"Having grown up in the country I was very familiar with animals and plants. My father and my grandmother had a vast knowledge of the plants and already as a child I knew the healing plants of Central-Europe very well and became acquainted with the laws of the popular medicine. The scholastic knowledge I used as a base, but nature itself was my favourite teacher. My thirst for knowledge brought me into foreign countries, and again and again I went to visit the natural populations in order to study the relations between nutrition, way of life, constitution and diseases." "My experiences in Africa, Asia, North-, Central- and South-America with the populations of the prairies and virgin forests showed me that nature with the appropriate guidance and assistance can do more than the supposed ability of man. In my own clinic I had the possibility to observe the great superiority of the natural, biological methods combined with a well chosen nutrition-therapy. I have experienced that for a good observer nature is and remains the best teacher." "If I could turn back the wheel of time, I would do a lot of things at a more leisurely pace in order to preserve the good reserves of the genetic make-up. It is difficult to say No if other people need you and when you can alleviate the sufferings to others with your experience."

On the first of October, Alfred Vogel (1902-1996), one of the most important fighters for natural healing, died peacefully at the age of 94. A. Vogel was a nutritional therapist, healing plants researcher, the founder of the Bioforce AG in Roggwil, Switzerland. His book "The little Doctor" made him known world-wide.

Alfred Vogel originated from a family where the healing with plants had a long tradition. Already his grandmother was a herbalist with a vast knowledge of the healing effects of plants. At the age of 18 Alfred Vogel already had his own health food store in Basle with a laboratory where he produced mixtures of herbal remedies.

At the same time he began to lecture about healthy nutrition. (For about 60 years he lived as a vegetarian.) Throughout his life he was convinced that nutrition and health go together: "You are what you eat." (Man ist was man isst.)

From 1933 on he was natural doctor and specialist for nutrition with his own clinic in Teufen/Appenzell. At the age of 23 he wrote his first little book: "How to reform your life." (Kleiner Wegweiser für Lebensreform.) From 1929 he published a magazine "Health News" (Gesundheitsnachrichten), which still exists.

In 1952 the first edition of "The little doctor" was published, which has been translated into 12 languages and has sold 2 million copies to date."I don’t know any medical book in our time", says Prof. Dr. med. Karl Kötschau in the introduction to the little doctor, "with such a world-wide circulation."

Several more books and publications, many lectures and long voyages of exploration around the globe followed."I learned from nature and from man," said Vogel, "in nature everything what we need to protect and conserve health is present."

In 1963 Vogel founded the factory "Bioforce" in Roggwil/Switzerland which is now one of the most important factories for natural remedies, health- and cosmetic products world-wide. Even today all products are produced organically as a matter of principle.

A self-taught person he had to wait a long time to be appreciated by the official science, although he had received already in 1952 an honorary doctorate from the University of California in Los Angeles.

30 years later, at the age of 80, he received the "Priessnitz-Medaille" of the "Deutsche Heilpraktikergesellschaft (German Society of Practitioner of Medicine). In 1984 he was finally accepted in the "Schweizerische Gesellschaft für Erfahrungsmedizin" (Swiss Society for medicine based on experience).

At the age of 88 he retired from his active working life. He kept on giving a few lectures, answering letters and enjoying the eve of his life.