faster the gills move the more oxygen-deficient water is expelled
from the body. This combining with the free oxygen in the water,
causes the water body to expand, with an effect on the fish similar
to squeezing a bar of wet soap in your hand.
Another experience that Viktor often quoted as significant for his
growth in understanding, occurred when he had shot a chamois buck
on a frosty night under the full Moon. The buck fell into a ravine and,
attempting to retrieve it, Schauberger fell down a snow chute to the
bottom. In the bright light of the Moon, he became aware of move-
ment in the stream below where he stood. Some green logs were bob-
bing up on the surface, then sinking to the bottom, as though they
were dancing. And not only that, but a large stone began to gyrate at
the bottom, and then came to the surface, where it was immediately
surrounded by a halo of ice. Other stones also surfaced, and he saw
that they were all egg-shaped. It seemed that no uneven or ragged
stones would float in this way. Schauberger developed his ideas of dif-
ferent forms of motion and shapes from these observations.
Having seen how water could carry its greatest load on a cold,
clear night, he made practical use of this observation. During the
winter of 1918, the town of Linz was suffering a severe shortage of
fuel as a result of the war when the draft animals had been com-
mandeered. There was a small stream that ran through narrow
gorges and which was considered unsuitable for transporting logs,
but he wanted to try out his ideas using this stream. His offer to help
being accepted by the authorities, he describes how he proceeded:I had observed that an increased water level after a thaw
builds up sandbanks that are then partially dispersed when
the water temperature drops during clear cool nights. I then
waited for an increase in the strength of the water current.
This takes place in the early hours of the morning, when it is
coldest, and particularly at full Moon, although the volume of
the water is apparently less due to its compression on cooling.
I planned for the timber to be put in the stream under these
conditions, and in one night 1600m^3 were brought down to
the valley.Viktor had discovered that when water was at its coldest, it had much
more energy that enabled it to carry more sediment, gouging out
deposits of sand, and concluded that in these conditions it would beHIDDEN NATURE