ABSTRACT
The entire range of Reich's experiments with PA and SAPA bions - obtained by exposing tissue or varied crystalline or amorphous materials to extreme heats (of sterilization, autoclavation and incandescence) - is critically examined and largely replicated. We find that Reich's claim to the generation
of 'PA bions' anew from decaying tissue (heterogenesis) or the swelling of inert materials (abiogenesis) lacks experimental proof, and that his notion of PA bions is too variable, even as a symbiotic collectivity, to allow precise taxonomical identification or a precise use. Yet, there is little doubt that in
very different experiments Reich obtained diverse prokaryote-like cells which were extremely resistant
to high heat. Whether these prokaryote-like cells were issued from thermally hyper-resistant spores or
extremely thermophilic cells remains an open question in each specific instance examined. We also
find equally wanting Reich's claim that 'SAPA bions' obtained from incandescent sand were generated anew. On this subject, we experimentally and formally demonstrate that it is possible to identify
SAPA bions with the cyanobacterium Myxosarcina, and that it, and a variety of closely-related oceanic sarcina also found in the SAPA experiment cultures, present an unsurmised resistance to high heat
and, whether in packets or as single baeocytes, exist as inclusions in carbonaceous and vitreous (quartz
and quartzites) ocean sand.
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