chemical substances in the rocks.
My concern here is less with the findings than with the method used. We can see
clearly the continuity in Reich from earlier years. For example, when McCullough began
working with him, Reich did not assign him a specific research project. Rather, he gave him
a broad mandate to work on any interesting problem within the general field of chemical
and biological phenomena associated with the Oranur experiment.
Reich would occasionally make suggestions: “What would happen if you just put
some earth on a porous plate, added water, and then observed what occurred in this atmos-
phere?” This kind of approach, so characteristic of his research method, reminds one of
Reich’s “brew” of vegetables as an initial playful step on the road to the bions.
At the same time that Reich taught an openness in experimental approaches, he also
cautioned strongly against random experimentation, especially actions that did not respect
the phenomena. McCullough described well his skepticism about the Oranur effects, which
again and again led him to overexpose himself in the laboratory atmosphere in spite of
Reich’s cautions to the contrary. (By 1953, the Students’ Laboratory was in use for research
again but only for short periods of time.) These overexposures were followed by distress
reactions such as swelling of the cervical glands and severe anxiety. Bob commented about
his own behavior perceptively, stating that part of him did not believe orgone energy exist-
ed and that he would take all kinds of steps to prove that it did. Such a course was futile
since the doubting part of him would not accept any proof; he would have done better to
bring out his doubts openly and look at them frankly.
On one occasion, McCullough ashed several decigrams of one of the chemical sub-
stances he and Reich were studying, just “to see what the ash looked like!Before the furnace had
even reached full operating temperature, I was forced to turn it off due to a severe organis-
mic reaction.”^38
Reich went to McCullough’s home soon after the ashing, to determine why
McCullough had done it. His assistant said he did it just to see what would happen. Reich
replied that you don’t kill living things that way, and you don’t fool around with high tem-
peratures in an Oranur atmosphere.
Whatever Reich’s annoyance with McCullough for such impulsive actions, he rarely
expressed the kind ofanger he could to most of the people around. Ilse or I would perceive
Oranur as an enormous jump beyond what we knew and were relatively comfortable with.
However, McCullough, whatever his doubts about orgone energy or Oranur (and we all had
our doubts), entered the work with some knowledge of Oranur and enthusiasm for it. His
attitude was different from the start, and Reich responded accordingly.
McCullough also gave me a picture of Reich’s daily interactions during this lonely
period. Reich would usually come down to the Students’ Lab around 10:00 A.M., for he con-
tinued his habit of writing during the first few hours of the day. He would ask McCullough
what was new. “I felt badly that only occasionally would be there something up, something
new.”Reich also wanted word of world news, which McCullough listened to each morning
on the radio. Reich was especially concerned about hurricanes, earthquakes, atomic tests, and
27 : Personal Life and Other Developments: 1950-1954 379