The biography of Paracelsus says that this man devoted his whole life to studying the secrets of medicine and alchemy. An outstanding medieval doctor was significantly ahead of his time and significantly influenced the current state of medicine.
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Scientist and Alchemist Paracelsus - Biography
From the biography of Paracelsus it is known that the real name of the scientist of the Middle Ages sounded like this - Philipp Avreol Theophrastus Bombast von Hohenheim. False modesty in choosing a pseudonym clearly did not interfere with him - he added the prefix "para" to the name of the famous ancient Greek physician Celsus. It means "like Celsus".
Paracelsus
The future doctor and alchemist was born on September 21, 1493 in the city of Eg, which is now called Einsiedeln. His parents were directly related to medicine. Before marriage, her mother was a matron in the almshouse of the Benedictine abbey. After the wedding, she left this position, since a married woman had no right to occupy it. She became a nurse in the same almshouse.
Father Wilhelm Bombast von Hohenheim came from an impoverished noble family. He was a doctor and taught medical sciences to his son. It was his father who became the first teacher of Paracelsus. He also taught his son philosophy, which was then given considerable importance. The family had an excellent library despite that. Wilhelm became an example for his son, and already at the age of 16 the latter was familiar with surgery, alchemy and therapy.
Learning and travel
At the age of 16, Paracelsus left his home forever and went to study in Basel. This educational institution is now considered the oldest in Switzerland. After graduating from the university, the future scientist becomes a student of Johann Trethemius. His teacher was an abbot, but he is now considered one of the greatest astrologers, magicians and alchemists in world history.
After studying with Abbot Johann Trethemius, Paracelsus went to Italy to study at the University of Ferrara. After completing the next training course, he received the title of Doctor of Medicine. In total, getting an education outside the home took the scientist about 7-10 years.
Since 1517, a medieval alchemist and physician has traveled the world to study alchemy, magic and medicine. He attended European universities for about 10 years, participated in military campaigns as a doctor, visited almost all European countries, and, according to rumors, was also in Africa. The alchemist collected information not only among doctors and scientists of that time. Most of the knowledge was obtained by Paracelsus while communicating with elderly healers, executioners, barbers, gypsies and Jews. It is known that he did not avoid communicating with witches, who were often declared midwives.
Such sources have not been used by other physicians. Thanks to this, Paracelsus' unique collection of recipes and medical knowledge, gathered around the world, made him a famous physician of the time. So, for example, a book on women's diseases was written after an exchange of experience with. Women did not want to trust their secrets to male doctors, preferring to be treated by women. Therefore, the medicine of witches and the treatment of women's diseases in general were secret knowledge available to a narrow circle of people.
Such connections could not go unnoticed. Critics often accused the doctor of drunkenness, vagrancy, and incompetence based on the reputation of the people with whom the scientist was seen. At the age of thirty-two, the alchemist returned to Germany, where he took up medical practice, applying the knowledge gained in his wanderings. After several cases of curing the sick, he immediately became famous, and gossip lost its meaning.
Medical and alchemist career
In 1526, the scientist Paracelsus became a burgher in Strasbourg, and in 1527 he moved to Basel. There he received the position of city doctor, as well as professor of physics, medicine and surgery. Lectures at the university brought high incomes, as did medical practice. The famous doctor gave lectures on medicine in German, which became a challenge to the entire education system, which obliged students to learn only in Latin.
However, such self-will was forgiven the ingenious doctor of the Middle Ages. The lectures of Paracelsus were not a repetition of the materials collected by Hippocrates and Avicenna. He shared knowledge that was collected personally. The professor was respected among students who wanted to gain practical knowledge, and some conservative colleagues were horrified by the lectures of the innovator. Especially when they learned about the sources from which the information was obtained.
In 1528, skirmishes with colleagues led to a conflict with the city authorities. Paracelsus was excommunicated from teaching. After that, he again went to travel, this time only in Europe. When Paracelsus visited Nuremberg, he faced accusations of fraud from his fellow physicians.
Paracelsus did not tolerate insults. He asked the city council to entrust him with the treatment of several patients whom the "specialists" who offended him considered hopeless. The Council commissioned the treatment of several people with elephantiasis. Paracelsus dealt with this in a short time. There are records of this in the city archives.
The following years, the scientist Paracelsus traveled, studied medicine, alchemy and astrology. He was engaged in the treatment of people and never left medical practice. After 1530, the scientist took up alchemical experiments and writing works that are popular even in our time.
last years of life
In the late 1930s, the scientist finally settled in Salzburg, finding an intercessor and patron in the person of Duke Erns, who invited him to this city, who was also interested in secret knowledge. In Salzburg, Paracelsus was able to devote himself entirely to research, experimentation and writing books. He lived in a house on the outskirts of the city. It housed a laboratory, as well as an office in which the doctor received patients.
On September 24, 1541, the greatest scientist died after a short illness in a small hotel room on the city's waterfront. Paracelsus left this world at only 48 years old. He was buried in the local cemetery.
The exact cause of death of the brilliant physician of the Middle Ages is unknown. Modern scientists consider murder out of envy to be the most truthful option. This version was put forward among the friends of Paracelsus. He had many enemies among doctors who were jealous of his success and extensive knowledge. It is believed that one of the envious hired an assassin who broke the doctor's skull. This resulted in death only a few days later.
Gnomes - Paracelsus first coined the term
The gnomes of Paracelsus were underground inhabitants. There is a version that this concept appeared as a result of an incorrect translation of the phrase "underground inhabitant" from the Greek language. Paracelsus described the gnomes as humanoid inhabitants of the dungeons. According to his treatises, gnomes are earth elementals.
Paracelsus wrote that the dwarf was two spans tall, which equals forty centimeters. These creatures are not too fond of contact with representatives of the human race. Since they are earth elementals, dwarves can move within the earth as freely as a human can move on its surface.
In the 18th century, after the death of Paracelsus, gnomes appear in the fiction of Europe. As a fairy-tale character, gnomes are popular in our time. In our time, a version is being expressed that the researcher of alchemy and magic called the gnomes of the pygmies.
"Everything is poison and everything is medicine" and other quotes by Paracelsus
Several quotes by Paracelsus have survived to this day. Even in our time, several hundred years later, they are not considered devoid of wisdom. The most famous quote Paracelsus goes like this:
Everything is poison and everything is medicine.
The greatest physician of his time had in mind that any substance can be a medicine in a certain situation, if the proportions are correctly observed in the preparation of the medicine. He was also known for his harsh statements about his colleagues, whom he considered unworthy of the title of doctor:
You, who have studied Hippocrates, Galen, Avicenna, imagine that you know everything, while in reality you know nothing; you prescribe medicines but don't know how to prepare them! Chemistry alone can solve the problems of physiology, pathology, therapeutics; outside of chemistry you wander in the dark. You doctors of the whole world, Italians, Frenchmen, Greeks, Sarmatians, Arabs, Jews - all should follow me, and I should not follow you. If you don't cling to my banner in all sincerity, then it's not even worth being a place of defecation for dogs.
Paracelsus was rarely shy about protesting ancient medicine. While working as a lecturer at the university, he burned scientific papers with which he did not agree. After that, he lost his job.
The main goal of the doctor was to rid people of diseases:
The real purpose of alchemy is not to make gold, but to make medicine!
Medieval physician Paracelsus - books
In total, Paracelsus wrote 9 books, but only 3 of them were published during his lifetime. The first book of Paracelsus was called " Paragranum". In it, the author revealed the secrets of Kabbalah. He was engaged in the study of Kabbalism while still studying with the abbot after receiving his first higher education. This is how Paracelsus explained the importance of this science:
All physics, including all its particular sciences: astronomy, astrology, pyromancy, haomancy, hydromancy, geomancy, alchemy... - they are all matrices of the noble science of Kabbalistics.
« Paramirum"- the next book of Paracelsus, which tells about the origin of diseases and the features of each of them. In it, he shared all his knowledge about the nature of the human body and the treatment of various diseases. Now this work is considered medical-philosophical.
The next books were Labyrinth of misguided doctors" And " Chronicle of Cartinia". In the first book, Paracelsus described his views in detail, not too embarrassed in expressions. In addition, at the end of life, the works " Philosophy" And " Hidden Philosophy", and " great astronomy". In the last book, Paracelsus describes, including gnomes.
What was the medicine of Paracelsus
Paracelsus made a significant contribution to medicine. The first medicines were invented by alchemists, and he was one of the first. Paracelsus became the founder iatrochemistry- a science that combined chemistry and medicine. Simply put, his main goal was to invent and test prescriptions for drugs. Only in the 16th century, thanks to Paracelsus and his followers, did such a trend arise, which for a long time was attributed to alchemy, and not medicine.
Paracelsus taught that all living organisms are composed of chemicals in a certain proportion. If these proportions are violated, it leads to illness. Chemical means can restore the balance of substances in the human body. Interesting fact It was Paracelsus who gave the name to zinc. He became the first doctor who used gold, antimony and mercury in the treatment of patients.
The ideas of ancient medicine, which were practically of no use, were severely criticized. Paracelsus tried to introduce new methods of treating patients, for which he was not loved by his colleagues. He is considered one of the founders of medicine as a science. Humanity also owes the present state of medicine and pharmacology to Paracelsus.
Paracelsus model- one of the forms of medical ethics that he outlined and concerned the relationship between doctor and patient. Paracelsus tried to convey to the readers of his works the importance of the depth of contact between the patient and the doctor, as well as the ability of the latter to take into account the individual characteristics of the personality of the patient he is treating. Therefore, Paracelsus is also considered the founder of empirical mental treatment.
The doctor and the alchemist are called not only the wisest physician of the Middle Ages, but also an outstanding magician and esotericist. He was often compared to Luther, who was also a pioneer, but in religion. True, Paracelsus did not like this comparison. It was believed that he knew the secret philosopher's stone, and he possessed a personally prepared copy. He was credited with the ability to turn metals into gold and heal any disease.
In general, there are many legends about Paracelsus. His personality is somewhat mysterious, but interesting information for a modern person can be gleaned from the biography of the famous medieval surgeon.
In contact with
Arkady Golod, anesthesiologist
A tramp, a reveler, a foul-mouthed and drunkard - he remained in the memory of mankind as a great revolutionary scientist who brought a lot of new things to medicine, which was just beginning to wake up from a medieval scholastic sleep.
The famous philosopher, alchemist and physician of the 16th century Philip Aureol Theophrastus Bombast von Hohenheim.
Drugs that cause hemolysis with insufficient activity of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase.
From the liana Chondrodendron tomentosum, the Indians of the Amazon receive the terrible poison curare. The same poison made a revolution in anesthesiology, and therefore in surgery and resuscitation. Photo: P. Goltra, National Tropical Botanical Garden.
Bella donna means beauty in Italian. In all other languages - poisonous grass. Its poison is the alkaloid atropine, a medicine without which modern medicine is unthinkable. Photo: Arnold Werner.
Philip Aureol Theophrastus Bombast von Hohenheim (Hohenheim) appropriated the loud pseudonym Paracelsus, that is, similar to Celsus, a Roman philosopher who left a major work on medicine. Paracelsus is considered the forerunner of modern pharmacology. He was one of the first to consider the body from the point of view of chemical science and to use chemical agents for treatment.
When it comes to Paracelsus, the first thing that comes to mind is his famous principle: “Everything is poison, and nothing is without poison; one dose makes the poison invisible. Or in a different way: “Everything is a poison, everything is a medicine; both are determined by the dose.
Indeed, it is difficult - if not impossible - to find a substance that does not turn out to be a poison or a medicine. And there are very few substances that would be only healing or only destructive.
Overdose of drug poisoning is a "classic of the genre" in detective stories and sad forensic statistics in real life.
Even such "harmless" drugs as paracetamol, analgin or aspirin, may well be sent to the next world. Though not as spectacular as potassium cyanide - an evil "spy" in a dashing action movie (a curious sight for a physician who knows the real picture of cyanide poisoning), but through irreversible damage to vital organs.
The most ordinary water can become a deadly poison even for very healthy people with excessive drinking. Known cases of death of athletes, soldiers, visitors to discos. The reason was excessive drinking: more than 2 liters of water per hour.
Let me give you a few more expressive examples.
Strychnine is a well-known deadly poison, almost twice as strong as the famous potassium cyanide. Once they poisoned wolves and stray dogs. But in a dose of only 1 mg, it successfully treats paresis, paralysis, fatigue, and functional disorders of the visual apparatus.
In the history of the exploration of the North, there are many cases of severe and even fatal poisoning with the liver of a polar bear. And fresh, steamy. It turns out that vitamin A accumulates in the liver of a polar predator in a huge concentration: up to 20 thousand IU in one gram. human body only 3300-3700 IU of vitamin per day is enough to meet basic needs. Only 50-100 grams of bear liver is enough for serious poisoning, and 300 grams can be taken to the grave.
Botulinum toxin is one of the worst poisons known to mankind. During the Second World War, it was seriously considered as a chemical weapon. And in our enlightened time, the drug of botulinum toxin - botox - successfully treats migraine, persistent muscle spasms. And they just make it look better.
The medical use of bee and snake venom is well known.
Strictly speaking, the principle of Paracelsus is a special case of the first law of dialectics - the mutual transition of quantitative and qualitative changes.
But, if we confine ourselves to the first part of his famous phrase, leaving only "Everything is poison, and everything is a medicine", a new interesting topic opens up.
In fact, Philip Aureolovich, being completely delighted with medical successes, artificially narrowed down his truly great principle, confining himself to considering only the question of the dose, the amount of the substance introduced into the body.
The dose is only one of the many aspects of the interaction of a substance and an organism, in which any given substance acts in one of three hypostases - neutral, healing or murderous.
Physicians and biologists are familiar with this topic. Especially for physicians, since it is the main content of science - pharmacology, without knowledge of which any meaningful work in medicine is impossible. But for readers whose knowledge of biology is limited to firmly forgotten school lessons, much will be new and unusual.
What else, besides the dose, makes a poison a medicine, and a medicine a poison?
Body Features
We have an enzyme in our body: glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase. It is found in erythrocytes. Detailed description this enzyme can be very interesting, but will take us away from the topic. What is important now is that along with the normal form of G-6PD (this is how this enzyme is abbreviated), there are five abnormal variants of it, of varying degrees of inferiority.
Inferiority of G-6PD is manifested both by a decrease in the “performance” of an erythrocyte and a reduction in its lifespan, which is very unpleasant in itself, and by the ability of a red blood cell to break down when the most common substances enter the body, including tasty and healthy ones.
The destruction of red blood cells - hemolysis - can occur massively, which leads to hemolytic anemia - anemia. And this is half the trouble.
Sometimes hemolysis occurs so rapidly and massively that the body is poisoned by its own free hemoglobin. Particularly affected are the kidneys, liver and spleen, which are subjected to an unbearable load (see table).
In severe cases, the kidneys shut down completely and irreversibly…
This anomaly is hereditary. The gene located on the X chromosome is responsible for the synthesis of G-6PD, which means that this anomaly is sex-linked.
It is a bit of a stretch to call this a disease, since there are asymptomatic forms of G-6PD deficiency.
A person lives and feels completely healthy until he tastes the forbidden fruit.
These include: horse beans (Vicia fava), hybrid verbena, field peas, male fern, blueberries, blueberries, red currants, gooseberries. And a long list of the most common drugs. This is how we "expanded" Hippocrates. It is not the dose, but the hereditary peculiarity of the body that makes medicines poison. And even the most ordinary food.
G-6PD deficiency is most common among the indigenous populations of Mediterranean countries and other malarial regions. However, the disease is not so rare in different areas. Thus, it affects approximately 2% of ethnic Russians in Russia.
What's with malaria? We will return to this interesting question a little later.
death food
Is it possible to die from a piece of cheese and a good glass of red wine? Of course not. If everything is in order with MAO.
There is such an enzyme in the body - monoamine oxidase - MAO.
It performs a serious function - it destroys hormones and neurotransmitters (substances that transmit nerve impulses) belonging to the group of monoamines. These are adrenaline, norepinephrine, serotonin, melatonin, histamine, dopamine, phenylethylamine, as well as many phenylethylamine and tryptamine surfactants.
Two types of MAO are known: MAO-A and MAO-B. The substrates of MAO-B are dopamine and phenylethylamine, and the substrates of MAO-A are all other monoamines.
The MAO plays a particularly important role in the central nervous system, maintaining the correct ratio of neurotransmitters that determine emotional status. In other words, with the help of MAO, the brain balances between euphoria and depression, between the norm and mental disorders.
And not only this. The ratio of various monoamines determines the norm or disorders of many vital parameters of the body: blood pressure, heart rate, muscle tone, activity of the digestive organs, coordination of movements ...
With depression - the most fashionable ailment in our time - both the total level of various monoamines in the brain and their ratio are disturbed. And if so, then the drug treatment of depression should be aimed at correcting these disorders.
One way to solve this problem is the inhibition (suppression of activity) of MAO. In fact, if MAO destroys monoamine neurotransmitters more slowly, they will accumulate in the brain tissue, and depression will recede.
This is what happens when the patient takes medication - MAO inhibitors. There are many such drugs now: inhibitors are reversible and irreversible, selective and non-selective ...
Everything would be fine and even wonderful if, during treatment with MAO inhibitors, a very serious, even mortal, danger did not lie in wait for a person: to get poisoned by the most ordinary food.
The fact is that many products contain both ready-made monoamines and their chemical precursors: tyramine, tyrosine and tryptophan. Against the background of the suppressed activity of MAO, their entry into the body leads to a surge in the level of monoamine mediators and hormones. Severe, potentially fatal disorders develop: hypertensive crisis and serotonin syndrome.
Therefore, you have to switch to a strict diet and completely eliminate:
Red wine, beer, ale, whiskey.
Cheeses, especially aged.
Smoked products.
Marinated, dried, salted fish.
Protein supplements.
Brewer's yeast and products of their processing.
Sauerkraut…
and a long list of drugs that are categorically incompatible with MAO inhibitors. Such deprivation in itself can drive into depression.
Paracelsus was right: truly everything is poison and everything is medicine.
But in this situation, how to understand: what is what?
When there is no agreement among comrades
Let's get back to MAO inhibitors.
By themselves, they are excellent cures for depression, parkinsonism, migraines, and some other brain troubles.
But let's say that a patient taking MAO inhibitors caught a cold and, tormented by a runny nose, dripped some naphthyzinum into his nose - a reliable, proven remedy. And instead of a harmless nasal congestion, he received a “sympathetic storm” in the form of a hypertensive crisis, cardiac arrhythmias and psychomotor agitation.
So it will manifest itself - in this particular case - drug incompatibility.
Two good - in themselves - medicines, when used together, became "poison".
The phenomenon of drug incompatibility is well known to physicians. When a new drug is introduced into practice, it is necessarily and very carefully tested for compatibility, and based on the results of such studies, recommendations are developed for the use of this drug and a list of contraindications.
Using the example of some drugs, we will show their incompatibility with each other, as well as how this incompatibility manifests itself.
Adrenaline, a hormone of the adrenal glands, which is actively used in cardiac surgery and resuscitation, leads to excitation of the central nervous system when combined with antidepressants, but weakens the effect of diuretics. Its administration together with cardiac glycosides leads to malfunctions of the heart: tachycardia and extrasystole.
If the antihistamine diphenhydramine is added to the neuroleptic chlorpromazine, this causes drowsiness and a drop in pressure. The action of sleeping pills chlorpromazine enhances.
Widely used antacids that neutralize hydrochloric acid in the stomach (ma-alox, rennie, etc.) delay the absorption of other drugs that are taken by mouth.
Aspirin, when combined with trental and hormonal agents, can lead to bleeding of the stomach and intestines.
Barbiturates (a group of drugs that inhibit the activity of the central nervous system) reduce the activity of antibiotics, hormonal drugs, cardiac glycosides and furosemide.
Beta-blockers, which are most often used for hypertension, cancel out the effect of ephedrine and adrenaline.
Cardiac glycosides, tranquilizers, antipsychotics reduce the diuretic effect of veroshpiron.
Not always incompatible drugs become poison. Not so rarely, acting in opposite directions, they mutually neutralize the therapeutic effect. Then they simply do not make sense to accept.
In thick reference books on drug incompatibility, the devil himself will break his leg. Therefore, computer programs have now appeared that allow you to instantly check the combination of drugs prescribed to a given patient.
The instructions attached to the drugs usually indicate the main contraindications and prohibited combinations with other drugs.
This is a very useful read before you start giving - taking a new medicine, especially if it is not the only one. The doctor's head is not the House of Soviets, he may not remember everything.
Circumstances and place of action
South America, the jungle... The first Europeans watch the Indians hunt with blowpipes and poisoned arrows. The arrows are tiny, but the hit of such an arrow in any part of the body inevitably meant the quick death of the victim. The arrows are smeared with a very strong poison.
But what is surprising: the Indians calmly ate the game they got on the hunt, and they did not have the slightest sign of poisoning!
In the same place, in the tropics, the locals fish by soaking the branches and leaves of some poisonous plants in the water. Dead fish float upstream. And then the fishermen calmly eat this fish, not at all worrying about their own safety.
What do these ways of obtaining food with the help of poisons have in common? properties of poisons.
They are harmless if they pass through the stomach, and are deadly poisonous if they enter the bloodstream directly.
It turns out that the nature of its action - destructive or healing - depends on the method of introducing a substance into the body. Or it will not manifest itself in any way - as in stories with hunting poisons.
Many substances behave differently, entering the body in different ways. For example, sublimate is mercury dichloride. When used externally as part of ointments or solutions, it is a good medicine against skin diseases and a good disinfectant. But the same substance, taken orally, becomes a dangerous poison, causing fatal poisoning with extremely painful symptoms.
Iodine. An indispensable and completely safe home antiseptic. It has been successfully used in surgery for a hundred and fifty years now: both in the form of simple aqueous and alcoholic solutions, and in rather complex organoiodine preparations. But the same chemical element in the composition of X-ray contrast agents administered intravenously acts as a strong allergen that gives severe reactions, sometimes up to deadly anaphylactic shock. At the same time, even in the same person, iodine acts as a medicine when used externally and as a poison when used internally.
In anesthesiology and intensive care, it is sometimes necessary to continuously monitor blood pressure in a “direct” way: by inserting a catheter connected to a special sensor into a peripheral artery. Usually in the radial artery at the wrist or in the brachial - in the elbow bend. The device looks like an ordinary dropper, because from time to time it is necessary to flush a thin catheter so that it does not become clogged with blood clots.
So, this system is always carefully labeled: ARTERY! ARTERY! ARTERY! God forbid to introduce a medicine there - even the most beautiful one - intended for injection into a vein! The case will most likely end in the loss of a limb after a long and painful effort to save it.
What happens if an intravenous drug gets "past the vein"?.. Maybe it just won't work. But what will happen to the patient if the expected action does not exist? And if the situation is critical and between life and death - minutes, seconds?
Or it will “work”... For example, the most common calcium chloride injected into a vein has a diverse therapeutic (sometimes life-saving) effect. But injected by mistake next to a vein, it will cause inflammation and even necrosis (necrosis) of tissues.
And vice versa: numerous drugs for subcutaneous or intramuscular use turn into very dangerous poisons when injected intravenously. These are all kinds of oils, suspensions, emulsions.
The most careful reading and the most literal implementation of the instructions for the use of this medicine - only this will allow the medicine not to become a poison, and the doctor - a killer.
Is there anything more useful than genetic diseases?
One of my witty classmates liked to flaunt such paradoxical maxims. But is this paradox really so paradoxical?
Probably, not a single conversation about hereditary diseases is complete without mentioning sickle cell anemia (thalassemia). The essence of the disease is that red blood cells do not have a normal - meniscus-shaped - shape, but an ugly - sickle-shaped. It is caused by mutations in the HBA1 and HBA2 genes responsible for the synthesis of hemoglobin protein chains. Depending on the combination of mutant genes in a given organism, the disease can be mild, moderate, or severe. Or even asymptomatic.
It is inherited in a recessive manner. This means that if the genome of a given person contains a normal and a mutant allele, he will remain healthy or the manifestations of the disease will be insignificant. And if there are two mutant alleles, a complete clinical picture will develop.
This very unpleasant ailment is quite rare throughout the globe, but common (too common) in Arabs, Sephardic Jews, Turks and other peoples of the Mediterranean. Even the name itself - "thalassemia" - from the Greek "thalassa" - the sea. And in several more regions quite distant from each other and from the Mediterranean Sea, thalassemia affects a larger percentage of the population than it should be, based on the random distribution of mutant genes in the population.
What prevents natural selection from replacing the ugly gene? And what unites different "thalassemic" areas? The answer to both questions is the same: malaria.
A situation has been created in which perfectly healthy people die, while the sick live. It turns out that from the point of view of natural selection, this hereditary disease is a blessing, a “cure” against evil, a “poison” is malaria.
Absolutely the same situation with G-6PD deficiency disease. Red blood cells that lack this enzyme are not affected by malarial plasmodium. Are some dietary restrictions not too expensive a price to pay for the opportunity to live quietly in a dangerous area?
Are there other examples of similar paradoxes when illness is beneficial? Yes, as much as you like!
Gout - uric acid diathesis. Relatively recent studies have shown a very noticeable correlation between longevity and blood uric acid levels.
A completely similar situation with thalassemia: in extreme manifestations - a painful disease, in less pronounced - longevity!
Early toxicosis during pregnancy. Well, it's a very unfortunate situation! Statistical studies have shown that women who do not suffer from this disorder are more likely to have miscarriages. It turns out that nausea, vomiting, extreme selectivity in food are the natural protection of the fetus from harmful substances that come with food.
Well, in the examples given, the disease, if it is a cure, is preventive, preventing others, more dangerous ones. Can a disease be cured?
Until 1907, in which Paul Ehrlich created his famous “drug 606” (salvarsan, by the way, a typical poison is an arsenic compound), infection with syphilis was tantamount to a death sentence. There was no medicine for him. Or rather, there were no safe drugs against syphilis. And there was a cure. Or rather, it was malaria!
The fact is that the causative agent of syphilis - pale spirochete is very sensitive to high temperature. And malaria is just characterized by bouts of fever, in which the temperature "rolls over". Deliberately infecting the patient with malaria, he was relieved of syphilis, and then cured of malaria with quinine. The treatment turned out to be difficult, even life-threatening, but it helped!
From time to time, rereading what I have written, I ask myself the question: “So, to what extent can Paracelsus be expanded?”
It turns out that there are no limits to such an expansion ...
Then, pray tell, what is poison and what is medicine?
The answer is obvious: ALL.
"Everything is a medicine, and everything is a poison - it's all about the dose" - said Hippocrates. “Everything is poison, nothing is devoid of poison, only one dose makes the poison invisible,” Paracelsus echoed him. We, worrying about the fall of the ruble, are surprised to learn that the United States and Trump, who arranged this "poverty festival" for us, are not happy with the effect. Because in this case, it is not the reduction, but the increase in the dose that makes the poison a medicine. Painful for the Russian Federation, the process of depreciation of the national currency is good in small doses. If he is an example of a Homeric character, then, under other prevailing conditions, he will simply separate the Russian economy from the West. A further discrepancy between the purchasing power and the speculatively deduced value of the ruble makes the Russian Federation an "alternative universe" ...
Let's say there is some kind of super-large Orlov diamond. And it is very, very expensive. And if so, then he lies to himself in the museum, and neither I nor you even think of buying it. We live our lives - and the stone "Eagles" ours. We have long learned to do without it in everyday life and calculations ...
Weeping over the fact that "Orlov" is not available with our income - it seems absurd. If the dollar or the euro reaches the value of the Orlov diamond, they will simply go out of use. They will lie in the museum - and we will live our lives. Without huge diamonds, without dollar and euro...
It is not only the depraved Russian "elite" who has tightly tied herself to foreign trips that is afraid of such an alignment. It is true that these creatures, who cannot imagine life without holidays in London, tremble. However, the forces behind Trump, who have nominated him as a figure of renewal of the dilapidated American empire, also tremble.
And now - while Ekho Moskvy is hysterical about the inability of the Russian authorities to keep the ruble - US President Donald Trump suddenly ... accused Russia and China of "playing currency devaluation." He saw in the fall of the ruble not a catastrophe of Russian consumption, but an increase in the competitiveness of a Russian manufacturer!
How much is a dollar worth? How much is the euro? How much is the ruble? The correct answer is they cost as much as they cost. And this is not a tautology. If racketeers stop you on a deserted highway and sell you a brick for 100 thousand rubles, then in this situation the brick costs 100 thousand rubles. In a different setting, a brick does not cost so much, yes. Is there a problem with purchasing power parity? Yes. But at night on the highway, surrounded by an armed gang, a brick really costs 100 thousand rubles. If you pay that much, then it's worth that much. This is the market situation.
Every item is worth as much as they buy. And it doesn’t matter in what ways the sellers got your consent: by cunning, forgery, by putting a soldering iron in your anus or something else. If you agreed to buy a brick for 100 thousand rubles (one piece of the most banal building brick) - it means that a gang of racketeers managed to impose their own rules of the game on you. Yes, during the day, far from the place of blackmail, a brick will cost you 5 rubles, exactly the same as this one. On the subject of purchasing power parity...
But the market is not built on purchasing power parities. It is not built on fair equivalent exchanges. It is based on the situations created by the participants in the transaction. And if a situation has been created for you in which you buy a dollar five times more expensive than all the products that you can buy with this dollar, then this is the will of the market.
We ourselves, instead of building currency exchange on a rational and controlled assessment of purchasing power, have created an idiotic situation of exchange trading, free from both honesty and common sense. In this situation, a "perpetual motion machine" works: the panic of the population increases the price of the currency, and the growth of the price of the currency increases the panic of the population. The higher the panic of the population, the more expensive the currency, and the more expensive the currency, the greater the panic of the population rushing after it.
In the end, we have what we have. But only until the dollar (and the euro), like a jet-powered elevator, breaks through the roof and flies into outer space. And if it flies away to the beyond, becoming absolutely inaccessible to the population, then its meaning and significance on the territory of the Russian Federation will disappear.
Why do I, a Ufa citizen born in 1966, need an American dollar in 1980? What would I do with him in Ufa? Not wanting to risk getting into currency speculation, I would have tried to get rid of the dollar in 1980 as soon as possible. And that's okay, you know? This is a sovereign country - on which only its money has the right to walk, and not the devil ...
If the authorities of the Russian Federation, mired in luxury and incompetence, do not want to return this normal, sovereign order (one power, one country, one currency), then the cosmic growth of the dollar and the euro can do it for them. When superprices will lead the currency to the final absurdity - and it will fall out of use. And they will, as before, sell Vanya bread for rubles, and Petya Vanya - fabrics also for rubles. And the dollar has nothing to do with it. It's not about us. Does American imperialism need this? No. For him, this is more terrible than terrible ...
Trump (not himself, but the members of the Politburo behind him) understands that a very expensive dollar is not only the prestige of the empire, but also the death of the American real sector of the economy. At the current price of the dollar, there is no good that would be profitable to produce in the United States. All industries are curtailed and go to places where labor is cheap, raw materials and energy are cheaper, and costs are lower. Every American (and European) product becomes "gold".
From here, Trump is outraged: “Russia and China are playing currency devaluation as the US continues to raise interest rates. Unacceptable!" he wrote.
And in the end, the American president ordered to stop the introduction of new anti-Russian sanctions, the Washington Post reports, citing sources.
Trump consulted with national security advisers Sunday evening and told them that he was upset that the sanctions were officially announced because he did not yet feel confident about their imposition.
Earlier, the US Permanent Representative to the UN, Nikki Haley, announced new sanctions against Russia due to the situation in Syria. According to her, the US authorities should have announced these restrictive measures on Monday. She also stated that companies that supplied Syria with technologies that contributed to the creation of chemical weapons will fall under the restrictions.
In the US, intelligent strategists understand that by squeezing the lever of the fall of the ruble to the stop, they are pushing Russia towards IMPORT SUBSTITUTION with their own hands. That is, they strengthen the enemy, thinking of weakening him.
If the dollar and the euro are too expensive, then their high cost will turn from poison into economic medicine. They will go out of use in the same way as if their circulation was banned on the territory of the Russian Federation.
They will turn into a kind of Orlov diamond, which, of course, exists, and costs what it costs, and can, theoretically, be bought - but it is absolutely not needed in everyday life (because they have learned to do without it).
That is why the very United States, which did everything for the catastrophe of the ruble, suddenly rushes to the other extreme and tries to strengthen the ruble.
When the fisherman sees that the fish is about to break the line, he weakens the pull, releases the line, lengthens the leash. The main thing is that the fish that has swallowed the hook of "free currency conversion" does not get off the hook. The fisherman leads her from side to side, gradually tiring her.
This is what is actually happening with the controversial actions of the United States.
“Everything is poison, and nothing is without poison; only one dose makes the poison invisible, ”said one of the greatest scientists of the 16th century, Paracelsus. His real name is Philip Aureol Theophrastus Bombast von Hohenheim - born on September 21, 1493, the city of Eg, canton of Schwyz, died, in full accordance with my hypothesis (), - September 24, 1541 Salzburg.
According to Paracelsus, everything in the world has only one source - the "great mystery" - Misterium Magnum, from which everything arises and to which everything returns. Everything that is available to our eyes is only a small part of reality, its most rough material component. The world is diverse, complex and full of secrets. It is impossible to comprehend the laws of the universe and one's own existence by the forces of the mind, in the course of scientific work alone. Nevertheless, man, as a being endowed with a divine soul, is capable and entitled to any knowledge: there is no forbidden and hidden knowledge. As, however, this is also said in the Bible - "For there is nothing hidden that would not be made manifest, nor hidden that would not be made known and would not be revealed" (Luke 8:16-17).
Man is a microcosm in which all the elements of the macrocosm are reflected. Paracelsus believed that man is like the Universe with its own laws, with its own firmament. The "small cosmos" is closely connected with the entire Universe - the large cosmos. The connecting link between the two worlds is the power of "M" (either Misterium Magnumс, or this is the name of the god Mercury - in Ancient Rome, Hermes Trismegistus was known as Mercury).
Man is the quintessence, or fifth, true essence of the world) and is produced by God from the “drawing” of the whole world and therefore carries the image of the Creator. therefore, a person who has known the Highest can command the earth and the stars.”
According to the teachings of Paracelsus, a person is dual in nature: “If a person is like his animal father, then he is like an animal; if he is like the Divine Spirit, which can illumine his animal elements, then he is like God.” The natural man has the earth element, the earth is his mother, and into her he returns, losing his natural flesh; but the true man will be reborn on the day of resurrection in another, spiritual and glorified body. Spiritual reality is the original reality, to which sooner or later everything must return. As any natural metal, according to the then prevailing alchemical ideas, tends to become gold, so a person strives to return to Materia Spiritualis, "spiritual matter", through the complete transformation of his entire being.
"That which is below is analogous to that which is above. And that which is above is analogous to that which is below, in order to accomplish the miracles of the one thing," as stated in the Emerald Tablet of Hermes Trismegistus. Paracelsus sought to develop this principle in his teaching and practice, which at that time was called iatrochemistry (from ancient Greek doctor) - the direction of alchemy of the 16th-17th centuries, which set as its main goal the preparation of medicines.
Paracelsus was sure that the laws of the universe are similar to the laws of the microcosm, therefore, analogies and parallels can be found between the universe and man. Man's knowledge of his soul gives him power over nature. Self-knowledge is the key to knowing the universe. This approach goes back to the ideas of the ancient Greeks: "Know thyself" - reads the inscription on the temple of Apollo at Delphi. It is believed that this inscription arose as an answer to the question of the sage Chilo: "What is the best thing for people?"
Paracelsus warned that the power that is revealed in self-knowledge should not be used to accumulate earthly wealth. This power is given to obtain spiritual gold.
Paracelsus believed in the limitlessness of human possibilities in the knowledge of the world. “People do not know themselves and therefore do not know what exists in their inner world. Each person has a divine essence (essence), all the wisdom and power of the world are embedded in him in the bud, all kinds of knowledge are available to him in equal measure; and if someone has not discovered this in himself, he has no right to say that he does not possess this, but only that he was not able to seek and find it.
There is nothing forbidden for human knowledge, a person is able and even obliged to explore all phenomena, all essences that exist not only in nature, but also outside it. “It is necessary to seek and knock, turning to the almighty Power within us, and keep it awake; and if we do it in the right way and with a pure, open heart, we will receive what we ask for and find what we seek, and the doors of the Eternal that were closed will open before us ... ". These thoughts are a direct development of biblical truths: The Gospel of Matthew (ch. 7, v. 7-8) says: “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you; For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.” The same is said in the Gospel of Luke (ch. 11, v. 9): “And I will tell you: ask, and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you."
It was Paracelsus (and not Tolkien) who coined the word "dwarf" for a fantastic creature of small size and gave the name to the metal zinc.