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Transforming Matter, Refining the Spirit: Alchemy, Music and Experimental Philosophy around 1600

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 April 2013

Penelope Gouk
Penelope Gouk*
Affiliation:
School of Arts, Languages and Cultures, The University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester, M13 9PL, UK. E-mail: gouk@manchester.ac.uk
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Abstract

Although tracing its origins back to antiquity, a distinctly new kind of alchemy emerged in mid-16th-century Europe. This new tradition developed out of the teachings of Paracelsus (1493–1541), a German medical practitioner who challenged the authority of university-trained physicians. He sought to establish a reformed kind of medicine based on first-hand experience of the natural world rather than dry scholastic texts. Alchemy was at the heart of this new medicine, a body of experimental practice and theory that not only held out the promise of improving the health of individuals but could also be applied to wider sicknesses of society.

Type
Focus: The Temptations of Chemistry
Information
European Review , Volume 21 , Issue 2 , May 2013 , pp. 146 - 157
Copyright
Copyright © Academia Europaea 2013

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