Renaissance iatrochemistry Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim (1493–1541), also known as Paracelsus, was a proponent of iatrochemistry, or the use of alchemy to create medicines. He promoted the use of mineral substances to treat disease rather than herbal remedies, and saw medicines as working through a sort of magic. He managed to discover a cure for St. Vitus disease, but his claim to have created a tiny man in the laboratory (he called it a homunculus) is less credible.