Reproductive technologies: the alchemy of life

Davies, Michael J; Haan, Eric A

doi:10.5694/mja12.10865

Topics

Assisting in the creation of life is not without its risks

Whether it were possible for Nature, or Art to beget a Man out[side] of the body of a Woman, and naturall matrix? To this I answer, that it is in no way repugnant to the Art of Alchymie, and Nature, yea it is very possible . . . — Paracelsus1

1 Research Centre for the Early Origins of Health and Disease, Robinson Institute, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA.
2 South Australian Clinical Genetics Service, SA Pathology, Adelaide, SA.

Correspondence: michael.davies@adelaide.edu.au

Competing interests:

No relevant disclosures.

1. Paracelsus. Of the nature of things. Printed and bound with a new light of alchymie: taken out of the fountaine of nature, and manuall experience. To which is added a treatise on sulphur. Written by Michael Sandivogus; translated by J French MD. London: Richard Cotes for Thomas Williams, 1650: 8.
2. European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology. ART (assisted reproductive technology) fact sheet, 2011. http://www.eshre.eu/annual_meeting/page.aspx/1367 (accessed Jun 2012).
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