Translations:Manfred Klett: Von der Agrartechnologie zur Landbaukunst/1172/en

The means for preparing the preparations are drawn from the mineral, plant, and animal kingdoms, and exposed to the conditions of the physical world — the elements of earth, water, air, and warmth — and to the seasonal rhythms that come to efficacy within these elements. Anthroposophical spiritual research thus directs attention to the *what* and *how* of the sense-perceptible world: to the *what* — for example, certain medicinal plants and animal organ sheaths; to the *how* — for example, exposure to the forces of summer above the earth in air and warmth, and to the forces of winter beneath the earth in the domain of the watery-earthy. In this way, under the guiding perspective of spiritual research, sense-perceptible nature itself becomes, in the fullest measure, the object of scientific inquiry — for example: what indications does the dandelion (Taraxacum officinale) offer in morphological and physiological terms regarding its relationship to the potassium of the earth and to silica in its finest distribution in the periphery of the earth; and what peculiarities and functions of the peritoneum of the cow are those which make precisely this organ appear suited to enveloping the dandelion blossoms in the course of preparation. It goes without saying that the scientific research approach meant here cannot be a quantifying one, but rather one that, through the perception of sense-perceptible facts, forms concepts which may serve in ordinary cognition as a support for the understanding of supersensible beholding.