In January 1939, one of his assistants took the wrong container from the sterilizer
and, instead of earth, heated ocean sand. After two days there was a growth in the solution
which, inoculated on egg medium and agar, resulted in a yellow growth. This new kind of
culture consisted microscopically of large, slightly mobile, blue vesicles. Examination at
2000-4000x showed forms that refracted light strongly and consisted of heaps of six to ten
vesicles. It appeared that the effect of these bions—which Reich called “SAPA-bions”—on
bacteria in general and T-bacilli in particular was much stronger than that of other bions.
In the course of studying these bions, Reich’s eyes began to hurt when he looked
into the microscope for a long time. As a control experiment, he used a monocular tube; he
noticed that, regularly, only the eye with which he looked at these cultures began to hurt.
Finally, he developed a violent conjunctivitis and the ophthalmologist prohibited microscop-
ic work for a few weeks. His eyes improved, but now Reich more definitely suspected the
existence of a radiation.
Reich proceeded to test the sand culture for radiation by holding the test tubes of
SAPA-bions against his palm. Each time he thought he felt a fine prickling, but he was not
sure of the sensation. To test the objectivity of the phenomenon, he placed a quartz slide
on his skin,put some SAPA-cultures on the slide,and left the preparation there for about
ten minutes. On the spot where the culture had been (separated from the skin by the slide),
an anemic spot with a red margin developed.
Reich was also surprised by certain visual phenomena observable in a dark base-
ment room where the SAPA-bions were kept. When he tried to study these phenomena
more carefully, he noted:
The ... observations in the dark were somehow ‘weird.’ After the eyes had
become adapted to the darkness, the room did not appear black, but grey-blue. There
were fog-like formations and bluish dots and lines of light. Violet light phenome-
na seemed to emanate from the walls as well as from various objects in the room.
When I held a magnifying glass before my eyes, these light impressions, all of them
blue or grey-blue,became more intense, the individual lines and dots became larger....When
I closed my eyes, the blue light impressions continued, nonetheless^12.By 1939,the bion research was becoming expensive. With funds from his own
earnings together with gifts from students, colleagues, and friends, Reich managed to raise
about $9,000 to pay for a good microscope, microfilm equipment, and other laboratory
instruments he needed.In addition, Reich and his associates raised about $300 weekly to pay
for his laboratory assistants.
David Boadella has written that “it says much for the loyalty of the group that had
formed around him, and of his friends and even patients that those who could help with
donations responded magnificently”.^13 Unfortunately, matters were more complicated than
that. Most of the people who helped Reich were in therapy with him and, often, in a kind
212 Myron SharafFury On Earth