Legacy; 5; Paracelsus
- Series
- Legacy
- Episode Number
- 5
- Episode
- Paracelsus
- Producing Organization
- National Educational Television and Radio Center
- Contributing Organization
- Thirteen WNET (New York, New York)
- Library of Congress (Washington, District of Columbia)
- AAPB ID
- cpb-aacip/75-23hx3hrv
- NOLA Code
- LEGC
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- Description
- Episode Description
- This episode looks at the legendary iconoclastic physician of the late middle age, Paracelsus, both as an extraordinary individual and as an example of the spirit of inquiry and skepticism that helped to ignite the Renaissance. Born in Switzerland during the last decade of the fifteenth century, Paracelsus (Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim) lived a life of defiance and discovery, and died the father of modern medicine. That he had made a profound change in the medical profession was not recognized in his time, even though at the peak of his career his reputation as a healer was high. On the contrary, Paracelsus's principles were so unorthodox and so overt a challenge to traditional notion that they enraged contemporary medical practitioners and university faculties, and Paracelsus himself became an outcast - victimized by his genius as a medical innovator and the natural arrogance of his own temperament. In his lectures, while he lived and in his 100 books that lived after him, he advanced theories many of which we take for granted today, largely because he suggested them in the early 1500's: man and the universe are chemically related; every disease is an entity and for it a specific remedy exists; the proper dosage is the difference between a poison and an Arcanum; observation and experience are the only way to understand a disease. He wrote, from his own investigation of the mines of Tirol, on the respiratory diseases of miners, he anticipated Freud in his understanding of insanity and dream interpretation; and, most importantly, he rejected the traditional demigods of Medicine - Galen, (whose anatomical observations were based on dissections of dogs, not human cadavers), Aristotle, and other ancients whose authority has been unquestioned for more than fourteen centuries; and the Arab sage known as Avicenna whose mistakes helped form the keystone of medieval medical science. The iconoclasm and originality of Paracelsus heralded that of Ambroise Pare and Andreas Vesalius a short time later in the sixteenth century, and helped to generate an atmosphere of curiosity that was a prerequisite of modern science.
- Series Description
- Legacy is a series which, in ten half-hour episodes, studies some of the forces that have influenced the development and shape of Western civilization. Filmed in France, England, Italy, Germany, and the United States, Legacy begins in 301 A.D. and ends in our own day, touching on such representative historic determinants as the building of the cathedral of Notre Dame of Amiens, the birth of modern medicine in the skepticism of Paracelsus, the political decay of Florence, the flourishing of absolute monarchy under Louis XIV, the struggle between Marxism and Victorianism, and the tragic waste of World War I. Each program is a separate, self-contained essay on a significant trend, personality, or event. The series by no means sees the development of Western man as a clear, affirmative rise toward the perfection of the human kind. The march of history, on the contrary, all too often seems to go backward as time itself advances, and our legacy is the result of nearly as many errors, weaknesses, and catastrophes as it is of triumphs and miracles. Even in the greatest glories of history are the seeds of ruin; the Versailles of Louis XIV represents both the zenith and the death knell of French absolute monarchy; the Crystal Palace was, unknown to the society that built it, an architectural swan-song for the passing Victorian age. As one institution is undermined another sometimes a better, sometimes not rises in its place. Hence, according to the series, historys only reliable constant is amelioration but change, and the more we understand of the changes of the past and the forces that brought them about, the more we can see in our present and future. Legacy does not attempt to teach history, and contains no trace of the classroom lecture; rather, in a more artistic manner, it brings alive, through image and sound, some of the surging moments of Western mans creativity and folly. Legacy is a 1965 production of National Educational Television. Lane Slate is the producer. Lane Slate and Jim Trainor are the cameramen. (Description adapted from documents in the NET Microfiche)
- Description
- This program looks at the legendary iconoclastic physician of the late middle age, Paracelsus, both as an extraordinary individual and as an example of the spirit of inquiry and skepticism that helped to ignite the Renaissance. Born in Switzerland during the last decade of the fifteenth century, Paracelsus (Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim) lived a life of defiance and discovery, and died the father of modern medicine. The he had made a profound change in the medical profession was not recognized in his time, even is at the peak of his career his reputation as a healer was high. On the contrary, Paracelsuss principles were so unorthodox and so overt a challenge to traditional notion that they enraged contemporary medical practitioners and university faculties, and Paracelsus himself became and outcast victimized by his genius as a medical innovator and the natural arrogance of his own temperament. In his lectures, while he lived and in his 100 books that lived after him, he advanced theories many of which we take for granted today, largely because he suggested them in the early 1500s: man and the universe are chemically related; every disease is an entity and for it a specific remedy exists; the proper dosage is the difference between a poison and an Arcanum; observation and experience are the only way to understand a disease. He wrote, from his own investigation of the mines of Tirol, on the respiratory diseases of miners, he anticipated Freud in his understanding of insanity and dream interpretation; and, most importantly, he rejected the traditional demigods of Medicine Galen, (whose anatomical observations were based on dissections of dogs, not human cadavers), Aristotle, and other ancients whose authority has been unquestioned for more than fourteen centuries; and the Arab sage known as Avicenna whose mistakes helped form the keystone of medieval medical science. The iconoclasm and originality of Paracelsus heralded that of Ambroise Pare and Andreas Vesalius a short time later in the sixteenth century, and helped to generate an atmosphere of curiosity that was a prerequisite of modern science. Using graphics from the Middle Ages, contemporary live footage, and drawings by Will Bryant, commissioned for this program by NET, Paracelsus is the story of one man and his race with the dying Middle Ages.
- Broadcast Date
- 1965-10-31
- Asset type
- Episode
- Topics
- History
- Rights
- Copyright National Educational Television & Radio Center October 31, 1965
- Media type
- Moving Image
- Credits
-
-
Artist: Bryant, Will
Camera Operator: Slate, Lane
Camera Operator: Trainor, Jim
Director: Hanser, David
Producer: Slate, Lane
Producing Organization: National Educational Television and Radio Center
- AAPB Contributor Holdings
-
Thirteen - New York Public Media (WNET)
Identifier: wnet_aacip_2371 (WNET Archive)
Format: 16mm film
Duration: 00:28:56?
-
Library of Congress
Identifier: 2337455-1 (MAVIS Item ID)
Format: 16mm film
Generation: Copy: Access
Color: B&W
-
Library of Congress
Identifier: 2337455-2 (MAVIS Item ID)
Format: 16mm film
Generation: Copy: Access
Color: B&W
-
Indiana University Libraries Moving Image Archive
Identifier: [request film based on title] (Indiana University)
Format: 16mm film
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- Citations
- Chicago: “Legacy; 5; Paracelsus,” 1965-10-31, Thirteen WNET, Library of Congress, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC, accessed April 24, 2025, http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-75-23hx3hrv.
- MLA: “Legacy; 5; Paracelsus.” 1965-10-31. Thirteen WNET, Library of Congress, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC. Web. April 24, 2025. <http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-75-23hx3hrv>.
- APA: Legacy; 5; Paracelsus. Boston, MA: Thirteen WNET, Library of Congress, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC. Retrieved from http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-75-23hx3hrv