Paracelsus is a complex figure in medical history. one of the first people to syncretize chemical and medical knowledge, and is considered by some to be the founder of toxicology. he is historically complex figure, a staunch iconoclast with an intense dislike to establishment and authority, constant moving from place to place and publishing little while he was alive. he replaced the four humors theory in his time with a system based in mercury, sulfur, and salt, reminiscent of the works in Ibn Ḥayyān. he attributed most illness to stars or poison, and believed that different stars or poisons could cure them. he also pioneered many of the methods of modern wound care

This exhibit mostly focuses on books and physical artifacts, something that makes visualizing these smokey historical figures. The text this is taken form is a purely mystical one, but represents well the many dimensions of these figures, with musical instruments, chemical apparatuses, and various texts scattered around a large space dedicated to various tasks. while these men where oftentimes high philosophers, many of them needed to do other things to make money, oftentimes purifying metals for nobles and making dyes are frequent in histories.

Giambattista Della Porta was an Italian polymath, most well known for publishing several proto encyclopedias on philosophy, nature, alchemy and magic, and also for getting arrested and tried by the inquisition. this trial is largely consider to be caused by his either his publishing of the aforementioned texts, or his work in other fields like cryptography witch may have concerned the inquisition. this also illustrates the precarious nature of this work in continental Europe, which is why most of these texts printed there are from protestant countries.

Johann Weyer, sometimes also spelt Wire, was a student of Agrippa and considered one of the first people to describe and utilize the term melancholy in a medical setting. oftentimes held as one of the founders of psychiatry as a disciple. his work was mostly focused on battling against the witch trials of the era, saying that the woman accused could not have preformed the feats, and that they where deluded by demons, who truly preformed the crimes they where accused of. privately, Weyer was a spiritualist, and his true beliefs on the matter are subject to debate.