Wilhelm Reich’s orgone accumulator is no orgasmatron

Scientist Wilhelm Reich, inventor of the orgone accumulator, at his laboratory in Rangeley, Maine, in the mid-1950s. AP Photo/Courtesy of Reich family Photograph: AP

The “metal-lined cabinet” Stephen Moss sat in (Into the orgasmatron!, G2, 17 November) has nothing in common with the orgasmatron, which was powered by electricity. To work, the orgone accumulator needs to be built carefully and used in certain conditions with various precautions observed, and has no external source of energy. You don’t need to try to get it to work. Carefully conducted experiments with controls have shown measurably positive effects on seedlings germinating inside one. Wilhelm Reich never claimed that the accumulator would “unleash inner libido energy” or cure various diseases. He claimed the positive effects of the accumulator pointed to its preventive use. From Moss’s derisory comments, readers would never guess that the accumulator is a genuine scientific and medical device and that Reich’s discoveries can benefit us all today. Serious researchers have confirmed and extended many of his discoveries and claims.
Peter Jones
Centre for Orgonomic Research and Education, Preston