Paracelsus, who appears as a sculpture in the Harry Potter novels, was a real 16th-century physician and alchemist notorious for criticizing the medical practices of his time. For example, he argued that bloodletting, a popular medical cure-all, would do more harm than good to the patient. Dr. Amy Eisen Cislo of Washington University will speak on the influence of Paracelsus and the evolution of medicine since the Renaissance. She will also discuss Paracelsus as a literary icon in Faust, Frankenstein and Harry Potter. She is the author of the book "Paracelsus's Theory of Embodiment: Conception and Gestation in Early Modern Europe."
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