Herskowitz (like Thorburn, an osteopath), Emanuel Levine (later killed in an auto accident),
and Michael Silvert, a psychiatrist-intraining at the Menninger Clinic in Kansas. All of these
physicians would remain committed to orgonomy and helpful to Reich until the end of his
life, but only Silvert was to play an important role in later years.
With some exceptions, the American therapists were less outstanding and accom-
plished far less than his Viennese, Berlin, or Oslo students. Reich’s work had grown more
controversial; few physicians were prepared to take the ridicule and ostracism that accom-
panied allegiance to orgonomy. Of those who did, Helena Deutsch’s description of Freud’s
early students is pertinent:
One might ... expect these first pupils to have been revolutionaries of the
spirit ... a select and courageous advance guard. Such an expectation could be real-
ized only in individual instances.... Many were impelled by their own neuroses ... or
by identification of their lack of recognition with Freud’s lot.... The objective truth
of Freud’s researches was of less importance than the gratification of the emotion-
al need to be esteemed and appreciated by him...^16.It says something about the lack of creativity or the blocks to independent produc-
tivity among the physicians who studied with Reich that only a few of them were able to
write about and teach orgonomy after Reich’s death.
Physicians attracted to orgonomy may not have been especially creative, but at least
they could earn a good living. Many people seeking therapy from Reich were referred to his
students—another aspect of his power. However, researchers interested in the field of
orgonomy lacked any practical means of supporting themselves, for Reich, generally, could
not find the funds to pay salaries. Nor was there any hope of grants from the government
or support from universities. Three of these researchers had to pursue orgonomy in their
spare time: Bernard Grad, Ph.D., a biologist from McGill University; Sol Kramer, Ph.D., an
entomologist from the University ofWisconsin; and Helen MacDonald, Ph.D., a biologist
from the University of California. These talented and devoted people became acquainted
with Reich’s work in the late 1940s and studied with him during summers at Orgonon. Other
researchers, more tentatively interested, did not follow through, usually because of sharp dif-
ferences between their traditional outlook and Reich’s approach.
For his part,Reich was glad to have well-trained physicians and scientists join his
work. He yearned for the scientific and social acceptance of orgonomy; he also wanted more
contact with people who understood what he was doing. However, he would sometimes
behave as ifsuch acceptance were of little moment to him. Baker has reported the follow-
ing exchange during his therapy:
Reich asked me if I thought he was glad that I had come to him. ... I said yes, I
thought he was, because I was a classical physician, a Freudian analyst, and secretary of a
medical society I mentioned also that I was responsible for five other physicians becoming
interested in his work. Reich let go with a full salvo and gave me to understand that it was
322 Myron SharafFury On Earth