Paracelsus is among the pioneers professors of medicine to understand that physicians need a good academic background in natural sciences such as chemistry. Paracelsus was one of the first ones to utilize chemistry in medicine. With his studies of the elements, he adopted the thoughts of the alternatives of tripartite to illustrate the nature of medicine, which took the place of sulphur the combustible element, mercury the liquid and changeable element, and salt, the solid permanent element. The model of sulphur, mercury, salt was first mentioned in the Opus paramirum in around 1530. According to Paracelsus, the poison resulting in all diseases is contained in the principles sulphur, salt, or mercury. He saw that each illness has 3 different cures according to what resulted in it among the poisons of sulphur, salt, or mercury, so he extracted the importance of salt, sulphur, and mercury with the medieval alchemy, where the prominent place was occupied by them. He provided a demonstration through burning a little piece of wood. The fire was due to the sulphur, mercury was the smoke, and the ash was salt. Paracelsus also said that sulphur, mercury, and salt explained the nature of medicines well, for the reason that they exist in a lot of physical forms. Tria prima is also the definition of human identity. Sulphur represented the soul (the feelings and desires), salt was the body, and mercury embodied the spirit (imagination, judgement, moral, and higher mental departments). By comprehending tria prima chemical nature, the physician will be able to discover cures for any disease. Every illness symptom depended on which one of the tria prima caused it. Paracelsus suggested that elements that may be poisonous in high doses may be a cure in small doses, so he made the demonstration with static electricity and magnetism since small magnets could attract bigger metals.
He gave the element zinc its name in around 1526, based on the pointy sharp appearance of its little crystals when it is smelted, since ''zinke'' in German means ''pointed''. Furthermore, Paracelsus invented chemical urinalysis, chemical therapy, and offered a biochemical theory of digestion. He also used chemical analogies and chemistry in his teachings for students of medicine field and for the medical institutions.
In the early 16th century, Paracelsus had to observe hydrogen unknowingly, and he noticed the reaction of the acid with metals, which resulted in gas. Later, Paracelsus's experiment was repeated by Théodore de Mayerne in 1650 and discovered the flammability of the gas. However, neither of them proposed hydrogen as the new element.
(Paracelsus is among the pioneers professors of medicine t...)