said: “I, too, am sometimes capable of the murder of Christ.”^35
Since her friend could not find work in Rangeley, Lois decided to move to
Farmington, a larger city forty miles away. She planned to continue working for Reich, but
Reich decided to terminate her employment. Speechless with disappointment and rage, he
experienced the throat block he had described in his very first clinical paper—his disguised
autobiography. He wrote a note: “You are fired!” Soon after Lois Wyvell left Rangeley in the
beginning of July, Reich’s stand toward both her and her friend softened. At a later time the
question of her working for him again was considered, but this plan never materialized.
Simeon Tropp had been mainly a consultant and friend to Reich in Rangeley. He
was one of the few colleagues with whom Reich would share leisure time—have meals and
go to the movies. Reich always appreciated Simeon’s warmth, his mischievous humor, and
helpfulness. He was also fond of Tropp’s wife, Helen, who worked for Reich as a secretary
for a period. However, Reich became more and more irritated by Tropp’s impulsive think-
ing and his inability to do consistent work. Moreover, he felt that both Helen and Simeon
were adversely affected by Oranur. Helen showed certain precancerous symptoms, symp-
toms Reich believed Tropp did not take with sufficient seriousness. Simeon himself experi-
enced a recurrence of an old liver ailment. Tired of the stress at Orgonon, the long winters,
and the Oranur effects, the Tropps left. They settled on Long Island, New York, in the early
fall of 1954.*
In August 1954, Ilse Ollendorff left Orgonon to work at the Hamilton School in
Sheffield, Massachusetts. The school was run by two students of Reich, Alexander and
Eleanor Hamilton.
By 1954, Tom Ross had moved closer to Reich than ever. For Reich, Tom repre-
sented an oasis of simple trust in a desert of loneliness. Reich’s deep respect for him, togeth-
er with his independent status as a workman rather than a disciple, spared him Reich’s rages
and spared Reich any exalted expectations from Tom.
A new assistant had joined Reich in the spring of 1953. Robert McCullough, a biol-
ogist,originally from Utah,had long been interested in Reich’s work, especially in its biolog-
ical and physical aspects.Bob was a very serious, modest person, devoted to science. He had
already worked for a year in the biology department of the University of New Hampshire,
with periodic visits to Reich in Orgonon. Then Reich offered him a full-time position at a
better salary than the university provided, an offer McCullough happily accepted^36.
In an article entitled “The Rocky Road to Functionalism,” McCullough gave a vivid
description of Reich at his best—Reich the careful teacher who was still very much in evi-
dence during the last hectic years^37 .Reich and McCullough’s joint research concerned (in
addition to cloud-busting) certain chemical developments connected with the blackening
rocks and the DOR atmosphere. Reich believed that he had identified a number of new
378 Myron SharafFury On Earth
*Helen Tropp died of cancer in 1959 at the age of forty-two. Simeon maintained his commitment to Reich and
orgonomy, practicing as a psychiatric orgone therapist with many devoted patients. He also became interested in
macrobiotics and exploring lysergic acid (LSD) treatment, pursuits to which he brought the same scattered inten-
sity he gave to orgonomy. In 1968 he died in his mid-seventies of a heart attack.