What follows is a translation of Paracelsus's tract, Buch von der Gebärung der Empfindlichen Dingen Durch der Vernunft. I worked from the text as it appears in Sudhoff's collected works. The page numbers associated with Sudhoff's collection are included in brackets within the translation so that the reader may compare to the original. Paracelsus's writing style is complicated and I have done my best to convey his tone and to represent the length of his complex sentences. When necessary, I have inserted stops to make his argument more accessible. I concluded my translation at the end of the tract known as the Birth of Sensible Things. Sudhoff, following Huser's collection, grouped Pars de Statu humano along with the tract however it is unclear if they actually belong together.

The Book About the Birth of Sensible Things in the Reasoning of Theophrasti Hohenheimensis Germani

The first book, the introduction of Theophrastus to the book about birth

First we must examine the Scripture and many of the books of philosophy and those which name earthly gods, which in their writing could contradict what we will discuss in the following text. Even though some of these theories might make us laugh or might provoke us to make fun of them, it nevertheless behooves us to take these things into consideration and respond to them. First we are moved to begin a discussion against our forefathers of philosophy, who have given much effort to write about the birth of humans. Even though the light of nature meant nothing to them, we sense that they also gleaned nothing from it; for it was not like our philosophy which comes from the light of reasoning, rather it derived only from the cunning of their senses. But our task is to respond to them, because they only wrote from their knowledge, not from experience and observation. The experience and hands-on knowledge alone should guide writing and not contemplation and thought. Aristotle, who sharply fantasized, did not leave much work about birth.