Paracelsus's earliest writings reflect his desire to situate himself in the medical profession. Within these texts he repeatedly turns to the topic of conception and the workings of the female body. He was not the first physician to attempt to carve out his niche in the profession by asserting his expertise on the topic of human birth. Monica Green explained this phenomenon as beginning in the medieval period, in other words more than 100 years before Paracelsus began writing. But Paracelsus's writing takes on nuances of the sixteenth century as he incorporates concerns of his day into his assertion that he understands the process of human birth better than his competitors. He does not, however, abandon approaches to the understanding the body that were prevalent in medieval medical and theological exposition. He asks himself how the womb works and how the material necessary for the development of new life converges. He ponders the moment when a physical body is formed and wonders if it occurs at the same moment one gains a soul. In this way, he still grapples with questions posed by medieval intellectuals. However, unlike his medieval predecessors in the German-speaking regions, Paracelsus wrote during a period of ever-expanding authority in the field of medicine. He found himself competing with university-educated physicians, midwives and the vast array of practitioners who also sought to assert their authority in the field of gynaecology.

It was a time in which concern for the unborn and the fear of witches and monsters prevailed. People sought answers to what caused unusual or monstrous births and they became suspicious of women caring for women in the birthing room for fear of satanic intervention at such a precarious time. Paracelsus was aware of these concerns when he began writing and he sought an alternative explanation for his own authority and for explaining the process of conception.

His argumentative style aims to persuade readers to give up the way classical authorities wished to explain the process of conception and instead follow his model of conception based on scripture.