Paracelsus travels

In 1507, at the age of 14, Paracelsus became a wandering scholar, traveling from university to university in search of knowledge. Such a life wasn t uncommon in those days. Students often went from school... 

Paracelsus, the crusader, did not stop with Europe. Like Bernard Trevisan, he went to the East and visited Constantinople, the seat of a world-famous medical practice. Trevisan had come here in search of the secret of gold, but Paracelsus came to seek the secret of long life. He travelled to Egypt and Tartary, and accompanied the son of the Grand Khan in search of the tincture of life possessed by a Greek alchemist. 

During these years of travel he studied and practiced medicine and surgery. Students flocked to him in Wurtemberg, Tubingen, and Freiburg. The world began to hear of his wonderful cures. In the meantime Paracelsus was filled with a realization of the wisdom and folly of the medicine of his day. The shams of that pseudo-science kindled in him the fire of a... 

Valencia. He was a prolific writer, although, as with many of the great names in alchemy, some of the works attributed to him are spurious. He travelled widely and is perhaps the most important exponent of medical alchemy before Paracelsus. He is known to have treated Popes Clement V and Boniface VIII, although he was briefly imprisoned in Paris for his unorthodox (i.e. strongly magical and Kabbalistic) views on the Trinity. He is said to have possessed an elixir that aided rejuvenation and longevity. 

Paracelsus gained his early medical knowledge from his father, who was a physician. He followed this education with formal medical training at the University of Eerrara in Italy. Einding his formal training disappointing, Paracelsus embarked on a life of travel and study combined with medical... 

Paracelsus may have heard of the treatment in his travels (Bhava Mista at this same time prescribed mercury for the syphilis brought into India by the Portuguese), or the discovery may have been serendipitous, based on Paracelsus adoption of the extension of the mercury-sulfur theory of the Islamic alchemists to a tria prima consisting of mercury (soul), sulfur (spirit), and salt (body). But while Paracelsus was on this one occasion very successful, there is no record of the number of people he adversely affected while experimenting with potions that were not effective, and it may have been considerable. He did however have a talent for observation for instance he described the relationship between cretinism in children and the existence of goiters in their parents. His greatest contribution to medicine may have been the idea that doctors should act on what they observe rather than blindly following accepted authority. 

In the manner of Paracelsus, Helmont then turned to travel as a means of acquiring medical knowledge. 

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