Herbs and Weeds #4

His formulations, which eventually included teas, herbal tablets, liquids (syrups, wines, and elixirs), liniments, massage oils, ointments, and other preparations, became a major force in Swiss health care that has persisted to this day. Many of the products were exported to other European countries and sometimes overseas. In 2004, this company won the Swiss Gold Marketing Award for its successful efforts to promote domestic use of the natural products. The company currently relies on about 80 herb cultivators who primarily employ organic farming methods. For the prior eight years, sales of the products were declining, as a reflection of overall trends in Europe, but the Künzle Company rebounded through its marketing in drug stores. Since 2000, some of these products, selected items in the form of herbal teas, became available in America (see Chapter 7). They are manufactured in Germany, with a new style of labeling suited to the U.S. FDA regulations.

The book Herbs and Weeds was intended as a quick reference for people interested in his work. According to Künzle, the writing of it came about because of the demand conveyed to him by persons who read his short herb essays that had been published in a magazine and/or from attendance at lectures he gave from time to time on household remedies. He was not, by profession or bent, a writer of technical works: the resulting book was popular, in part, because of its casual style.

The charge that a priest should stick to his own profession and not get involved in medicine was one that had been addressed to him. In his introduction to the book, he commented that there was historical precedence: priests in the Middle Ages were medicine men; monks and even bishops wrote tracts about herbs. Further, he noted that while some medical doctors would suggest to patients-who could not be properly treated by their available methods-to go ahead and use home remedies, the art of preparing and using those remedies was not usually known either by the doctor or the patient. So, there was evidently a need for this kind of information and hence, his lectures, magazines articles, and the small book.

It is a testimony to the deteriorating status of herbal medicine in Europe at the time that it was necessary for Künzle to present basic information about herbs for the lay public. Indeed, the last herbal guide in German that was widely accepted had been published four hundred years earlier. The rapid development of modern medicine during the 20th century-without much regard to herbal medicine and other healing techniques of earlier times-was made possible by this deterioration. Contrary to some popular views, modern medicine did not need to suppress a vigorous natural health care system; it filled what had become a virtual vacuum.

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