since in certain instances of DOR-sickness the accumulator usage had been help-
ful. But, again, stopping the reaction took priority.
(2) Reich banned any radioactivity whatsoever, however slight, in his envi-
ronment. Peter Reich has narrated a poignant incident here. By sending in cereal
boxtops, Peter had obtained a Lone Ranger glow-in-the-dark ring and was very
proud of it. When Reich found out about the ring, he insisted it be removed: “The
glow in the dark substance may harm you. It may be very dangerous. Right now we
are [conducting] an experiment to help us understand it. I’m sorry. I know you like
it as a toy, but we must get rid of it.”
Peter’s response was: “I tried to look angry at him, but I couldn’t even see
him because my eyes were so blurry and mad. He didn’t even want me to play with
it a little bit. All he thought about was his energy.”^8
“All he thought about was his energy”—and now especially its reaction to
radioactive substances. Eva, too, was very sensitive to the emanations from radium-
dial watches, fluorescent lights, and even TV. It is important to emphasize that for
Reich the danger lay not in the radiation effects per se but in their action upon
orgone energy.
(3) Other health measures Reich advocated strongly were frequent airing
of rooms, the use of fans to keep the air moving, daily baths with prolonged soak-
ing, and intake of fluids. Reich had long emphasized that water absorbed orgone
energy, but now he noted that it absorbed DOR at an even faster rate.What was and remains most impressive is the rapid and profound way Reich con-
ceptualized the many observations he made, starting on January 5. He had begun with the
hypothesis that orgone energy would neutralize nuclear energy. Given the high background
count and the sensations that persisted after the removal of the radium, he quickly moved
to hypothesizing the trigger effect of nuclear energy on atmospheric and organismic orgone
energy.As far as the human organism is concerned, he had begun with the conventional idea
ofspecific radiation symptoms, such as nausea, fatigue, and diseases of the blood system,
although all of these dysfunctions can be found without overirradiation as the cause. He had
also begun with the idea ofa high orgone energy charge serving as resistance to radiation
sickness. However, he was surprised by the way people reacted to Oranur through their own
specific vulnerabilities.Again, he conceptualized radiation sickness in a new way: not, basi-
cally, as due to the effects of nuclear energy, but to the effects of nuclear energy actingupon
organismic orgone energy. In short, nuclear energy caused both atmospheric and organis-
mic energy “to run amok,” with the latter “running amok” specifically in ways it had react-
ed under stress in the past.
Reich also posited a three-phase reaction of orgone energy to nuclear energy. The
first reaction to sudden, unexpected radiation was prostration, shock, helplessness, as it
were.The second phase involved orgone energy fighting back, becoming “angry, a killer
itself, attempting to kill the irritating nuclear radiation. In this struggle it deteriorates into a
26 : The Oranur Experiment: 1950-1953 349