' That the
stomach is fully able to comminute the food may be proved by the
following calculation. Borelli estimates the power of the flexors of the
thumb at 3720 pounds, their average weight being 122 grains. Now, the
average weight of the stomach is eight ounces, therefore it can develop
a force of 117,088 pounds, and this may be further assisted by the
diaphragm and abdominal muscles the power of which, estimated in the
same way, equals 461,219 pounds! Well may Pitcairne add that this
force is not inferior to that of any millstone."(36) Paracelsus gave an
extraordinary stimulus to the study of chemistry and more than anyone
else he put the old alchemy on modern lines. I have already quoted his
sane remark that its chief service is in seeking remedies. But there is
another side to this question. If, as seems fairly certain, the Basil
Valentine whose writings were supposed to have inspired Paracelsus was
a hoax and his works were made up in great part from the writings
of Paracelsus, then to our medical Luther, and not to the mythical
Benedictine monk, must be attributed a great revival in the search
for the Philosopher's Stone, for the Elixir of Life, for a universal
medicine, for the perpetuum mobile and for an aurum potabile.
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