Albert and Gabrielle Howard began their career as conventional scientists: doing controlled experiments and submitting their quantitative results to peer reviewed journals in soil science.  However, after Gabrielle died and Albert returned from India to England, the epistemic posture of his work changed dramatically.  In order to "save" his organic and holistic theories of the relationships between soil and health (against sizable professional opposition), Albert turned away from narrowly-conceived scientific evidence, and began to rely on personal testimony as an empirical means to buttress his arguments about the desirability of "whole foods."