PARACELSUS (Aurelius Philipp Theophrastus Bombastus de Hohenheim), a famous physician, born at Einsiedeln, a town in the canton of Schweitz in Switzerland. He was educated with great care by his fa-
ther, who was the natural son of a prince, and in a little time made a great progress in the study of physics. He afterwards travelled into France, Spain, Italy, and Germany, in order to become acquainted with the most celebrated physicians. At his return to Switzerland, he stopped at Basel, where he read lectures on physics in the German tongue. He was one of the first who made use of chemical remedies with success, by which he acquired a very great reputation. Paracelsus gloried in destroying the method established by Galen, which he believed to be very uncertain; and by this means drew upon himself the hatred of the other physicians. It is said, that he boasted of being able, by his remedies, to preserve the life of man for several ages: but he himself experienced the vanity of his promises, by his dying at Salzburg, in 1504, at 37 years of age according to some, and at 48 according to others. The best edition of his works is that of Geneva in 1658, in 3 vols. folio.