He started clinical
diagnosis and treatment by highly specific medicines, instead of
cure-alls. For instance, he used alkalies to treat disease, such
as gout, indicated by certain substances in the urine, which also
started urinalysis. He perceived that syphillis was caused by
contagion and used mercury to cure it. He found curative powers
also in opium, sulphur, iron, and arsenic. Opium was made by
drying and cooking the capsule of the poppy and was one of the few
really effective early drugs. Paracelsus urged alchemists to try
to prepare drugs from minerals for the relief of suffering. He
claimed to acquire knowledge of cures through spiritual contacts
to occult wisdom. He believed that a human being has an invisible
body as well as a visible one and that it is closely attuned to
imagination and the spiritual aspect of an individual. He noticed
that one's attitudes and emotions, such as anger, could affect
one's health. He sometimes used suggestion and signs to help a
patient form mental images, which translated into cures. He saw
insanity as illness instead of possession by evil spirits.
Understanding of the celestial world began to change. Contemporary
thought was that the nature of all things was to remain at rest,
so that movement and motion had to be explained by causes. The
earth was stationary and the heavens were spherical and revolved
around the earth every twenty-four hours.
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