Paracelsian

Use in the book

The school-name can identify an intellectual party, a claim to professional authority or an attributed doctrine. Galenists and Paracelsians illustrate bitter learned rivalry, followed by Burton’s allowance for useful, honorable emulation. In the overcrowded medical marketplace, the sharper qualification “Paracelsians, as they call themselves” keeps their self-description at a distance. The list is hostile and asks how so many competing practitioners can be maintained; it does not certify the credentials of everyone named.

The physician discussion attributes to Paracelsus a combination of magic, chemical practice, philosophy and astrology. Burton rejects magic, reserves chemical medicine for later consideration, and resists dogmatic claims about a healer predestined to a patient. In the digression on air, Paracelsians and Platonists are credited with a belief about inhabiting spirits, but the claim appears within questions about celestial space rather than a settled cosmological conclusion.

The mineral-remedy discussion displays opposed extremes. One side condemns potable gold and mineral preparations; Paracelsus and his followers on the other side are represented as making extravagant claims for them. Burton then identifies a middle position that admits mineral remedies without such excess. Mattioli’s praise of chemical distillation and the more measured marginal estimate of its usefulness are both retained. The passage cannot be summarized either as blanket condemnation of chemical preparation or as acceptance of every cure claimed for it.

The controversy returns among preparatives and purges. Burton stages chemical attacks on Galenists, opposing accusations of heresy and demonic assistance, and finally leaves the quarrel unresolved. The insulting words are the parties’ polemic, not neutral biographical findings. Against that contentious background, the direction to Croll is comparatively practical: readers wanting the scented preparations made spagirically are told where to look. Its limited bibliographical purpose differs from the hostile professional list. These are descriptions of historical theories and preparations, not recommendations to reproduce them.

Related entries

Physick

Physician

Essence and quintessence

Aurum potabile

Occult

Sympathy and antipathy

Places to read

1. Subsection 8. Rivalry, Hatred, Faction and the Desire for Revenge as Causes · paragraphs 17–19Medical schools as an example of rivalry, followed by a qualification.
2. Subsection 15 Love of Learning or Excessive Study With a Digression on The… · paragraphs 37–39Self-styled Paracelsians within the hostile professional catalogue.
3. Member 4. Subsection 1. Physician, Patient, Medicine · paragraphs 5–9Attributed medical qualifications and Burton’s reservations.
4. Member 3. Air Corrected. With a Digression on Air · paragraphs 24–26An attributed cosmological opinion within open questions about celestial space.
5. Subsection 4 Precious Stones Metals and Minerals as Alteratives · paragraphs 38–44Opposed claims for minerals, the middle position, and chemical distillation.
6. Subsection 3 Preparatives and Purgatives · paragraphs 50–56Chemical and Galenic polemics; Burton leaves the quarrel unresolved.
7. Subsection 5 Alteratives and Cordials That Strengthen the Body, Disperse The… · paragraphs 17–21Scents and the direction to Croll for spagirical preparation.

In this edition

“Paracelsians, as they call themselves” becomes “self-styled Paracelsians”. Self-styled preserves Burton’s distancing qualification. “spagirically prepared” becomes “prepared by chemical methods,” explaining the operation without claiming that early modern alchemical preparation matches modern chemistry.

“his Chymisticall followers” becomes “his chemical followers”; “Chymisticall distillations” becomes “chemical distillation”. The paired modern phrases explain the vocabulary, while the body and margin preserve differing estimates of value. Croll’s particular passage and the precise historical formulations attributed to Paracelsus remain uncollated in the supplied notes; the present references identify Burton’s text, not fresh verification of all his authorities.

Chymical

Printed “Chymisticall” (English; family).

Pertaining to chemical or alchemical manipulation and preparation of substances.

Here: The followers’ mineral remedies are presented with extravagant claims and Promethean imagery.

Context: The claim to cure every disease with minerals is their position; Burton subsequently judges both extremes.

Source: original body

Source wording and original alignment: his Chymisticall followers

Modern rendering: his chemical followers

Word and construction: Chymisticall supplies the adjective chemical; his and followers are retained.

Alignment conventions: Alignment convention.

Further local use

Printed “Chymisticall” (English; family).

Here: Distillation is one practical skill praised in the account of chemical medicine.

Context: Mattioli’s approval is reported; Burton’s adjoining margin preserves the more measured view that usefulness is overrated but not to be rejected.

Source: original body

Source wording and original alignment: Chymisticall distillations

Modern rendering: chemical distillation

Word and construction: Chymisticall supplies chemical; plural distillations is rendered by the collective singular distillation.

Sense relation: The same lexical sense in a further distinct local use or qualification.

Alignment conventions: Alignment convention.

Paracelsian

Printed “Paracelsians” (English; family).

Adherents or claimed adherents of the medical tradition associated with Paracelsus.

Here: Burton distances himself from the practitioners’ self-designation in a hostile list of competitors.

Context: The qualification as they call themselves belongs to the text and must not disappear into an unqualified historical identification.

Source: original body

Source wording and original alignment: Paracelsians, as they call themselves

Modern rendering: self-styled Paracelsians

Word and construction: Paracelsians is retained as Paracelsians; the following qualification as they call themselves supplies self-styled.

Alignment conventions: Alignment convention.

Further local use

Printed “Paracelsians” (English; family).

Here: The named tradition is one party in an illustration of antagonism among learned schools.

Context: Burton’s following paragraph distinguishes destructive invective from honorable rivalry.

Source: original body

Source and modern wording: Galenists and Paracelsians

Word and construction: Paracelsians is retained as the second school-name; Galenists and the coordination are separately retained.

Sense relation: The same lexical sense in a further distinct local use or qualification.

Alignment conventions: Alignment convention.

Further local use

Printed “Paracelsians” (English; family).

Here: The school-name attributes a belief about spirits inhabiting the intervening celestial space.

Context: Burton raises a series of questions; the claim is attributed to the named groups, and the referent of it remains somewhat loose.

Source: original body

Source and modern wording: as the Paracelsians and Platonists hold

Word and construction: Paracelsians is retained as one of the two named groups to whom the surrounding clause attributes the belief; the whole clause is unchanged.

Sense relation: The same lexical sense in a further distinct local use or qualification.

Alignment conventions: Alignment convention.

Spagirically

Printed “spagirically” (English; lemma).

By chemical or alchemical processes associated with Paracelsian preparation.

Here: Burton directs the reader to Croll for scents prepared in this manner.

Context: The sentence is a practical bibliographical direction, not an unqualified endorsement of all Paracelsian claims or a modern preparation standard.

Source: original body

Source wording and original alignment: spagirically prepared

Modern rendering: prepared by chemical methods

Word and construction: The adverb spagirically is rendered by the phrase by chemical methods; prepared is retained, with the modern order redistributed.

Alignment conventions: Alignment convention.