were being passed between plants with a variety of complex
screens, without success, suggesting that their signals are outside
our electromagnetic spectrum. One of the hazards of this research
is that unless the researcher is truly aware of his/her own emo-
tional states, these can confuse the results. Perhaps every scientist
who wishes to produce 'objective' results should go on a course to
make him/her more aware of their prejudices! There is probably
no such thing as truly objective research. (The same could be said
for anyone whose work brings them into a role influential with
others.)
Backster's best known experiment excluded the human factor.
Live brine shrimps were dumped in boiling water automatically
at pre-determined intervals, near the plants which reacted 'emo-
tionally' each time the massacre took place. Not only do plants
respond as if they had a nervous system, but they also exhibit a
capacity for memory. As we shall see later, water also has this
memory facility. With specially adapted equipment, 'emotional'
reactions have also been monitored from amoebas, blood sam-
ples and cell cultures. Experimenting with fertilized eggs, it was
found that when one egg was broken others, even in the next
room, responded with shock.
Societies with ancient roots still celebrate this knowledge, as in
the kosher quietening rituals, prior to the sacrifice of animals, or in
the blessing of crops before they are harvested. This is more than
consideration for the sacrifice, for it also recognizes that the food
thereby retains higher vibrations and is more beneficial for human
consumption.Cymatics
One of the first to convert vibration into visible form was an eigh-
teenth century German physicist, Ernst Chladni, who found he
could influence patterns of sand scattered on a steel disc by playing
different notes on a violin. This was developed last century by Hans
Jenny of Zurich, using sophisticated equipment with liquids, plas-
tics, metal filings and powders.^7 He then vibrated the discs at
ascending pitch, and found that the harmonic patterns that
appeared at different pitches formed a variety of organic shapes:
spirals of jellyfish turrets, concentric rings of tree growth, tortoise-
shell patterns or zebra stripes, pentagonal stars of sea-urchins,HIDDEN NATURE