As there is always an almost indiscernible but disruptive fine line between heresy and canon belief, there is always a nearly imperceivable yet contentious division in scientific orthodoxy of a period.

Philippus Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim, who took to calling himself Paracelsus was just such a man. Born in 1493, legend has it that the young Paracelsus was emasculated by a wild boar or by drunken soldiers. His father taught and healed in the mines, and it is likely that this early exposure to primitive metallurgy influenced the later life of Paracelsus who became one of the foremost medical iconoclasts of the modern era.

Not a practitioner of many of what are commonly known as the magical arts, the young Paracelsus, having failed to win a degree from the cluster of universities he attended was soon strutting around Strasbourg full of bombast, a walking, talking, groundbreaking enigma.

His doctrine consisted of a strange mix of reasoning and balderdash, magic and medicine. Animated by a strong drive to explode all myth, he succumbed to one of his own invention. He cackled at the divining rod, while spreading rumors that he'd transmuted raw metals to gold. He rejected astrology but would not give an enema in an unfavorable phase of the moon. Seeking that all illusive Philosopher's Stone whereby he might arrive at some universal formula that would explain the vast expanse of nature, he wrote credulously about inorganic creatures and healing signatures, or rather, the treatment of diseased organs with drugs resembling them in color or form.

Early in life he was influenced by the noted genius of medicine, Ambroise Par. While an army surgeon Par discovered that battle wounds treated with an ointment of egg yolk, rose oil, and turpentine healed faster than current methods, and concluded correctly that more soldiers died of shock and exhaustion than from their wounds. Par also developed the method of sewing up ruptured arteries rather than allowing limbs to gangrene, as was current custom, thereby saving the limb rather than allowing for automatic amputations.

Paracelsus spent his lifetime concocting metal compound cures. While still dripping with the delusions of his time, he advanced a philosophy of medicine, quite startling in its originality and legitimacy, boldly advancing the application of chemistry to medicine.

He can be credited with articulating the first modern theory of metabolism. For the most part, the therapy of his time depended on its drugs on the plant and animal world. Paracelsus, deep into the world of alchemy, stressed the curative possibilities of inorganic materials. He made mercury, lead, sulfur, iron, arsenic, copper sulfate, and potassium sulfate parts of the pharmacopoeia, spreading the use of chemical tinctures and extracts. He was the first to prescribe laudanum for a variety of ills, noting occupational and geographical factors in disease. He claimed many diseases were caused by food residues too long retained in the colon, and called these intestinal putrefactions "tartar" because their deposits in joints, muscles, kidneys, and bladder "burn like hell, and Tartarus is hell".

Two words have joined the language thanks to Paracelsus. Because of his vulgar and frothing manner, his shabby attire, his fat, balding red-faced appearance, the word "bombastic" has been handed down in ironic tribute to his original surname. And in returning the scorn of his well-spoken colleagues he uttered, "Doctors boast of their knowledge of anatomy, but they fail to see the tartar sticking to their teeth!" The word stuck.

News of the cures of Paracelsus traveled over Europe, but his relationship to the medical profession of his day remain fractured and mutually scornful. He was often described by friends and foes alike as a hard drinker, a dirty dresser, a madman and a glutton to boot.

But Parcelsus only reveled more by mocking the perfumed fineries of his opponents. The consensus on this tragically brilliant man who died before reaching fifty, was a man overcome by his own genius, rich in a variety of immeasurable experiences and brilliant perceptions but too little schooled to separate the science that never betrays from a magic born of the strong will and personality, too undisciplined to control his fire, too angrily hostile to infuse his influence into his own generation of medical practitioners.

LINK: Paracelsus