subjects. This supported his clinical belief (to be described in Chapter 18) that inhibited res-
piration is a central mechanism of a disturbed bio-energetic economy, suppressing the devel-
opment of bio-energetic impulses from the solar plexus “toward the world.”
The measurement in which he was most interested—potential changes during sex-
ual intercourse—proved technically impossible to set up without interfering with the expe-
rience because of the problem of electrode placement and stability. Reich had to settle for
tracings made during masturbation and measurements of two subjects kissing or caressing.
In his conclusions, Reich emphasized the functional identity of somatic and psy-
chic processes, as expressed in the correspondence of skin potential measurements and sub-
jectively felt sensations and emotions; and the antithetical directions toward the periphery
(increased skin charge) and away from the periphery (decreased skin charge), corresponding
with pleasure and unpleasure sensations and emotions. Anticipating later work, he asserted
that organic diseases might result from disturbances of the bio-electrical equilibrium of the
organism. And he moved closer to a unitary theory of biological energy:
Since only pleasurable vegetative sensations give rise to an increased sur-
face charge ... we must assume that pleasurable excitation is the specific process of
all living organisms.Other biological processes show this also for example, cell divi-
sion, in which the cell shows an increase in [electrical] surface charge coinciding
with the biologically productive process of mitosis (cell division). Hence the sexu-
al process would simply be the biologically productive energy process The orgasm
formula of tension-charge-discharge-relaxation must represent the general formula for
all biological functions^12.What can we say in evaluation of these experiments? When one shows Reich’s
methodology and measurements to modern electrophysiologists, they raise a number of
technical questions. For one thing, Reich did not always use the kind of firm electrode
attachment,with an electrolyte paste interface between electrode and skin to maintain elec-
trical stability,that is accepted procedure today. But this defect does not explain the striking
difference between erogenous and nonerogenous zones, nor the consistent correlation of
positive charge with pleasure and negative with unpleasure.
Modem researchers also question Reich’s way of reporting his results in narrative
style and giving selected illustrative examples rather than supplying the details of number of
subjects and complete data. However, such an approach was common in the mid-1930s.
The fact is that the unique features of Reich’s experimental approach have never
been replicated, either by Reich’s own students or by traditional reSearchers. None of his
followers has been able to achieve the necessary combination of technical expertise, access
to subjects, and sufficient time to make multiple observations with a variety of subjects.
Reich himself spent a good part of several years mastering both the technical and clinical
problems of achieving consistent results. On the other hand, traditional electrodermal
researchers have never approached these phenomena from anything resembling Reich’s van-
16 : The Bio-electrical Experiments: 1934-1935 203