Editing Paracelsus (section)

===Early career===
[[File:Paracelsus.jpg|thumb|The Louvre copy of the lost portrait by [[Quentin Matsys]],<ref>Matsys' portrait may have been drawn from life, but it has been lost. At least three copies of the portrait are known to have been made in the first half of the 17th century: one by an anonymous Flemish artist, kept in the Louvre (shown here), one by [[Peter Paul Rubens]], kept in [[Brussels]], and one by a student of Rubens', now kept in [[Uppsala]].</ref> source of the iconographic tradition of "fat" Paracelsus<ref>Andrew Cunninghgam, "Paracelsus Fat and Thin: Thoughts on Reputations and Realities" in: Ole Peter Grell (ed.), ''Paracelsus'' (1998), 53–78 [https://books.google.com/books?id=_m1Mf52bK70C&pg=PA57 (p. 57)].</ref>]]
"Paracelsus sought a universal knowledge"<ref name=":05">{{Cite book|last=Goodrick - Clarke|first=Nicholas|title=Paracelsus Essential Readings|publisher=North Atlantic Books|year=1999|location=Berkeley, California|pages=16}}</ref> that was not found in books or faculties. Thus, between 1517 and 1524, he embarked on a series of extensive travels around Europe. His wanderings led him from [[Italy]] to [[France]], [[Spain]], [[Portugal]], [[England]], [[Germany]], [[Scandinavia]], [[Poland]], [[Russia]], [[Hungary]], [[Croatia]], [[Rhodes]], [[Constantinople]], and possibly even [[Egypt]].<ref name=":05" /><ref name=":13">{{Cite journal|last=Borzelleca|first=Joseph|date=January 2000|title=Paracelsus: Herald of Modern Toxicology|journal=Toxicological Sciences|volume=53|issue=1|pages=2–4|doi=10.1093/toxsci/53.1.2|pmid=10653514|doi-access=free}}</ref><ref name=":22">{{Cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Paracelsus|title=Parcelsus|last=Hargrave|first=John G.|date=December 2019|website=Encyclopedia Britannica|access-date=9 April 2020|archive-date=26 March 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230326025758/https://www.britannica.com/biography/Paracelsus|url-status=live}}</ref>  During this period of travel, Paracelsus enlisted as an army surgeon and was involved in the wars waged by [[Republic of Venice|Venice]], [[County of Holland|Holland]], [[Denmark]], and the [[Tatars]]. Then Paracelsus returned home from his travels in 1524.<ref name=":05" /><ref name=":13"/><ref name=":22"/>

In 1524, "[a]fter visiting his father at [[Villach]] and finding no local opportunity to practice, he settled in [[Salzburg]]" as a physician,<ref name=":03">{{Cite book|last=Goodrick-Clarke|first=Nicholas|title=Paracelsus Essential Readings|publisher=North Atlantic Books|year=1999|location=Berkeley, California|pages=16}}</ref><ref name=":13"/><ref name=":22"/> and remained there until 1527.<ref name=":13" /> "Since 1519/20 he had been working on his first medical writings, and he now completed ''Elf Traktat'' and ''Volumen medicinae Paramirum'', which describe eleven common maladies and their treatment, and his early medical principles."<ref name=":03" /> While he was returning to [[Villach]] and while he worked on his first medical writings, "he contemplated many fundamental issues such as the meaning of life and death, health, the causes of disease (internal imbalances or external forces), the place of humans in the world and in the universe, and the relationship between humans (including himself) and God."<ref name=":13" /><ref name=":22" />