Subject: Re: quote from Justus von Liebig

From: Bargyla Rateaver <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 22 Nov 1999 17:56:44 -0800

I am pleased to see yet another quote from that man, Liebig.

   All these years I have fought the lies about ion absorption.  At the
university, Liebig is always cited as authority for all those lies. No one
ever admitted, no one ever told me, that at the end of his life, Liebig
recanted completely. He was sorry he had ever promoted that nonsensical,
ion-chemical fertilizer responsible fable--the worldwide spread falsehoods
that underlie all the world's data of NPK..

In my Organic Method Primer BASICS (a reduced version of my Primer UPDATE), I
copied the famous quote of Liebig, spoken before his death,  that I had looked
for in vain, for a long time.
    I copied it (with permission, of course) from the superduper,
prize-winning book by Wm Jackson:
    "Humic, Fulvic and Microbial Balance: Organic Soil Conditioning."  I don't
know how Dr. Jackson found it, since I had never been able to find it.

  So here is the famous admission from Liebig--- that he had spent his
professional life with a lying basis---- that has been the false foundation of
practically all the university type researches (catering to the chemical
companies) that so fondly embrace the.lies about ion absorption by plant
roots:

   And please note, that he finally admitted it was the Creator (JHVH), who
knew what He was doing.

  "I had sinned against the wisdom of our creator, and received just
punishment for it.  I wanted to improve his handiwork, and in my blindness, I
believed that in this wonderful chain of laws, which ties life to the surface
of the earth and always keeps it rejuvenated, there might be a link missing
that had to be replaced by me--this weak, powerless nothing.
    "The law, to which my reearch on the topsoil led me, states, 'On the outer
crust of the earth, under the influence of the sun, organic life shall
develop'. and so, the great master and builder gave the fragments of the earth
the ability to attract and hold all these elements necessary to feed plants
and further serve animals, like a magnet attracts and holds iron particles, so
as no piece be lost. Our master enclosed a second law unto this one, through
which the plant bearing earth becomes an enormous cleansing apparatus for the
water. Through this particular ability, the earth removes from the water all
substances harmful to humans and animals--all products of decay and
putrefaction, of perished plant and animal generations.
    "What might justify my actions is the circumstance, that a man is the
product of his time, and he is only able to escape the commonly accepted views
if a violent pressure urges him to muster all his strength to struggle free of
these chains of error. The opinion, that plants draw their food from a
solution that is formed in the soil through rainwater, was everyone's belief.
It was engraved into my mind. This opinion was wrong and the source of my
foolish behavior.
    "When a chemist makes a mistake in ratig agricultural fertilizers, don't
be too critical of his errors, because he has had to base his conclusions upon
facts which he can't know from his own experience, but rather, has to take
from agricultural texts as true and reliable. After I learned the reason why
my fertilizers weren't effective in the proper way, I was like a person that
received a new life. For along with that, all processes of tillage were now
explained as to their natural laws. Now that this principle is known and clear
to all eyes, the only thing thata remains is the astonishment of why it hadn't
been discovered a long time ago. The human spirit, however, is a strange
thing. Whatever doesn't fit inot the given circle of thinking, doesn't exist."

====================================================
====================================================
Joel Brooks Gruver wrote:

> Hello to all...
>
> While perusing a book titled
> Fauna in soil ecosystems: recycling processes, nutrient fluxes and
> agricultural production (edited by Gero Benckiser, Marcel Dekker, 1997,
> ISBN 0-8247-9786-8) I encountered a very interesting quote attributed to
> an individual somewhat infamous in sustainable ag circles. In 1855, Justus
> Von Liebig wrote:
>
> "Unfortunately the true beauty of agriculture with its intellectual and
> animating principles is almost unrecognized. The art of agriculture will
> be lost when ignorant, unscientific and short sighted teachers persuade
> the farmer to put all his hopes in universal remedies, which don't exist
> in nature. Following their advice, bedazzled by an ephemeral success, the
> farmer will forget the soil and lose sight of his inheent values and their
> influence."
>
> The original source of this quote is Liebig von, J. (1855)
> Die Grundsatze der Agriculturchemie mit Rucksicht auf die in England
> angestellten Untersuchungen. Braunschweig.
>
> Those are some interesting words to ponder in this age of biotech promises
> of "universal remedies"...
>
> Joel Gruver
> Center for Agriculture, Food and Environment
> Tufts University
>
> P.S. I have the original German if anyone is interested.
>
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