The Renaissance
(approx. from 1500)

Eduard Stritt, 1898:
The Stag Chemist's, Offenburg
- Mural painting around 1900 using Renaissance motifs -

The Renaissance physician (from around 1500) gradually rejects the medical beliefs of the Middle Ages, which were influenced by the Christian faith and by superstition; he begins to make tentative steps towards practising natural "scientific" medicine.

One of the most famous and influential Renaissance physicians was Paracelsus, who devoted much time to the study of the "falling sickness", epilepsy.

The painting shows the Renaissance physician fighting death and his companions-diseases (depicted as black birds) with "new weapons"

• with rational (scientific) thought (symbolised by the owl);
• mwith the experience and knowledge of ancient Greek and Roman physicians (symbolised by books);

• with natural, specially prepared substances (symbolised by the mortar and pestle);
• with chemical-physical experiments (symbolised by chemical apparatus).