DOCTOR PARACELSUS

The spirit of the Renaissance, a passionate commitment to humanism,burned strong in the sixteenth century Swiss physician-alchemist, Phillip Theophrastus Bombast von Hohenheim. Schooled in the universities which still maintained a link with the medieval systems of superstition, this doctor dedicated his life to medicine practised on a scientific-empirical basis and founded on love. Of a volatile nature (the current usage of ""bombast"" is derived from his name) he spent most of his fifty odd years in violent conflict with the prevailing authorities, but,despite the extreme misery of his own life, his techniques were eminently successful and largely established the code on which modern medicine is based. A well written biography which gives insight both into its central character and into the historical-scientific climate which nurtured him.