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Definition: Paracelsus |
ParacelsusNoun1. Swiss physician who introduced treatments of particular illnesses based on his observation and experience; he saw illness as having an external cause (rather than an imbalance of humors) and replaced traditional remedies with chemical remedies (1493-1541). Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "Paracelsus" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1588. (references) |
Synonyms: ParacelsusSynonyms: Philippus Aureolus Paracelsus (n), Theophrastus Philippus Aureolus Bombastus von Hohe (n). (additional references) |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
Paracelsus was born at Einsiedeln, Switzerland, of a Swabian chemist father and a Swiss mother. He was brought up in Austria and as a youth he worked in nearby mines as an analyst. He graduated with a baccalaureate in medicine from the University of Vienna in 1510, at the age of 17. There is speculation he gained his doctorate degree from the University of Ferrara.
He later journeyed to Egypt, Arabia, the Holy Land, and Constantinople seeking the alchemists to learn from. On his return to Europe his knowledge of these treatments won him fame. He did not go along with the conventional treatment of wounds, which was to pour boiling oil onto them to cauterize them; or if they were on a limb, to let them become gangrenous, and then amputate the limb. Paracelsus believed the then-ridiculous assumption that wounds would heal themselves if allowed to drain and prevented from becoming infected.
Paracelsus rejected Gnostic traditions, but kept much of the Hermetic, neoplatonic, and Pythagorean philosophies; however, Hermetical science had so much Aristotelian theory that his rejection of Gnosticism was practically meaningless. In particular, Paracelsus rejected the magic theories of Agrippa and Flamel; Paracelsus did not think of himself as a magician and scorned those who did.
Paracelsus pioneered the use of chemicals and minerals in medicine. He coined the words "alcohol" and "zinc" and used experimentation in learning about the human body. His hermetical views were that sickness and health in the body relied on the harmony of man the microcosm and Nature the macrocosm. He took an approach different from those before him, using this analogy not in the manner of soul-purification but in the manner that humans must have certain balances of minerals in their bodies, and that certain illnesses of the body had chemical remedies that could cure them. (Debus & Multhauf, p.6-12) He summarized his own views: "Many have said of Alchemy, that it is for the making of gold and silver. For me such is not the aim, but to consider only what virtue and power may lie in medicines." (Edwardes, p.47)
Indeed, the remnants of alchemical traditions can still be seen in modern medicine. For instance, the Caduceus (the staff of Hermes), has been adopted as the prime symbol of western medicine.
Paracelsus gained a reputation for being arrogant, and soon garnered the anger of other physicians in Europe. He held the chair of medicine at the University of Basel for less than a year, while there he angered his colleagues by burning books by other physicians. He was forced from the city after having legal trouble over a physician's fee he sued to collect.
He then wandered Europe for some time, typically as a pauper. He revised old manuscripts and wrote new ones, but had trouble finding publishers. In 1536 his Die grosse Wundartzney (The Great Surgery Book) was published which enabled him to make a short comeback in popularity.
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Paracelsus."
Crosswords: Paracelsus |
| English words defined with "Paracelsus": Azoth ♦ Paracelsian, Philippus Aureolus Paracelsus. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "Paracelsus": Astral Spirits ♦ Bombastus ♦ Coral Beads ♦ Gamaheu ♦ Paracelsists. (references) |
| Etymologies containing "Paracelsus": Alkahest ♦ Opodeldoc ♦ sylph. (references) |
| Domain | Usage | |
Movie/TV Titles | Paracelsus (1943) Theophrastus Paracelsus (1916) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title |
References | |
Books |
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit |  | Theophrastus Paracelsus. / Gottfr. Bernh. Göz del. B.S. Setletzkÿ sc. Joh. Georg Hertli, excud. Aug. Vind.Credit: National Library of Medicine. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| "Paracelsus" is generally used as a noun (proper) -- approximately 87.50% of the time. "Paracelsus" is used about 8 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (proper) | 87.5% | 7 | 133,076 |
| Noun (plural) | 12.5% | 1 | 339,140 |
| Total | 100.00% | 8 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| Country | Name |
| USA | Paracelsus Healthcare Corporation |
| (more examples...) |
Source: compiled by the editor from Icon Group International, Inc.
Expression using "Paracelsus": Philippus Aureolus Paracelsus. Additional references. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
paracelsus | 59 |
alchemy paracelsus | 2 |
clinic paracelsus | 2 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "paracelsus"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Pig Latin | aracelsuspay.(various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-a-c-e-l-p-r-s-s-u" | |
-1 letter: scapulars. | |
-2 letters: caesural, caesuras, capsular, capsules, claspers, perusals, reclasps, recusals, scalares, scaleups, scalpers, scapulae, scapular, scapulas, scaupers, scruples, seculars, specular, upscales. | |
-3 letters: apercus, arcuses, caesars, caesura, calesas, capless, capsule, carless, carpale, carpals, carpels, casuals, causals, causers, cesuras, clasper, classer, clauses, earlaps, escarps, lapsers, lascars, palaces, parcels, parsecs, pascals, pausers, percuss, perusal, placers, pleuras, pulsars, pulsers, rascals, reclasp, recusal, sacrals, sarapes, saucers, saurels, scalare, scalars, scalers, scaleup, scalper, scapula, scauper, scleras, scrapes, scruple, secpars, secular, spacers, specula, spruces, sucrase, upscale. | |
-4 letters: acarus, apercu, arecas, aspers, assure, caesar, calesa, capers, caress, carles, carpal, carpel, carpus, carses, casual, caules, causal, causer, causes, cesura, clasps, clause, clears, craals, crapes, crases, cruses, culpae, cupels, curses, cusser, earlap, escarp, escars, lacers, lapser, lapses, lapsus, lascar, lasers, laurae, lauras, lucres, pacers, palace, parcel, pareus, parles, parsec, parses, pascal, passel, passer, pausal, pauser, pauses, pearls, placer, places, pleura, pluses, prases, pulers, pulsar, pulser, pulses, purses, rascal, rassle, recaps, repass, sacral, saleps, salpae, salpas, sarape, saucer, sauces, saurel, scalar, scaler, scales, scalps, scapes, scares, scarps, scaups, scaurs, sclera, scrape, scraps, sculps, secpar, sepals, seracs, slurps, spacer, spaces, spales, spares, sparse, spears, spruce, sprues, sucres, supers, ulcers, upases, urases. | |
-5 letters: acres, alecs, apace, apers, apres, apses, arcus, areal, areas, areca, arles, arses, ascus, asper, aurae, aural, auras, aures, caper, capes, cares, carle, carls, carps, carse, casas, cases, casus, cauls, cause, claps, clasp, class, clear, clues, craal, crape, craps, crass, cress, cruel, cruse, culpa, cupel, cures, curls, curse, cusps, earls, ecrus, escar, lacer, laces, lapse, lares, laser, lases, laura, leaps, lears, luces, lucre, lures, pacas, pacer, paces, palea, paler, pales, parae, paras, pares, pareu, parle, parse, pases, passe, pause, peals, pearl, pears, place, pleas, prase, praus, presa, press, puces, puler, pules, pulse, purls, purse, puses, races, rales, rapes, rases, rasps, reals, reaps, recap, rules, ruses, sacra, salep, sales, salpa, salps, salsa, sauce, sauls, scale, scalp, scape, scare, scarp, scars, scaup, scaur, scrap, sculp, scups, seals, sears, sepal, serac, seral, slaps, slues, slurp, slurs, space, spaes, spale, spare, spars, spear, specs, sprue, spues, spurs, sucre, suers, super, supes, supra, sural, suras, ulcer, urase, ureal, ureas, ursae, users. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-a-c-e-l-p-r-s-s-u" | |
+2 letters: spectaculars. | |
+3 letters: upperclassman. | |
+4 letters: particularises, quasiparticles. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
Hexadecimal (or equivalents, 770AD-1900s) (references)50 61 72 61 63 65 6C 73 75 73 |
| Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519; backwards) (references)
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| American Sign Language (origins from 1620-1817 in Italy and, especially, France) (references)
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| Semaphore (1791, in France) (references)
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| Braille (1829, in France) (references)
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Morse Code (1836) (references).--. .- .-. .- -.-. . .-.. ... ..- ... |
| Dancing Men (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1903) (references)
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Binary Code (1918-1938, probably earlier) (references)01010000 01100001 01110010 01100001 01100011 01100101 01101100 01110011 01110101 01110011 |
HTML Code (1990) (references)P a r a c e l s u s |
ISO 10646 (1991-1993) (references)0050 0061 0072 0061 0063 0065 006C 0073 0075 0073 |
| British Sign Language (Fingerspelling, BSL; 1992, British Deaf Association Dictionary of British Sign Language) (references)
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Encryption (beginner's substitution cypher): (references)50678467697178858785 |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Images: Photo Album 7. Usage Frequency 8. Names: Company Usage | 9. Expressions 10. Expressions: Internet 11. Translations: Modern 12. Anagrams | 13. Orthography 14. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
