Roanoke, Virginia socialite Tara Cumella is throwing a birthday bash November 12, 2010 to celebrate the famous alchemist Paracelsus, who would have been 517 years old this week. Paracelsus, his real name was Phillippus Aureolus Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim, has a birthday November 11. He was a Renaissance physician, botanist, alchemist, astrologer, and general all-round occultist.
Paracelsus is credited with the introduction of opium and mercury for medicinal use. His works also indicate an advanced knowledge of the science and principles of magnetism.
Two words have joined the language thanks to Paracelsus, bombastic and tartar. Because of his vulgar and frothing manner, his shabby attire, his fat, balding red-faced appearance, the word "bombastic" has been handed down in ironic tribute to his original surname. And in returning the scorn of his well-spoken colleagues he uttered, "Doctors boast of their knowledge of anatomy, but they fail to see the tartar sticking to their teeth!" The word tartar is still in use today.
News of the cures of Paracelsus traveled over Europe, but his relationship to the medical profession of his day remain fractured and mutually scornful. He was often described by friends and foes alike as a hard drinker, a dirty dresser, a madman and a glutton to boot.
A bombastic Parcelsus mocked the perfumed fineries of his opponents. The consensus on this tragically brilliant man who died before reaching fifty was that of a man overcome by his own genius, rich in a variety of immeasurable experiences and brilliant perceptions but too little schooled to separate the science that never betrays from a magic born of the strong will and personality, Too undisciplined to control his fire, and too angrily hostile to influence his own generation of medical practitioners.
This weekend Roanokers raise a toast to Paracelsus.
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