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oapen-20.500.12657-493982021-06-02T14:23:37Z Chapter Jan Baptist Van Helmont and the Medical-Alchemical Perspectives of Poison Hedesan, Delia Georgiana Van Helmont, medical alchemy, Paracelsianism, Paracelsus, poison theories, universal solvent, Alkahest, universal medicine bic Book Industry Communication::H Humanities::HR Religion & beliefs::HRQ Alternative belief systems::HRQX Occult studies::HRQX2 Magic, alchemy & hermetic thought bic Book Industry Communication::P Mathematics & science::PS Biology, life sciences::PSB Biochemistry::PSBT Toxicology (non-medical) This chapter discusses Jan Baptist Van Helmont’s (1579-1644) views on poison in light of his medical alchemy. First, it argues that his approach was fundamentally influenced by the theories of ‘universal poison’ and ‘potent poison’ developed by Theophrastus von Hohenheim, called Paracelsus (1493-1541). Paracelsus’s ideas supported Van Helmont’s own views that medical alchemy was the only key to curing all diseases and poisons. At the same time, Van Helmont sought to set these concepts more clearly in a Christian framework, and also used them to launch a scathing attack on Galenic medicine and practices. Moreover, Van Helmont used poison theory to advance his belief in the existence of a universal solvent Alkahest that could extract medical essences out of any being. The Alkahest could then be used to construct an all-powerful universal medicine that proved God’s special providence to mankind. 2021-06-02T11:23:07Z 2021-06-02T11:23:07Z 2017 chapter 9780128095546 https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/49398 eng application/pdf Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Bookshelf_NBK513408.pdf Elsevier/Academic Press Toxicology in the Middle Ages and Renaissance bc3c4ca1-cc2d-4060-aa92-79940123861b b5e61c1b-67ff-4a04-b064-827dd8913d71 d859fbd3-d884-4090-a0ec-baf821c9abfd 9780128095546 Wellcome 6 Wellcome Trust Wellcome open access
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This chapter discusses Jan Baptist Van Helmont’s (1579-1644) views on poison in light of his medical alchemy. First, it argues that his approach was fundamentally influenced by the theories of ‘universal poison’ and ‘potent poison’ developed by Theophrastus von Hohenheim, called Paracelsus (1493-1541). Paracelsus’s ideas supported Van Helmont’s own views that medical alchemy was the only key to curing all diseases and poisons. At the same time, Van Helmont sought to set these concepts more clearly in a Christian framework, and also used them to launch a scathing attack on Galenic medicine and practices. Moreover, Van Helmont used poison theory to advance his belief in the existence of a universal solvent Alkahest that could extract medical essences out of any being. The Alkahest could then be used to construct an all-powerful universal medicine that proved God’s special providence to mankind.
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