Paracelsus surrounded by various philosophical symbols. From Paracelsus, Etliche Tractaten, zum ander Mal in Truck auszgangen. Vom Podagra und seinem Speciebus (Coln, 1567). Washington University Collection. Paracelsus (1493–1541) Born Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim, Paracelsus was one of the most colorful figures of alchemical lore. His iconoclastic burning of the works of the Greco-Roman physician Galen, in a time when books were so expensive only the wealthy could afford them, was typical of his style. Even this audacity was topped when he once claimed to have created a tiny man in his laboratory, which he called a "homunculus." Though his bravado won him fans and enemies, this shouldn’t obscure his real accomplishments. Paracelsus was the son of a Swiss doctor and chemist. He was further introduced to chemistry when he trained as a mining overseer, learning the practical metallurgy of his time. He turned to medicine as a career and championed the use of alchemy to create cures for disease rather than quick wealth. Scornful of the state of medicine of his day, he saw alchemy as a path to more effective treatment of disease. He developed a treatment for St. Vitus’s disease and used mercury compounds to treat syphilis. More important, he founded medicinal chemistry, then known as iatrochemistry. With regard to his chemical legacy, his insistence that medicines be free of contaminants led to the later development of the concept of pure substances and the means of measuring purity.