Paracelsus Burns Avicenna's Canon at Basel

During the Midsummer Eve bonfire at Basel, Swiss-German physician Paracelsus threw Avicenna's Canon of Medicine onto the flames. Appointed city physician after saving printer Johann Froben's infected leg, Paracelsus lectured in German rather than Latin, invited barber-surgeons to attend, and declared his shoe buckles more learned than Galen. He championed chemical remedies containing mercury, sulfur, and copper sulfate, uniting medicine with chemistry. His patron Froben died months later, and Paracelsus fled Basel by February 1528.