Boyle, Robert 416 phosphorus discovery

Paracelsus was the founder of iatrochemistry, the chemistry of vital processes. Its leading idea was that the vital processes are of chemical nature. They cannot be understood without general knowledge of chemistry, and this knowledge is created in the laboratory. Health presupposed balance between the different chemical principles. Balance and health were obtained by the intake of medicines, often containing lead, mercury, antimony and even arsenic. Phosphorus was added to the medical list after its discovery. Perhaps iatrochemistry did not contribute so very much to public health but it did create chemical knowledge about many substances. Robert Boyle s criticism of the so-called chemical principles - sulfur, mercury, salt - in The Sceptical Chymist in 1661 took the sting out of iatrochemistry. The old ideas were superseded by new ones in the chemistry of the 18 century. 

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