Paracelsus (Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim)

    (1493–1541)

   Mystic and Scientist.

   Paracelsus (his own name for himself) was the city physician of Basle, Switzerland. In 1528, however, as a result of his insistence on the empirical basis of medical knowledge, he was compelled to leave the city and he spent the rest of his life wandering from place to place. Although he is an important figure in the history of medicine, he is remembered in the Church for his mysticism. He believed that just as we understand nature because we are part of it, so we understand God, because we ourselves are God. Paracelsus has become a popular figure for study in the last century.

   J. Ferguson, Contributions Towards a Knowledge of Paracelsus and his Writings, 2 vols (1890, 1892);

   C.G. Jung, Paracelsia. Zwei Vorlesungen über den Arzt und Philosophen Theophrastus (1942) [no English translation available].