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Article: Paracelsus (1493/94–1541)
- Article from:
- Europe, 1450 to 1789: Encyclopedia of the Early Modern World
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PARACELSUS (1493/94
–
1541)
PARACELSUS
(1493/94
–
1541), German physician and alchemist. Philippus Aureolus Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim, who later gave himself the name Paracelsus, spent his early years in Einsiedeln (Switzerland) and Villach (Austria) before leaving home and wandering through much of Europe while visiting several universities. He gave his attention primarily to medicine but rejected ancient authorities in favor of a conception of medicine based in alchemical experience and a Hermetic view of nature. The principles of all things, Paracelsus believed, were the
tria prima
of salt, sulfur, and mercury, which separated initially from a prime matter, the
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