0"T' LAERT> "! - USP

3o8
RECENT TIMES.
inflammatory diseases, to bleed at a point remote from the
affected part, as was customary at that time, and on the
contrary performed the operation in its vicinity. His
opponents, holding fast to the old opinions, attacked him
vehemently on this account and affirmed that his innovation
was as dangerous for the body as the religious belief of
LUTHER was for the soul.* More important than all these
disputes about the method of bleeding was the fact that in
consequence of them doubts arose whether bleeding itself
was always requisite in particular cases. About the same
time MICHAEL SERVET combated the erroneous doctrines
concerning the concoction of the juices. Moreover the
exaggerated importance which men attached to the pulse
;*'and to the character of the urine, experienced a reasonable
•'•* and necessary limitation. Unprincipled adventurers and
/ignorant empirics made such things the means of intoler-
: able abuses. The urine-glass formed, as it were,the token
of the doctor as may be seen in the pictures of the Dutch
".school and was said to give information upon the most
secret and wonderful things. It was only likely that
honourable doctors and men of intelligence not in the
profession, like the Bishop DUDITH of Horekowicz, should
turn from these practices and strive to obtain a scientific
treatment of the subject of the urine. But in truth any
such treatment could only be undertaken with success
when chemistry had attained to a higher development.
No one effected more in this direction during the 16th
r century, than THEOPHRASTUS BOMBASTUS PARACELSUS,*
-.. of Hohenheim. This man, who forms one of the most
V> remarkable figures in the history of civilization, by some
unduly honoured and by others overwhelmed with scorn
and hatred, has but seldom been judged correctly and
without prejudice. He was of a nature like FAUST'S:
While fastening his eyes on the highest and noblest objects,
he suffered shipwreck in consequence of his bold, ambitious
* K. SyRENGEi.: Geschichte der Arzneikunde iii, 176 after MOREAU : De
miss, sanguis, in jpleurit., Paris 1630, p. 102.