as the powers of our soul are linked to the limbs through the spirit, so the virtue of the soul of the world is diffused everywhere through the "fifth essence". The spirit is drawn into things through the rays of the stars corresponding to them. Through this spirit all "occult properties" are communicated to herbs, stones, metals and animated beings. The spirit and its action can he intensified by those who either know how to extract it or at least know the use of objects which have it in abundance. Such objects in which spirit is less submerged by body and is not kept down by matter are more powerful and perfect than others and can more easily generate their own likes. For all generative and seminal virtue is in the spirit. Hence alchemists strive to separate ( secernere) this spirit from gold and silver, in order to make gold and silver by adding it 302 303

See above p. 158. De Occulta Philosophia .. Lih. I, cap. 10-20. Ed. Lugduni 1550, pp. 23-45. Lugduni s. a. (1600), pp. 17-31.

298


Agrippa on Sympathy and Air

to matter of the same sort, i.e. to any other metal. Agrippa intimates that he himself is conversant with the method and has seen the work performed, hut he was never able to produce gold exceeding the quantity from which he had extracted the spirit. He will not deny, however, that this might he possible by other methods. The virtues of natural objects are the products of an "occult" sympathy ( similitudo) prevailing between them and not accessible to any reasoning or calculation of elemental qualities, quantities or proportions. It is accessible, however, to empirical experience and conjecture. Sympathy means that each object moves towards and fuses with its like, a tendency recognisable in the activity displayed by its specific ("occult") property as well as in its elemental composition ("quality"). Activity !lleans motion not towards something inferior, hut to something equal and corresponding ("ad sui par et consentaneum").

Stoic and Neoplatonic interpreters of Platonic cosmology.305 Air as the vector of cosmic pneuma occupies an exalted position in the cosmology of Paracelsus in which it appears in close connection with the "Mysterium Magnum" - the power responsible for life in the universe.306 Similarly Agrippa teaches that air concentrates into itself all the celestial influxes and communicates with all single elements; like a divine mirror, it reflects all things made by nature and art and all languages and speech. Penetrating into the pores of the skin, it forces all that it carries into man - to whom it appears in the form of dreams and prophecies. Hence the terror instilled in those who pass by places where murder has been committed, for the air in these places contains the "species" of murder. It is through this receptive and transmissive power of air that man can transmit messages over wide distances by mere mental concentration and transference to the air. Agrippa himself had practised this and so had Trithemius. Plotinus already taught that certain images ("idols") not only of a spiritual, hut also of a natural character emanate from objects, coalesce as it were in air, and come into sight or other sensual perception by light or motion. Hence the mirroring of distant objects in clouds, hence images conjured up in the air by means of mirrors, effects attributed by the uneducated to demons and the images of souls. It is also known that in a dark room with only a small opening for light a paper placed opposite to it will mirror all the events outside. Images and inscriptions exposed to the beams of the moon can he read at a great distance in the disc of the moon, into which they are reflected hack. All this follows from mathematical and physical laws. What is true in optics is also applicable to acoustics.307

What has lain close to salt for some time assumes a salty character and eventually becomes salt. Our digestive power converts food not into herbs or plants, but into human flesh. Intense heat, cold, boldness, fear, love, hate or any other emotion or passion tends to transmit itself. to somebody else. Fire moves towards and fuses with fire, water with water, boldness with boldness. Thus brain is a remedy for diseases of the brain, lung for those of the lung. The paws of a tortoise help in gout when applied foot to foot, hand to hand, right to right and left to left. A sterile animal and in particular its testicles, uterus and urine tend to induce sterility. In order to produce a certain effect we must choose an animal or other object in which the desired property is normally strong. If it is love which we want to induce, we must take from a turtle-dove, sparrow, leech ~r wagtail the parts in which the venereal urge is localised: i.e. the heart, testicles, uterus, penis, semen or menstrual discharge - and these at the time of rut. To induce boldness, the heart, eyes or forehead of a lion or cock are suitable. Agrippa recites a long list of such expedients. 304 Similar rules apply to the primordial antipathy between natural objects and its use in the reproduction of certain effects.

Agrippa on Air The air is the vital spirit which penetrates all and confers life and consistency to all - linking, moving and filling all. Hence the Rabbis regarded it not as an element, hut as a medium and glue which connects separate things. Air is thus visualised as the link between macrocosm and microcosm, the carrier of vital pneuma and therefore animated in itself - ideas that can he retraced via Hildegard of Bingen to Poseidonius, Seneca and ~ther

306

306

307 3o4

In these strangely enough the prostitute plays a prominent part. She by herself induces boldness, fearlessness, impudence and luxuriousness and even her clothes or mirror will do so. Cap. 15 and 16, loc. cit., ed. 1550, pp. 34-37.

299

See Liebeschiitz, H.: Das Allegorische Weltbild der Heiligen Hildegard von Bingen. Leipzig 1930, pp. 70-71, with reference to the "tonus" in certain strata of the air, as assumed by Hildegard. In kabbalistic tradition the world ("space") was created by a concentration and limitation of God ("Zimzum"). The "space" thus produced is also called "original air". It is not "empty", but acts as a "vessel" containing and limiting the divine splendour and light. It is through the creation of this vessel that various gradations of darkness and thereby our perception and share of divine splendour are made possible. Joel, D.H., Die Religionsphilosophie des Sohar. 1849 (Reprint Berlin 1918), p. 200. See above, p. 140. The transmissive power of air is a topic extensively treated by Paracelsus ("Chaomantia"). See Philos. Sagax. Lib. I, cap. 4, ed. princ. 1571, fol. 31, recto. De Occulta Philosophia. I, 6. Ed. Lugd. 1550, pp. 13-16. Camera obscura on p. 15: "Et notum est, si qnis in loco obscuro, et omnis luminis experte, nisi quod per minimum foramen solis radius alicubi ingrediatur, supposita illi papyro alba, aut speculo plano, videri in ea quaecumque foris a sole illustrata agantur."

300


The Power of Imagination in Agrippa's Occult Philosophy The passions of the soul are not only powerful in directing the body hut also operate outside it. They can act on all objects in nature and remove as well as produce diseases of the body and soul. Thus, a soul strongly elated and fired by vehement imagination induces health or disease not only in its own body, hut also in other people. Avicenna believed that somebody's imagination can make a camel fall. Images of dogs will appear in the urine of a patient with rabies. The desire of a pregnant woman impresses the mark of the desired object on the fetus in the womb or causes any malformation or monstrosity. The intention of a witch to inflict damage makes a man powerless by the fascination of her gaze fixed upon him; similarly, the gaze of the toad and basilisk can kill. Plague and Leprosy are transmitted by vapours exhaled, the latter being products of a morbid imagination. What is harmful is not the vapour itself, hut the action of the soul which the vapour conveys - since the soul is superior in "power, strength, fervour and mobility" to any such material as vapour. Hence the philosophers enjoin us to avoid traffic with evil and those unfortunate men whose souls, full of noxious rays, infest with dangerous contagion those whom they reach. A power exceeding that of mere imagination must he expected from reason and the mind - in as much as these excel imagination. The mind, directing its full intention towards the Divine and towards a certain beneficial effect can direct something divine to its own or another hody.3°8

In all this, coordination with celestial influences is paramount. For the spirit is much more prone to unite with and he influenced by celestial forces than any matter. By imagination and reason our soul can accommodate itself ("imitatione quadam") to any of the stars, and thus becomes a receptacle of its influx and its specific offices ("munerihus"). The contemplating mind, separating itself from all perception, imagination, natural bonds and deliberation, operates by "belief". By this Agrippa understands the intense fixation and concentration of a person's attention on what can help or give strength for a particular task to be performed. In this way an image arises in us of the power to he acquired or of the result to be achieved. We must, therefore, be actuated in any activity or use of objects by vehement emotion, imagination, hope and the firmest belief. Thus physicians have experienced the power for health which lies in firm confidence, unshakeable hope and love for the doctor and his medicine. Together with the remedy it is the strong mind of the physician that can alter the qualities in the patient's body, especially when the latter cooperates by giving the physician and the remedy his confidence. Hence, the magic operator must stand firm in belief and unhesitating confidence in the eventual success of his work.309 308 De Occulta Philosophia. Lih. I, cap. 65. Lugduni 1550, p. 151. Lugduni 1600, p. 104. 309 Ihid.,lih. I, cap. 66, loc. cit. Ed. 1550, p. 154; ed. 1600, p. 106.

Agrippa: Power of Imagination

301

A person of superior emotional strength can, by the appropriate use of natural objects, confer the power of binding and attracting on others with less intense emotions. Binding others in admiration betrays superior solar virtue, in servitude or weakness lunar, in quiet sadness saturnine, in veneration jovial, in fear and discord martial, in love and gaiety venereal, in persuasion and obedience mercurial power. To counteract this power and dissolve its attraction, an opposite stellar virtue must he used. If you fear Venus, bring Saturn into the field, if Saturn or Mars, oppose them by Venus or Jupiter.310 For there is a power of altering, attracting, impeding and binding things and man to that which the soul vehemently desires. What is below is hound in subjection to what is above. Hence the lion is afraid of the cock, since the solar virtue attaches itself.more strongly to the latter than the former, and the magnet attracts iron because it occupies a higher rank in the sphere dominated by the constellation of the Bear. Steel311 impedes the Loadstone to which it is superior in the Order of Mars.

All this almost literally epitomises the lengthy discourses of Paracelsus on the power of imagination and belief. We refer to our chapter on this topic. It is traditional material expounded by Agrippa, Paracelsus and many other contemporary writers. There is no point in going here into the "history of magic and experimental science" prior to the XVlth century - as it has been completely covered in recent times by Thorndike. Paracelsus cannot claim any originality in this field - other than the elaboration of the idea of magic for medicine and pathological theory as seen for example in his concepts of Plague, Syphilis and other infectious diseases.

Middle XVIth Century opposition to Galen Joannes Argenterius and Paulus Mazinus Arvernus Paracelsus' revolt against Galen was not only the first and the most violent before the end of the XVlth century, hut also the most general. Vesalius' (1514-1564) opposition to Galen, for example, was concerned only with Anatomy, not with his system of medicine as a whole. In spite of the immediate success of Vesalius' anatomy, Galenic medicine remained paramount for centuries. Yet not long after the death of Paracelsus it was subjected to a systematic attack by Johannes Argenterius (1513-1572).31 2 310 Ibid., lib. I, cap. 68, ed. 1600, p. 108. 311 "Adamas" is steel and not diamond in this connection. See E. 0. von Lippmann, Ahhandlungen und Vortriige zur Geschichte der Naturwissenschaften, vol. II, Leipzig 1913, p. 39. 312 For a general account of Argenterius see in particular Spreng el, K.: Pragmat. Geschichte

302

303


Argenterius: Censure of Galen

It is of particular interest that Argenterius appears to he quite mdependent of Paracelsus, his main works having been published in the early fifteen fifties, before those of Paracelsus appeared. Nor were his pupils and defenders Rainerus Solenander (1524-1601) and Laurent Joubert (1529-1583) imbued with Paracelsus' ideas. 313 Nor, finally, is there any close resemblance to Paracelsus in the arguments used by Argenterius, who largely relied upon logical reasoning and a scholastic refutation of Galen. He chiefly used Galen's own weapon of argumentation, and hardly ever appealed to observation or to any of Paracelsus' philosophical ideas such as the concordances between man and the cosmos. Yet we cannot ignore an outspoken critic of Galen who followed almost immediately on Paracelsus; we therefore briefly review his arguments. In this we follow Argenterio's first work, comprising seven treatises

On Disease, published in 1550. 314 His Medical Consultations appeared next - in 1551.315 Then, in 1553, his Errors of Ancient Physicians and in the same year his Commentaries on Galen's Art of Medicine were puhlished. 316 Among further works that "On Sleep and Wakefulness" became particularly well known, as it contained a rejection of Galen's doctrine of spirits. 317 Argenterius - like Paracelsus - led an irregular life and was a controversial figure - widely opposed and not universally recognised as a successful practitioner. He had drifted from Italy to Lyons, then via Antwerp to Turin, Pisa, Naples, Rome and finally hack to Turin. Argenterius says: Neither Aristotle nor Galen hesitated to censure and correct their predecessors. Why then should we remain in a state of blind submission to these authors - instead of searching for the truth, which lies not with authorities, hut the object itself and with the principles and reasons appropriate to it. 318 Not disputation and reasoning hut the analysis and synthesis of individual facts, of causes and effects, is the natural highway to truth. There is no use whatever in the attempts to reconcile diverging authorities or passages in which a single author contradicts himself. He who makes up a defence for an author implicitly accuses the critic of this author of calumny or ignorance. Who ever of the ancient classics like Plato, Aristotle and Theophrastus bothered to reconcile the opinions of others ? Hence let us follow the proven way of these classics and seek for proof in our senses and minds, let us believe nobody, hut put forward freely all that we have found to he true. Let us reject those who are in high repute and by whose authority weak minds may he overawed. Let us rescue this divine method from sophistic corruption and obscurity. 31 9 Galen's definition of disease as a disturbance of function is unsatisfactory - for such disturbance is hut the consequence of an alteration of

3 13

der Arzneykunde. 3rd ed., vol. III, Halle 1827, pp. 357-363, on whose excellent notes most subsequent historians seem to have relied. For bibliography see also: Haeser: Geschichte. 3rd ed., vol. II, Jena 1881, p. 124. Wernich in Biographisches Lexicon der hervorragenden Arzte. Ed. Wernich and Hirsch. Wien and Leipzig 1884, vol. I, p. 188. More recently: Thorndike, Lynn: Hist. of Magic, vol.VI, New York 1941, pp. 226-228; 212 As Solenander's biographer Iwan Bloch points out, he was a friend of John Wierus, the pupil of Agrippa of N ettesheym; hut then, Wierus was no adinirer of Paracelsus (as we have seen before, p. 127): Bloch, I.: Der rheinische Arzt Solenander und die Geisteskrankheit des Herzogs Albrecht Friedrich von Preussen. Klin-Therapeut. Wschr. 1922, Nr. 17/18 (special reprint published by the Berliner Gesellschaft fiir Geschichte der Naturwissenschaften und Medizin in honour of I. Bloch's 50th birthday on April 3th 1922). Solenander wrote a hook on the doctrine of signatures ("De characteristicis") which was never printed (Bloch, loc. cit.), but he mentions "signatures" in his Consilia (IV, 20; p. 381, ed. Francof. 1596). He also wrote a hook on hot spas (De Caloris fontium medicatorum causa. Lugd. 1558) which reports some careful analyses of spa water, particularly at Lucca. Interest in spas was keen during the second half of the XVIth century - as the example of the Antiparacelsist Erastus shows (see p. 311 ). Solenander's maiden treatise - his defence of Argenterius (Reineri Solenandri Medici Apologia qua Julio Alexandrino respondetur pro Argenterio Florentiae 1556) consists of a nmuber of scholastic arguments which are of no interest in our context. At the end, however, he has something interesting to say about the need of progress in medicine beyond the confines of the Galenic system. Such progress, he says, had been made in his own time in materia medica, in surgery, in anatomy, in the use of mineral waters - he dates the book from Lucca - and in the preparation of the Quinta Essentia. This, he calls an ingenious invention which, through the dissolution of all sorts of objects by heat, distillation, putrefaction and imbihition with diverse juices and liquors, arrives at the preparation of substances which are indispensable not only in medicine (and notably in surgery), but also in many other arts. In all this medicine has advanced beyond Galen whose errors were generally recognised. Why should Argenterius alo11e he denied the right of uncovering further errors of the ancients? (loc. cit., pp. 176-177). - On Joubert see Jul. Pagel in Biographisches Lexikon hervorragender Arzte, vol. III, p. 417. - Concerning his leaning to superstition and his work on "Popular Errors" see Thorndike, Lynn: Hist. of Magic, vol. VI, p. 220.

314

315

316

317 318

319

Joannis Argenterii Castellonovensis Medicinae in Academia Pisana Professoris Varia Opera de Re Medica ad Magnanimum Principem Cosmum Medicem. Florentiae. In officina Laurent. Torrentini 1550. Fol. Reprinted in octavo as De Morbis Lihri XVI. Florence 1556; Lyons 1558 (only the octavo editions are quoted in the literature. The present account is based on a copy of the folio edition in the possession of the author). De Consultationihus medicis sive de collegiandi ratione. Florent. 1551. Haeser gives 1549 (Geschichte der Medizin, 3rd ed., vol. II, Jena 1881, p. 124), others have 1553. De Erroribus Veterum Medicor. Florent. 1553. - In Artem Medicinalem Galeni commentarii tres nempe de corporibus, de signis et de causis salubribus. Paris 1553. Monte Reggio 1556. De Somno et Vigilia. Lib. duo. Florent. 1556. "ex propriis rei principiis et rationibus." Varia Opp. de Re Medica, 1550, loc. cit. Preface ad Lectores, p. 16. Ibid., p. 19.

304

Mazinus: The Elements


the composition and structure of the body. Health is therefore symmetry the middle between extremes; and disease an "ametria" - an upsetting of the natural balance in composition and structure. 320 It follows that we cannot accept such doctrines as the one that local tumours develop through a flow of humours. Some at least are local deposits of material that has not flowed from elsewhere, hut has slowly accumulated in a certain part which was unable to deal properly with its nutriment. Such sluggish lesions as scirrhi, warts or ascites cannot possibly he attributed to humoral flow whereas "hot" - inflammatory- changes, which can, develop within a very short time. For humours that are hot are mobile and not likely to collect slowly at one place; they are prone to putrefy when held in the vessels or to cause pain - an event which does not attend chronic affections. Oedema is a different case; its daily waxing and waning reveals as its cause a humour flowing into that part from elsewhere. 321 Disease is, therefore, a local rather than a metastatic affection - at all events more often than dogmatic humoralism would allow. Moreover, Argenterius favours a single vital force - innate heat - instead of the various spirits of Galen. He likewise opposes the elementary qualities (hot, cold, dry, wet) as factors responsible for the shape, surface and composition of a body (its so-called "secondary qualities"). Yet Argenterius is still a firm believer in the significance of the humours for health and disease. 322 In this he agrees with Galen - whom he attacks, however, for his failure to treat the subject methodically and for errors in detail. On the whole his criticism is purely negative; he has nothing new to put in the place of Galen's theories and cannot therefore he compared with Paracelsus. More important for our purpose than Argenterius is his immediate contemporary Paulus Mazinus. The latter's treatise antedates by a few years the main anti-Galenic works of the former, with which it has some common traits in general as well as in detail.

Opposition to the traditional doctrine of the elements in the middle of the XVIth century Mazinus, Fernel and Paracelsus Paulus Mazinus published his unorthodox views ("Paradoxa") on the elements in a small hardly-ever noticed treatise in 1549. 323 It is a modest effort and in no way compares with the titanic battle waged by Paracelsus against the ancient elements and humours. It simply states a dissentient point of view in general terms. But its ideas are strangely close to the Paracelsean opposition. Mazinus says that none of the philosophers rightly assessed the difference between natural actions and those that are a divine and supernatural prerogative. For all have sought the causes of things in matter rather than in heaven. Hence they have done away with creation and not looked for the manifest vestiges and works of the "highest architect" which founded and still govern the cosmos.324 Some of the ancients received not a few pieces of divine knowledge veiled, as it were, in a shadow through the Egyptians, Chaldeans and Hehrews. 325 Is this not in itself an admonition that those who have seen the light of truth in Christ should at last transcend the limited knowledge of the ancients ? The nature and place of the elements should not be learnt from putrid and denatured products, hut from the purest and most productive source of knowledge which is beyond Hippocrates and Aristotle. It was in God's power to create elements more numerous and subtle than those which are visible. Hence it should he unambiguously stated that we consist not of a mixture of the visible "elements" and of qualities (as assumed by the ancients), hut of true elements that are distinctly separated.326 What appear to us as fire and water are not true elements. The first true elements were an aethereal fire and air. In contrast to our visible fire, which is merely hot and destructive, aethereal fire enlivens, nurtures and tends. Air by virtue of its fatty moisture maintains the aethereal fire, whereas visible moisture (water) extinguishes and antagonises it. As both

323

320 321 322

De Morbi generibus, cap. 1, loc. cit., p. 4. De Causis Morborum. Lib. II, cap. 6, loc. cit., p. 81. "Sunt porro inter causas sanitatis et morbi praecipue humores." De Signis Demonstrativis. Lib. II, cap. 7, loc. cit., 1550, p. 201.

305

324 325 32s

Pauli Mazini Aruerni: De Elementorum Natura et eorum Situ Paradoxa ad Carolum Toumemine ahbatem de Boumet Regisque Eleemosynarium. Parisiis. Ex typographia Matthaei Davidis via amygdalina ad Veritatis insigne. 1549, 46 pp. This treatise was issued together with the same author's: De Rerum N aturalium Generatione Paradoxa. Paris 1549 (Brit. Mus. 536 a 2). Pp. 4-5. Pp. 14 and 15. P. 20.

Mazinus : The Elements


306

PAP.. JS

I l

aethereal fire and air were too fine and light to give substance to objects, God created visible fire and water. However, these are not elements, hut from elements; fire from aethereal fire, and water from air. The theories put forward by the ancient philosophers regarding the elements and their qualities obviously appertain to the visible - secondary - products of the true - primordial - elements. How could this remain hidden for so long and any addition to or correction of Aristotelian dogma he frowned upon as sacrilegious ?327 The secondary "elements" can generate and nurture nothing, either by themselves or when mixed and acting together. Hence, the ancient system had to be based on the theory of a permanent process of "corruption": from corrupted earth, water was supposed to derive, from corrupted water air, from corrupted air fire, and from corrupted fire air. It was also supposed that contrary principles were present in the same subject and that everything was contained in everything potentially. Others argued that it is only by a mixture of qualities and not of substances that things are formed, and some even supposed air and water to arise from earth.3 28 From all this sprang the belief in harmony - where there is only permanent horror. Mazinus, on the other hand, holds that qualities are as cleanly separated as elements. There is no room for something warm and dry, moist and warm, dry and cold, cold and moist. Water is of all elements the heaviest and always has a tendency to flow downwards. So it has to he in order to insure the widest possible separation of the coldest from the hottest (i.e. fire) - and thereby to avoid destruction of the world. Hence life is a gift from above - the realm of the aethereal fire, whereas death comes from the cold regions below. In this way the active forces in nature - hot and cold - occupy positions at the extremities, whereas the passive qualities - moisture and dryness - are situated in the centre. Hence the Bible tells us that the earth lies above the waters and these duly appear when earth is dug up.329 Water is also the heaviest, because it is at the same time the coldest and densest among the elements. However, heaviness is not influenced by moisture or dryness. For heated water is lighter than cold water, though just as moist as the latter. In the same way hot iron is lighter than cold iron, and man warm and

St

, Ex typographia Matth&tt Dau1dis,'Via amygdalina, ad Veritatis inftgne. I

)

4

,.

C V M P R. T V I L E. G 1 O.

327 32s 329

Fig. 34. A polemical treatise against the traditional doctrine of the elements from the middle of the XVJth century, appearing eight years after the death of Paracelsus. Paulus •

_____

l\.T _.._ _____ ...

c..: ....... D ............ ...l ..... "",..

JJ ......~~ 1 c;.AO

307

"Pi+l,::r. ntmcrP

P. 23. P. 26. P. 30.

308


Fernel: Elements. Mixture. Generation

alive is lighter than his cold and dead body. Hot objects are richer in "spirits" than cold things. 330 Fire is the most noble element - being predominantly warm and well balanced in moisture and dryness. Air follows, being predominantly moist and well balanced in temperature. Water, and not, as some believe, air, is predominantly cold and not predominantly moist, hut balanced in moisture and dryness. Earth is predominantly dry and balanced in temperature. 331 Fire and water as the active elements are hot and cold "actually" and dry and moist "potentially", whereas the passive air and earth are hot and cold "potentially" and moist and dry "actually". What is "actual" in the active - "male" - and "potentiaP' in the passive - "female" - operates in generation - a genuine Aristotelian doctrine with which the treatise concludes,: However, in spite of his adherence to certain features of the Aristotelian doctrine of the elements, Mazinus mainly opposes the interpretation of visible fire, air, water and earth as the "elements". His consequent rejection of the traditional theories of qualities, mixture, corruption and coming into being, and his appeal in favour of a search for the invisible genuine elements· and truth, strongly remind us of Paracelsean cosmology expounded in the Philosophia ad Athenienses and other treatises. 332 The present writer has been unable to trace any external evidence as to a relationship of Mazinus with Paracelsean lore. Nor could he find any other data indicating Mazinus' place in XVJth century thought. It seems likely, however, that he belongs to the group of "juniores" who are criticised by Fernel. 333 In their opinion the true elements are not met with as such in

nature, nor would they bear combining and mixing. Hence in us not the substances, hut merely the qualities of the elements are present. Matter used up in a new combination thus loses its "species", as soon as this comes into being. Against this, Fernel argues, there are hut a few bodies which display the qualities in full purity - namely earth, water, air and fire, whereas the majority of bodies contain the same qualities in a "depressed", i.e. mixed and not obviously perceptible state. Thus, we call bread, meat, wine, pepper and many other things hot, just as we call cartilage, membranes nerve and hone dry. In all these heat and dryness are not obvious - as they are in fire or earth. Yet pure elements and qualities do exist and form the principles and sources from which the constituents of the multitude of bodies are formed. In the centre of the universe pure earth is to he found - most heavy, most dry and utterly devoid of all humour; in the hollow and at the internal surface of heaven, fire - most light and burning, yet not translucent and luminous as our fire, which is hut burning smoke.· For luminosity is consequent upon the mixture of fire with some dense body alight. The elements, therefore, retain their original pure substance only at the extreme ends of the cosmos. Yet the elements remain as such through the conversion of one object into another. For instance, those which constitute a plant remain when the latter is converted iii.to blood and flesh by digestion. Aristotle had seen this when defining the element as the first constituent of any composite body and the last into which the latter is divided. 334 Elsewhere he asserts 335 that in flesh and wood fire and earth are contained potentially and recoverable from them manifestly. How, Fernel asks, could this happen if these had been lost when the constituents of flesh and wood were mixed, as the "juniores" maintain. "Mixture" must he distinguished from "generation". This, unlike the former, is due to the combination of contrary qualities endowed with unequal force and coming together in unequal proportions. In simple "mixture" contrary qualities are combined with each other - just as in generation. This, however, is accomplished when different things are combined in such a way that one of them vanquishes the other and forces

330 331

s32

333

P. 32. Pp. 35-36. See before p. 92. Concerning the sources of Mazinus, mere opposition to the ancient doctrine of the elements does not in itself indicate Paracelsean influence. With reference to Dorn, a confirmed Paracelsist, Thorndike says that his distinction of two original and two derivative elements "might seem more in the manner of the sixteenth century, when various such modifications of the four elements theory were suggested". On the other hand such mediaeval authors as Morienus and Alhertus had already regarded fire and water as the original elements and parents of earth and air (History of Magic vol. V, p. 633). - In this connection the modification of ancient theories about the elements by Jerome Cardan (1501-1576) may he mentioned (De Suhtilitate - 1550 Lib. II, Lugd. 1559, p. 44; De Rerum Varietate Basil. 1557, Lib. I, cap. 2, p. 21). This, however, does not seem to have influenced his early critical work on contemporary medicine (Hieronymi Castellionei Cardani Medici Mediolanensis De Malo recentiorum Medicorum Medendi Usu. Venet. 1536; second ed. - often erroneously regarded as the first ed. - ibid. 1545). Nor was Cardan influenced by Paracelsus. "Contra juniores, qui elementorum solas vires, non idem suhstantias in nohis putant inesse." De Elementis. Lib. II, cap. 6. Universa Medicina Trajecti ad Rh. 1656, p. 60. Heurnius, the editor of the 1656 edition of Fernel's Universa Medicina, nominates

334 336

309

Avicenna as exponent of this opinion (imputed to him by Averroes- lib. 3, de Coelo I, 67), hut says that Fernel's criticism is really levelled against Thomas (De generatione et corruptione, cap. 10) and Scotus (2 Sent. Distinct. 15). It is well known that Fernel opposed Argenterius especially concerning the nature of fever. It is probable that the group of the "Juniores" comprised all anti-Galenists - Mazinus, Argenterius as well as Paracelsus and their respective pupils. V, metaph., cap. 3. III, De Coelo, cap. 3.

311


Ferne!: Occult Qualities

it to become something else. Hence there is no generation of one without corruption of another - as Aristotle taught. In mixture, however, although is produces something new, nothing of the original constituents perishes or evanesces. Fernel's well known firm adherence to ancient tradition is perhaps best epitomised in the criticism which he levels against any contradiction to the ancient doctrine of the elements and qualities, of their combination ("mixture") and of generation and corruption. How far Fernel's criticism was directed against Paracelsus is difficult to say. He may have had knowledge of the few literary remains published prior to his death (1558). More likely he was acquainted with Mazinus - a compatriot writing at the time of Fernel's greatest productivity. True to the custom of his period, Fernel gives hut sparse quotations from contemporaries. For example, Leonicenus is the only contemporary referred to in the "Dialogues", and Monardes and Antonius Musa are mentioned in the treatise on Syphilis. 336 Others such as Montanus appear as "quidam",33 7 At all events, Mazinus offers points of special interest in his early Paracelsean views on the elements and his rejection of ancient doctrine, as refuted in turn by Fernel. From Mazinus we may derive indirect information on Fernel's response to Paracelsean ideas.

The latter attributed a biological phenomenon to an "Occult Quality", because of the innumerable possible ways in which qualities and humours can he mixed and combined. The possibilities are too numerous to he comprehended. Similarly Arnald of Villanova had argued three hundred years before Fernel.338 There is, however, a fundamental ideological difference between the "Occult Quality" of Fernel and his mediaeval predecessors on the one hand and the "Invisible Force" of Paracelsus on the other. The former authors basically remain Galenists: their occult quality is still opposed to a mixture of humours and qualities - however difficult to grasp. By contrast, Paracelsus replaces the humours and qualities altogether by something else. This is a specific substance. As such it is definable in chemical terms and therefore real. It has nothing to do with entities of reason discerning between objects and phenomena by means of logic and argument, i.e. it is not an Ens Rationis - for this does not belong to the reality of Nature. It is "occult", because it is not visible at once, hut has to he made evident by the art of chemistry. But it is not "occult" in the sense of Fernel, i.e. because it cannot he grasped by reason.

310

Erastus' Censure of Paracelsus Paracelsus and the "Occult Qualities" of Fernel Paracelsus deprecated any explanation of biological processes in terms of the ancient qualities and humoral mixtures which he regarded as fictitious. Instead, he searched for the true driving force which is hidden in objects and phenomena of nature. In this he seems to pursue aims similar to the reformation of Galenic Medicine as introduced shortly afterwards by Fernel. 336

337

See Sherrington, C.: The endeavour of Jean Fernel. Cambridge 1946, pp. 131, 183. In his delightful hook Sherrington confines himself to general remarks on Ferne! and Paracelsus, nor does he mention Fernel's criticism of the "juniores" in the doctrine of the Elements. In fact, Ferne! seems to have been acquainted with the ideas of Paracelsus through Jacques Gohory (Leo Suavius), the well known Paracelsist - commentator of the "De Vita Longa" and author of a compendium of Paracelsean Philosophy and Medicine, antedating the similar work of Peter Severinus by three years (Basil.1568). See for detail: Walker, D.P., Spiritual and Demonic Magic. loc. cit. 1958, p. 101. Fernel's "Dialogue" On the Occult Causes first appeared in 1548 - perhaps before any such influence could have made itself palpable. Yet the wide admission in this "Dialogue" of the divine, non-elemental ("astral") substance and its decisive influence on natural objects, functions, diseases and in particular the soul may he in some measure indebted to this influence. De medicamentorum praeparatione. Lib. IV, cap. II, ed. 1656, p. 362.

Thomas Liebler, called Erastus (1523-1583), of Baden in Switzerland, represents the entrenched academic outlook as it was towards the end of the sixteenth century. 339 Trained in Italy (1544-1555) as a philosopher, 338

339

See the present author in: Religious Motives in the Medical Biology of the XVIlth Century. Bull. Hist. Med., 1935, 3, 97-128. For biographical detail see: Melchior Adam: Vitae Germanorum Medicorum. Haidelhergae 1620, p. 242. For an account of Erastus' treatises other than the Disputations against Paracelsus: Thorndike, Lynn: A History of Magic and Experimental Science. Vol. V, New York 1941, pp. 652-667. Among these his treatise against Astrology (1569) has been particularly noted. It is dedicated to Counts William and George Ernest of Henneberg at Meiningen to whom Erastus acted as physician in ordinary until he was called to the chair at Heidelberg (1558). He remained consultant physician to George Ernest whom he accompanied to the watering place of Kissingen. From a letter to Camerarius we know that Erastus analysed the mineral water with oak-gall water for vitriol and alum. The letter is couched in observational terms and is one of the outstanding documents of early and sound halneology. See for references: Heffner, L.: Kissingen, seine Salz- und Mineralquellen. Arch. hist. Verein von Unterfranken. Wiirzhurg 1854; Pfister, H.: Bad Kissingen vor vierhundert J ahren. Wiirzhurg 1954, pp. 24-26. - "Erastianism" concerns the supremacy of the state in ecclesiastical affairs. Erastus for example affirms the right of civil authority to punish the sins of professing Christians (Explicatio gravissimae questionis. Pesclavii - London - 1589; written in 1568).

312

313


Erastus' Censure

theologian and physician, he became Professor of these subjects at Heidelberg. He also served on Protestant church councils as a delegate for the Palatinate and Wiirttemberg.

in his treatise on the "Occult Virtues of Pharmaca" and also in not a few places in his comprehensive "Disputations on the New Medicine of Paracelsus" - the s{ibject of this chapter.340 The character, attainments and methods of Paracelsus

THOMAS

ERASTVS

Erastus offers a critical survey of the work of Paracelsus as a whole, probing into its general philosophy as well as its scientific and medical premises and conclusions. He repeats and transmits many of the reports of Paracelsus' unconventional behaviour and chequered career and dwells at length upon his failures in notable cases.341 In view of Paracelsus' own utterances against the Jews it is of special interest that he was attacked by Erastus for his constant trafficking with Jews and the dregs of the people. 342 Also, from a letter by Crato, Erastus records that the Emperor Ferdinand regarded Paracelsus as a most mendacious and impudent impostor who had always refused contact with approved scholars. To Erastus, Paracelsus is the classical example of an obscurantist who revels in obscurity of expression as well as the expression of obscurity. There are various reasons for the former - all exhibited by Paracelsus. Such reasons include the awareness that the doctrines expounded are wrong; there is also the wish to put the reader to the same trouble through which the writer had gone himself before realising that he was wasting "oil and labour". He is also actuated by the desire to he regarded as the inventor of things which he never invented. Hence he most generously offers to others the treasures which he himself failed to find.

Fig. 35. Thomas Erastus. From: Pantaleone Prosopographiae Part III, p. 545. Basie 1566.

In this capacity he inaugurated a church dogma of his own - "Erastianism". In keeping with this adherence to religious dogma is his staunch defence of the traditional humoral doctrine and his angry impatience with the "occult" - astrology, magic and alchemy. In this he was not informed by the spirit of enlightened enquiry into nature, for he also believed in Satan, demons and witches whose prosecution and execution he zealously demanded. As in so many churchmen his convictions were the product of logical deduction rather than inspiration. Nor was he altogether opposed to the use of sound observation and reasoning. This is shown for example

Among these are the infernal - "tartaric" - names used by Paracelsus and his disciples to make palatable such dangerous and poisonous stuff as mercury, antimony and sublimate. 343 What little he did know of good 34°

Disputationes de Medicina Nova Paracelsi. Pars I in qua quae de remediis superstitiosis et magicis curationihus prodidit praecipue examinantur. Basileae apud Petrum Pernae s. a. (1572). - Pars Altera in qua Philosophiae Paracelsicae Principia et Elementa explorantur. s.l. 1572. - Pars Tertia in qua Dilucida et Solida Verae Medicinae Assertio et falsae vel Paracelsicae Confutatio continetur. s.l. 1572. - Pars Quarta et Ultima in qua Epilepsiae, Elephantiasis s. leprae, H ydropis, P()dagrae et Colici doloris vera curandi ratio demonstratur et Paracelsica solidissime confutatur. Basileae 1573. The work has become rare, especially the fourth volume which deals with Paracelsus' doctrine of special diseases, notably epilepsy, ascites, podagra and colic. There is no copy of part IV in the Wellcome Historical Medical Library and Temkin complained about its absence from American libraries. (The Falling Sickness. Baltimore 1945, p. 161). No copy of the whole work appears in the catalogue of the library of the Royal College of Physicians, London 1912, in which, however, other works of Erastus are listed. For the following account the author used his own copy of all four parts. au See later p. 327. 3 4 2 Disp. IV, p. 160: "Semper illi negotium fuisse cum Iudaeis et vilissimis ho minibus." 343 Disput., pars quarta. Basileae 1573, p. 11.

314

medicine, however, Paracelsus expressed in terms that were simple and intelligible enough. The rest he deliberately couched in mysterious nonsensical terms to cover up his fraud, and it was this same motive that drove Paracelsus from place to place. The upshot is: Paracelsus, driven by unbounded ambition and vanity, "vexed" the people - as seen from his nonsensical "Liber vexationum" and murdered them. He was original, however, in abolishing the knowledge of the ancients and replacing sane teaching by insane delusion, the certain by the uncertain, the comprehensible by the incomprehensible, truth by false names and doctrines, the useful by the useless, salubrious medicine by pestilential poison. 344 Treating Paracelsus' work as a system, Erastus was hound to become painfully aware of what appeared to the contemporary as Paracelsus' persistent and "fatal habit of contradicting himself". 345 It drives Erastus to such outbursts as "beast" and "grunting swine"346 - hurled against the man who refutes astrology with one breath only to admit and support it with the next.347 Erastus finds fault with Paracelsus' ignorance in the "Liberal Arts". He was a "Magus" whose association with the Devil inevitably emerges from his opinions and promises. Erastus admits, however, that he was also a student of Chemistry who taught the preparation of certain pharmaca and remedies. "We can grant him that he was a Chemist and a Magus. What else he knew would he difficult to say" 34B, for he was ignorant of languages and declared logic a pest. Categories did not exist for him. Hence no proper definition of diseases can he expected from him, nor any orderly marshalling of symptoms. As diseases in themselves are not apprehensible by the senses, their presence must he deduced from the symptoms - for example in pleurisy from the side pain, dyspnoea, fever, pulse and sputum. Only the ignorant peasant diagnoses them by dint of simple assertion - this, however, is the very diagnostic method of Paracelsus who moreover confused cause and effect in disease. Thus he identified the pathological condition of bladder obstruction with the substance of the stone which causes it -

3 44 345 346

3 47

343

Erastus' Censure


IV, p. 15. Pars I, p. 14, 16, 228. "Fatale est huic bestiae sibi ipsi contradicere." Ibid., p. 249: "Quam turpis sit oratio Paracelsi et quam foede in tam pauculis versibus sibi contradicat ... lege, quae in hoc capite sequuntur et quae deinde in eodem hoc lib. 2 capite 3 de libero arbitrio porcus ille grunnit." Ibid., p. 233. Part II, p. 4.

315

although Galen, as well as simple logic, would have taught him that the latter is irrelevant qua substance and of interest only as a cause of the condition. Paracelsus, however, had no teacher - boasting of being taught by God alone, angels, snakes, magic, by the world at large, the "Evestrum" and the Cahalah. These are the sources for his "Light of Nature" - in Erastus' eyes the light of the Devil, of evil spirits and of hell. 349 Paracelsus' Views of Creation These, to Erastus, are sheer heresy amounting to a fiat denial of creation. Paracelsus taught that objects were not the result of creation, but merely of separation and segregation from matter uncreated and eternally existing. 850 Thus, according to Paracelsus, Adam was not created by God, but a product of the devil; Christ, himself a sinner and subject to God's judgment, is regarded as a "Separator" rather than a "Creator". It follows that Man must be devoid of free will.

Paracelsus as a restorer of Gnostic heresy In all this Erastus finds the "pestilence of Arian and Mohammedan heresy" which Paracelsus inherited.851 He is worse than pagans such as Aristotle who observed reverence towards God and creation. In fact, Paracelsus renewed the pestilential errors of Gnostic heresy as professed by Simon Magus, Menander, Saturninus, Basilides, Carpocrates, Cerinthus - all of whom attributed the act of creation to the angels. Nor was he ashamed to subscribe to the dogma of Marcion which postulates three original principles. Nor finally was he repelled by the delirious nonsense of Cerdo and Manes who said that a "Mother of Life" - a power that made all - emanated from God. Nay, Paracelsus exceeded all these heresies - fabricating innumerable such "deunculi" that were capable of leading man to crime and evil. In this he almost equalled the most filthy heresy of the Egyptian V alentinus.

Belief in Miracles Paracelsus' belief in miracles appears to Erastus as another monstrous heresy. Paracelsus attributed miracles to certain natural forces which enable anybody - even a dog to enact them. Such forces are normally inborn such as the "Evestrum" which imparts prophetic gifts, others account for miraculous healing of incurable disease, for example the miraculous virtues of certain medicinal herbs. Sucli miracles belong to the realm of "magic" which teaches us to make blood from herbs and bread, and milk from dry wood, to cast out demons by characters and incantation and to preserve anything from corruption with the help of amulets. 349 35o

351

Ibid., p. 16. Disputat. de Medicina Nova Paracelsi. Pars I. Basileae apud Petrum Pernae. s. a. (1572), p. 4. Ibid., pp. 20, 29, 41.

316


Erastus' Censure

To Erastus, however, this is the type of magic which may, through the incantations of an old hag, destroy the fruit of a whole year's labour within an hour. This is seen from the attribution of miraculous effects by Paracelsus even to corpses - invoking a sympathy by which parts of a dead body attract their counterparts in the outside world. According to Erastus, such effects just do not exist. In short: Nature admits of no miracle - this is alien to Nature and possible for God alone.

Fascination - Incantation - Contagion

The Power of Imagination Paracelsus regarded this as one of the main driving forces in Nature. Erastus vigorously denies its significance, its only function being to preserve and reproduce images of absent objects. It acts by setting heat and spirits in motion and may thus display certain effects in health and disease - just as may any other psychic influence. Paracelsus, however, and similarly Pomponatius in his "blasphemous hook: On Incantations" maintain that it can he productive of an actual object. This has to be rejected, for an idea cannot he the efficient cause of any particular object or event. Thus, the art of medicine is a general norm and yardstick ("norma et regula") hut not the efficient cause - "principium" - of medication, just as little as the picture of a house in the mind of the builder is the efficient cause of house-building in general or of an individual house in particular. 352 Nor is the imagination of the mother the efficient cause of birth-marks in the child. Imagination implies a wish that something should happen. Where, however, is the mother who would wish 353 her child to hear a disfiguring mark? The reason for such birth-marks is an accidental event such as a sudden fall or mild trauma unnoticed by the mother which causes an abnormal movement of spirits and blood at an early stage of pregnancy when the tissues of the embryo are still very soft.354 Another such concept is the emission of spirits from the eye of a menstruating woman, supposed to make a mirror opaque. This is entirely fictitious: first because vision is not by the emission of spirits hut by the reception of something from outside. Secondly mirrors do not turn opaque in this way: if they did it would not he due to the action of spirits, hut to vapours emerging from the nose or mouth. Nor can menstrual blood be as harmful as is reputed since it supplies the original matter in which a fetus develops. 355

A clear distinction should he made between fictitious ideas such as fascination and incantation on the one hand and a real event such as the Contagium on the other. The contagium is putrid matter exhaled from a putrid humour. It may he emitted from anybody and will he harmful to everybody. Being an exhalation it can really leave the body. The power of fascination, however, is by definition limited to certain people endowed with special gifts. Fascination will affect only those whom the operator wishes. Finally "spirits" are the essential part of an object and therefore unable to leave it and make themselves into independent agents such as the contagia.356 Paracelsus had regarded the force and effects of imagination as unlimited. Erastus severely restricts them to the narrow field of the representation of images. This function is devoid of any direct effects on matter or events. For if it had such effects, the paranoid would really he what he thinks he is, such as a bird, a king, or dead. Erastus denies the existence of incantation and fascination. What he cannot deny is a possible action of the devil. Even here, however, the harmful effects of diabolic ceremonies are believed to he harmful rather than really so.357 Natural Magic - the Neoplatonic fallacy Together with Paracelsus, Neo-Platonism as a whole and Pomponatius in particular are the targets of Erastus' censure. Like Paracelsus, Pomponatius assumed that persons with prophetic gifts can exert power even over the stars. 358 The Neoplatonist believes in transitions between the spirit and the body, hence his belief in miracles worked by the "Intelligences" aided by the forces of heaven and demons. Hence the belief in magic, which "marries Heaven to Earth". 359 But, says Erastus, Heaven cannot act on Earth except through motion. Moreover, light can only heat and illuminate; it can not transfer anything incorporeal such as ideas. "Natural Magic" is hut the sum total of effects experienced by peasants and not yet explained in scientific terms. 36 0 "Magic" in the traditional sense has two main sources: (i) the belief in demons - which even Ficinus 356

362 363 364

366

P. 78. Have the "Appetitus" P. 87. Pp. 91-92.

317

357

3 58 359 360

Pp. 93-101. P. 108. P. 111; see also p. 128. See above our chapter on Pico, p. 287. P. 132.

318

Erastus' Censure


was unable to escape361 and (ii) the attribution of specific and individual effects to celestial influence - which is the basic fallacy. For Heaven acts in accordance with a general pattern affecting everything in the same way. 362 For example, in spontaneous generation heaven provides heat, which maintains a process, essentially caused by forms, species or ideas which are not transmitted by Heaven. On Earth, each object enjoys its own specific virtue which is inborn and not the property of a particular star conferred on the object from outside - a genuinely Neoplatonic belief to which Paracelsus subscribed. Nature and the Chemical Art Again, nothing specific is revealed by the Art of Chemistry such as would earn for it a preferential position in Nature. For "Art" is not "Nature's Ape"363, but wherever it displays any real effect, it is "Nature itself". Amulets and Augury Reports of help derived from lead amulets worn by epileptics 364 are just as "putrid lies" as the "augural" powers of birds of which Paracelsus talks a great deal and proves nothing.365

319

Magnetic action - the pattern of Natural Magic Much criticism is levelled against the use by Paracelsus of the Magnet as a general pattern illustrating the action of remedies which, as Paracelsus said, "attract" the agents of disease. These, Erastus argues, are immovable, whereas the pieces of iron which the magnet attracts are movable. From the mere existence of an electric eel, it does not follow that there should he plants or stones with similar properties.368 The Devil and Witchcraft Erastus devotes much space and mental gymnastics to the proof that Paracelsus was a disciple of the Devil,389 that witchcraft is real, and that witches should be punished without mercy. 370 He maintains, in fact, that all divination and magic is the Devil's work. 371 On the other hand, the actual damage that witches can inflict is, in Erastus' opinion, small. Witches deserve punishment chiefly because this is decreed by Scripture. A witch is not in the same class as a lunatic and therefore not immune from retribution, for there is a deliberate blasphemous aim in magic and divination which are designed to make God appear unreliable and weak. Witches do not act themselves, but instigate and incite evil demons to harmful action. 372 The Devil operates mainly through deceit; nevertheless he is occasionally capable of true prophecy.373

Thus, while severely limiting the power of devils, demons, witches and magicians, Erastus does maintain its reality.

The "Power" of Words Matter and the Elements

Words reputed to be productive of a specific powerful virtue are the offspring of human convention, not of "Nature". Were they from "Heaven", i.e. inborn, the mute should be able to talk without previous knowledge of speech. If it were in the invocation of demons that the power of Words was manifested, nobody could condone such a blasphemous practice - quite apart from the proven ineffectiveness of anything attributed to the action of demons.388 In fact, words are products of the Intellect and on this, as philosophers have agreed, Heaven cannot act. Ficinus, intoxicated by the vagaries of Plotinus, believed that, if not words themselves, a special combination of words, can have special effects, as does a combination ("mixture") of substances. But all this has long been refuted and Ficinus himself could not uphold it.387 381 P. 118. 382 P. 141. 383 P. 160. 384 P. 153. 385 "Multa passim dicit Paracelsus at nihil probat", p. 169. 388 P. 177. 887 Ibid. Compare: Ficinus: De Virtute Verborum atque Cantus ad beneficium coeleste captandum; in: De Vita coelitus comp., cap. XXL Venet. Aldus 1516, p. 164. A series

Paracelsus believed that natural objects are not created as such, but are formed by separation and segregation from matter - the "Mysterium Magnum", uncreated and everlasting. An independent and more fundamental place in Paracelsus' world is occupied by the three "principles" Salt, Sulphur and Mercury: it is against these that Erastus concentrates his attack.374

388 389 370 371 312 3;3 374

of tones selected and composed according to certain ratios presents a new harmonic form endowed with "celestial" virtues - in the same way as a mixture of herbs prepared by the art of the physician-astronomer produces a new form that is harmonic in composition and displays astral power. P. 189. Disputat., part II, Basileae 1572, p. 16. Disputat., I, pp. 198, 204, 208, 211, 215. P. 221. P. 204. P. 227. Disputationum de Nova Philippi Paracelsi Medicina, pars altera in qua Philosophiae Paracelsicae Principia and Elementa explorantur. Basilieae 1572, pp. 37-39.

321


Erastus on Elements and Principles

First of all Paracelsus has no right to call them "Principles". For they are corporeal each representing an individual substance belonging to a species. A principle, however, is something non-corporeal, different from an individual substance, the "principiatum" on which it acts. Moreover, the three "Principles" cannot he the origin of the Elements Air, Water, Fire, Earth, as Paracelsus supposes - for nothing corporeal can he made from something incorporeal. This applies still more to composite ("mixed") bodies which, far from con· sisting of Salt, Sulphur and Mercury, are really composed of the Elements. Paracelsus stated that all bodies consist of those substances into which they can he dissolved. Since he believed himself able to isolate Salt, Sulphur and Mercury from any given substance by chemical manipulation, he concluded that all natural objects must consist of these three. Against this Erastus argues that bodies do not consist of those parts from which they were generated, nor are the products of generation, such as worms, constituents of the putrifying body from which they develop. Should we regard pus as a component part of the lung simply because the latter may degenerate into an abscess ? By the action of heat solid bodies can he converted into many diverse - heterogeneous substances such as ashes, fluids, nitre, which cannot possibly he regarded as constituents of the original bodies. Erastus himself found that the degree of decomposition of a substance varies in direct proportion to the strength of heat applied. None of the resulting products was pre-existent in the original composite body. In this the potentiality of matter manifests itself - it seems to he inexhaustible and explains the wide individual and species differences in the digestion of bread for example. Heat is the factor of supreme significance in all such processes - just as the successful reproduction of any laboratory experiment depends upon our exact knowledge of the degree of heat which must he applied in each individual operation. 375 Nobody, however, has ever seen salt, sulphur and mercury emerge as final thermal decomposition products of any substance. Nor is it true that all smoke is "mercury", all inflammable matter "sulphur" and all that turns solid "salt". Nor is the converse true that all mercury is smoky, all sulphur inflammable, and all salt solid. If these three were really the elementary components of everything, why not feed entirely on them, and wherefore all the exertions in the search for "Arcana" and "Quintae Essentiae"? Paracelsus says that the differences in objects derive from the different proportion in which the "Three" combine - for example the "mercury" in wine, apples, meat and metals is present in a different proportion than the "mercury" found in quicksilver. With this, however, Paracelsus is inconsistent in admitting another principle apart from the "Three', namely proportion. Furthermore, since the common substances salt, sulphur and mercury have properties which from the foregoing result from the different proportions in which the principles are contained within them, it follows that they must he composite. 376

According to Erastus, the properties of an individual object - such as solidity, inflammability and volatility - are not conferred on it by the presence of particular substances, hut by the proportions in which the elements air, fire, water and earth are "mixed" within it. For this reason, a composite body has properties not found in the simple elements com· posing it. 377 It is the special mixture of water and subtle earthy particles which makes mercury prone to go up in smoke. Sulphur is inflammable because of the fine and warm air which it contains. Without this "air", sulphur would become inert and lose its "sulphurousness". Salt indicates its relationship with earth by its solidity. Whatever is done to objects by "Art" or "Nature", concludes Erastus, they all eventually revert to the Elemenu of the Ancients: Air, Fire, Water, Earth, hut not into the "Sem!na''. no1 into salt, sulphur and mercury. 378 What, then, has Paracelsus to say about the Elements and where did he go wrong in this ? In this, Erastus could not fail to detect further inconcistencies. Para· celsus, he says, visualised the elements as cages of the non-corporeal soul as it were the capsules or "mothers" designed for the preservation of living beings. As "mothers", however, the elements are not merely con· tainers, hut true genitors and parents of innumerable creatures. These are the "fruit" of the elements such as herbs, metals, and finally man himself. Shifting the meaning of the term "Element" more and more, Paracelsus finally arrives at a denial of its corporeal nature. In the hook: "De Medicina Coelesti" the Element is said to he no body at all, hut a wind, air and spirit. In it not heat or cold, hut a salt is operative. Likewise there is an invisible spirit in earth which is responsible for its production of fruit. It is not fire, hut a spirit in fire that destroys and corrupts. The elements are thus alive, for spirit is life. In the same way, man is alive not through flesh and blood, hut by virtue of the spirit therein. It is not the tongue that is endowed with speech, hut the spirit in it.

320

3 75

376

"Per variatam ignis operationem ex mistis res dissimillimas gigni: ex quihus impossibile sit mistum conflatum fuisse, tamquam ex miscihilihus. Generantur enim talia pleraque propter materiae potentiam: actu neque ante compositum extitemnt, neque in composito fuerunt." "Summam prope artem in eo consistere, ut ignis rite temperetur ... Quinimo nunquam his idem ex una et simili materia effectumm (nisi casu contingat) qui temperandi ignis rationem non probe teneat, asseverant (sc. qui in Chemia exercitati sunt)", p. 72. P. 78. See also pp. 89-93.

Thus the "Element" comes to he regarded not even as a corporeal receptacle, hut as the soul-like living spirit contained in the body. In the second hook "Ad Athenienses" the "Element" is introduced as the "Life of all Creatures" or as "Prime Matter" creating the 377

378

"Ego in compositis aio plurimas inesse constantes minimeque fugaces proprietates, quae in componentihus non insunt, p. 79. "Non datur regressus ad formam a privatione: nee retrorsum in generando vadit natura. Prorsum semper progreditur in mistis: et tanquam circulo quodam mutationes suas ahsolvit, ex priore semper efficiens posterius, nunquam a posteriore prius, antequam ad elementa prima perventum fuerit." Erastus II, p. 43, with reference to Aristotle, Metaphys. I, 2.

322

Erastus: Semina and Quinta Essentia


ordinary elements. The latter - air, fire, water, earth - assume the role of bodies that con· tain the true "Element" which is its invisible "soul" or "life". For example, ordinary water is not the "Element Water" - for the latter is endowed with a humidity much more power· ful than that of ordinary water and hence capable of softening minerals and metals. It is diminished and weakened in its power in ordinary water. The "element fire" is contained in green wood just as much as in ordinary - corporeal - fire, with the difference that it is "alive" and burning in the latter and not in the former in which it merely rests as its "soul". To Erastus, all this is a circumlocution for the well-known difference between latent and manifest qualities. Fire, when rarified by mixture with other elements, is not visible, hut true fire is present below the surface. It hums in herbs and trees without the emission of light or heat.

323

Quinta Essentia

It follows that Paracelsus' whole doctrine of the Elements is based on a blatant misuse of the word "Element". This, as shown in Aristotle's works on Heaven and Meteorology, cannot he anything hut the smallest part of the material components of an object. To call them - as does Paracelsus - "cells" or "loca" means to deny that they are parts of com· posite bodies at all. For a "locus" is not a part of that which is in it just as little as the matrix is part of the foetus.

There is no such thing as the "Quinta Essentia" of Paracelsus. At all events the latter is different in principle from what Aristotle had meant by this term, namely something in the semina that is similar to the heat of the celestial bodies; Paracelsus made it identical with a part of heaven or aether and regarded it as the source of the vital spirit,380 But, how could this possibly derive from a mere quality such as celestial heat ?381 Consequently the opinion of Paracelsus again amounts to blasphemy. For it implies that the spirit of the world and of life is less pure and perfect than solar heat - which is worse than Mohammedan impudence and simply "tartaric". 382 Moreover, if the "Quinta Essentia" of Paracelsus is the very spirit of life, how can it survive the thorough mincing, grinding, drying and rotting which Paracelsus prescribes for its preparation from its source in various substances ? Or should these practices make it even more active and alive? What Paracelsus extracts is merely the intrinsic heat of a body; no celestial substance which is eternal can he found in sublunary matter which is mutable and perishahle.383

The Semina

Generation

Paracelsus taught that physical objects can arise from things incorporeal such as passion and imagination. Erastus admits that what is active in a body is not the latter itself, hut an immanent incorporeal virtue. "If he felt this he felt not inaptly, hut what he rightly felt, he expounded ignorantly"379, and characteristically expressed an old truth in incomprehensible terms. However, the soul in the body cannot act without the latter it is the composite object which acts, the "form" or "soul" serving as its instrument. There is no form or specificity of organic life without its material substratum, and it is by a succession of individual composite bodies that form and properties of an individual species are preserved. Paracelsus, however, envisaged bodiless "Semina" or "Vital Powers" floating about and suddenly taking possession. To all this Erastus objects that it is not an independent semen from outside that builds up the body, hut that it is the individual body of the plant or animal in which Semina are generated. This is their true origin; not a mysterious "abyss" or "chaos" from which Paracelsus lets them emerge like actors entering the stage at certain points in the play.

Generation to Paracelsus is merely the separation of objects preformed in an Anaxagorean "Chaos". Hence in his world there is room neither for corruption nor for the transformation of things. 384 Thus, according to Paracelsus, the bread which we eat is not converted into blood, hut already contains it. If that were so, however, where is the art which succeeds in making blood from bread ? Paracelsus in his pestilential heresy places unlimited faith in this art which is hut an ape of nature and unlike the latter is nothing divine. Microcosm Paracelsus' conception of the microcosm deserves vigorous refutation. It may pass as a pleasant allegory; hut it is simply foolish to assume that the human body contains the virtues and materials of all parts of the 380 381

332

383 379

Ibid., p. 126.

38'

Erast. disput. II, p. 168. Disputationum de Nova Philippi Paracelsi Medicina. Pars Tertia in qua dilucida et solida verae medicinae assertio et falsae vel Paracelsicae confutatio continetur. N. p. 1572, especially pp. 23 et seq. I.e. from hell as well as a pronouncement of the inventor of "tartar" and "tartaric disease", p. 43. III, p. 28. III, p. 133.

324


Erastus' Censure: Pathology

outside world. 385 It eliminates completely the differences between plants, animals and man - differences that are real enough and reflect different elementary mixtures. 386 Or, how many of the innumerable microcosms that must exist does man contain? Or, why can he not fly, lay eggs, live in the sea, grow fruit or remedial arcana, if he really contains all other objects of nature ?

and obstructs their function. Hence different symptoms must be expected when the same cause affects different organs. The same pathological humour causes blindness when obstructing the eye, deafness when obstructing the ear, and so on. In Paracelsus' doctrine, however, "loci" are breeding places of the semina of disease; they are their "boxes" and dwelling places which the semina enter from outside. The parts of the body are merely passive recipients of disease and not productive of pathological function. Here again Paracelsus is rebuked for his tendency to make the external cause the main factor in disease and even to identify it with the latter. Disease, according to Paracelsus, is something already made in the outside world and as such obtaining access to the body, though it is only recognised later from its "fruits", the pathological changes and symptoms. The organs affected merely provide the playground and the material. This theory is the result of Paracelsus' opposition to traditional humoral pathology in which disease was gauged against the background of the healthy body and attributed to a mere exaggeration of normal functions. Consequently, Paracelsus argued, it should he the normal function of the posterior ventricles of the brain to drive out impurities of nutriment, thereby to avoid epileptic convulsions. This Paracelsus denied. To him, function by itself is not strong enough to keep out or neutralise pathogenic factors. Where these obtain a foothold, the functions simply cease to operate and look on as it were in a stupor while the body is destroyed by foreign forces stronger than themselves. Thus, in Paracelsus' opinion, Galen failed to "smell out" the true roots of disease. Indeed, Erastus here lights upon the essential difference between the traditional concept of disease and that of Paracelsus. In the former the body is everything and the outside cause of hut little significance. A body well balanced in its humoral mixture will prove resistant to external factors which will only upset the balance where there is already a constitutional tendency for one humour to he pathologically prevalent. Disease in this concept is nothing by itself, hut its real "Ens" is man and his personal humoral constitution, his "temperament". To Paracelsus, however, disease is a real object and enters our body as such, imposing its own schedule of life. It is a parasite, a kind of animal, "homunculus'', or demon. This is the well known "ontological" concept of disease which became the germ cell of modern pathology. 390 To Erastus and indeed to

Disease In defining disease Paracelsus commits an error worse than Manichaean heresy. He regards it as a created substance, introduced after the creation of the world. Obviously, he confuses "disease" and the "cause of disease". What Paracelsus calls disease is an agent which enters from outside, changes the part concerned and only then affects its function. Disease, however,''l.s generally understood, is a disturbance of normal function. 387 Paracelsus' failure to distinguish properly between disease and its causes led to such errors as the identification of headache with an internal wind that blows against the membranes of the hrain. 388 Similarly he identified epilepsy with the "Aura". This, however, is not epilepsy, hut its cause, for if an "aura" is prevented from ascending to the head, epilepsy will not break out. Moreover, if the aura were epilepsy, it should cause the loss of sense and motion even without finding access to the head and brain. The mere presence in the body of the cause of a certain disease, however, cannot possibly he called this disease, until it has reached that organ which is the normal "seat" of the disease in question. A person who merely harbours a humour which is deadly when given access to the heart, cannot for that reason he called dying or dead. The Locus of disease There is a deep rift, says Erastus, between the traditional Galenic conception of the site of disease and that of Paracelsus.389 The former uses "locus" to denote those parts of the body that are the origin and instrument of function. Any specific disease is engendered in and by these parts 38 5 386

387 388 38 9

Disput III, p. 63. Pp. 64-65 with reference to the Paracelsean: "Just as the liver, when it needs food, takes it from the liver of the earth and the heart from the heart of the earth, the earth's bile nourishes the bile of the body and the earth's brain restores and nourishes the brain of the body ••• for heaven and earth are man." De modo pharmacandi. Lih. I, tract. 3. Ed. Sudhoff, vol. IV, p. 457. Disput. III, p. 173. Disput. III, p. 180. Disput., vol. IV, p. 92.

sso

See above, p. 137 and 157.

325

326

Erastus' Censure: Cures. Epilepsy


professional medicine for up to another two centuries longer this was sheer nonsense and lunacy, as it is not the cause which decides the features and course of a dis.ease, but the functions affected. Moreover, there seemed to be no hope for medicine if diseases are due to "semina" which are perfectly unknown and come to us out of the blue. Paracelsus derived from his concept unlimited confidence in drugs and other remedies - and disregarded the healing power of nature. Amulets and occult qualities - as recommended by Paracelsus in epilepsy, for example, display no action on humours and humoral mixture; hence, to Erastus, they are of no use at all. The role of diet in disease From his disregard of humoral balance it would appear that Paracelsus attributes no significance to diet. 391 However, this is a further subject in which he contradicts himself. In fact, he ascribes our very life to food 392, declares too much food and drink to he poisonous, condemns repletion of the body as unfavourable for the sick, and accuses irregular diet of making ulcers worse as do sexual and muscular activity. 393 Finally he regards all food as pathogenic inasmuch as it contains poisonous equivalents to arsenic, stinging nettle, hemlock, tartarus, salt, napellus. 394 Therapy Paracelsus recommends metallic remedies. But how, Erastus asks, can the spirit and humours of life be restored and augmented by anything that is not assimilable ? Metals, including gold, in whatever form or preparation can never be assimilated. Being immutable and incapable of attracting or altering humours, all chemicals do great damage rather than any good. 395 There is no evidence that what refines metals also purifies the hody. 396 All the Paracelsean remedies designated by many different obscure and highsoun
327

the action is through the humours, as in all legitimate therapy. For hellebore purges the humours and so does venesection, which he also recommends. In fact, the essence of therapy in podagra is purging. 398 The cures of Paracelsus From records communicated by Crato, Erastus reproduces a number of cases in which Paracelsus proved a complete failure. 399 At Cromau he could bring no succour to John of Leippa, a sufferer from Arthritis. His son, Berthold, suffered from slight eye trouble which Paracelsus is said to have converted into permanent blindness. The wife of Baron Johannes of Zerotin, first suffering from colic, developed fatal epilepsy in spite or rather because of the therapy administered by Paracelsus. Theodor Zwinger and other most trustworthy and learned doctors confirmed that all patients treated with Paracelsean methods at Basie died within a year, in spite of an initial apparent relief.400

Epilepsy Erastus' criticism of Paracelsus' pathology of individual diseases occupies the fourth part of the Disputations401, which sets out with an elaborate treatise on Epilepsy. Erastus first casts doubt on the traditional localisation of sensation and ratiocination in the brain substance. He refers to experiments performed and communicated to him by his friend Volcherus Coiter who succeeded in removing the brain without any ill effect, as long as the nerves and ventricles remained unharmed.'02 Erastus concludes that the brain, though itself without sensation, must he the instrument of sensation and motion, not so much by virtue of its substance, as by virtue of its structure and the spirits which it produces. He confesses ignorance as to which parts of the brain are essential for this purpose. Galen had assumed that thick fluid ascending to the brain obstructs the pathways of the spirits to the nerves. If this were true, however, there should he a complete suspension of motion in epilepsy. Instead of this, rigours develop. It is sensation that is abolished, while motion is unaffected. The lesion is one of the "Sensus communis". Hence it is in vain that the "governor of motion'', still undisturbed, disseminates the spirits through the members and organs.'03 It must he, therefore, a very subtle lesion of the brain unrecognisable in post mortem examination - in contrast to apo· 398 399 400 401

Disput. IV, p. 286. Disput. IV, p. 159. Ibid., p. 253. ParsQuarta Basileae 1573: in qua epilepsiae, elephantiasis s. leprae, hydropis,podagrae et colici doloris vera curandi ratio demonstratur et Paracelsica solidissime confutatur. 402 P. 31. In his monograph on Volcherus Coiter, R. Herrlinger descrihes these experi· ments on pp. 89 and ll8, witliout, however, mentioning the references in Erastus. (Niirnherg 1952.) - See also Neuburger, M.: Geschichte der Hirn- und Riickenmarksphysiologie. Stuttgart 1897, and Pagel, W.: Mediaeval and Renaissance contributions to the knowledge and philosophy of the brain, loc. cit. Symposium Wellcome Foundation. London 1957, in press (Blackwell. Oxford 1958). 4oa P. 47.

328


plexy, which is due to a visible obstruction of pathways. The affected locus is the same in both, hut the causes are different: In apoplexy the presence of a thick viscous hwnour is suggested by the long duration of the attack, whereas in epilepsy the shortness of the attack implies the action of some easily penetrating and corrosive substance. In fact, such transitory phenomena as dizziness and even singultus and intense sneezing "amount to a mild fit of epilepsy.404 These arguments support the attribution of epilepsy to vapours and fwnes (rather than humours).405 The fits express a tendency of the brain to extrude such noxious fumes. 406

Erastus thus arrives at the following Definition of Epilepsy: an affection of the cerebral ventricles, more precisely a concussion caused by an effort of the brain to expel corrosive or otherwise harmful vapours. 407 With this he contrasts the ideas of Paracelsus: (i) that the disease is a "homunculus" created and implanted in man by enraged souls actuated by the desire to retaliate for the hardship they suffered on earth. (ii) that epilepsy is th~ equivalent of a thunderstorm taking place in the microcosm. Its mechanism is supposed by Paracelsus to he the same as in the greater world: a vapour compressed within a bubble and empting through its shell with effervescence. (iii) that Epilepsy is due to an ascending movement of the inner vital force ("Faber", "Archeus", "Ascendens") whereby seeds of disease inherent in the bodily sulphur are ignited and led to the "sinuses of ratiocination" in the brain. (iv) that the affected part is the spirit in the cerebral ven· tricles which normally governs sensation. (v) that the cause lies in putrid vapours ascending to the brain. Such vapours are similar to those of vitriol (sulphur chalcanthum) which stupefy and corrode.

Erastus' Censure: Diseases

329

the presence of corrosive vapour or smoke rather than the obstructing fluid of Galen. Moreover, he agrees that the paroxysm occurs when the smoke enters the brain cells controlling consciousness. That there should be a kind of bubble ascending to and bursting in the brain, Erastus finds an utterly unreal, nay insane, dream. There are many instances in which grave disease is caused by the bursting of an organ through erosion by putrid matter collecting in its walls - hut there is no shadow of evidence that this occurs in epilepsy.408 This provides yet a·nother opportunity for an outburst against the: "Impudent beast who set out to pervert everything and to corrupt what he could not pervert by spattering it with his foetid saliva" - invectives well up to the standard of those which Paracelsus had himself hurled against his contemporaries.409 Paracelsus' therapy of epilepsy is directly borrowed from the devil this applies in particular to such abominable pharmaca as those prepared from "mummy", human cranium and human blood.410 It is a totally superstitious treatment. In Erastus' belief all specific action is due to the organ rather than to any quality intrinsic in the drug. Dropsy and Podagra

Erastus has no patience with any of these hypotheses. If the disease is an internal "homunculus" that moves the body of the patient with its hands and feet, how can it he the product of imagination and fear, as Paracelsus says it is in other places? Or is the "homunculus" simultane· ously both thunder and a product of morbid imagination? Moreover, if epilepsy is from a specific disease seed, how can it he due to imagination ? Here again Erastus betrays his utter unwillingness to understand one of the main tenets of Paracelsus: the far-reaching effects of purely spiritual forces on the body which lead to a conversion of spirits - an idea or imag· ination - into corporeal substance. As regards the cause of epilepsy he is prepared to concede to Paracelsus

In the causation of hydropsy Paracelsus recognises neither frigidity nor any other role of the liver. Instead he attributes it to a celestial semen which causes rain. It is not simply a collection of water, hut bodily substance liquefied - more precisely it is salt liquefied by astral action. Against this Erastus argues411 that Paracelsus confused a symptom, the collection of water, with the disease itself. To derive it from heaven is culpable astrology. Moreover, if it is celestial water that collects, how could it he liquefaction of the bodily salt which causes the ascites ? Paracelsus recoIDlllends purging of the liquefied salt by precipitate of mercury - hut to Erastus mercury is a lethal poison.412 Concerning podagra Paracelsus does not seem able to make up his mind whether it is a mercurial, sulphurous or salty disease.413 At all events he prefers self-contradiction to the simple truth that podagra is due to a "catarrhal" flow of watery mucus first generated in the stomach.

404 "Stemutatio magna est parva epilepsia." 4o5 As suggested by Averroes and Femel who in some cases accuses mercurial vapours entering the brain through the ear (lib. 2, De ahditis morh. caus.). 406 However, this is not connected with a motion of the brain - again Volchems Coiter has shown that all motion seen about the brain is from the arteries, hut not the brain substance. Were it to move it would make matters worse, because this would narrow the passage through the ventricles. P. 63. &o 7 "Est cerehri ventriculorum affectus, in quo propter vaporem vel mordacem vel aliter inimicum et peregrinum ita illius exturhandi causa concutitur, quomodo ventriculi os commovetur, cum expellere nititur, quae molestiam ipsi adferunt.". P. 62.

40s P. 85. ' 09 P. 85: "lmpudens hestia cum omnia pervertere statutum erat, quae evertere propter evidentiam non potuit, additione aliqua depravare, foetidaque saliva sua aspergere et conspurcare studuit." His pupils are even worse in that they not only rave with mad reasoning, hut simply prepare plague and destruction for everybody. no P. 140. m Vol. IV, p. 206. n 2 "Exitiosus et noxius", p. 220. 413 Vol. IV, p. 269.

330


Comment

Summarising we must confess that Erastus spared no effort in marshalling an imposing array of arguments which must have appeared unanswerable to his colleagues. Even today when the development of medical science has borne out much of the Paracelsean reform we find it difficult to apportion in detail our consent to or countercriticism of the arguments of Erastus. His criticism of Paracelsus' obscurities and selfcontradictions can be endorsed without hesitation although what appeared obscure and contradictory then need not do so today. In the latter half of the XIXth century, when linguistic and literary criticism overshadowed any attempt at understanding the doctrines of Paracelsus as a whole, their obscurities and inconsistencies were simply ascribed 'to an undergrowth of spurious treatises. This was overrated both in volume and possible influence. Nor are obscurities in Paracelsus' writings due to the denial to him by fate of an opportunity to supplement promised explanations later on or to the fact that much of his writing has been lost and remained in fragments. The multitude of the complete and well-established texts in which his treatises have come to us militates against this. Moreover, what appear to he deliberate obscurities, such as the omission of essential links in the description of chemical methods, have been demonstrated414, while in other places we find explicit prescriptions and explanations of terms. 415 Already the early Paracelsists such as Severinus, Dorn, Toxites, Gohory, Croll and others each had to find their own way through the tangle of difficult and to all appearances contradictory doctrines. These are therefore genuine enough. About half a century after Erastus, Sennert examined the arguments in a way which impresses the present day observer as fairly judicious, at all events, from the point of view of Sennert's own period. However, there remains much to be said in favour of Paracelsus when viewed in the light of the further development of medicine. We shall give an account of Sennert's criticism in the following section. u• Darmstiidter, E.: Arznei und Alchemie, loc. cit. (footnote 237), p. 25, with reference to the reproduction of the Arbor Dianae. Archidoxis. Lili. VI. Ed. Sudhoff, vol. III, p. 157. us For example on "Laudanum". This is not an opiate, hut the gum Laudanum of the pharmacopoea or a compound remedy ("arcanum") that contained pearls as one. of the chief ingredients. Sigerist, H. E.: Laudanum in the works of Paracelsus. Bull. Hist. Med. 1941, IX, 530-544; in part. p. 540. Strebel, J., Azoth. Nova Acta Parac. 1947,

IV, 67.

Erastus' Censure: Summary

331

Leaving aside sheer invective in which Erastus vies with Paracelsus himself most effectively, his criticism is largely based on religious argument and on reasoning enforced by a modicum of observational experience. In addition he sets out convincingly the really relevant points in which Paracelsus diverges from the basic teachings of traditional philosophy and medicine. (1) One such point is the Neoplatonic unification of the spiritual and corporeal - making provision for their continuous transition and conversion into each other. Hence Paracelsus' belief in the limitless creative power of imagination. This is the central point in Erastus' criticism of Paracelsus' philosophy. It is from this vantage point that he attacks Paracelsus' occult leanings - his natural magic, demonology, astrology and alchemy. In contrast to Paracelsus' monism and pluralism, Erastus' position is that of dualism. The strict separation of the spiritual and corporeal is in his case associated with a disbelief in and abhorrence of all that is "occult". In this he seems to show himself an enlightened modern and progressive far superior to the avowed obscurantism of Paracelsus. However, we find Erastus here in a similar position as the Jesuits opposing Van Helmont half a century later. These, like Erastus, were decidedly sceptical towards any "miracle" in nature, notably effects produced by purely spiritual forces or magnetic action at a distance emanating from the "weaponsalve". Yet they left a door open for such effects as possible results of action by the devil, whose reality they upheld as vigorously as that of witches. Erastus' attitude thus impresses us as a strange mixture of sound scepticism and a credulity hardly less intense than that of his opponent. With Erastus, however, it is a juridical and dogmatic, an impersonal and unemotional religious trend that leads to credulity and superstition - in contrast to the pantheistic and monistic religious experience from which Paracelsus' belief in miracles and magic springs. We do have to admit that belief and personal religious experience formed the nucleus of Paracelsus' world, whereas superstition and credulity are hut a sideline in Erastus' critical and logical reasoning. (2) The second basic divergence of Paracelsus from traditional doctrine Erastus finds in his philosophy of pathology, more precisely the question of the disease-seat. In traditional medicine disease is a disturbance of normal function in an organ. The same cause attacking different organs may thus produce quite different diseases.

332

333


Sennert: Criticism and Defence

To Paracelsus, however, the organ is ·a merely passive receptacle for the disease. This is essentially a "seed' which comes from outside and takes possession of this or that organ. In the "seed' the disease is already made like an embryo which needs no more than incubation in a suitable medium. In other words, Paracelsus shifts the emphasis from the organ to the external cause, from the host to the parasite. Erastus delivers a brilliant exposition of the basic differences between Paracelsus and contemporary professional medicine and a closely reasoned refutation of the former. However, he seems more concerned with the conclusiveness of logical deduction than with the reality of his premises. Where his critical probe meets with contradiction or obscurity he no longer cares about the possible resolution of such contradictions or the truth which may have been concealed in such obscurity. He himself takes his premises, 'notably ancient humoralism, for granted. 416 Any innovation would be hateful to him, the dogmatic professor and churchman, anyway. Today we are not called upon to express our sympathy or to say who was "right" - Paracelsus or Erastus. We could certainly not deny the latter our sympathy or the feeling that from the point of view of professional medicine at his own time he was "right". This all the more, as posterity seems to have given its verdict in favour of Paracelsus whose multifarious activities and teachings offered one aspect towards a future scientific medicine - a development made possible and materialised through the work of John Baptist Van Helmont. It is through the latter, that from the tangle of Paracelsean visions, the germs of scientific biology and medicin~ were developed, especially the aetiological conception of disease, the interpretation of nature and life in chemical terms and in terms of living "monads" with closely interlocked physical and psychical elements. Erastus was ready to concede to Paracelsus some individual points such as the knowledge and reawakening of chemistry and the admission of an occasional error of Galen, for example in the causation of epilepsy. Yet, he did not see any future in Paracelsus' work as a whole, and probably could not do so. Our object in dwelling at some length on his censure of Paracelsus is not to contribute to the history of Erastus or the reception of Paracelsus'

work at the hands of posterity. It is to open up a further source of the understanding of its novelty through the arguments raised against it by a generation living and thinking in the same intellectual climate as Paracelsus.

us Erastus' book is in dialogue form - his interlocutor somewhat tenuously defending Paracelsus, an arrangement which amounts to no more than a pretence of impartiality. The name of the defender of Paracelsean doctrines - "Furnius" ("Man of the Furnace") - is significant in this respect. Moreover, in the dedicatory letters to the four parts of his book, Erastus leaves no doubt that the object in writing it was not so much the necessity to refute the work of Paracelsus, but to warn against its inherent impiety and the damage which it was bound to inflict on the body and mind of mankind.

Daniel Sennert's Critical Defence of Paracelsus Sennert's intention is to reconcile the new iatrochemical school of Paracelsus with Galenic Humoralism - a project which implies that he is not entirely against Paracelsus. The title of his hook is appropriately: "On the consensus and discord between the Chemists and the Followers of Aristotle and Galen".417 Yet Sennert is severely critical of Paracelsus. His lifetime (1572-1637) roughly coincides with that of Van Helmont (1579-1644). His work, however, appeared in 1619, i.e. long before the main treatises of Van Helmont (1644 and 1648) and their works are quite independent of each other. Chronologically speaking, Sennert's criticism of Paracelsus stands between those of Erastus (1572) and Fontanus (1657). 418 He takes over a number of arguments from Erastus though not without qualifying and criticising them sharply. The chequered Life and dubious Character of Paracelsus Sennert admits that Paracelsus was felicitous in the cure of ulcers: by the use of mercury he achieved better and more spectacular results 417

413

De Chymicomm cum Aristotelicis et Galenicis consensu ac dissensu liher cui accessit appendix de constitutione chimiae. Wittenberg 1619. The edition here used is the third edition. Paris 1633. No detailed account will be given of Fontanus and his work: D. Gabrielis Fontani Jacobi Filii de Veritate Hippocraticae Medicinae firmissimis rationum et experimentomm momentis stabilita et demonstrata. Seu Medicina Anti-Hermetica. Lugduni 1657. His main point against Paracelsus and his followers is that they had nothing to offer that was really new. The "Elixirs" and "Fifth Essences" are distinguished by a distribution of particles that is finer than in the original material - without, however, affecting the role of the elements as the basic constituents of matter. Whatever the chemist does, he cannot get away from the elements and humours of the ancients. From times immemorial these had included the earthy, oily and aqueous snhstances, present in all natural objects. Hence there is no reason to elevate them to the rank of "Principles" under the name of "Salt, Sulphur, Mercury". Nor can the "new" Paracelsean names for diseases claim any right of existence. The "Tartar" of Paracelsus, for example, simply indicates humours that are inspissated and cause obstruction of natural channels.

334

Sennert on the Microcosm


335

cined mercury indiscriminately. Moreover he made ample use of the smoke screen of "Magic" - extolling "Techellus" and others of his kind. 420 All this is reflected in the restless life of an uncultured itinerant drunkard which Paracelsus led. 421 His works are full of incredible nonsense, for example that nightfall is not due to the setting of the sun hut to the rising of the night stars, that some of the stars are shaped like cucurhits and phials containing salt, sulphur and mercury and emitting winds like man. 422 Finally, Paracelsus propounded blasphemies and impieties. Among these belong his boast of having produced a homunculus, his statement that aboriginal populations are not descended from our progenitor Adam, and hence are not blood relations to us, and that Adam and Eve acquired genital organs only after the fall in the same way as goitre is acquired by people in Carinthia through drinking snow-water, and finally the multitudes of new creatures which he introduces such as nymphs, sirens, melusines, gnomes, lorinds.423 Criticism of the Microcosm theory Special criticism is levelled against the theory of microcosm. Erastus rightly blamed Paracelsus for restricting the microcosm analogy to man, while in some places 424 extending it to all objects in nature with the consequence of postulating an infinite number of microcosms. 425

Fig. 36. Daniel Sennert. From a line engraving in the Wellcome Collection No PD 304-4'40.

than his Galenic colleagues. His cures, however, were beset with danger. Nor should credence he given to any success which he claimed in "desperate" diseases such as leprosy and epilepsy. For the vagueness of his nomenclature precludes any idea of what he treated and how. 419 One cannot help feeling that he treated all diseases with sublimated and calu 9 Pp. 48-50.

It is true that man consists of the same material as all other objects in nature. It is inconceivable, however, that man should contain each species of natural objects or an equivalent of each object as such. There is a "vegetative virtue" in man as there is in plants, and man is endowed with senses as are animals. But it is absurd to look in man for melissa, sapphire, mercury or fios cheiri as Paracelsus enjoins the physician to do in the fourth chapter of his "Labyrinth of the Physicians".426 Severinus, though an orthodox Paracelsist, saw the difficulty inherent in this dogma when he said'27 : there is no need to look for the shapes and "signatures" of outside objects in the anatomy of man. What matters are their virtues, "seminal tinctures" and properties; he who looks for the properties and dynamic constituents'88 of wheat, grapes, rye, roses, gold, emeralds as well as of poisons, minerals and plants in man, will find them. 420 P. 50. On "Techellus" see our chapter p. 214. To illustrate this, Sennert inserts the letter by Oporinus to Wierus and Solenander; for a detailed discussion of this letter see above p. 29. 422 P. 39 with reference to cap. III. Lib. meteor. •2s P. 41. 42 ~ De Caduco Matricis. 2. De Modo pharmacandi. Tract. 2. 425 P. 62. 26 ' P. 62. 427 Idea medicinae. Cap. 13, p. 319. 426 "Tincturae radicales, actlonum fontes." ' 21

336


Sennert: Matter, Elements and Semina

337

Sympathy and Antipathy

Prime Matter, Mysterium Magnum, Elements, Semina

Sennert also believes in the "occult qualities" which man shares with all objects in nature. Hence the strange phenomena of sympathy and antipathy - such as the affinity between certain stars and certain organs, the harmful effect of cantharides on the bladder, the beneficial action of peony worn around the neck in epilepsy, and individual idiosyncrasies against cats, fish, wine or cheese. It is extremely difficult to give a cause for these phenomena.

In these Paracelsean concepts Sennert recognises the "World-Soul" of Plato. 433

Severinus thinks they are due to a gradual penetration of man, not by the actual natural objects outside him, hut by the shapeless semina of these objects or traces of them. However, this would imply that sympathy and antipathy are acquired properties - whereas they are in fact congenital and even hereditary - "a primo ortu". Sennert, therefore, h~.eves it to he more rational to attribute them to the innate heat or the immanent spirit, endowed with an original affinity or antipathy to outside objects.

Criticism of Paracelsus' Methods Even after this critical reduction of Paracelsean dogmas some fundamental objections remain: Paracelsus endeavoured to replace the timehonoured methods of scientific invention, namely reason and experiment, by a vision of similarities in nature. However, there is nothing in nature similar to something else which is not in a certain respect dissimilar to it. 429 The registration of similarities yields no scientific result. What matters in scientific inquiry is the search for causes. This requires active probing and investigating, not mere waiting for illumination by divine grace ("lumen gratiae") or for the passive visionary experience of "the light of Nature".430 In short, we must agree with Erastus 431 that it is impossible that the property and function of one object of nature also exists in another. Man shows the properties of the elements such as heat, cold, damp and dryness because he consists of these elements. His vital heat may be even derived from the Sun and its counterpart in the body, the heart. But if the Paracelsean philosopher asserts that all other objects in nature - for example Melissa - are found in man, he has the onus of demonstrating where these objects are located in the human body. So far this has not been done. 432 «29 "Nullum est simile quod non etiam aliqua parte sit dissimile", p. 66. 430

431 432

Sennert particularly criticises the Paracelsists Croll, Valentin Weigel and the Rosicrucians for practising and recommending these methods: p. 56; 63. Part 3, Disput. contra Paracelsum. P. 65.

"Prime Matter" is the uncreated, imperceptible "Mother" of all natural things. It contains all "Semina" and through them acts on each individual object as the force hidden in it. At the same time it is the force that moves the universe. It is at once the source of all substance, matter, form, essence, nature and destination of things mortal and corruptible. Even Aristotle had room for such an all-pervading "Pneuma" and generating force, although he emphasised the individual "soul" as the expression of specificity, perfection and destination. 4:14 Closely related to his "Primary Matter" are the "Elements" of Paracelsus. "Element" is for the individual object what "Prime Matter" is for the world as a whole, i.e. the "mother" of individuals and species. Both are invisible and imperceptible. The visible so-called elements earth, water, air and fire are hut coarse receptacles containing the true elements, in the same way as a body contains the soul. The "body" of the element is dead and dark, hut the real element is alive. It is the force which confers essence, life and activity on each object in nature. Each of the invisible elements embosses its specific seal on the natural objects. The latter are the "fruits" of the true elements just as an individual is the fruit of the earth, metals and stones of water, dew and "manna" of air, and rain, snow and stars of fire.

Criticising this Sennert objects first to the use of the word "Element" for something which has nothing to do with what "Element" has meant since antiquity, namely the minimal part of matter of which an object consists. Instead, Paracelsists confuse with the matter of things their location, matrices and receptacles. Secondly Paracelsus gave preference to his three principles, salt, sulphur and mercury, without making clear their relation with the elements of the ancients. Some Paracelsists thought that the external, i.e. visible elements consist of salt, sulphur and mercury. Thus, according to Croll, the latter compose the "Corpus Elementi". Croll postulated that the differences between earth, water and air are due to the different ratios in which salt, sulphur and mercury are mixed. Severinus however visualized the three principles merely as collaborators of the invisible elements in the production of natural objects. In all this lies a tendency to deprive the elements of the high rank which they had enjoyed in natural philosophy. Sennert deprecates any such tendency which sees in the elements hut passive and inert matter. By contrast, he regards them as a necessity to life and creation whose actions are obvious enough in health and disease. If subtlety of structure and invisibility are taken as criteria of activity, fire and air must be highly 433

434

P. 70. De Gen. Anim. III, 11; De Mundo 4.

338

339


Sennert on Life and Three Principles

active, even if earth and water are less so. Nor can any of the elements he called "dead" since they were never alive. Finally, the Paracelsean concept of the "Semina" being distributed over the elements or given into their custody cannot he supported. "Semina" are hound up with the species of natural objects. Generation from semina is through the action of parents and not directly from elements. Prior to birth the soul of Bucephalus was not in the visible elements, hut in its parents. There is no elementary abyss or "elysium" from which semina are sent out into the world. It may he admitted, however, that the number of true elements is a subject of argument for naturalists of all persuasions, not only Paracelsists. Moreover, the e~ements are not the only centres of activity which should he considered. But then, no monopoly was accorded to the elements in the systems of'Aristotle and Galen. This is evidenced for example by the role attributed by Aristotle to a spirit more "divine" than the elements, which is responsible for the fertility of Semina, whence not ordinary heat and fire hut a vital "solar" principle are productive of animals. 435

Paracelsists to lie in the "spirit" of iron, that of arsenic in a poisonous "mercurial spirit". A "malignant foetor" was believed to he the vital power of excrement and that of aromatic substances was thought to consist in their smell. In all this the Paracelsists confused "Life" with "Action". While the latter exists everywhere, "life" appertains to animated beings alone. This does not, in Sennert's opinion, preclude minerals, metals and stones from having a special "organic" structure which requires and achieves its own nutrition, growth and regeneration. Hence it is not absurd that a "spirit" productive of gold or silver should join with appropriate matter, solidify it, and thus maintain the stock of precious metal in the earth. The existence and emission of such mineral spirits is borne out by the observation of metal particles in the lung of miners. Such deposits are the result of the same solidification of "spiritual" and fluid mineral matter as occurs in the earth.

In the same way the "Occult Qualities" and phenomena of Sympathy and Antipathy had been keenly studied by the ancients. Galen was fully conscious of the difference in action between ordinary elementary qualities and such special effects as are produced by minimal quantities of poison. The Paracelsists have called the souls and forms which govern the function of a body "Astra"; chiefly because of the regular time-intervals which biological phenomena have in common with the movement of the stars. The flowering of plants is hound up with the seasons; nine months are required for gestation in man. Here again, there is nothing new in this concept: the function of organs, the action of the soul and the course and influence of the stars and of divinity on them had been associated with one another from times immemorial.

In spite of all these reservations, Sennert in principle supports the concept of the Semina and their universal significance in nature. He objects, however, to the Paracelsean idea that they arrive on the scene from somewhere, Heaven or Orcus, and then take hold of any object in nature, as does an actor who puts on a garment or a mask before entering the stage. By contrast, there is no time when the semina are not hound up with the appropriate species.

The vision of "Life" in all objects in nature finally induced the Paracelsists to call their chemical philosophy "Philosophla Vitalis". This was particularly said with reference to the "vitality" of the three principles Salt, Sulphur and Mercury. In this view sulphur seemed to represent the sun, endowed with the ability to digest, concoct, nourish, generate, to produce smell, to consume any excess and to attract matter in general. Mercury was regarded as the spirit of the world emerging from the "Mysterium Magnum" and preserving, regenerating and enlivening animal, vegetable and mineral matter. Salt finally is regarded as what keeps things together - largely by preventing mercury and sulphur from becoming diffluent.436

Sennert has no intention of denying the existence of Salt, Sulphur and Mercury or their importance for all objects in nature. Sulphur, for example, can he traced in all plants and metals. 437 It is a constituent of all that is combustible, and as such different from water-vapour. This is seen when damp wood is burnt. Moisture is the first to escape, hut it is not the only constituent which emerges in this process (as Fernel43 8 had wrongly believed). The watery effluvium is followed by an oily and fatty "sulphur" which maintains a pure smokeless flame. The remaining ash is the "salt". This is a constituent of many more objects than those with a salty taste. Notwithstanding the importance of salt, sulphur and mercury as constituents of all objects in nature, the three "principles" have no claim to rank higher than the elements. The latter are "simple" whereas salt, sulphur and mercury are "mixed", though comparatively simple bodies.

On Life and the Three Principles (Salt, Sulphur and Mercury) Objections must be raised to a sweeping attribution of "life" to stars, minerals and gems. Thus the "life" of a magnet was thought by the 435 De Gener. Anim. II, 3.

' 36 P. 129. Sennert quotes here: (1) Quercetanus: De Remm Signaturis Externis and Defensio contra Anonymum, c. 14. (2) Beguinus: Tyrocinium Chymicum, lib. I, cap. 2; (3) Scheunemann: Paracelsia de Morho Mercuriali Contagioso. ' 37 P. 148. ' 38 Phys. IV, 3.

340


Sennert on Generation and Pathology

On the other hand, their properties do not follow from differences in elementary mixture, hut are due to the specific "form" with which each of them was created.

In Sennert's opinion the elements cannot account for such qualities as colour, taste, smell and inflammability of objects - all qualities which must he attributed to salt, sulphur and mercury. The latter in themselves, however, are composed of the elements. In fact, there are three stages or grades in nature: first, Form and Matter undifferentiated, secondly the elements and, emerging from them as a third stage, salt, sulphur and mercury.

In this context Sennert discusses the main argument which Erastus had advanced against the Paracelsists. Chemists believed that any object can be reduced to its components by chemical methods. Against this Erastus argues that products can be obtained by putrefaction that are remote from the components of the original substance. Thus, corrupt excremental products can emerge from humours or worms from meat. Here, Sennert says, Erastus confused the issues. To discuss the elementary composition of an object is one thing and to muse on its possible transformations another. Butter, cheese and whey are actual components of milk, just as oil is a component of almonds and nutmeg. Components like these belong to the immanent or permanent matter of an object. With regard to this matter it is true that an object is separated into those substances which compose it. Transformation on the other hand concerns transient rather than permanent matter, when for example blood loses its original form and assumes that of fl.esh. 439 If salt, sulphur and mercury can be obtained from objects, it truly follows that they are their constituents.

341

On Generation A similar conciliatory position is taken up by Sennert in discussing generation. Here again Erastus had rejected any action other than that of the elements. Against this, Sennert supports the emphasis laid by Paracelsus on the specific semina and forms. A special seminal virtue is indispensable for the production of a species and indeed for any specificity in nature. Putrefaction can hut supply the heat which the semen needs to develop. There may he spontaneous generation hut even here certain specific media are necessary to produce certain effects. Some worms develop in cheese, othe:i;s in horse-dung.441

Sulphur is the actual component which confers inflammability. An object burns not because it contains air hut in so far as it has an admixture of sulphur. Sulphur is its "phlogiston".440 Sulphur also accounts for the smell of an object, as it occurs not only as an oil or fat hut also in a "spiritual form" for example in the spirit of wine. In a similar way salt can he shown to he present in most natural objects regardless of taste or form. Salt generally either causes crystallisation the "Schiessen" (shooting forth) of crystals - or else it is contained in objects as a solidifying spirit which confers hardness, for example on stones. The position of mercury is not so clear and it is not beyond doubt whether a third "principle" exists at all. In conclusion: Sennert agrees with the Paracelsists in according salt, sulphur and mercury a high rank in nature as components common to all its objects. In this he opposes Erastus who recognised nothing hut the four elements of the ancients. Sennert disagrees, however, with the Paracelsists in rejecting their claim that salt, sulphur and mercury are "principles" rather than material constituents of objects and that they are exalted in rank over the elements which the Paracelsists had divested of the fundamental position they had enjoyed in ancient natural philosophy.

The basic error of Paracelsus according to Sennert lies in his rejection of the humours, the very existence of which he sometimes denied 444 and

439

442

440

Pp. 149-151. "Sulphuris autem proprium est esse
Sennert finds in the monopoly accorded to the elements and their free mixture a materialistic element which fails to do justice to the glory of creation. For the soul with its ancillary faculties such as heat and innate spirit was created, and it is under its direction that the elements gathered together and formed into the shape of each individual object, a process which is not restricted to the period of creation, but continues through all times. It follows that the decomposition and new formation of bodies does not normally revert to the original elementary components.442 This, however, had been the view of the ancients, notably of Aristotle who denied continuous creation of objects from nothing. According to him generation is nothing but alteration and conversion of matter that is always present; generation is, therefore, something accidental, and there is no place for celestial "semina" that are superadded to matter. Here again, Sennert sides with the Paracelsists who believe in the hidden semina and their de novo influx into matter when objects are generated.WI

Pathology

4n 443

444

P. 205. P. 209. The difference of opinion between the ancients and the followers of Paracelsus in the question of generation is well expressed by Fontanus in his work on the Verity of Hippocratic Medicine, loc. cit. in footnote 418. Fontanus, of course, fully endorses the ancient view. Labyrint. Medic., cap. III.

342


Sennert: Humours. Entia. Diseases

sometimes admitted. He is consistent, however, though quite wrong in denying them any significance in disease. Instead, Paracelsus attributed the latter to preformed "seeds", which were likened to mineral and plant poison. Disease in Paracelsus' doctrine thus assumes the character of an entity in itself which is identical with its "seminal" cause. Diseases are seen as substances rather than as something which happens to a body. This, according to Sennert, is erroneous. Disease cannot he compared with the production of a plant or an animal from a seed, for disease is a process of corruption whereas generation is one of perfection. Disease is due to faulty humours altering, infecting and corrupting the good ones. No form· ative virtue is recognizable therein as in generation. 446

Sennert continues on these lines through a presentation of medical therapy. It may he pointed out in passing that he believes in the magnetic cure of wounds. Like attracts like. There are occult qualities and there are spheres of operation without the necessity of action by direct contact with the object. These belong to those points which had been unduly opposed by Erastus. The magnet attracts a piece of iron through flesh and skin as Pare showed in the 15th chapter of the 7th hook of his "Surgery". All these effects are perfectly rational and have nothing to do with magic. The chemist rejects medicinal compositions since to him each disease has its own specific remedy. He believes there is no need for attenuating, strengthening and directing additions. Against all this Sennert argues that most diseases are not simple, hut complicated and therefore not accessible to a single remedy. In fact, the chemists themselves are wont to prescribe complicated mixtures of remedies. In conclusion, Sennert asserts the strong and often beneficial effect of chemicals, notably metals, especially in grave diseases such as epilepsy, melancholy, elephantiasis, paralysis, podagra. At the same time, however, harmful after- and sideeffects may occur. In summing up Sennert's criticism of Paracelsus as a whole, he appears to desire the best of two opposing worlds. He rejects neither Galenic nor Paracelsean medicine hut wants to make use of both, though not without critical qualification. To Sennert, there are always two sides to a medical problem as is shown for example in the "Healing Power of Nature". Some diseases are accessible to it whereas others require medical interference. The same applies to the principles "Similia similibus" and "Con· traria contrariis". At bottom Sennert himself is a keen "iatro-chemist". Hence, on the whole, he is more inclined to accept than to reject the prac· tical tenets and achievements of Paracelsean Medicine.

Paracelsus erred in assuming a preformation of hereditary diseases which he thought grow from,the semen like a plant bringing forth its fruit at the proper time. In reality, however, hereditary disease is transmitted as a morbid predisposition to the humours in which faulty ingredients accumulate and finally produce the disease.

Sennert finds fault with the Paracelsean classification of diseases. An "Ens Deale" as a pathogenic agent is unthinkable - for nothing immediately divine can enter the human body. Concerning the "Ens Astrorum", ce· lestial influence in the causation of disease cannot he denied, hut there is no idea of the stars communicating to man anything of their substance. Similarly the "Ens Veneni" is a concept full of confusion because many harmless substances are called "poison" simply because they are useless in nutrition and th:refore excreted as such. There is a point in differentiating diseases according to the prevalent action of either salt or sulphur or mercury, but even here difficulties arise. Inflammation and ulceration are not simply due to the excretion of salt which corrodes the tissues, but to an accumulation of humours which, instead of being excreted throngh the natural channels, are propelled to out of the way places, notably lymph nodes and the surface of the body. They then assume the colour of extravasated blood and are subject to corruption. Hence inflammatory products such as pus vary according to the quality of the humours concerned. It goes without saying that in these processes salt and sulphur are also excreted, each modifying the appearances in its own way. That the external application of arsenic, vitriol or alum to the skin causes inflammatory changes different from ordinary inflammation and ulcer is no argument against the role played by salt and sulphur in the latter. Such differences in appearance are simply due to the chemical differences between sulphur and salt found in the outside world and those acting in the human body. Similarly, spirit of salt or any other salty or astringent substance dissolved in the humours causes pain. There are, however, many other causes of pain such as mechanical tension and especially heat. Here again the error of the chemists lies in the monopoly which they claim for substances definable in terms of chemistry. 445

P. 259.

343

Was Paracelsus a Scientist?

Final Assessment Summarising our survey of the work of Paracelsus - his philosophy, his medicine and his sources - we must now try to answer the following questions:

(1) W:as he a scientist and scientific physician in the modern sense? (2) (3) made, (4)

How far was he original? What difference would his absence from the historical scene have if any? What is the pattern of his message and wisdom?

(1) Was he a scientist? Paracelsus worked in the chemical laboratory with experience, skill and ingenuity. He devised new methods, prepared new mineral compounds and greatly enriched the store of medicinal chemicals - chiefly by his care and success in detoxicating heavy metals. He finally drew up what may he called a skeleton outline of inorganic chemistry, a system from which he endeavoured to provide a chemical interpretation - however crude - of the processes of life and disease. In this the scientific elements of Paracelsus' work stand out clearly enough, and a line can he drawn connecting him with such sound and early chemists as Lihavius, Oswald Croll and J.B. Van Helmont. Viewing him as a whole, however, his chemistry forms hut one aspect of a cosmology and philosophy which are symholistic, "mythical" and decidedly unscientific. However much inspiration and actual addition to chemical knowledge may he due to him, Paracelsus was neither a scientist nor a chemist in the modern sense. His position in medicine is similar. He left shrewd observations and descriptions of diseases and pathological conditions. As a notable example we recall the "Miners' Lung" and his first attempts at establishing "Occupational Medicine". There is also his modern-sounding insight into the role of drinking water and minerals in the aetiology of goitre and cretinism. There are the recommendation of mercury as a diuretic and the demonstration of albumen in urine. There are above all his unceasing struggle

345

against the traditional system of Pathology and his attempts at replacing it by a new system. In this - notably his pathology of "Tartar" - we recognise a tendency to refer diseases to local anatomical changes resulting from the nutritive disorder of an organ. Associated with this is the significance attributed to extraneous pathogenic agents. Taken out of their context in this way, these ideas impress us as a move towards the modern view in which diseases are distinguished as objects classifiable by typical anatomical changes and specific causes. This was to replace traditional humoralism which had made the individual as a whole responsible for disease - a general humoral upset following a uniform pattern. In short, Paracelsus not only demolished the ruling system of medicine, hut replaced it by a theory in which the germ cells of modern pathology can he divined. How far he was ahead of his time in this respect is shown by a comparison with the feeble reformatory efforts of such contemporaries and early successors as Fernel, Argenterius and Mazinus.1 However, he vigorously opposed the traditional building up of rational medicine on the basis of anatomy and physiology - subjects in which he had little interest and knowledge. Moreover, what we said concerning his chemical theory applies equally to his medical doctrine. It is not scientific - taken as a whole. It is a system of analogies and metaphors based on his theory of Microcosm. In this, observation and protoscientific elements are widely overgrown by a farrago of speculations which strike us as fantastic. It is these products of an uninhibited imagination that render the personality and teaching of Paracelsus so "elusive" to the modern mind. 2 It is true enough that Paracelsus made Nature the main subject of his speculation and that the unification of Nature and the Soul in God and the identity of nature and spirit were among the main tenets of his philosophy. We cannot agree, however, that this led to an extrication of the material world from religion and philosophy, already in Paracelsus' own work amounting to an emancipation of the scientific (chemical) investigation from his own "astrosophy" and cosmology.a 1 2

3

See above, p. 301-311. Temkin, 0.: The Elusiveness of Paracelsus. Bull. Hist. i\ied. 1952, XXVI, 201-217. This is the thesis of Vogt, A.: Theophrastus Paracelsus als Arzt und Philosoph. Stuttgart 1956. As Vogt sees it Paracelsus was led to replace alchemy by chemistry and to base ~athology on the physico-chemical study of combustion. "To have recognised what is absolutely dead - the ultima materia - is the merit that Paracelsus can claim in the history of medicine and science ... since Paracelsus the history of chemistry has

347

Final Assessement

Was Paracelsus original?

To-day we have no means of following in detail the steps which led him from one analogy to the next or of saying why he chose one cosmic phenomenon or another to explain a particular fact in biology or pathology. 4 However, it is possible to trace the general lines of his thinking and to find a system therein. This represents a methodical attempt at dethroning the rationalistic view of the world as based on formal logic in scholasticism. Nor did Paracelsus care about a theory of experimental science in which fact-finding was correlated with a rationalist philosophy - the ideal of the late Middle Ages and the basis of the "methodological revolution to which modern science owes its origin".5 Paracelsus forms no link in this development. Yet his system of metaphors, analogies and myths is of concern to the

historian of science and medicine to-day. For it forms the setting of legitimate scientific and medical observation and reasoning. More important than this, it is not by accident that such "modern" elements appear in the "mythical" setting. His breakaway from a largely syllogistic medicine and reversion to the unorthodox sideline of alchemy and magic started a cross current that trickled indirectly into the broad stream of modern science and medicine. Paracelsus, then, though not "scientific" himself produced scientific results from a non-scientific world of motives and thoughts. In this lies the perennial interest of his work to the historian. (2) Was he original? Paracelsus' predecessors were the mediaeval alchemists and herbalists who had devised methods for the extraction of the Quinta Essentia. He extended and enriched their knowledge considerably, but had little to offer that was new in principle. His symbolistic thinking - the search for a deeper reality hidden behind visible objects - was an attitude of mind that he inherited from the Middle Ages. Nor was the anthropocentric doctrine of Paracelsus alien to the mediaeval mind. On the contrary, in the Middle Ages man had been accorded an exalted position - as the recipient of the divine soul. His position as an intermediary between the spiritual and material worlds seemed to make man particularly suited for active study of an influence on the works of the Creator - thus overcoming the narrow limits drawn by ancient determinism. 6 Moreover the unification of "Nature" and "Spirit", of natural philosophy and religion, which Paracelsus achieved in his grand vista of man as a microcosm, had been accepted Neoplatonic and Renaissance teaching. In this, again, no original principle was introduced by Paracelsus. Yet he cannot be denied originality. To the present author this seems to lie in his systematic integration of alchemical and Neoplatonic ideas with medicine and its result: the erection of a new scaffolding to replace traditional medicine with the aid of what had been hitherto regarded as "foreign" elements. Here was a whole doctrine of medicine and natural philosophy - however non-scientific - which none of his alchemical predecessors or contemporaries had attempted. Galenic and Arabic medicine had lost the cosmological background visible in some of the Hippocratic treatises. Its link with religion had never been strong or conspicuous even in such writers as Arnaldus of

346

been the history of "Entorganisierung" (the increasing application of inorganic science to biological problems), the history of the search for deadness in the living" (Vogt, p. 100). An all too easy solution of the Paracelsus problem! Paracelsus pursued with equal vigour the search for life in the dead inorganic world, as his vitalistic concepts for example that of the Archeus - show. Moreover, to try to establish any easy formula for Paracelsus as a phenomenon in history implies resignation from the task confronting the historian; which is to integrate the religious and speculative element with his protoscientific trends and achievements, even in chemical, physiological and pathological detail. Vogt overemphasises a dualistic "break" in the world of Paracelsus - a break between the realm of the spirit and that of nature with her own and independent laws; for, as we have endeavoured to show in the preceding pages, Paracelsus is dominated by a monistic outlook - visualising spirit in body and vice versa. Already Christoph Sigwart warned against the assumption that Paracelsus viewed organic life in a purely mechanical and chemical perspective, since he attributed a personal nature to the life force in the microcosm, the Archeus. Theophrastus Paracelsus in: Kleine Schriften. 2nd ed., vol. I, Freiburg 1889, p. 46. See also: J. D. Achelis in his introduction to the Volumen Paramirum, loc. cit. 1928, p. 3, against a one-sided view of Paracelsus either as the indispensable link in the development of modern science or as the "occult" and "magic" philosopher. Both these views take a part for the whole and are therefore wrong. 4 Temkin, loc. cit. 1952, p. 210. 5 Crombie, A. C.: Robert Grosseteste and the Origins of Experimental Science 1100-1700. Oxford 1953, p. 9. - As Sigwart says (loc. cit., p. 46) the genius of Paracelsus as that of many of his contemporaries failed to raise the question of a method for the study of nature. In the present author's opinion it follows that our difficulties in understanding Paracelsus as a whole and in recognising consistency in his philosophy are largely due to our changed concept of reality. To Paracelsus it was only symbolical - intuitive thinking that would lead to reality - a reality far more truthful than anything within the reach of rational and intellectual thought. It is the hidden reality of the cosmic correspondences, that reflects the idea of divinity and can be read in the phenomena produced by nature as well as in the supernatural wisdom of the magician who knows how to direct spiritual power into objects and images. Symbolic thinking thus consistently follows from the belief in cosmic correspondences and in the all pervading spirit of the world. Through this the Magus penetrates into the divine spheres and soars high above the limited knowledge and power of complacent human reason. See also: Gombrich, loc. cit. in footnote 279 p. 288.

8

See for example: Crombie, A. C.: Augustine to Galileo. The History of Science. A. D. 400-1650. London 1952, pp. 140-141.

348

Villanova or Ramon Lull. No more than lip service had been paid to religion by the doctors and surgeons of the Middle Ages. There was religion and there was medicine - like philosophy a "handmaid" of the former rather than its part, let alone its equal partner. In Paracelsus, medicine attained to this height - just as theology was identified by him with cosmology. Medicine now comprised the whole of human knowledge and especially knowledge of Nature and Man. This medicine of Paracelsus is based on a "Cosmological Anthropology" 7 and only through this open to our understanding. In assessing Paracelsus' success we must not forget the appeal which he had to contemporaries and subsequent generations. The violent antagonism which he also aroused is hut an indirect expression of this appeal. His cures were at least sure of the negative success that was to he expected from the, omission of traditional therapeutic procedure. It now appears that the latter must have been highly inefficient, if not frequently fatal whereas the administration of empirical remedies including strong chemicals as elaborated by Paracelsus may well have achieved more. In this context we should remember the care that he took to detoxicate and avoid the indiscriminate use of metal and mineral remedies. However, to-day it is impossible to make sense of his prescriptions and "consilia" in detail. 8 Contemporary reports are highly controversial and coloured by sentiment.9 We therefore conclude that Paracelsus should he found original in his thinking in analogies which in his case afforded a strange synthesis of medicine, alchemy, chemistry, religion and cosmology - a synthesis that is entirely his own. There may yet come a time when his analogist teaching will sound less fantastic even to the scientist than it does to-day. (3) "Was Paracelsus really necessary?" Those who ask this question implicitly deny that he ranks among the reformers and founders of modern medicine and let his claim to fame rest with his singular aggressiveness and unconventional career. In particular, the praise accorded to him by some, for having inaugurated chemical medicine, has recently come in for censure. "Paracelsists" such as Oswald Croll - it has been said - in fact continued where mediaeval alchemists and sixteenth century chemical herbalists had stopped and owed hut little to their eponymous hero. This may he so. In fact, however, Paracelsus not only lent his name 7 8 9

Paracelsus: Historical Necessity and Message


As formulated by Hans Fischer in: Die kosmologische Anthropologie des Paracelsus als Grundlage seiner Medizin. Verh. Naturforsch. Ges. Basel 1941, Lii, 189 et seq. Temkin, loc. cit. 1952, p. 204. See above, p. 126. Adam von Bodenstein versus Gesner, Wier, Erastus and other critics of Paracelsus.

349

to a revolutionary movement, hut also started it single-handed. This movement culminated in the vogue accorded to chemical medicine in the second half of the sixteenth century and throughout the seventeenth. In the second half of the XVIth century the use of Paracelsean remedies formed the objective of a vigorous campaign. By 1570 this campaign had widely affected academic circles in Switzerland and southern Germany with Basie and Strassburg as centres. Under the pressure of the Paracelsist movement, humanist physicians such as Crato, Zwinger, Erastus and others who, of their own accord, would hardly ever have turned to mediaeval or contemporary alchemists and herbalists felt it incumbent upon themselves to study Paracelsus carefully and to define their own position with regard to his chemical medicine.IO It is Paracelsus who founded "latro-Chemistry" and the Paracelsists are simply unthinkable without him. This applies in particular to J.B. Van Helmont, the greatest of the Paracelseans. It was Van Helmont who led the ideas of Paracelsus into scientific channels - however original, he was indebted to him and to his warfare against the ruling tradition. Seen in a historical perspective, Paracelsus was indeed "necessary". (4) How, then, should we classify the man and his message? Science can he fully communicated to everybody. Its results can he repeated, confirmed, refuted and indexed, independently of the person who first conceived and discovered them. Not so the scientific insight of Paracelsus. For it forms part of a personal revelation. This relates to the cosmos as a whole and the Creator. Its aim is knowledge that enables the philosopher to ascend, to transcend and to commune with the universe outside himself - a knowledge that liberates him from the fetters of passion and predestination. It is personal wisdom rather than scientific and indeed intellectual knowledge - a personal and not transferable possession. 10

The situation was well summed up by Multhauf: "With the appearance of Paracelsus the medical profession was forcibly acquainted with the existence of a rival school which challenged the claims of traditional medicine. This development was in no small degree owing to the appearance on the scene of Paracelsus himself." The significance of Distillation in Renaissance Medicine and Chemistry. Bull. Hist. Med. 1956, XXX, 336. - On the Paracelsist movement in Switzerland see: Milt, B.: Chemisch-alchemistische Heilkunde und ihre Auswirkungen in Zurich. Vjschr. naturforsch. Ges. Ziirich 1953, XCVIII, 178-215; with special reference to Basel: Karcher, Joh.: Theodor Zwinger und seine Zeitgenossen (Stud. Gesch. Wissensch. in Basel, vol. III). Basel 1956, p. 44. - The case of Conrad Gesner (1516-1565) is admittedly different. Like Crato, Zwinger and Erastus he had no sympathy with Paracelsus, but being mainly a naturalist he turned to such traditional alchemists and herbalists as Brunschwyg and Ulstadius and continued their work. It was Gesner who emphasised the limitations of distillation in the preparation of remedies - the method that had taken pride of place in the Archidoxis of Paracelsus (see Multhauf, loc. cit., p. 341).

350


Among the most violent invectives hurled against Paracelsus by the "Prince" of his adversaries, Erastus, was the accusation of gnostic heresy. Indeed, the attitude of Paracelsus does seem to show something of the "Spiritual Man", the "Pneumatikos" of the Gnosis. Led by his superior insight the gnostic mystagogue found the way from the lower strata of the flesh and vegetative soul to the higher sphere of the spirit. He spanned in one vision all that happened from the beginning to the end. In Hellen· istic times this had been the position of the Magus and Alchemist.11 In the Renaissance it was the ideal of the "Priest-Physician" as extolled by Ficino.12 What makes Paracelsus unique in this tradition is his wide excursions into observable Nature. There are periods in his life and voluminous treatises among his works in which he appears to be nothing but a naturalist explorer and physician. Nor is it accidental that he boldly embraced nature as the object of study at a time that was eminently susceptible for this. It wowd be wrong to forget, however, that even where the naturalist aspects are prevalent in Paracelsus it is the desire to probe and test Nature for the validity of his cosmological and religious philosophy that forms the driving motive for his research. It was at the end of his life, in a period of sad resignation, that he wrote his- main metaphysical work - the "Philosophia Sagax". Yet this puts forward nothing that is new over and above the general ideas which he imparted in his other and earlier works. Paracelsus thus remains true to his device: "Alterius non sit qui suus ess~ potest": To contemporaries this marked him as a "brave" man rather than a "sound" man and one who was bent on "truth" (as he saw it) rather than on "good taste". To the modern mind he stands out not as a link in the chain of students of Nature to whom modern science owes its origin, not as a physician with modern and revolutionising ideas, not as one of a cohort of religious preachers, ethical thinkers or social reformers but as a "Magus" who forged a new synthesis from personal experience. While this synthesis is in general not readily accessible to us, nevertheless certain parts and isolated aphorisms suggest by their brilliance to the modern mind the power of the whole and its impact at its own time.

11

12

See Reitzenstein, R.: Die hellenistischen Mysterienreligionen. 2nd ed., Leipzig and Berlin 1920, p. 165. On the revival, in Paracelsus, of the ancient Christian unification of the pastoral (missionary) and medical vocations see Goldammer, K., Neues zur Lebensgeschichte und Personlichkeit des Theophrastus Paracelsus. Theolog. Zeit. 1947, 191-221 and Eis, G., Laecna Sidr in der Thidrekssaga. Lychnos 1954-55, 295-299. See above our chapter on· Paracelsus and N eoplatonism, p. 222.

Addenda and Errata Page 10, line 17 Christoph Clauser (149?-1552) as student and Doctor of Medicine - Ferrara (1514) For a documented account see: Wehrli, G. A.: Der Ziiricher Stadtarzt Christoph Clauser und seine Stellung zur Reformation der Heilknnde im 16. Jahrhundert, Ziirich 1924. Clauser, municipal physician at Ziirich, is known to have taken the MD at Ferrara in 1514 (Wehrli, 1924, p. 10). He should thus have been a pupil of Manardus. On the other hand, Clauser merely brought his study to a conclusion at Ferrara and this 1 year after Manardus had left there. Clauser met Paracelsus at Basie and probably at Zurich in 1527. The latter dedicated to Clauser his work 'De gradibus', thus indicating his hope that Clauser would promote its publication. However, he failed to do so and in his treatise on urine (Ziirich, 1531) harshly criticized Paracelsus. This 'Luthems medicorum' may know something about surgery and 'alchemical sophistry', but what he did at Basie was 'gross madness and ignorance' (' grosse toubsucht und unwussenheyt ', sig. Biii). In the same work Clanser mentions Manardus as well as Leonicenus as translators of Avicenna. There is no hint, however, that he (let alone he and Paracelsus) received tuition from these men. Page 10, line 23 and note 25 Paracelsus' possible doctorate at Ferrara Paracelsus' own deposition to this effect, 'Eyd den er an sin doctorat der loblichen Hohen Schul zu Ferraria getan ', was given in a civil law suit between two Strassburg citizens (Burckhardt, A.: Nochmals der Doktortitel von Paracelsus, Korresp BI. schweizer Arzte 1914, XLIV, 885, 754). The magistrate accepted it in lieu of the judicial oath. In his introductory letter to Paracelsus' 'Grosse Wundarztney' the municipal physician at Augsburg, Wolfgang Thalhauser, addresses the author as 'Beitler Arznei doctor'. Perhaps Paracelsus took only one of the minor degrees in medicine then conferred at Ferrara. In the same letter Thalhauser mentions Manardus (just dead-1536) as the Master of True Medicine whose sound teaching had not been heeded and was forgotten. It is doubtful, however, whether this really is written in a vein reminiscent of student days spent at the feet of Manardus. For the latter had already left Ferrara in 1513 for Hungary only to return to Ferrara in 1526. Herzog, A.: Joh. Manardus, Hofarzt in Ungarn und Ferrara, Janus 1929, XXXIII, 52-78, 85-130. Bugyi, B.: Paracelsus in Ungarn, Salzb. Beitr. Paracelsus-Forsch. 1972, XI, 57-72, Telle, J.: Leben und Werk eines Augsburger Stadtarztes; Beziehungen zu Paracelsus und Schwenkfeld, Med.-hist. J. 1972, VII, 1-30. Miinster, L.: Besteht noch eine Moglichkeit, das notarielle Privileg des Doctorexamens von Hohenheim in Ferrara aufzufinden? Salzb. Beitr. Paracelsus-Forsch. 1971, VIII, 173. Page 15, line 29 Physician and surgeon inseparable Paracelsus holds that 'there can be no surgeon who is not also a physician - the latter engenders the surgeon and the surgeon tests the physician by the results of his work' ( Liber de podagricis et suis speciebus et morbis annexis, Ill, Cura, Sudhoff, vol. I, pp. 341-342; De gradibus, Schiiler-Aufzeichnungen, ad V, 7, Sudhoff, vol. IV, p. 120).

353

Addenda and Errata

Addenda and Errata

Page 17 Salzburg The evidence for Paracelsus' first stay is a short document concerning the possessions which he left behind after what appears to have been a hurried departure. The text admits of various interpretations, nor is the role of the peasants' revolt in the whole episode clear, or a discharge of Paracelsus after proceedings against him probable. The open warfare of the peasants only erupted after his departure. It remains, however, that this was at least 'in the air' - it is mentioned in the document as bearing on the disposal of the possessions. Indeed, the revolt was reactive to the punishment meted out by the archbishop to some miners professing heresy in the words of Seb. Franck: des 'glaubens halben '. Perhaps fear that the invading peasants would claim him as their hero accounts for what happened. This was suggested by Rosner, E.: Hohenheims Weg von St. Gallen nach Augsburg (1531-1536), Salzb. Beitr. Paracelsus-Forsch. 1977, XVI, 60-63. In any case the circumstances of the story are still equivocal.

way which took him eventually to Augsburg where he supervised the printing of two 'Practica' of divination and the early version of his 'Great Surgery' (1536). It is to a large measure uncharted territory which has invited many conjectures. They were critically sifted by E. Rosner (Salzb. Beitr. Paracelsus-Forsch. 1977, XVI). The latter confirms the route which led through the Veltlin and St. Moritz (1532-1533) to Sterzing (June 1534), Meran (July), Augsburg (1534-1535), Pfiifers (summer 1535) to Ulm (winter 1535-1536). It included a number of smaller places and alpine passes to Innsbruck (spring 1534). To Schobinger's alchemical interests Goldschmid, G.: Zur Sichtung und Erforschung der alchemischen Handschriften, Ciba Fdn Symp. 1938, V, 1980 on the manuscripts in the Vadian library collected by Schobinger. Huggenberg, F. M.: Alchemisten und Goldmacher im XVI. Jahrhundert, Gesnerus 1956, XIII, 97-163.

352

Page 24, line 11 Paracelsus, Kardinal Lang, the Fuggers and guaiac The question of the involvement of the Fuggers in the guaiac trade, as suggested by Paracelsus, is open to doubt. The latter seems to have largely relied on Hutten, Poll and Schmaus. The same applies to his polemical outburst against Kardinal Lang, cf. Weimann, K.-H.: Paracelsus und Kardinal Matthiius Lang als Gegner im Guajakstreit, Arch. Gesch. Med. 1961, XLV, pp. 193-200, and in particular for a clarification Toellner, R.: Matthiius Kardinal Lang von Wellenburg und Paracelsus; Zur Polemik des Paracelsus gegen Kardinal Lang und die Fugger, Verh. XIX. int. Kongr. Gesch. Med., Basel 1964, pp. 489-497. See also Rosner, E.: Hohenheims Weg von St. Gallen nach Augsburg 15311536), Salzb. Beitr. Paracelsus-Forsch. 1977, XVI, 59-60, for criticism of the story concerning the Leipzig-Niirnberg censure of the Paracelsian syphilis work.

Page 25, line 20 Paracelsus and V adianus Vadianus' literary and humanistic fame had been assured by his commentary to the geographical work of Pomponius Mela. In this he had expressed his belief in the observable laws of nature and his distaste for speculation. When temporarily teaching at Villach (1507) he had probably met Paracelsus' father. It is doubtful whether he taught Paracelsus - then or later when back at Vienna. Nor is any assumption warranted of support or welcome extended to Paracelsus at St. Gall at any time. Moreover, Vadianus, the Church reformer on strict Lutheran and Zwinglian lines, was bound to object to Paracelsus' spiritualist tendencies and early-Christian social ideals in which even the Catholic Church was allotted a role. For literature: Niif, W.: Vadian und seine Stadt St. Gallen, 2 vol., St. Gallen 1944-1957. Milt, B.: Vadian als Arzt; in Bonorand, C. (ed.): Vadian-Studien, vol. VI, St. Gallen 1959, p. 24 seq., also pp. 128-139, p. 135 on doctrinal theological discrepancies between Vadian and Paracelsus and the latter's departure from St. Gall. Milt, B.: Conrad Gesner und Paracelsus, Schweiz. med. Wschr. 1929, LIX, No. 18/19.

Page 25 seq. St. Gall and after The alchemical leanings of the influential Schobingers should indeed have been attractive to Paracelsus and conducive to an extension of his presence in the town. The 2 years suggested may have been meant to refer to the surrounding region rather than the town proper. However, there is little firm evidence to identify all the stations on th!"

Page 26, line 1; page 102, note 268; page 202, line 6 Miners' disease, date of Paracelsus' treatise On textual and external evidence this has to be taken back to about 1520 (Paracelsus working under S. Fueger at Schwaz) instead of the accepted date of 1533-1534, cf: Rosner, E.: Hohenheims Bergsuchtmonographie; in Dilg-Frank, R. (ed.): Kreatur und Kosmos, Fischer, Stuttgart 1981, pp. 20-52 where it is just as convincingly shown that books II and III are later additions to I, possibly dne to revision by Paracelsus himself. Beer, G.: Schwaz zur Zeit des Paracelsus, Salzb. Beitr. Paracelsus Forsch. 1972, XI, 37-46. Paracelsus at Strassburg: Ulrich Gyger ( Geiger-Chelius of Pforzheim, famulus to Paracelsus and finally 'archiater' there, (died 1558). Blaser, R.-H.: Ulrich Gyger, sin diener; in DilgFrank, Kreatur and Kosmos, 1981, pp. 53-66. Page 29, note 71 Oporinus' letter, regrets and apology, text and motives A printing of the Latin text prior to Sennert (1619) is in Michael Doring (Sem1ert's son in law); De medicina et medicis adversus latromastigas et Pseudiatros libri II, in quibus non solum generatim medicinae origo ... asseritur, sed etiam particulatim tam Hippocraticae et Galenicae praestantia quam Empiricae, Magicae, Methodicae et Paracelsicae usus atque abusus excutitur . . . omnium Facultatum studiosis nee ingrati nee infructuosi, Giessae Hessorum 1611 (I, cap. 7, pp. 158-163: De Paracelsi vita et moribus). Oporinus' famous letter containing his realistic pen-portrait of Paracelsus had been 'lured' out of him (' emendicatqm ') by Wierus and published against his will - so Oporinus told Toxites. That Oporinus experienced himself the drastic - purging - effect of Paracelsian 'precipitate' is well documented (Sudhoff: Paracelsus-Handschriften, p. 193 also with reference to Jocisci: Vita Oporini, 1569, sig. Bii verso). He also used the 'Laudanum Theophrasti' for sedation and other 'pills' in himself and others with good results. On Oporinus' motives see Domandl, S.: Paracelsus, Weyer, Oporin. Die Hintergriinde des Pamphlets von 1555. Der lateinische Text als Nachtrag in Domandl, S. (ed.); Paracelsus, Werk und Wirkung, Wien 1975, pp. 53-70, pp. 391-393. Page 32, line 5 Sudhoff edition, index Sudhoff's edition having been out of print for a long time is now being reprinted with an introduction by Dilg-Frank (G. Olms, Hildesheim). At the same place the Huser quarto edition was reprinted with an introduction by K. Goldammer in six volumes, the last volume reprinting the surgical books and writings of the Strassburg folio volume of 1605. The use of the Sudhoff edition has been greatly facilitated by the provision of an index volume: Miiller, M.: Registerband zu Theophrastus von Hohenheim gen. Paracelsus,

354

355

Addenda and Errata

Addenda and Errata

Siimtliche Schriften, Nova Acta Paracels, 1960, suppl., XII. This index, though not without notable omissions and errors, is invaluable.

Paracelsus; in Dilg-Frank, Kreatur und Kosmos, Stuttgart 1981, pp. 101-124. Rudolph, H.: Einige Gesichtspunkte zum Thema Paracelsus und Luther, Arch. Reformat Gesch. 1981, LXXII, 34-54. By contrast with Luther and the Spiritualists Paracelsus is concerned with the human body- the 'flesh' earthly as well as celestial, the latter as acquired by the Eucharist. This reflects his 'eucharistic realism' (Goldammer). Miller-Guinsburg, A.: Paracelsian Magic and Theology. A case study of the Matthew commentaries, Arch. Reformat Gesch. 1981, LXXII, 125-139. Baron, F.; Der historische Faustus, Paracelsus und der Teufel, Paracelsus in der Tradition, Salzb. Beitr. Paracelsus-Forsch. 1980, XXI, 20-31. Messianic and chiliastic ideas in Paracelsus: A future realm of equity and justice - a new Jerusalem and the Golden World beyond - should follow the 'Platonic Year' of world destruction; there is also a divine purpose in history reflected in the 'monarchy' achieved by a created object - its fulness of perfection - at a certain point of time. The latter is thus no longer interpreted as a chain of successive 'empty' nows, cf. Goldammer, K.: Paracelsische Eschatologie, 1-11, Nova Acta Paracels. 1948, V, 61; 1952, VI, 90; Goldammer, K.: Natur und Offenbarung, Hannover 1953, p. 92; Pagel, W.: Das medizinische Weltbild des Paracelsus, Wiesbaden 1962, pp. 101-105; Pagel, W.: Paracelsus als Naturmystiker; in Faivre, A.; Zimmermann, R.C. (ed.): Epochen der Naturmystik, Berlin 1979, p. 59. Achievement of the alchemical ideal of transmuting ('redeeming') base metals into gold in a future age after destruction is expressed by Paracelsus in messianic terms bound up with Elijah and Elisha, cf. Pagel, W.: The Paracelsian Elias Artista and the Alchemical Tradition; in Dilg-Frank, Kreatur und Kosmos, Stuttgart 1981, pp. 6-19 (and Med.-hist. J. 1981, XVI); Paracelsus, 'Speculum alchimiae Heliae'; Eglinus Iconius (Niger Hapelius) in Cheiragogia Heliana de auro philosophico necdum cognito ', R. Glauber and the Esch m'zareph of Knorr v. Rosenroth's 'Kabbala denudata '.

Page 34, note 90 The theological works and Paracelsus literature since 1958 Five volumes of Goldammer's critical edition are extant (vol. II-VII, Steiner, Wiesbaden 1955-1965), see Weimann, K.-H.: Bibliographie Goldammer; in Domandl, Paracelsus, Werk und Wirkung, 1975, pp. 353-362; a supplementary volume: Religiose und sozialpolitische Schriften in Kurzfassungen, Wiesbaden 1973, and Goldammer, K.; Paracelsus, Osiander and Theological Paracelsism; in Debus, A.G. (ed.): Science, Medicine and Society in the Renaissance, New York 1972, vol. I, pp. 105-120. Some of the recent literature is mentioned and discussed in the present 'Addenda', but no attempt is made at supplying a list. Instead reference is made to W eimann,K.-H.: Paracelsus-Bibliographie 1932-1960 mit einem Verzeichnis neu entdeckter ParacelsusHandschriften (Goldammer, K., ed., Kosmosophie, vol. II), Steiner, Wiesbaden 1963 and Weimann, K.-H.: Paracelsus-Lexikographie in vier J ahrhunderten; in Dilg-Frank, Kreatur und Kosmos, Stuttgart 1981, pp. 167-195. Since 1960 the English Paracelsians have been given comprehensive treatment in the work of A.G. Debus. We mention: The Paracelsian Compromise in Elizabethan England, Ambi{C 1960, VIII, 71-97. An Elizabethan History of Chemistry, Ann. Sci. 1962, XVIII, 1-20. Solution Analyses prior to Roh. Boyle, Chymia 1962, VIII, 41-60. John Woodall, Paracelsian Surgeon, Ambix 1962, X, 108-118. Paracelsus and the Aerial Nitre, Isis 1964, LV, 43-61. The English Paracelsians (Oldbourne History of Science Library), London 1965 (to this: Pagel, W.: Hist. Sci. 1966, V, 100-104 and Pagel, W.: The Prime Matter of Paracelsus, Ambix 1961, IX, 117-135). The Chemical Philosophy; Paracelsian Science and Medicine, New York 1977, 2 vol. Stensgaard, R.; Shakespeare, Paracelsus and the Plague of 1603, Shakesp. Res. Opportunit., 1968-69, Nr. 4, 73-77. Stensgaard, R.: All is Well that Ends Well, and the Galenico Paracelsian Controversy, Renaiss. Q. 1972, XXV, 173-188. Rattansi, P.M.: Paracelsus and the Puritan Revolution, Ambix 1963, XI, 24-32. Webster, C.: The English Medical Reformers of the Puritan Revolution, Ambix 1967, XIV, 16-41. Pinero, J.M. Lopez: Paracelsus in 16th and 17th Century Spain, Clio med. 1973, VIII, 113-141. KleinFranke, F.: Paracelsus Arabus, Med.-hist. J. 1975, X, 50-54. Trevor Roper, H. (Lord Dacre): The Sieur de la Riviere, Paracelsian Physician of Henry IVth (Roch de Bailiff); in Debus, Science, Medicine and Society in the Renaissance, New York 1972, vol. II, pp. 227-250. Page 42, note 122 Religious scepticism towards human reasoning and learning Passages comparable with Sebastian Franck's aphorisms: 'also macht sich jeder selbst gelehrt, und nit von got' ( Philosophia sagax, I, 9, Sudhoff, vol. XII, p.224). 'J e mer wiz, je mer irgangen. dan des menschen verstant gibts nit' (Labyrinthus medicorum, 2nd Jpreface, 1Sudhoff, vol. XI, p. 168). 'Muss man gross ermessen, nicht den wolstand oder hiipsche ordnung, sondern die einfalt alein .. darauf dan anch folgt, ie gelerter ie verkerter. dander glaube darf keiner gelerten, weisheit; nur einfalt ... ' (Ausarbeitungen zu den fiinf Biichern von den unsichtbaren Krankheiten, Sudhoff, vol. IX, p. 355). Page 43 Paracelsus religiosus et theologus Rudolph, H.: Kosmosspekulation und Trinitiitslehre, Weltbild und Theologie bei Paracelsus; in Domandl. S. (ed.): Paracelsus in der Tradition, Salzb. Beitr. ParacelsusForsch. 1980, XXI, 32-47. Rudolph, H.: Schriftauslegung und Schriftverstiindnis bei

Page 53, line 28 Nature acting by creating the image of an object - nature as 'Abbildner' and 'Prophet' - Novalia and praesagia 'Die Natur beherrscht die Kunst der Abconterfeiung' (Philosophia sagax, Von dem Dono Novalium, ed. pr. Argentor. 1571, fol. 95 verso, Sudhoff, vol. XII, p. 262). Page 60, line 21 Knowledge acquired through union with the object - 'overhearing' (' Ablauschen ') its inner plan of building form and executing function, i.e. the scientia of the object That this is Paracelsus' real idea of the royal way to acquiring knowlegde is proved by the following statements: 'so du nun der scammonea ir scientia ablernst also das in dir ist wie in der scammonea, so hast du experientiam cum scientia' (Sudhoff, vol. XI, p. 191, Labyrinthus medicorum, cap. VI). 'Haben wir ein sinn, der fleugt aus uns ... ich gedenk zu erfaren den himel, zu erfaren die kreuter so ist mein geist in kreutern ... dieselbigen geist und mein geist komen zusamen' (De lunaticis, Philosophia magna, I, Sudhoff, vol. XIV, p. 58). It is through imagination that the physician forces the herbs to let come out their occult nature. Thereby a specific spirit is born inside the physician (Erkliirung der gantzen Astronomie, Probatio in scientiam incertarum artium, Sudhoff, vol. XII, p. 484): 'der imaginiert zwingt die kreuter das ir verborgene natur herfiir muss komen, was in inen ist '. This process of imagination thus belongs to the communication of astral bodies or sidereal spirits, the traffic between spirits of objects with each other and revealing themselves to man, especially in his sleep (Philos., tr. V, Sudhoff, vol. XIII, pp. 350-354). It is therefore quite clear that knowledge, according to Paracelsus, is acquired not by mere empirical observation with or without reasoning, but by a much more sophisticated process. This is borne out in the Paracelsian heritage as transmitted by Severinus, Weigel, and Van Helmont.

356

Addenda and Errata

Addenda and Errata

Page 64, note 169; page 82 The enigma of the eight mothers and Gamathea - marital union of the four elements (female) with four astral forces (male) The mother concept in elemental and matter theory has its sources in Plato, the Sepher Jezirah, Jehuda ha-Levi, the 'Lauteren Briider', al-Quazwini, Salomo ibn Gehirol and certain alchemical traditions. Paracelsus usually speaks of four mothers, but there are also eight (Von den podagrischen Krankheiten, I, Vom limbo, Sudhoff, vol. I, p. 355), four celestial corresponding to four earthly matrices. The model is the conjunction of the 'upper' (subtle-ethereal) and the 'lower' (solid-material) elements - a doctrine common to neo-Platonists of the Renaissance (Ficinus, Pico, Zorzi, Agrippa). The elements of the two quaternary groups are identical in substance, but different in subtlety and allegorical significance. The Paracelsian eight mothers of the arts stand for the elemental knowledge that the physician must have at his command, namely the four philosophies for the earthly and the four astronomies for the celestial concerns. At the same time the eight mothers indicate the sum total of the semina of created objects, the limbus in which the uppercelestial and the lower-physical elementary principles are still conjoined. Hence Adam was made of eight parts - old gnostic stock-in-trade that re-emerges in the Paracelsian corpus (see-note top. 204). A medieval predecessor to the 'eight astronomies' also mentioned by Paracelsns is Daniel of Morley's Liber de naturis inferiorum et superiorum '. The Paracelsian pater elementatus and mater elementata (of Trithemius) should be collated with the 'upper vulcani ', the husbands, from whom 'element-women' conceive ( Lahyrinthus medicorum, XI, Sudhoff, vol. XI, p. 213). The whole idea of the eight mothers and the correspondence of the four upper and four lower elements belongs to the Gnostic heritage of the pre-eminence of the Eight (Ogdoas). Pagel, W.: Das Riitsel der Acht Mutter im Paracelsischen Corpus, Sudhoffs Arch. Gesch. Med. Naturw. 1975, vol. LIX, pp. 254-266. Pagel, W.; Winder, M.: The Higher Elements and Prime Matter in Renaissance Naturalism and in Paracelsus, Ambix 1974, XXI, 93-127. Pagel, W.; Winder, M.: Die Konjunktion der irdischen und himmlischen Elemente in der Renaissancephilosophie und im echten Paracelsus, Salzb. Beitr. Paracelsus-Forsch. 1975, XI, 187-204. Pagel, W.: Paracelsus als Naturmystiker; in Faivre, Zimmermann, Epochen der Naturmystik, Berlin 1979, pp. 52-104 (pp. 63-67).

of nature is and acts in the centre of the individual (Sieben defensiones, I, Sudhoff, vol. XI, pp. 127-128; Philosophia sagax, I, 3, Sudhoff, vol. XII, p. 67; Pagel, W.: Das medizinische Weltbild des Paracelsus (Goldammer, K., ed., Kosmosophie, vol. I), Steiner, Wiesbaden 1962, pp. 101-102, p. 54 and passim; Pagel, W.: Paracelsus als Naturmystiker; in Faivre, Zimmermann; Epochen der Naturmystik, Berlin 1979, pp. 63-67).

Page 75, line 18 and note 201 'Light of nature' expressing consummation of object-specific 'life' and as measure of time 'Sieben Defensiones' (1537/38), Erste Def., Sudhoff, vol. XI, pp. 127-128. Light of nature as an effect of the stars: Philosophia sagax, lib. I, cap. 1, Sudhoff, vol. XII, p. 23. Astronomical and other time: Sudhoff, vol. XII, p. 19. The significance of this in the natural philosophy of Paracelsus has been exaggerated and misinterpreted. Its meaning is definitely not: natural science. It is rather the sum total of the innumerable 'sciences' contained in each of the innumerable objects of nature. This conveys the many ways in which each of these objects realizes the building up of its form and the execution of its function. As Goldammer expresses it: The light of nature is not a light ignited and radiated by nature, hut a principle that constitutes and penetrates nature, cf. Goldammer, K.: Lichtsymholik in philosophischer Weltanschauung, Mystik und Theosophie vom 15. bis zum 17. Jahrhundert, Stud. gener. 1960, XIII, 670-682; Goldammer, K.: Der Beitrag des Paracelsus zur neuen wissenschaftlichen Methodologie und zur Erkenntnislehre, Med.-hist. J. 1966, I, 75-95. Light of nature is the principle 'behind nature' whereby the constitution of individual man and things is made meaningful (p. 78). It is connected with the invisible astral body in man (p. 79). Like the latter it is lit up by the Holy Ghost (p. 80). Qua scientia it shines not in the investigator, hut in the object investigated (p. 88). The most consistent interpretation is the entelecheia which leads the individual to perfection, its 'monarchy' at a certain point of time - the light

357

Page 88, lines 5-6; page 270, line 1 Was Paracelsus original in adding the third principle - salt - to sulphur and mercury? The answer is yes and no. The way in which he juxtaposed salt as third of a triumvirate that was operative in all realms of nature was indeed original and essential to his cosmosophic synthesis. However, salt as separate from the sulphur and mercury of the metals was stock-in-trade in mediaeval alchemy and not merely (as has been inferred) a form of sulphur. Clearer than in Geber (where the idea may have originated) the salt even gains an exalted position as a prime - solidifying - principle that makes action in nature possible in the first place. In other words, it is viewed as superior rather than juxtaposed to sulphur and mercury. It accounts for their formation of bodies by enabling them to penetrate matter - hence its designation as honorific or animated by virtue of its sublime and exalted properties of penetrating and expelling. Comparable to fire it acts like the artisan in his workshop - it is nature itself captured by art. Thus we read in Lullius, where also a list is given of things of all realms with salt as essential component, from sea-water, egg-yolk, clouds, fire, hitter-salt, urinary salt, ash, borax, aleali down to 'sulphur exalted' and 'mercury sublimated' (Raym. Lullii Testamentum novissimum, cap. XXVII; in Libelli aliquot chemici op. Doct. Toxitae, Basil. 1572, pp. 166-168, 21). Borrichius interpreted this rightly as 'salt in all things' and added a more restrictive quotation from . Isaacus with salt as component of all metals (Hermetis et Aegyptior. sapientia, Hafniae 1674, p. 394). Similarly in Michael Scotus a third component of metals is called 'earth' (metals generated from composition of mercury, sulphur and terra). It reappeared as faex in the mediaeval-arabic 'Septem tractatus Trismegisti aurei' in Ars chemica ', Argentor. 1566, pp. 17-18 and significantly as inherent unicuique materiae. Paracelsisists identified thefaex with terra (Penotus, De denario medico, Bern 1608, 103) and with the Paracelsian salt (Dorneus, Physica genesis, Theatr. Chem., Argent or 1613, vol. I, p. 376). To all this: Pagel, W.: Paracelsus, Traditionalism and Medieval Sources; in Medicine, Science and Culture (essays in honour of 0. Temkin), Baltimore 1963, pp. 51-75 (p. 58 seq). To the probable author of the Scholia to the Septem tract - Israel Harvetus -: Gilly, C.: Zwischen Erfahrung und Spekulation, Theod. Zwinger und die religiiise und kulturelle Krise seiner Zeit, Basler Z. Gesch. AltertKunde 1977, LXXVII, 57-137 (74-75). Dorneus was possibly the editor(' Gnosius Belga ')rather than the author as suspected by Pagel, W.: Paracelsus, Traditionalism and Medieval Sources, Baltimore 1963; another 'Helga' could be E. Vogelius.

Page 90, caption to figure 9 Iconography of Paracelsus The portrait formerly ascribed to Jan van Scorel and more recently to Quentin Matsys was copied and modified in a series purporting to show Paracelsus in his first Alsatian period in the middle twenties. A possible archetype is in possession of the Loevenitch collection in New York. It is regarded as a copy from a lost portrait by Hans Holbein. It shows a juvenile rather fleshy Paracelsus perhaps from his Basel period in 1527. For detail Blaser, R.: Beitriige zur Geschichte der Naturwissenschaften und Technik in Basel, Olten 1959 should be consulted.

358

Addenda and Errata

Page 95, note 251 · Van Helmont's discovery of gas and Paracelsus' possible presentiments: 'chaos' - gas Van Helmont discovered a 'new' volatile substance, i.e., one that was different from air and water vapour. He called it' gas'. As it could not easily be retained in the receptacle, he also called it 'wild spirit' ( spiritus sylvestris). This may have been vaguely foreshadowed by the following passage from the 'Opus paramirum' which is to the effect that there is a spirit which makes inert material 'male', i.e., active, alive, and responsive. Thus sulphur is activated by ignition and mercury by sublimation. Salt is activated by solution whereby acids are formed 'mit aller ungestiimikeit'. However, the latter phrase is not rendered in Latin translations of the passage sylvestre, but tumultuose (Opus paramitum, I, 3. Sudhoff, vol. IX, p. 52). Nevertheless a passage in an early Helmontian work may be reminiscent of this Paracelsian concept: 'in all solution ... some exhalations are stirred up, being before at quiet, which as they are wild ones, they do not again obey coagulation; therefore the waters (sc. acids such as aqua fortis) do of necessity fly away or being restrained do burst the vessels (Supplementum de Spadanis fontibus, IV, par. 6, Ortus Med. Amstelod 1652, p. 552; Oriatrike of Physic refined, ti:ans. J. Chandler, London 1662, p. 697). It may well be that the term gas was etymologically derived from the Paracelsian term chaos. The··meaning of the latter, however, is quite different. In Paracelsus it means any medium or habitation from which an object draws its means of subsistence or certain qualities (examples collected in Pagel, W.: The Wild Spirit (Gas) of J.B. Van Helmont and Paracelsus, Amhix 1962, X, 1-13, 4). Finally it is tempting though inconclusive to connect the Helmontian spiritus sylvestris with those elementary spirits which Paracelsus called sylvestres. Their properties may he correlated as follows: I. Paracelsus: the sylvestres are spirits; Van Helmont: gas is a volatile spirit. II. Paracelsus: they are uncouth in appearance and behaviour; Van Helmont: gas is 'wild' because it takes a special effort to keep in in vitro. III. Paracelsus: they are not wholly spiritual, hut have a material body of 'subtle flesh' that is specific to themselves; Van Helmont: gas has a material basis, namely water - the material basis of all objects in nature; indeed, it is water to the extent that it is matter, but water that has received the almost indelible stamp of specificity - 'seminalis concreti proprietas in Gas perseverat' (Complex. et mistion. elemental. figmentum, 29, Opp., Francofurti 1682, p. 129). IV. Paracelsus: their habitat and origin is the air; Van Helmont: gas is 'airy' by dint of its volatility, though definitely not air. V. Paracelsus: this habitat is called chaos; Van Helmont: the specificity of gas and its difference from air and water vapour are expressed by the use of a 'new' term, namely chaos or gas. This designates the spirit specific for one individual substance (Pagel, Ambix 1962, X, 10). Concerning the specificity of gas which is essential in Van Helmont's concept the Arcana of Paracelsus may be mentioned: they are the astral efficients in objects which are specific to each individual object and at the same time are 'directed by the astra like feathers in the wind', i.e., they are volatile (Paragranum, III, Sudhoff, vol. VIII, p. 185 and pp. 182-185). Paracelsus also spoke of wesentliche Geister which are immanent in every object (wesentlichen Ding). There are as many spirits as there are bodies and objects in nature (De natura rerum, lib. IV, Sudhoff, vol. XI, pp. 329-330). In Van Helmont's concept gas is the object itself divested of its coarse material cover thus revealing its essential and specific volatile kernel - the internal 'spring' that makes the object 'tick'. In conclusion: gas remains Van Helmont's discovery. It is quite different from the Paracelsian chaos although the latter may have influenced Van Helmont's coining of the 'new' term gas. Similarly Paracelsian 'pneumatic' deliberations and observations formed a congenial background of inspiration to Van Helmont without detracting from his originality in discovering and laying the foundations to our knowledge of gases and pneumatic chemistry.

Addenda and Errata

359

Page 102, note 268 Mercury - the 'mother' of all metals Von der Bergsucht, III, 1, 2, Sudhoff, vol. IX, p. 522 seq, and vol. III, 2, 1 cap. 5. Sudhoff, vol. IX, pp. 526-527. 'So ist auch nicht minder das Mercurius vivus die muter ist aller siben metallen und hilich sei ein muter der metallen genennet werden, dan er is ein ofnes metal' (De natura rerum, lib. I, Sudhoff, vol. XI, p. 318).

Page 107, note 287 Metals, water and the terrestrial Archeus ( Erdgeist) The correct loci from Paracelsus are: De natura rerum, lib. I, Sudhoff, vol. XI, p. 318; Das Buch de mineralibus, Sudhoff, vol. III, p. 37; Philos. de gener. et fruct. quatt. elementor. Sudhoff, vol. XIII, p. 105 (tr. Ill, cap. 10), Huser (fol. ed.), vol. II, pp. 53-56. Metals are an offspring of the element water (p. 97), hut grow and develop in the earth by virtue of the terrestrial archeus (Erdgeist; De natura rerum, I, Sudhoff, vol. XI, p. 318). Expressed differently: nature creates in the element water a tree which invades the earth and here produces its 'fruit' -the metals (Buch de mineralihus, Sudhoff, vol. Ill, p. 37). Or finally: 'Ares' distributes the 'first matter' of metals in the earth ('in der globul ', De gener. et fruct. quatt. elementor., tr. III, cap. 10, Vom archeus der metallen, Sudhoff, vol. XIII, p. 105). All seven metals are horn through the archeus terrae and not from any sulphur or mercury or through the philosopher's stone of the alchemist. The latter can transmute, but - unlike nature - not generate de novo (De natura rerum, I, Sudhoff, vol. XI, p. 318).

Page 108 Paracelsus' monist ideas: dynamic working-matter (Wirk-Stoff) This replaces the dualist view of a soul entering and acting on matter from outside. Instead the emphasis lies on dynamic impulses that are inseparable from and act in matter. On the Aristotelian roots of these monistic ideas and their elaboration by Van Helmont, Harvey and Glisson see Pagel, W.: William Harvey's Biological Ideas, Basel 1967, pp. 252-272; Pagel, W.: Harvey and Glisson on Irritability with a Note on Van Helmont, Bull. Hist. Med. 1967, XLI, 497-514; Pagel, W.: Chemistry at theCross-Roads: The Ideas of Joachim Jungius, Ambix 1969, XVI, 100-108 (ii propos Kangro,H.: Joachim Jungius' Experimente und Gedanken zur Begriindung der Chemie als Wissenschaft, Steiner, Wiesbaden 1968); Pagel, W.: New Light on William Harvey, Basel 1976, pp. 34-36, 52-54, 77-80. For the Ruchni-gaschmi as a mediaeval-pantheistic version of 'working-matter' in Sal. ibn Gehirol see Joel, M.: Ihn Gebirols Bedeutung fiir die Geschichte der Philosophie, Breslau 1857, p. 36; for microcosm, p. 29. To Mechor chajim, III, 6, see also Munk, S.: Melanges de Philosophie Juive et Arabe, Paris 1859, p. 39.

Page 112, line 4 Theories of elements and matter Goldammer, K.: Bemerkungen zur Struktur des Kosmos und der Materie bei Paracelsus; in Eulner et al., Medizingeschichte in unserer Zeit, Stuttgart 1971, pp. 121-144. Passages on the divine 'fiat' as prime matter non-created call for reconsideration in the light of Pagel, W.: The Prime Matter of Paracelsus, Amhix 1961, IX, 117-135; Pagel, W.; Winder, M.: Die Konjunktion der himmlischen und irdischen Elemente in der Renaissance-Philosophie und im echten Paracelsus; in Domandl, Paracelsus, Werk und Wirkung, Wien 1975, pp. 197-204; Pagel, W.: Paracelsus als Naturmystiker; in Faivre, Zimmermann, Epochen der Naturmystik, Berlin 1979, pp. 67-69. In the latter the argument is largely based on genuine works and not on 'Deutero-Paracelsica '. Briefly: the

360

361

Addenda and Errata

Addenda and Errata

world as a whole - iliaster - 'is the first matter before all creation' (' Iliaster ist die erste materia vor aller Schopfung', Von dem Bad Pfafers Tugenden, Sudhoff, vol. IX, p. 658). See also note to page 204. Goldammer, K.: Die Paracelsische Kosmologie und Materietheorie in ihrer wissenschaftsgeschichtlichen Stellung und Eigenart, Med.•hist. J. 1971, VI, 5-35 -the originality of Paracelsus' theories as compared with those of Ficino, Pico and Agrippa of Nettesheim through his specific anthropological, medico-chemical and microcosmic concerns. Indebtedness to neo-Platonism and Gnosis is admitted, but somewhat underplayed in its share in not a few doctrines that at first sight appear as original Paracelsian.

putrefying, but being cooked and only the residues of the cooking putrefy' (De gener. anim., Ill, 2; 762al5). Harvey did not deny the existence of abiogenetic generation, but reduced its significance considerably whilst discussing in detail equivocal generation from non-specific or dissimilar parentage or precursors (metamorphosis) as occurring in insects. Paracelsus also made provision for organic primordia - a seed born in dung from which worms grow - instead of a direct (abiogenetic) conversion of putrifying material into live beings (Labyrinthus medicorum, XI, Sudhoff, vol. XI, p. 215).

Page 113, note 301 The Cagastrum The concept is related to the ideas prominent in gnosticism - the material and elemental world is a pleroma tes kakias, a fullness of evil. In the Paracelsian corpus this is poignantly expressed in treatises regarded as spurious, notably those probably emanating from the circle of Valentin Weigel (e.g. De secretis creationis - on its tradition see Lieb, F.: Val. Weigels Kommentar z. Schopfungsgeschichte, Ziirich 1962; also perhaps 'Secretum magicum de lapide philosophorum' as cited in note 301, p. 113). Weigel borrowed from the 'Philosophia ad Athenienses' (e.g. bodies as 'excrement' or 'coagulated smoke' of the astra; elements as seat of devil and hell, cf. Peuckert, W.E.; Zeller, W., eds.: Weigels Werke, vol. I, Stuttgart 1962, pp. 46-55). For more genuine Paracelsian loci: Liber meteororum, Sudhoff, vol. XIII, p. 243, pp. 253-254, p. 260 - the site of the four elements as the 'heaven' of Lucifer as already presented in Origen (De principiis, Ill, 5, 4). The whole question of the Cagastrum and its affiliation to gnosis and cabbala has been discussed by Pagel, W.: Das medizinische Weltbild des Paracelsus, Wiesbaden 1962, p. 89, pp. 95-98; Pagel, W.; Winder, M.: Gnostisches bei Paracelsus und Konrad von Megenberg; in Fachliteratur des Mittelalters (Festschrift fiir G. Eis), Stuttgart 1968, pp. 359-371 (p. 362); Pagel, W.: Paracelsus als Naturmystiker; in Faivre, Zimmermann, Epochen der Naturmystik, Berlin 1979, pp. 95-99.

Page 115, line 8 Elemental spirits Sources (cf. Pagel, W.: Paracelsus als Naturmystiker; in Faivre, Zimmermann, Epochen der Naturmystik, Berlin 1979, pp. 80-83): Psellus (1018-1078 De daemonibus), Ficino, Agrippa, based on the biblical: the marriage of the Sons of God (giants) with the Danghters of Man. To this Paracelsus, Philosophia sagax, I, 5, Sudhoff, vol. XII, pp. 113, 468; Isidorus, Etymol., VIII, 11, 15: in 'daemonibus est omnis scientia'; in Paracelsus: 'so wissen die geister die ding all auch, sie konnen alle die kiinst' (De invent. artium, I, Sudhoff, vol. XIV, p. 251); they communicate with us in sleep and dream (Philosophia magna, V, Vom schlafen und wachen der leiber und geister, Sudhoff, vol. XIII, pp. 354357). The elemental spirits - their literary after-life: The central figure, the watery spirit Undine, was immortalised in E.T.A. Hoffmann's opera with Fouquet's libretto. It is largely representative of Paracelsus' appreciation in German Romanticism, cf. Goldammer, K.: Paracelsus in der deutschen Romantik, Salzb. Beitr. Paracelsus-Forsch. 1980, XX.

Page 116, line 30; page 139, line 15 Generation and putrefaction Aristotle attributed an important role to putrefaction in spontaneous, notably abiogenetic, generation. This role, however, was auxiliary. He said: 'nothing is generated

Page 118, line 1 Life - a process of combustion; the essential role of air Life is combustion - 'as if I say it cannot burn is tantamount to my saying, it cannot live' (Liber Azoth de ligno et linea vitae, Sudhoff, vol. XIV, p. 549). Equally it is 'in air that there is the force of all life' (Sudhoff, vol. XIV, p. 558). Fire is 'the body of the soul' or a 'house wherein the soul of man dwells'. This fire is 'true man' (ibidem). Life is invisible celestial fire, air enclosed in a body, a 'tinging spirit of salt' (De natura rerum, Sudhoff, vol. XI, p. 330). It is in and throngh air that spirits and astral bodies communicate with each other (Philos. tract. quinque, tr. V, Sudhoff, vol. XIII, pp. 354-357; Liber de Nymphis, tr. Ill, Sudhoff, vol. XIV, p. 133). On the Aristotelian, Stoic, neo-Platonic, hermetic and Gnostic sources of these concepts see: Pagel, W.: Paracelsus and the Neo-Platonic and Gnostic Tradition, Ambix 1960, VIII, 125-166 (notably p. 150) and Pagel, W.: Das medizinische Weltbild des Paracelsus, Wiesbaden 1962, pp. 57-58 and 113-115. Ibid., p. 90: It should be noted that the commentary to the hermetic Asclepius ascribed to Ficinus is probably the work of Jae. Faber Stapulensis. Page 121, line 12; page 208, line 25 Tereniabin is the sweet celestial dew (drosomeli, aeromeli) of Persian-Arabic origin, cf. Lippmann, E.O. v.: Geschichte des Zuckers, Leipzig 1890, pp. 83-87 (2nd ed., Berlin 1929, pp. 145153). Page 121, line 13; page 227, line 14 Astral body and immortal soul Althongh invisible the astral body is not immortal - in contrast to the immortal and divine spirit (soul). It vanishes together with the elemental body to rejoin the stars whence it came. By contrast: 'spiraculum vitae ... aus dem munt gottes ergangen zu dem er wieder gehet' (Philosophia sagax, II, I, Sudhoff, vol. XII, p. 288) and: 'wie gott selbs und prima materia und der himel, die drei ewig und unzergenglich sind, als ist auch das gemiit des menschen' (Liber de imaginibus, 12, Sudhoff, vol. XIII, p. 383) and: 'die sel aus got und wider zu got get' (Devera influentia rerum, I, Sudhoff, vol. XIV, p. 221). Page 124, note 347 Water supporting imagination 'eine jegliche imagination geht durchs wasser am krefftigsten' (De causis morborum invisibilium, Ill, Sudhoff, vol. IX, p. 288) repeats almost literally statements by Pico and Georgi us Venetus (Zorzi): 'ad aquas imaginationis affectus referamus' (Pico, Heptaplus, V, Opp., Basil. 1557, p. 33); 'anima omnium rerum similitudo ... similis est aquae per imaginationem' (Georg. Venetus (Zorzi), Harmonia totius mundi, cant. I, ton. 6, cap. 5, fol. 103r, Venet. 1525). Pagel, W.: Gedanken zur Paracelsus-Forschung, Salzb. Beitr. Paracelsus-Forsch. 1980, XXI, 1980, 11-19 (p. 12 and note 2). The idea is in the neo-Pythagorean-Platonic tradition. It was succinctly expressed by Numenius of Apamea (2nd century): All souls sit by water that is pervaded by spirit divine ('proshi-

362

Addenda and Errata

Addenda and Errata

zanein to hydati tas psychas theopnoo onti') (Porphyry, De antro nympharum, 10, Hol· stenius-Van Goens, ed., Traj. ad Rh. 1765, p. 11).

Hist. 1964, VIII, 309-328 (p. 311); also on the Paracelsian origin of the term synovia (Elf Traktat, Sudhoff, vol. I, p. 132; Liber paragraph., VII, I, Sudhoff, vol. V, p. 244).

Page 137 The ontological view of disease This constitutes the central part of Van Helmont's medical reform - diseases are entia, real things which befall man, attacking him from without and not merely the product of imbalance of the humoral mixture appropriate to the individual from within. In this and much of his detailed arguments he had been anticipated by Paracelsus. Both postulate specific semina as disease-entia - they enshrine the plan, blue-print, idea or image according to which the disease receives its 'strange form' (' solch seltsam biltnus der krankheiten ', Opus paramirum I, 5, Sudhoff, vol. IX, p. 63), the 'species of disease in its anatomy' (ibid., p. 64). Both attribute an essential role in forming the semen to morbid imagination (fantasei} hatched in the vital principle (archeus}, but the latter is merely the parent from whom the semen soon separates to attack it from outside. Passion, lust, sin and will are thus convertible into a 'body', a kind of poison or ens morbi. Outside pathogenic agents impress their specific 'seals' on the semen externalised from its parent and have become an 'alien guest' to it (Pagel, W.: Van Helmont's concept of disease - to be or not to be? The influence of Paracelsus, Bull. Hist. Med. 1972, XLVI, 419-455). The ontological principle as conceived by Paracelsus and consolidated and amplified by Van Helmont remained alive in Harvey, Sydenham, the naturalists of the early 19th century and Virchow's cellular pathology (Pagel, W.: Paracelsus, Van Helmont, Virchow und die W andlungen im ontologischen Krankheitsbegriff, Virchows Arch. Abt. A Path. Anat. 1974, CCCLXIII, 183-211). On the role of the historical period (diseases worse to-day than in the days of Hip· pocrates and Rhazes) in Volumen paramirum, Ens dei, Sudhoff, vol. I, p. 228.

Page 142, line 3 Galen anticipating the homeopathic principle De simpl. medicament. temperam. et facult., lib. III, 24-25, Kiihn, vol. XI, p. 613: 'purgantia ea attrahunt, quae ipsis similia sunt in corpore.' Against the principle: Hippocr. Epidem. et Galeni Comment., II, Kuhn, vol. XVII, A, p. 911 seq., p. 915.

Page 137 Imagination and disease Of general significance in view of the primarily spiritual nature of disease: 'krankheiten sind nit corpora, darumb geist gegen geist gebraucht sol werden' Paragranum, II, Sudhoff, vol. VIII, pp. 177-178). It is essential in such violent diseases as rabies and plague (Grosse Wundarztney, I, 3, 1, Sudhoff, vol. X, p. 169, Opus paramirum, IV, Sudhoff, vol. IX, pp. 225-226; De natura rerum, IV, Sudhoff, vol. XI, 329, Volumen paramirum, Sudhoff, vol. I, pp. 217-218). Page 138, line 28 and page 143, line 20 Paracelsus and anatomy The nearest Paracelsus comes to using the term in its ordinary usage is when he says that wounds are to be considered in the light of the various members and systems (Buch serogolia, Sudhoff, vol. V, p. 413 seq). He occasionally uses the term for morbid anatomy (Kolleg. d. Paragr., 14 Bucher, Sudhoff, vol. V, p. 215). Other meanings include: the morbid disposition of individual organs, the intrinsic power of an object, the acting mechanism and situation of the various species of salt, sulphur and mercury, the situation of herbs and minerals in the 'anatomy' of the archeus ( vulcanus) whereby its remedial ('alchemical', 'magic') action is directed. Finally anatomy can stand for the building up of the form which makes an object what it is. In any case anatomy proper according to Paracelsus is concerned with the correspondences of macrocosmic objects (sapphire, mercury, cypress, wallflower, etc.) with members and organs - 'this is the anatomy of man, and not the one which is studied by means of dissection as well as by the reexamination of parts after boiling' (Labyrinthus medicorum, IV, Sudhoff, vol. XI, pp. 182-184). For detail and further loci see: Pagel, W.; Rattansi, P.: Vesalius and Paracelsus, Med.

363

Page 145, line 12 Role of dosis 'Alie ding sind gift und nichts ohn gift; alein die dosis macht das ein ding kein gift ist' (Defensiones, III, Sudhoff, vol. XI, p. 138). In the same vein (ibid.): 'es ist nicht zu vii noch zu wenig, der das mittel trift der entpficht kein gift.' On the other hand there are agents so strong that dosis is of no significance (Ursprung und herkunft der frantzosen, V, 11, Sudhoff, vol. VII, p. 300 seq., vol. VI, p. 11, p. 320; Spitalbuch, I, Sudhoff, vol. VII, p. 383). Page 150, line I Doctrine of temperaments in Paracelsus To this: Goldammer, K.: Der cholerische Kriegsmann und der melancholische Ketzer, Psychologie und Pathologie von Krieg, Glaubenskampf und Martyrium in der Sicht des · Paracelsus, Psychiatrie und Gesellschaft, Stuttgart 1958, pp. 90-101. Page 150, line I Paracelsus on fools Cranefield, P.F.; Federn, W.: The Begetting of Fools. An annotated translation of Paracelsus, De generatione stultorum, Bull. Hist. Med. 1967, XLI, 56-74, 161-174. On Gnostic ideas recognizable in this treatise - 'der Idiota wird den W eg zur sapientia weisen, die den sternen uberlegen ist' by virtue of his nearness to God and freedom from astral reasoning - see Pagel, W.; Winder, M.: Gnostisches bei Paracelsus und Konrad von Megeuberg; in Fachliteratur des Mittelalters, Festschr. fiir G. Eis, Stuttgart 1968, p. 368. On Gnostic sources concerning the ineptitude of the vulcani, 'heavenly apprentices and immature master craftsmen' responsible for the making of fools, see Pagel, W.; Winder, M.: The Eightness of Adam and Related Gnostic Ideas in the Paracelsian Corpus, Ambix 1969, XVI, 136. Page 151, line 3 St. Vitus's dance, goitre, cretinism, hysteria, plague Paracelsus can claim the merit of having placed St. Vitus's dance into the rank of natural diseases (Proksch, J.K.: Paracelsus als medizinischer Schriftsteller, Wien 1911, p. 36). Similarly Proksch drew attention to hysteria which according to Paracelsus starts in the brain and not in the uterus (p. 38), to the description of hysterical blindness (p. 65) and the omnipresence of epilepsy (caducus} in the body. On cretinism and goitre: Crane· field, P.F.: The Discovery of Cretinism, Bull. Hist. Med. 1962, XXXVI, 489-511. Crane· field, P.F.; Federn, W.: Paracelsus on Goitre and Cretenism. A translation and discussion of De Struma vulgo, der Kropf, Bull. Hist. Med. 1963, XXXVII, 463-471. Merke, F.: Hat Paracelsus als erster uber den Kretinismus berichtet und den Zusammenhang mit dem endemischen Kropf vermutet? Karger-Gazette 1964, No. 9/10. Dilg-Frank, R.: Begriff und Bedeutung von 'pestis-pestilentia' und ihre Verwendung bei Paracelsus, Salzb. Beitr. Paracelsus-Forsch. 1980, XXI, 48-66. Mora, G.: Paracelsus' Psychiatry, Am. J. Psychiat. 1967, CXXIV, 803-814.

365

Addenda and Errata

Addenda and Errata

Pages 152, 314, 330 Paracelsus self-contradictory ? Apparent contradictions are due to contrariety inherent in the facts, as for example medicinal dosis essential in some, but without significance in other drugs (Sieben Defensiones, III, Sudhoff, vol. XI, p. 138; Herkunft der Frantzosen, V, 11, Sudhoff, vol. VII, p. 300, vol. VI, 11, p. 320; Spitalbuch, I, Sudhoff, vol. VII, p. 383). Medicine when practised correctly is binding for all nations ('ir mir nach, ich nicht euch nach ', Paragranum, Sudhoff, vol. VIII, pp. 56, 76, 140), yet there are geographical differences ('was nutzt Rhazes in Wien', De gradibus, Brief an Cluser) and changes of diseases in time (Sieben defensiones, II, Sudhoff, vol. XI, p. 135). Nature to be examined in her visible as well as invisible manifestations (Pagel, W.: Das medizinische W eltbild des Paracelsus, Wiesbaden 1962, pp. 5-12). Some contradictions must be explained in developmental terms: traditional convictions held earlier in life Paracelsus abandoned in later periods when humoralist traces had been reduced, as in the appraisal of bile as an important tool rather than an excrement (Pagel, W.: Gedanken zur Paracelsus-Forschung und zu Van Helmont, Paracelsus in der Tradition, Salzb. Beitr. Paracelsus-Forsch. 1980, XXI, 11-19). Similar reasons apply to the contradictory assessment of insanity in somatic terms at an earlier period in his life and in religious-cosmosophical contexts in his final years. This change would seem to follow from a change in interest, application and occupation at large rather than a change in philosophy and cosmosophic theory (as suggested by Midelfort, H.C.E.: Anthropological Roots of Paracelsus' Psychiatry; in Dilg-Frank, Kreatur und Kosmos, Stuttgart 1981, pp. 67-77). That certain contradictions are not accessible to explanation in such biographical terms was pointed out with regard to the syphilis books by Keil, G.: Daems, M. F.: Paracelsus und die 'Franzosen ', Beobachtungen zur Venerologie Hohenheims, I. Pathologie und nosologisches Konzept, Nova Acta Paracels. 1977, IX, 99-151 (p. 122). The time intervening between the formulation of the contradictory statements was too short to allow of developmental directions accounting for them.

for more than a year. It is more dangerous to return to a place too early than to remain in it. On Agrippa and his world see Zambelli, P.: Agrippa in den neueren kritischen Studien und Handschriften, Arch. Kulturgesch. 1969, LI, 264-295. For a comprehensive appraisal including Agrippa's debt to Georg. Venetus (Zorzi): Millier-Jahncke, W.-D.: Magie als Wissenschaft im friihen 16. Jahrhundert, Beziehungen zwischen Magie, Medizin und Pharmacie im Werk des Agrippa; Diss. Marburg 1973.

364

Page 162, note 98 Fabius Violet and Joh. Walaeus on the 'hungry acid' as the agent of gastric digestion The immediate source for Violet seems to be Quercetanus (De priscorum verae medicinae materia, 1603, tr. II, De signaturis rerum, Col. Allobrog. 1609, pp. 110-112) and Petr. Castellus (Epist. medicinal., v, Romae 1626, p. 141). The influence of Quercetanus on Van Helmont and other Paracelsists is obvious. To these also belongs the cryptoParacelsist Stephan Rodericus de Castro (Pagel, W.: Wm. Harvey's Biological Ideas, 1967, p. 98). Gastric concoction in Severinus: Idea medicinae philosophicae, 1571, pp. 241 (not 141) and 184. 3 years before posthumous publication of Helmont's work Joh. Walaeus had reported his quantified time series of dog experiments proving acid gastric digestion (Epist. duae in Th. Bartolinus, Instit. anat., Lugd. Bat. 1645, pp. 445-447). Pagel, W.: New Light on Wm. Harvey, Basel 1976, pp. 115-116, 130-131.

Page 170, note 112 Obstruction by tartar in the lung Galen: De difficult. respir. I, 11, Kiihn, vol. VII, p. 781 seq.; De locis affectis, IV, 10 and 11, Kiihn, vol. VIII, pp. 272-296.

Page 177, note 137 Agrippa on immunity of places from plague The best preventive is to seek out those places from which the plague has receded

Page 195, line 1 Leonhart Thurneisser - his priorities and merits in the chemical examination of urine and mineral water A priority quarrel between Dorn and Thurneisser concerns the idea of a chemical examination of urine chiefly by weighing and distillation. In his two pertinent treatises of 1571 and 1576 (Moehsen, I. C. W.: Beitrag zur Geschichte der Wissenschaften in der Mark Brandenburg, Berlin 1783, p. 189, no. III, and p. 191, no. IX, respectively) Thurneisser may have followed an older model, as Dorn insinuates, and Sudhoff believes (Bibliographia Paracels., p. 302). On the other hand, both of Thurneisser's works antedate Dom's treatise, published under the name of Paracelsus, but most likely written by Dorn himself. It should be added that the same illustrations which adorn the latter (notably the balance and the 'human furnace') are found in Thurneisser's second work antedating Dorn by 1 year, whereas no pictures are found in the first treatise of 1571. This favours Thurneisser's priority. It is the latter who is mentioned as the sole designer of 'chemical uroscopy' by authors of the late XVI th and of the XVII th centuries, notably Hieronymus Reusner, James Hart, J.B. Van Helmont, and others. Weighing of the urine, as inculcated by Thurneisser, remained a sound method of urine examination and was established as such by Van Helmont. Seen in this light Thurneisser was productive of some progressive ideas and results, however much overgrown by the fruits of wild imagination and deliberate trickery (on chemical uroscopy and chemical dissection of urine, see pp. 190-200). In this field Thurneisser's position appears to be equalled by his merits in the chemical examination of mineral waters. Though not the first in this field, it was Thurneisser and not Paracelsus who carried out such investigations, and he did so on a systematic scale. For detail and further references see Debus, A.G.: The Paracelsian Aerial Niter, Isis 1964, LV, 43-61 and Debus, A.G.: Solution-Analyses prior to Boyle, Chymia 1962, VIII, 41-61. On Thurneisser's chemical uroscopy in medical-historical perspective: Bieker, J.: Die Harndiagnostik des Leonhard Thurneysser zum Thurn, Dt. Arztebl. 1970, LXVII, 3202-3209, Bieker, J.: Die Geschichte der Nierenkrankheiten, Mannheim 1972, Bieker, J.: Chemiatrische Vorstellungen und Analogiedenken in der Harndiagnostik Leonh. Thurneissers (1571, 1576), Sudhoffs Arch. Gesch. Med. Naturw. 1976, LX, 66-75. For a new, comprehensive and definitive assessment of Thurneisser in all aspects: Morys, P.: Medizin und Pharmazie in der Kosmologie Leonhard Thurneissers zum Thurn (1531-1596); Diss. Marburg 1981 (typescript). It should not be forgotten that the source for the human figure as a urine furnace is in the first place genuine Paracelsian: 'im harn ist der ganze microcosmus fiir gebildet' (Opus paramirum, III, tr. 5, Sudhoff, vol. IX, p. 164). Page 200, line 6 Progressive aspects of Paracelsus' medicine At a conservative estimate a short list of Paracelsus' contributions to the development . towards modern medicine should include the following items: (1) Paracelsus devoted much labour to the study of the miners' disease and was the first to present it as an occupational illness ( ?1533-1534), an achievement marred only by the fact that his treatise

Addenda and Errata

Addenda and Errata

first appeared long after his death (1567) and minor productions were allowed to hold the field until then. (2) Paracelsus' original and advanced clinical descriptions of the protean manifestations of syphilis - then a new disease and believed to be single in type and appearance. Paracelsus identified congenital syphilis, rejected guaiac as well as heroic treatment with mercury and recognized the latter as the true curative agent qua metal. (3) Knowledge of the diuretic action of mercury and its effect in dropsy. (4) The connection of goitre with minerals and drinking water. (5) The advanced study of mineral waters which, though not really supplemented by chemical analysis, led to anticipation of geological knowledge. (6) The recognition of exogenous agents in disease and of the local anatomical changes resulting from their action. Paracelsus thus foreshadowed modern aetiology and morbid anatomy and prepared the view of classifiable diseases, each with a specific cure. (7) The preparation and use of new chemical remedies such as tartar emetic and of ether, the latter being experimentally tested in chickens and recommended as a soothing agent in fits, notably in epileptic fits. (8) Paracelsus devised methods for the detoxication of chemical remedies achieving for example the conversion of sulphides into sulphates by heating with saltpetre. (9) The launching of iatro-chemistry, as success· fully taken up by the Paracelsists and emerging in the first 'London Pharmacopoea' of 1618. (10) Demonstration of the precipitation of protein by means of acid. (11) The re· cognition of acid in the stomach of certain animals and at certain times and the praise given to acid mineral waters as appetisers and regulators of metabolism. (12) The recog· nition of the healing power of nature causing Paracelsus to preach and practise antiseptic principles. His detailed descriptions of syphilitic affections - from these we can conclude that they were in principle identical with those seen today - are superior to any previous or coeval descriptions. They include venereal ulcer - cambucca - , although primary and postprimary lesions are not distinguished. Visceral syphilis, especially of bone and brain, are particularly well treated and so is congenital syphilis including its late manifestations. Paracelsus observed hydrargyrosis and interpreted it as the result of a retention of mercury in the organs (Proksch, J. K.: Paracelsus iiber die venerischen Krankheiten und die Hydrargyrose, Med.-chir. ZentBl. 1882, XVII, 67). He improved mercurial therapy and removed unnecessary dietary restrictions therein. His interest in anatomy was not as small as usually thought. He took great interest in the crossing of the optic nerves and is responsible for the introduction of the term synovia. He first described dancing mania and chorea in medical terms as due to natural rather than demonic causes, also goitre and cretinism, hysteria and hysterical blindness, the variety of hysterical manifestations and the role of the brain therein (although still regarding the uterus as the principal source). He allowed air and light into the sick-room and seems to have kept aloof of (or perhaps not known) such cruel methods as the infusion of boiling oil into wounds. On the other hand he rejected wound suture. He may have known colostomy and the introduction of a silver tube into the gut. All this is ultimately mixed with grossly archaic methods such as the dried toad fixed on pestilential ulcers to suck up the pestilential poison specifically, the moss from skulls for haemostasis and a welter of astrological injunctions in surgery (p. 71 and Proksch, J. K.: Paracelsus als medizinischer Schriftsteller, Safar, Wien 1911). See also Proksch, J.K.: Paracelsus-Forschung; Eine Antwort auf die Rezen· sion des Prof. Karl Sudhoff, Wien 1912 (mostly on the latter's irrational and wishful statements on the supposed absence of astrology in Paracelsus; to this: Pagel, W.: Das medizinische Weltbild des Paracelsus, Wiesbaden 1962, pp. 5-6). Traditional 'DreckApotheke' was a lively source in Paracelsian therapy. A new comprehensive and magisterial account of the syphilis in the wider perspective of Paracelsus' biological and medical ideas is by Keil, G.; Daems, W.F.: Paracelsus und die Franzosen, Beobachtungen zur Venerologie Hohenheims. I: Pathologie und nosologisches Konzept, Nova Acta Paracels. 1977, IX, 99-151. It is introduced by an amply documented critical review of the origin and epidemic spread of the disease.

Page 204, line 3 Paracelsus and gnosticism The whole subject has been studied in detail as follows: Pagel, W.: Paracelsus and the Gnostic and Neo-Platonic Tradition, Ambix 1960, VIII, 125-166. Pagel, W.: The Prime Matter of Paracelsus, Ambix 1961, IX, 117-135. Pagel, W.: Das medizinische Weltbild des Paracelsus. Seine Zusammenhiinge mit Neuplatonismus und Gnosis, Wiesbaden 1962. Pagel, W.: The Wild Spirit (Gas) of Van Helmont and Paracelsus, Ambix 1962, X, 1-13. Pagel, W.: Paracelsus: Traditionalism and Mediaeval Sources; in Medicine, Science and Culture, Essays in honour of O. Temkin, Baltimore 1968, pp. 51-75. Pagel, W.; Winder, M.: Gnostisches bei Paracelsus und Konrad v. Megenberg; in Fachliteratur des Mittelalters, Festschr. f. G. Eis, Stuttgart 1968, pp. 359-371. Pagel, W.; Winder, M.: The Eightness of Adam and related Gnostic Ideas in the Paracelsian Corpus Ambix 1969, XVI, 119-139. Pagel, W.: Das Ratsel der Acht Miitter im Paracelsischen Corpus, Sudhoffs Arch. Gesch. Med. Naturw. 1975, LIX, 254-266. The Gnostic concepts found in the Paracelsian corpus notably include: (1) the pessimistic appraisal of the material world of elements and creatures as some· thing base and excrementitious ('pleroma tes kakias', hell); (2) the distinction between the Highest God of redemption from the lower powers of astral demiurges (archontes, administrators - dioiketes) who are responsible for creation; (3) separatio in matter uncreated, in contrast to creation de novo from nothing; (4) the role of water as universal matter, the seat of Behemoth or devil; (5) creation of Adam from eight parts, the eight astronomies and philosophies, the eight mothers, the dark fire, the middle body, the planets as blacksmiths, the ineptitude of the lower creators such as vulcani and demiurges. These Gnostic ideas are conspicuous in works which are regarded as spurious, such as notably the 'Philosophia ad Athenienses'. However, they also occur in genuine treatises though in a diluted form, e.g. the planets,and their role as 'blacksmiths' and creators of a minor degree and inferior performance (Philosophia sagax and De generatione stultorum), the idea of a 'middle body' or 'middle Life' (Opus paramirum) and the marriage of the lower - female - elements with the - male - astral forces (the 'Vulcanischen' in Labyrinthus medicorum, see above to p. 82). Quite probably there are cases in which the name of Paracelsus was used to put across heretical ideas, but sometimes this was not without historical justification and sometimes heretical and notably pantheistic concepts were genuine Paracelsian. Prime matter and pantheistic views: Here two headings must be distinguished: (1) prime matter of the world and (2) prime matter of the individual objects. (1) The prime matter of the world was the.fiat - the word of God (Opus paramirum, I, cap. 2, Sudhoff, vol. IX, p. 48). It is therefore not matter in the modern sense, but something uncreated and with God. Only thereafter the word fiat was 'made material' the iliastrum, and from this the three building principles salt, sulphur and mercury emerged (De mineralibus, Sudhoff, vol. III, p. 34; Liber Azoth, cap. 1, Sudhoff, vol. XIV, p. 549). See above note (top. 112) on iliaster as 'matter before all creation'. (2) The prime matter of the individual objects is the seed of this object (Labyrinthus medicorum, cap. 5, Sudhoff, vol. XI, p. 187, De mineralibus, Sudhoff, vol. III, pp. 33-34). The seeds were created by God from nothing, then left to be developed by their inherent 'blacksmiths' - the vulcani or archei. A pantheistic view expressed by Paracelsus is to the effect that God, prima materia, heaven and the human soul (' gemiit ') are indestructible and eternal (De imaginibus, Sudhoff, vol. XIII, p. 383). For detail see Pagel, W.: Das medizinische Weltbild des Paracelsus, Wiesbaden 1962, pp. 79-84; Pagel, W.: The Prime Matter of Paracelsus, Ambix 1961, IX, 117-135; Pagel, W.: Paracelsus als Naturmystiker; in Faivre, Zimmer· mann, Epochen der Naturmystik, Berlin 1979, pp. 67-69.

366

367

368

369

Addenda and Errata

Addenda and Errata

Page 211, line 8 Mediaeval sources - Hildegard von Bingen . For Paracelsus' acquaintance with the works of Hildegard we have but scanty evidence: Fragmente ad lib. de fundamentis sapientiae (Sudhoff, vol. XIII, p. 334). In folklore star-shoots are considered as the products of their self-cleansing (' schneuzen und putzen'). See Humboldt, A. v.: Kosmos, Stuttgart 1845, vol. I, p. 393 and note 28 to p. 121. Earth as the cloaca of heaven: Leibniz, G. W.: Theodicee, Reclam, Leipzig, vol. I, p. 456. For Gnostic-mediaeval affiliations and magia naturalis in Paracelsus cf. Goldammer, K.; Magia naturalis und die Entstehung der modernen Naturwissenschaft, Studia Leibnit., 1975, 7, 30-55. Schipperges, H.: Magia et scientia bei Paracelsus, Sudhoffs Arch. Gesch. Med. Naturwiss. 1976, LX, 76-92. Schipperges, H.: Medizinischer Unterricht im Mittelalter, Dt. med. Wschr. 1960, 856-861, Schipperges, H.: Paracelsus. Der Mensch im Licht der Natur, Stuttgart 1974. Lauer, H.H.: Taumellolch (sailam) in einem arabischen Zauberrezept, Sudhoffs Arch. Gesch. Med. Naturw. 1965, XLIX, 37-49. Lauer, H.H.: Elemente und Kriifte im Naturverstiindnis des Paracelsus, Antaios, 1969, XI, 321-334.

Page 214, note 43 Techellus/Konrad von Megenberg as mediaeval sources to Paracelsus The source for Techellus is: von Megenberg, K.: Buch der Natur. He is identical with and better known as Zahel, Thetel, Cheel, Theel and the spurious author of a book on stones with carved images. It appears as: Techelsbiichlein - biichlein eines grossen meisters in der jiidischheit der hiess Techel (Megenberg, Pfeiffer, Stuttgart 1861, pp. 4694 72). See Choulant, L.: Graphische lncunabeln in N aturgeschichte und Medizin, Leipzig 1858, pp. 99-122 and Pagel, W.: Paracelsus and Techellus the Jew, Bull. Hist. Med. 1960, XXXIV, 274-277. It is true that the treatises in which Techellus occurs are probably not authentic Paracelsian. However, the main point in Techellus/Megenberg is the natural - divine - origin of images carved in stones. This very point Paracelsus made his own in De imaginibus, cap. 7, Sudhoff, vol. XIII, pp. 373-375, a genuine treatise. It is likely that Paracelsus was acquainted with Megenberg's encyclopedic work, for it was extant in several incunable editions and once reprinted in Paracelsus' life-time (Egenolph, Francof. 1536). There are a number of Paracelsian doctrines also found in Megenberg, especially on elementary spirits, monsters, miracle-men, stars, sin, and lunatics and fools, though with typically Paracelsian modifications (Pagel, W.: Paracelsus, Traditionalism and Mediaeval Sources; in Medicine, Sciences and Culture, Baltimore 1968, pp. 71-72; Pagel, W.; Winder, M.: Gnostisches bei Paracelsus und Konrad v. Megenberg; in Fachliteratur des Mittelalters, Festschr. fiir G. Eis, Stuttgart 1968, pp. 366 seq.). Nevertheless Paracelsus may have used a source other than Megenberg for this material which was common property of the tradition going back to Pre-Socratics and Aristotle.

Page 213, line 8; page 267, line 23 The hermetic doctrine of the middle position of the sulphuric soul between spirit and body According to Zosimus the 'soul' is of a sulphuric and caustic constitution. It joins the two contrary things - spirit and body - and changes them into one being (Berthelot, M.P.E.: Collection des anciens alchimistes Grecs, 1888, Zosimus, III, 12, vol. I, p. 152, and Ill, 152). Nearer to Paracelsus and a more probable source for him is: Lullus, R.: Potestas divitiarum; in Artis auriferae, 1610, vol. III, p. 67: in the soul and sulphur extracted from the 'occult stone' is infused that virtue which unites two contraries. For further detail and the general position of Hermes and Archelaus in the Paracelsian corpus see: Pagel, W.: Paracelsus, Traditionalism and Mediaeval Sources; in Medicine, Science and Culture, Essays in honour of O. Temkin, Baltimore 1968, pp. 53, 56, 62.

Page 213, note 37 Essential and·material fire The sentence quoted is from: Liber de renovatione et restauratione, Sudhoff, vol. Ill, p. 209. In Liber Azoth (Sudhoff, vol. XIV, p. 577) the salamander is said to live in the essential fire. The tradition of creatures living in fire is at least as old as Aristotle (Hist. Animal., V, 19, 552bl0; also Pliny: Nat. hist., X, 42; Aelian: Nat. anim., II, 2; Apuleius: De deo Socratis 8; Kore kosmou, Stobaeus I, 996; Philo: Noae Plant. 12, De aeternit. mundi 45). Aristotle mentions the Pyrigona (? Empedoclean; De respirat., XXI, 4 78al6 on pyr psychikon). See Leisegang, H.: in Cohn, Heinemann, eds., Philo, Philosophische Werke, vol. IV, Breslau 1923, p. 59, note 2 (De gigantibus). The 'dark', material fire: Sources collected in Pagel, W.: Das medizinische W eltbild des Paracelsus, Wiesbaden 1962, p. 71, supplemented from Aristotle, neo-Platonists, Gnosis, Rabbinics, Isaac the Blind, Alstedius in Pagel, W.; Winder, M.: The Higher Elements and Prime Matter in Renaissance Naturalism and in Paracelsus, Ambix 1974, XXI, 102-105. Additional: Cahbala denudata, 1684, II, pars 2, tract. 4, Siphra de zeniutha, comm. R.C. Vital, p. 128; Hippolyt. Refutatio omn. haeres., VI, 9; Bousset, W.: Hauptprobleme der Gnosis, Giittingen 1907, pp. 230, 232. lgnis alacer (celestial) versus ignis vaporosus (terrestrial) in Venceslaw Lavinius, 'De coelo terrestri' in Nicolaus Niger Hapelius (Raph. Eglinus) ,' Cheiragogia Heliana de auro philosophico necdum cognito' (Marpurgi 1612, p. 98).

Page 216, note 52 The cabbalah and the homunculus The most important and probably authentic loci are: On terpentin und honig, Sudhoff, vol. II, p. 195, to De vita longa, Sudhoff, vol. III, p. 304 and De natura rerum, lib. I, De gener. rerum naturalium, Sudhoff, vol. XI, pp. 316-317. Its ingredients are semen and blood (not: urine). The use of the number 40 for the days of gestation in vitro is ancient Greek: 40 days are required for the typosis, i.e. the time in which the embryo assumes its shape (Roscher, W.: Die Zahl 40 im Glauben, Brauch und Schriftum der Semiten, Leipzig 1909, p. 13). According to Meister Eckart it is on the fortieth day that the soul enters the embryo (in Pfeiffer, ed., Deutsche Mystiker, vol. II, 1857, pp. 260-261). For the significance of residues as features distinguishing the earthy from the heavenly world in cabbalistic tradition see Preis, K.: Die Medizin im Sohar, Mschr. Gesch. Wiss. Judent. 1928, LXXII, 167-184 (p. 170). Things are generated by a process of coagulation or crystallisation, leaving a fluid residue containing waste. Thus in creation heaven emerges as a product of the crystallisation of the upper waters - leaving a residue of' turbid waters'. The latter signify the dark powers which subjugate the world - the chaos wronght by coarse matter. In the present author's opinion this is closely related to the Paracelsian ideas on the Cagastrum (Pagel, W.: Das medizinische Weltbild des Paracelsus, Wiesbaden 1962, pp. 98-99). Page 235 Mystic monocularity and the Rosicrucian portrait of Paracelsus The symbols at the back of the figure of Paracelsus first occur in the Paracelsian 'Prognostication' of 1536 (Sudhoff, Bibliogr. Paracels. No. 17, p. 26). Its 'Rosicrucian' modifications include the symbols of resurrection with the signet: Rx Rosa, the Jacob's Ladder and above all the blotting out of the left eye of the adept destined to rebirth in the lumen supranaturale. This is the cagastric eye for perceiving the lower world of the transient and ephemeral. It must be closed to enable the mystic to concentrate on the

371

Addenda and Errata

Addenda and Errata

world eternal. There are 'zweien geistlichen ougen mit den der mensch sihet in die ewigkeit und in die zit, und wie eines von dem anderen gehindert wird' (in Pfeiffer, Theologia deutsch, 3rd ed., Giitersloh 1875, cap. VII, p. 24). We also refer to Suso: Horolog. sapientiae, Cologne 1503 (title page) showing mystic monocularity. This is undoubtedly a forerunner to the 'Rosicrucian' symbols under discussion and not due to a printer's whim or error. For other such forerunners can be adduced, notably the figure of God Father in Monte der Orazione, Venet. Bernard. Benalius, before June 11th 1493 (Cat. Schab, 1964, No. 7). See further: Hildegard, Welt und Mensch; in Schipperges, Salzburg 1965, plates on p. 16, 264. Dallett, J.B.: Hohenheims Labyrinth; in Domandl, Paracelsus, Werk und Wirkung, Wien 1975, pp. 29-44 (pp. 31, 39-40) to: 'Rosicrucian Portrait' Finally G. Randall published his translation of Cusanus' 'De visione dei' under the title: The Single Eye (1646; Wind, E.: Pagan Mysteries in the Renaissance, London, 1958 p. 182, note 1).

ture of man in whom consequently all principles are duplicated - ~wo goodnesses, magnitudes, durations and so on (Opusculum Raymundinum de auditu kabbalistico, Petr. Maynardus, ed., Venet, 1518, sig. c4r). Arnald sees in amor heroicus the product not of disease, but of strong and assiduous imagination ( cogitatio) over a desired thing confident of its eventual possession. Affection of the cerebellar part appertaining to imagination may lead to its exsiccation and transference of its heated spirits into the seat of judgement (Opp., 1585, col. 1523 and 1528). To Paracelsus amor hereos is 'aus der imagination geboren' (Biicher von den unsichtbaren Krankheiten, Ill, Sudhoff, vol. IX, pp. 300-302). To this cf. Koch, R.; Rosenstock, E.: Th. v. Hohenheim, FiinfBiicher iiber die unsichtbaren Krankheiten, Frommann, Stuttgart 1923, p. 63: 'sperma, das aus der vorstellung kommt, wird in amor heroicus geboren'. Red objects stimulate motion of the blood, not because of similarity of colour, but by virtue of the force of imagination (De dosib. theriacal., Opp., col. 497c-498b and 500d).

370

Page 238, line 6 The womb - a microcosm Page 242, note 117 Mother earth Eve was made from Adam who was an epitome of the whole world and as such analogous to God (Adam Kadmon). Eve develops the womb which becomes a mirror of the whole world: 'thus all properties of the greater and lesser world come together in the belly of the woman - she carries the lesser world in her belly' (Philosophia sagax, I, 2, Sudhoff, vol. XII, p. 49). 'The spirit of God is in it, embosses itself in it and plants fruit in it' (Opus paramirum, IV, De origine morborum, matricis, Sudhoff, vol. IX, p. 191, pp. 183 seq.). On earth and womb see: Dieterich, A.: Mutter Ertle, Ein Versuch iiber Volksreligion; 3rd ed., Leipzig 1925; and Ziegler, K.: Menschen- und Weltenwerden - Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der Mikrokosmosidee, Leipzig 1913 (Jb. klass. AlterKde. XXXI, 529-573). Page 244, note 122 Paracelsus and the German language Its enrichment through Paracelsus often maintained is rather doubtful (Telle, J.: Die Schreibart des Paracelsus im Urteil Deutscher Fachschriftsteller des 16. und 17. Jahrhunderts; in Dilg-Frank, Kreatur und Kosmos, Stuttgart 1981, pp. 78-100). Page 244 Paracelsus' own version of' elemental' grading 'Grades' are bound up, not as traditionally with quantitative differences in one of the qualities or their combinations (opium 'cold' and pepper 'hot' to the 'fourth degree'), but with the elements themselves, the 'mothers'. Their products ('fruit') bear each the signature of the 'mother' - those from the earth are all 'first grade', those from water 'second grade', from air 'third' and from fire 'fourth grade'. Grade thus measures neither quality nor quantity, but that intensity of action which an object shares with all those that derive from the same womb. Earth-born vegetables are of slow and mild action and qua offsprings of the earth of the 'first grade' as against arsenic fire-born and hence of the 'fourth degree' (De gradibus et composit. receptor. et naturalium, I, 4-7, Sudhoff, vol. IV, pp. 9-12). Against the traditional 'grades': Paragranum, I, Philos., Sudhoff, vol. VIII, p. 155. Pages 247, 254 Lull and Arnald of Villanova on the power of imagination Lull compares the faculty of forming images and ideas (imaginativa) of specific objects with the lodestone that attracts iron. It is connected with the microcosmic struc-

Page 252, line 14 Arnaldus of Villanova - quest for medical reform in a new age Paracelsus normally feels himself aloof of the ideas and achievement of Arnaldus and other mediaeval predecessors. He gives, however, qualified recognition to Arnaldus who knew something of the anni Platonis when things will be renewed, as if he understood this - and yet he soon deviates from the fundament ('grunt') (Opus paramirum, I, De origine morborum ex primis substant., Sudhoff, vol. IX, p. 54; see Pagel, W.: Das medizinische Weltbild des Paracelsus, Wiesbaden 1962, p. 102).

Page 263, line 15 The elixir and Paracelsus Elixir prevents putrefaction (Archidoxis, lib. VIII, Sudhoff, vol. III, pp. 184-186). It 'directs' the body in the same way in which a ferment makes bread (ibid., p. i87). The pertinent material was collected by Diepgen, P.: Das Elixir, Bohringer, lngelheim 1951, p. 14 seq. and the following brands are distinguished: elixir balsami (from balm, gold, and alcohol), elixir salis (from salt, quintessence of gold and wine), elixir dulcedinis (based on the preserving properties of honey, manna and sugar added to the quintessence of gold), elixir quintae essentiae (chelidonia, melissa, safran, gold, mercury, myrobalsamum plus wine), elixir subtilitatis (olive oil, honey, alcohol and the substances mentioned in a refined form), Paracelsus is severely critical of the quinta essentia of Arnald, Rupescissa and the Lullists (Imposturenhuch, Sudhoff, vol. VII, p. 124).

Page 267, line 7 Paracelsian 'alchemy' not gold-making ' alchimia . . fiirnemen mache arcana gegen den krankheiten aus anweisung der natur' (Paragranum, Ill, Sudhoff, vol. VIII, p. 185). When dross is taken away, the remedy emerges: this is physician working like a smelter for arcana - 'thorugh fire' (Grosse Wundartzney, II, 2, Sudhoff, vol. X, p. 287; alchemy, Labyrinthus medicorum, V, Sudhoff, vol. XI, pp. 187-188). Alchemy works with all materials including wood, not only with metals and gold (Sudhoff, vol. XI, pp. 188-189). Potable gold: Von den natiirlichen Dingen, I, 4, Sudhoff, vol. II, 106. However, Paracelsus believed in the transmutation of metals, as e.g. from iron vitriol into copper. For gold see above the additional note to p. 43 (Elias artista). A pre-Paracelsian biological explanation in inorganic terms: natura mercurialis as essential for life of animals and plants, as 'fermentum vitae et existentiae rerum universarum' (Clangor buccinae in De alchimia opuscula, Francofurti 1550, 32v.).

373

Addenda and Errata

Addenda and Errata

Page 267, note 209 Roger Bacon - silver, mercury, their body, soul and spirit Rosarium Philosophorum in Manget, vol. II, p. 94 for 'live silver'. Roger Bacon: De arte chymica, Francofurti 1603, p. 46 for mercury cold in body and hot in spirit.

Paracelsus und die Rezeptiergewohnheiten seiner Zeit; in Domandl, Paracelsus, Werk und Wirkung, Wien 1975, pp. 77-92. See also: Lauer, H.H.: Taumellolch (sailam) in einem arabischen Zauberrezept, Arch. Gesch. Med. 1965, XLIX, 37-49.

372

Page 269, note 211; page 271, notes 221 and 223 Tripartition of metals' and the 'stone' Rosarium abbreviat., tr. I, Theatr. Chem. 1613, vol. III, p. 681 and Ripley, G.: Liber duodecim portarum, Theatr. Chem. 1613, vol. Ill, p. 853 in Porta IV de conjunctione. Page 271, note 221 Alhertus Magnus: De alchimia, Theatr. Chem. 1613, vol. II, p. 462. Lullus: Theorica, cap. 14, Theatr. Chem., vol. IV, pp. 28, 71. Note 222: Tr. micreris, Theatr. Chem., vol. V, 1622, p. 109. Note 223: Lullus: Theorica, cap. 45-52, Theatr. Chem. 1613, vol. IV, pp. 76-85. Page 272, lines 8-10 Ulcer comparable to rust on iron and identity of causation Ursprung und herkomen der Frantzosen, VIII, 3, Sudhoff, vol. VII, p. 361. Entwiirfe z. Syph., VIII, Sudhoff, vol. VII, p. 438. Von blatern, IX, 4, Sudhoff, vol. VI, p. 446. In Galen: aerugo in causation and therapy of ulcers: Kiihn, vol. X, p. 202; vol. XII, p. 218; vol. XIII, pp. 367, 660, 732. In the Talmud: chaludah - rust - of skin resembling eczema and due e.g. to hypersensitivity to cabbage ( charob): Preuss, J.: Biblisch-talmudische Medizin, Berlin 1911, p. 405 (with reference to Simon b. Jochai hidden in a cave full of charob for 13 years). For chaludah-rubigo ('flos ferri, cupri etc.') cf. Buxtorf-Fischer (Lexicon Chald., Talmud. et Rabbin., 1875, p. 390): 'donec corpus eorum rubiginosum fieret - guphcha chaludah. ' Page 274, line 4 Alcohol through freezing out from fluids The Paracelsian invention was original for Renaissance Europe. It had been anticipated in China a long time before - at the latest about 700 AD with Liang Ssu Kung and his 'frozen-out wine' (tung chin). At the end of the 14th century the purity of spirits was tested on high mountains by Tshao Mu Tzu when pure alcohol was shown not to freeze. Possible hints to the matter can be traced to Li Shih Chen at about 200 BC (Jos. Needham, Gwei Djen, N. Sivin, vol. V, part 4 of Science and Civilisation in China, Cambridge 1981, pp. 151-154) with follow-up from Bacon and Thomas Browne to Glauber and Boyle. Page 274, note 237 The Arbor Dianae The correct locus is: De natura rerum, lib. II, De crescentibus rerum (Sudhoff, vol. XI, p. 321). Pages 274, 275 Paracelsus' chemicals, old and new The subject has been covered in a number of papers by W. Schneider, for example: Grundlagen fiir Paracelsus' Arzneitherapie, Arch. Gesch. Med. 1965, XLIX, 28-36. Schneider, W.: Der Wandel des Arzneischatzes im 17. J ahrhundert und Paracelsus, Arch. Gesch. Med. 1961, XLV, 201-215. Schneider, W.: Arzneirezepte von Paracelsus; in Dilg-Frank, Kreatur und Kosmos, Stuttgart 1981, pp. 151-166. Fehlmann, H.-R.:

Page 276, line 11 Paracelsus' ether-like preparations - their pharmacological testing in man As an example of Paracelsus' anticipation of an important chemical through his proficiency in the laboratory the stupefying vitriol salts must be mentioned. Paracelsus isolated substances that resulted from the interaction of alcohol and vitriol (sulphuric acid) and demonstrated their narcotic action in man as well as in chickens. The unanimous verdict of historians of chemistry - the only competent judges in this matter - has been that these products were ether or kindred preparations. In their production Paracelsus seems to have been anticipated by the Lullists - a further indication of mediaeval influences in the work of Paracelsus. However, he appears to have been the first to recognize their narcotic properties and to have put them to experimental test and therapeutic use in man (pp. 276-278; Pagel, W.: Das medizinische Weltbild des Paracelsus, Wiesbaden 1962, pp. 22-24; Pagel, W.: Paracelsus, iitheriihnliche Substanzen und ihre pharmakologische Auswertung an Hiihnern: Sprachgebrauch (henbane) und Konrad von Megenbergs 'Buch der Natur' als mogliche Quellen, Gesnerus 1964, XXI, 113-125). Recently this has been contested on the basis of new manuscript material from the late Middle Ages and notably from the period immediately preceding Paracelsus (Eis, G.: Zur Beurteilung der Tierversuche des Paracelsus, Forsch. Fortschr. 1964, XXXVIII, 16-20, as reprinted in Vor und nach Paracelsus: Untersuchungen iiber Hohenheims Traditionsverbundenheit und Nachrichten iiber seine Anhiinger, Fischer, Stuttgart 1965, pp. 1-10). From that it emerges that various animals, including birds, had been treated with a variety of substances - with the intention of inducing sleep or unconsciousness - by hunters and fishermen who employed them as bait. The idea that he could have been influenced by the experimental and practical experience of previous generations in testing bis new substances in animals is plausible. Yet the manuscript material does not prove that the substances tested by Paracelsus had nothing to do with ether or that he was not original in testing them in chickens, in addition to using them therapeutically in man. (1) It has been inferred that simple alcohol (in the form of wine), and not ether, was used by a confirmed Paracelsist. However, it was used in this case (alongside hyoscyamus and deadly nightshade) as a bait 'for catching fish by hand'. This inference would suggest the opposite of what it is intended to demonstrate, for Paracelsus used his new product not just for the prosaic purpose of catching prey, but for the treatment of disease in man, notably epilepsy and other nervous complaints requiring sedation. On the contrary, then, the use of wine rather than ether by a Paracelsist for baiting would bring out in relief the new departure of Paracelsus rather than his dependence upon late mediaeval baiting practice in this matter. (2) None of the many bait ingredients tested by the mediaeval authors in animals comes anywhere near the ether-like substances of Paracelsus - the nearest being beer. (3) Indeed, the former had experimented with birds including pheasants, but no chickens were used. In this respect a much closer contact with Paracelsus can be found in the mediaeval English designation of narcotic hyoscyamus as henbane. This usage was adopted in French (hanebane, mort aux poules). For detail, Gesnerus 1964, XXI, 113-125, should be consulted. (4) That birds having eaten henbane can be caught by hand is found in Konrad von Megenherg's 'Buch der Natur' (c. 1350). This went through six printed editions in the pre-Paracelsian period (i.e., before 1500) and we have good evidence of Paracelsus' familiarity with it (Bull. Hist. Med. 1960, XXXIV, 274-277, and Gesnerus 1964, XXI). In other words there is no need for recourse to manuscript material in the question at issue.

374

Addenda and Errata

In conclusion: Paracelsus is likely to have been influenced by mediaeval vocabulary as well as by baiting practice as transmitted in a printed source (Konrad von Megenberg) with which he was familiar. This, however, in no way affects his originality in having (a) used ether-like products in human conditions requiring sedation such as, notably, epilepsy and (b) devised a true pharmacological test in the experimental animal which in purport and make-up went far beyond mediaeval baiting experiments. Finally the spiritus vitrioli antiepilepticus formed a stock-preparation in the pharmacopoeias ofXVIIth and XVIIlth centuries' iatrochemists (Croll, Rhenanus, Van Helmont, Angelus Sala, Rolfinck and others). That this was really an ether-like substance has been demonstrated for example by Robinson, T.: On the nature of Sweet Oil of Vitriol, J. Hist. Med. 1959, XIV, 231-233 and Gravenstein, J. S.: Paracelsus and His Contributions to Anesthesia, Anesthesiology 1965, XXVI, 805-811 (experiments in chickens). See also on Paracelsus' claim for priority in isolating ether-like substances: Leake, C. D.: Isis 1925, VII, 14-24 and Sudhoff, K.: Valerius Cordus, der Ather und Theophrast von Hohenheim, Sudhoffs Arch. Gesch. Med. Naturw. 1929, XXI, 121-130. Page 277, note 247 Additionally to Sudhoff, vol. II, p. 133, Paracelsus' prescription for 'digestion' of vitriol with alcohol, Sudhoff, vol. II, p. 154 and use in epilepsy, Sudhoff, vol. II, p. 156. Sudhoff did not omit a reference to Bodenstein's edition of 'Kranckheiten so die vernunfft berauben' (preface to Sudhoff, vol. II, p. XV). Page 278, note 253 Paracelsus and the preparation of tartar emetic See the critical appraisal of Schneider, W.: Paracelsus und das Antimon, Veroff. int. Ges. Gesch. Pharmazie 1960, XVI, 157-166. Page 311, note 339; page 317, lines 23 and 24; page 320, line 10 Erastus - life and theology Karcher, J.: Thomas Erastus (1524-1583), der unversohnliche Gegner des Theophrastus Paracelsus, Gesnerus 1957, XIV, 1-13. Wiesel-Roth, R.: Thomas Erastus, Beitrag zur Geschichte der reformierten Kirche und zur Lehre von der Staatssouveriinitiit, Lahr 1953. Erastus says (Disputat., I, 1572, p. 117): Like Paracelsus, Pomponatius assumed that persons with prophetic gifts can appropriate to themselves the power of the stars. It is certain that there were never greater worshippers of demons than the Platonists, notably Ficinus. So-called miracles cease to be miracles when explained by virtue of the human intellect. Paracelsus' statement that all bodies consist of those substances into which they can be dissolved is based on Aristotle, Physics Ill, 5, 205a: 'hapanta gar ex hou esti kai dialyetai eis touto.' It became an alchemical tenet, as for example in 'Correctio fatuorum ', cap. 3, 'De alchimia opusc. ', Francofurti 1550, fol. 3v ('omnis res de eo est in quod resolvitur'), and was frequently repeated (Edward Jorden, Disc. of nat. bathes, 1632, p. 77, Bacon, Baader and others). Page 321, note 378 Aristotle, Metaphys., I, 2, 994al.

375

Collation of loci quoted from Huser with the standard edition of Sudhoff Page

Footnote

Sudhoff edition (volumtl aud page)

Page

Footnote

Sudhoff edition (volume and page)

26 42

62 122, line 4 141 145 147 148 149 152 157; line 3 157, line 6 158 161 165 166 167 168 169 173 174 175

S. XI, 99

74 74 74 74 74 76 76 76 76 77 77 77 77 78 79 85 96 96

196 197 197 198 199 202 203 204 204 207 207 208 209 210 213 224 252 254

97 105 106 106 106 106 107 107 107 107 107 107 107

255 275 280 278 279 281 282 282 283 284 285 286 287

107

287

107

287

S. IV, 495 S. IV, 495-496 S. VIII, 182 S. XII, 227 S. VII, 465-466 S. XI, 135-136 S. VIII, 192 S. VIII, 193 S. II, 146 S. XIV, 259 S. XIV, 261 S. XIV, 262 S. I, 206 S. I, 207 S. I, 264 S. XII, 177 S. XI, 179 S. XIV, 604 and Opus paramirum S. IX, 191 S. VIII, 148 S. III, 465 S. XI, 186-190 S. VII, 266 S. XIII, 158 S. XIV, 630 S. IV, 554 S. IV, 625 s. v, 207-208 S. X, 316 (tr. II) S. XI, 322 S. XIV, 630-631 S. XI, 318 (De natura rerum, I) S. III, 37 (Das Buch de mineralibus) S. XIII, 105 (Philos. de generat. et fructibus quatt. elementor., tr. III, cap. 10)

53 54 55 55 56 57 58 58 59 61 62 62 63 63 64 65 65 66

66 67 67 67 68 68 68 68 69 69 70 70 74 74 74

177 178 179 179 180 180 181 182 184 185 186 186 193 .194 195

S. S. S. S. S. S. S.

IX, 355 IX, 306 IX, 307, 255 IX, 354-355 IX, 348 (in cap. III) IX. 325 XI, 145-146

S. I, 243 S. XIV, 274 S. I, 243-244 S. IX, 45 S. XI, 204 S. XII, 122; IX, 596 S. XII, 124. S. XII, 130 S. XII, 1.33 S. I, 152 S. XII, 39 Grosse Wundartzney, lib. II; tr. 1, cap. XV S. X, 267 S. IX, 115 S. XII, 38 S. I, 236 S. I, 179-180 S. I, 237 S. I, 182 S. IX, 115-116 S. XIV, 597 S. I, 30 (Elf Traktat) S. I, 31; 40 S. VIII, 182 S. IV, 35-38 S. I, 237 S. IV, 483 S. IV, 515

376

Collation of loci quoted from Huser with the Sudhoff edition Footnote


Page

108 109 109 . 110 111 111 111 112

288 291 292 293 294 296 297 298

147 147 149 149 151 153

57 58 63 63 70 78

153

78

115 115 115 115 115 115 115 116 116 116 116 117 118 118 118 118 122 124 124 129 130 130 131 132 134

307 308 309 310 311 3l2 313 314 315 316 317 319 321 322 324 324 337 344 347 6 8 8 12 15 16

153

78

153 155

78 80

155

81

134 137 137 141 141 142 142 142 142 143 143 144 147 147 147

16 26 27 40 42 43 43 43 43 46 47 47 55 56 56

S. XI, 391 S. X, 330 S. III, 11 S. VII, 265 S. VIII, 65-66 S. IX, 298-299 S. I, 147 S. I, 208; IX, 56, 60 S. XII, 112 S. XII, 113 S. XI, 312 S. XI, 208 S. VIII, 110; 173 S. IX, 648 S. IX, 235 s. v, 272 S. IV, 465 S. III, 186-187 S. XI, 352 S. XI, 312; 317 S. XI, 330 S. III, 227 S. XIV, 583; 565 S. XII, 296 S. IX, 288-289 S. I, 294 S. IX, 288 s. x, 253-255 S. IX, 237-238 S. IX, 210-211 S. IX, 239 S. X, 272 (lib. II) S. IX, 101-113; 82-88 S. IX, 88-96 S. XI, 183 S. X, 258 S. I, 182 S. IX, 51; 55-57 S. IX, 59 S. XI, 139 S. IX, 84 S. IX, 59 S. XI, 182-184 S. IV, 35-36 S. XI, 134 S. VIII, 120 S. XIV, 502 S. IX, 552

155 156 156 157 159 159 159 161 161 166 166 166 166 166 167 167 167 168 168 171 171 171 179 192 192 192 207 213

82 83 84 85 87 88 89 95 97 102 102 102 102 102 103 104 105 107 108 116 117 118 145 180 181 182 10 ' 37

213 213 217 218

38 42 58 65

Page

Footnote

Collation of loci quoted from Huser with the Sudhoff edition


Page

S. XI, 108 S. IX, 211 S. XIII, 377 (cap. 9) S. XIII, 373 (cap. 7) S. XIV, 82 S. IX, 122 (Opus paramirum, III, tr. 1) S. IX, 140 (Opus paramirum,111,tr. 3) S. IX, 151 (Opus paramirum, III, tr. 4) S. IX, 125 S. IX, 134 (Opus paramirum, IV, tr. 2) S. IX, 147 (Opus paramirum, Ill, tr. 1) S. IX, 148 S. IX, 149-151 S. IX, 152-154 S. IX, 172 S. IX, 134 S. IX, 86 S. XI, 66 S. XI, 99 s. v, 108 S. IV, 481 S. XI, 233 S. IV, 415 s. x, 3 S. VI, 408 S. IX, 104 S. I, 143 S. VIII, 275 S. II, 396; 401 seq. S. II, 414 S. IX, 121 seq. (1531) S. IX, 464 seq. s. IX, 151 S. IX, 565; espec. 589 S. IV, 565; 587; 589 S. IV, 623 S. IV, 625 seq. S. VIII, 100 S. III, 209 (Liber de renovatione et restauratione) S. XI, 330 S. XII, 156 S. XIV, 379 S. XIV, 251 seq.

218 227 228

65 90 95

265 270 274

203 218 237

299 330

306 414

Footnote

Sudhoff edition (volume and page) S. XIV, 214 seq. S. XII, 18; 47 S. XI, 178; IX, 179; 183,; 185; 201 S. VII, 124 S. III, 47 S. XI, 321 (De natura rerum) S. XII, 95 S. XI, 321

377

List of Illustrations

378 Fig. 25, p. 238 Fig. 26, p. 239 Fig. 27, p. 241 Fig. 28, p. 248

List of Illustrations

Fig. 29, p. 268 Fig. 30, p. 279

Fig. 1, p. 11 Fig. 2, p. 12 Fig. 3, p. 16 Fig. 4, p. 28 Fig. 5, p. 45 Fig. 6, p. 46 Fig. 7, p. 48 Fig. 8, p. 81 Fig. 9, p. 90

Fig. 10, p.119 Fig. 11, p. 151 Fig. 12, p. 162 Fig. 13, p. 175 Fig. 14, p.183 Fig. 15, p. 190 Fig. 16, p. 191 Fig. 17, p. 193 Fig. 18, p. 195 Fig. 19, p. 197 Fig. 20, p. 206 Fig. 21, p. 219 Fig. 22, p. 234 Fig. 23, p. 235 Fig. 24, p. 237

Johannes Manardus. Portrait from Giovio, Elogia 1577, p. 152. Nicolaus Leonicenus. Portrait from Giovio, Elogia 1577, p. 132. Hospital scene. From: Paracelsus, Opus Chirurgicum. Frankfurt. Feyerabend. 1566, p. 38. The Hirschvogel-portrait of Paracelsus (1538). Title page to Geyler van Keisersberg, Navicula ad Narragoniam, Argentorati 1510. Flaying the Fool. Apollo flaying Marsyas. From the Navicula. The Doctor - Fool at the deathbed examining the urine according to scholastic rules. From the Navicula. Title page of Philosophia Mystica containing treatises by Paracelsus and Valentin Weigel. Neustadt 1618. Title page of the English translation of Paracelsus' Philosophia ad Athenienses and the introductory part of the Basilica Chymica by Oswald Croll; London 1657 (by H. Pinnell) with the Paracelsus portrait ascribed to Jan Van Scorel. Man - an inverted Cosmos, to illustrate microcosmic correspondences. Diagram from Philosophia Mystica (see Fig. 8). Devil inflicting ulcers. From: Opus Chirurgicum (see fig. 3). Frankfurt. Feyerabend. 1566, p. 178. Fabius Violet's exposition of the Paracelsean doctrine of diseases due to "Tartar". Title page. Paris 1635. Ficino on the Plague. Title page of the Latin edition Augsburg 1519. Hieron. Fracastorius. Portrait from Homocentrica. W ellcome Collection 14799. Mediaeval Uroscopy. Diagram from Ulrich Binder, Speculum videndi urinas hominum. Niirnberg 1506. Aurora Thesaurusque Philosophorum Paracelsi with the Anatomia Corporum adhuc Viventium. Basel 1577. Title page. The "Anatomia" deals with Thurneisser's invention of "Chemical Uroscopy". The "Anatomical Furnace" for the distillation of urine. From Aurora Thesaurusque Philosophorum Paracelsi (cf. fig. 16). Leonard Thurneisser. Portrait from Magna Alchymia. Berlin 1583. The Anatomy of Urines by James Hart. London 1625. Title page. Christ as "Cosmos-Man". From Suso's Horologium Sapientiae Colon. 1503. Verso of title page. Marsilius Ficinus. Portrait from the Wellcome Collection PD 237-2-1. Joh. Ernst Burggraf's Introductio in Vitalem Philosophiam. Title page of the first edition published anonymously in 1623. The Hirschvogel portrait ·or Paracelsus of 1540 adorned with Rosicrucian symbols (from: Astronomica et Astrologica and Philosophia Magna. Cologne. Byrckman, 1567). Frontispice of Suso's Horologium Sapientiae Colon. 1503.

Fig. 31, p. 285 Fig. 32, p. 291 Fig. 33, p. 295 Fig. 34, p. 306 Fig. 35, p. 312 Fig. 36, p. 334

379

Close up view of the two angels shown in Fig. 24. The Earth as the Womb of the Cosmos. From: Alhertus Magnus, Philosophia Pauperum. Brescia 1493. Ramon Lull. His martyrdom at Bugia. From: Ars Inventiva Veritatis. Valencia 1515. Arnald of Villanova. From Hartmann Schedel, Liber Cronicarum. Niirnberg 1493. Wellcome Collection. "Sophie" Salt, Sulphur and Mercury in symbolistic - alchemical - representation. From: Pandora. Basel 1582. Nicolaus Cusanus from Title page of Kymaeus, Des Babsts Hercules wider die Deutschen. Witeuberg 1538. Giovanni Pico della Mirandola. From Giovio, Elogia, p. 76. Johannes Reuchlin. From: Pantaleone, Prosopographiae Basel 1566, part III, p. 23. Agrippa of Nettesheym. From: Boissard, Icones. Francof. 1645, sig. E 3. Mazinus Arvernus, De Elementorum Natura et eorum Situ Paradoxa. Paris 1549. Title page. Thomas Erastus. From Pantaleone, Prosopographiae. Basel 1566, part III, p. 545. Daniel Sennert. W ellcome Collection PD 304-4-40.

Pagel - Paracelsus | An Introduction to Philosophical Medicine in the Era of the Renaissance (Karger, 1984)

Recommend Documents