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PARACELSUS - to - 1840
![]() PARACELSUS [1] Many, this author included, credit Paracelsus [1493-1541] as being the father of Western Medicine [1] [2]. Please note that no attempt is being made to discredit Hippocrates, who is rightfully considered the father of Medicine, nor the works / teachings of Aristotle the philosopher. It's simply just a historical truth that when the Roman Empire fell, much of Europe's medical knowledge fell with it. One can say that this period of time was called the Dark Ages for a good reason. If it weren't for the written works of Galen, [4] one could almost use the word ALL. A sad situation, historical situation, and while most of us in today's world, tend to think of Western Medicine (if not the whole of the Western World in general) as being the height of knowledge and technology, we must remember that in a historical sense this was not always so. In fact, up until a few hundred years ago, (to put it politely) the western world was literally a backwater of technology. ![]() Witches being Hanged Additionally it didn't help any that much of herbal healing was originally considered women's work. God only knows how many women were burnt to death for practicing witchcraft [a.k.a. growing medical herbs in their back-yards].[5] But with them was burnt a lot of the west's medical knowledge. Thus, it was left to Paracelsus to start all over again from scratch. True many consider him to have been a charlatan, and indeed most of his original ideas have long ago been proven false. But still it was he who reinstituted the idea of logic/observation that constitute what we now known of as Western Medicine and as such he must be considered its originator. ![]() Culperer's Complete Herbal 1824 However, it is shocking almost horrifying to note, just how little medical use was made of Cannabis before the year 1840. In other words, with the first 300 years of Western Medicine, Cannabis [readably available throughout Europe] with all its incredible medical uses was all but ignored. Perhaps the following citation best explains: From Culperer's Complete Herbal 1824:In other words -- They weren't making much use of the stuff back then. And note that the publication year was 1824. FOOTNOTES: [1] There are numerous paintings of Paracelsus, each one looks radically different from the others. This one was chosen because it look about right. [2] Paracelsus is also considered the father of Western Pharmacy, and Chemistry. [3] In all fairness it should be noted that not all agree with those statements. Some actual have called Paracelsus a charlatan [among other things] etc. [4] Claudius Galen was a Roman physician whose textbooks on medicine were used throughout the Middle Ages. [5] The church has since apologized for what happened. WANT TO KNOW MORE: Due to space / download time considerations, only selected materials are displayed. If you would like to obtain more information, feel free to contact the museum. All our material is available (at cost) on CD-Rom format.
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