ROTATION—Circular movements of vesicles within the heap were
observed, and if these movements were strong enough, the whole heap including
the membrane would rotate. This movement might continue for hours.
CONFLUENCE OF THE ENERGY VESICLES—In many kinds of developing
protozoa, the boundaries between the individual vesicles disappeared and the plas-
ma formed a homogeneous mass. In others, the vesicular structure remained until
fully developed.
PULSATION—At a magnification of about 3000x, one could see very fine
movements of expansion and contraction within individual vesicles in the heap and
in the heap as a whole.He also observed that at the edges of the disintegrating grass, one could find, in
addition to “finished” protozoa, every stage in their development and form.
When individual vesicles or particles showed the kinds of spontaneous, inner
movement described above, Reich called them “bions,” transitional forms between the non-
living and the living. In his view, protozoa developed from the heaps or clusters of bions,
which in turn emerged from the disintegrating grass.
Apart from the question ofwhere the “life” of the protozoa originated, Reich’s fas-
cination with, his persistent attention to, transitional states between the nonmotile and the
motile is evident here once more. The same trait was manifested in his careful attention to
the loosening of “nonmobile” rigid character traits, followed by the emergence of the “life”
of strong affects; to the loosening of chronic, inflexible muscular spasms, again followed by
the emergence of “spontaneous” sensations and emotions; and to the breakdown of fixed
social patterns, with the emergence of freer and sometimes also more chaotic ways of life.
There is one technical objection to Reich’s microscopic work that should be dealt
with immediately. This concerns the very high magnification up to 4000x he used. The stan-
dard criticism was that clear definition of structure is not possible above a certain power of
magnification, around 2Ooox. However, in many instances Reich was not primarily con-
cerned with the fine details ofstructure but rather with motility within the vesicles and
heaps ofvesicles. Although he made this point over and over again, critics still claimed that
he did not understand microscopy,since he did not know there was a limit on magnification
using light^6. The electron microscope, devised after the period under discussion, would not
have solved Reich’s problem. While it permits much higher magnification, it can only be
used with stained tissue.
The study ofprotozoal development in grass infusions was not Reich’s only path
to the investigation of transitional forms between the nonliving and the living. About the
same time as he began his protozoal studies, Reich was curious about the transformation of
food into energy. For his first “experiment,” he “threw meat, potatoes, vegetables of all
kinds,milk and eggs into a pot which he filled with water; he cooked the mixture for half
an hour, took a sample and hurried with it to the microscope.”^7
17 : The Bions: 1936-1939 209