Newton and Goethe are, with their respective world pictures, no longer as
much antipodes as they used to be. Their points of view can and will be reconciled.
The scientistand the artistare no longer keepers of two disparate, unmixable worlds,
as they still seem to be. Intellect and intuition are no longer irreconcilable opposites
in scientific work. As a matter of fact, they have never been so in basic natural-sci-
entific research^15.In August 1951, the FDA renewed its investigation. A patient reported that an offi-
cial had come to his home, taken a picture of the accumulator, and asked various questions
about it^16. Reich reacted sharply. He told accumulator users they were not legally obligated
to give the FDA any information. They should refer inspectors directly to his Foundation.
(Irritated by its high legal fees, Reich had dropped the legal services of the Hays office in
New York.) Reich took the position that since orgone energy was neither a food, a drug, nor
a cosmetic, it lay beyond the FDA’s jurisdiction. On the other hand, he still offered to coop-
erate with the FDA if it would proceed seriously, by studying the literature first, then seek-
ing more information directly from the Foundation rather than from patients.
In the battle between Reich and forces inimical to him, the accumulator was his
most vulnerable point. He had stated that the accumulator had certain preventive and cura-
tive properties, however qualified his assertions. The FDA was mandated to protect the pub-
lic against false medical claims. The Reich Foundation was renting accumulators to the pub-
lic. With Reich having largely given up his private practice at the time of his move to
Orgonon, the accumulator income became an important source of financial independence.
The FDA flurry in 1951 was soon over, at least in manifestations Reich could dis-
cern; however, the agency did confirm that it was continuing the investigation. Reich chose
not to regard this information seriously. As in 1948, he preferred to believe that the waning
ofsuch activity as visits to patients meant that the investigation itself was finished. This
strategy permitted him to turn his attention to other matters and lessened his anxiety.
Unfortunately, it also prevented him from formulating a clear line of action in anticipation
ofa more formidable offensive.
In October 1951,Reich suffered a major heart attack. At one point he experienced
tachycardia with a pulse rate of 150-160^17 .Reich himselfbelieved that Oranur had brought
out his specific physical vulnerability since he had previously suffered some tachycardia.
He also attributed the attack to his use of an orgone energy funnel over his heart
just after he had experienced some mild discomfort. That he used the funnel at all reflects
the ambiguity of his thinking. Reich posited that the radium had irritated orgone energy into
DOR,a reaction especially strong near orgone accumulators. He still maintained that the
accumulator could be helpful,though he did warn people against having any radioactive sub-
stances, however minute, near the accumulator. Even at Orgonon he held open the possibil-
ity the accumulator might help (although he was not certain of this) in the treatment of ill-
ness when Oranur effects were not strong.
364 Myron SharafFury On Earth