- Paracelsus grew up at the end of the Middle Ages, when some people used poisons to kill
other people so they could have their money or power.
- He became friends with laborers, trades people, gypsies, and other people who were
considered inferior, and who suffered from diseases brought on by the things they were
exposed to by their work.
- He started using scientific methods to study poisons.
- He revolutionized medical practice by teaching his student physicians to use chemical
medications rather than the more popular magic potions.
- He stated some of the basic principles that scientists who study the effects of
chemicals on people and the environment are still using.
- He observed that there was a difference between the effect of a single high dose of a
chemical and the effect of many little doses.
- He was the first person to make this hypothesis: The dose of a chemical determines the type
and severity of the body’s response to it.
  
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