ABSTRACT
The reign of Galen and the more evil rule of superstitition were gradually undermined. Paracelsus, when a professor at the University of Basle publicly burnt Galen's works, but excepted those of Hippocrates, as his treatment was based on observation and experience. Paracelsus taught that the elements of the body are salt, sulphur and mercury. The epoch-making work of Copernicus establishing the heliocentric theory of the world did not see the light until 1543, although it had been completed many years earlier. Scientific workers everywhere were subject to surveillance and possible persecution. In 1637, the Star Chamber enacted the penalty of imprisonment and whipping for the publisher of any book opposing the authority of the Church of England. Harvey, the initiator of modern physiology and medicine, was equally enlightened. Harvey and Francis Bacon were contemporaries. People may note in passing that Harvey announced his discovery of the circulation ten years after Shakespeare's death.
