Science Group of the Anthroposophical Society in Great Britain
Newsletter – September 1998
Reports
A la frontière d’un mode de pensée
So rarely is it that we have an opportunity to report on a conference which did not take place that I would not like to miss the opportunity to comment on the conference At the frontier of a way of thinking which was advertised to take place 9-11 July 1998 at the Kepler Institute, Saint Genis Laval, France. It was cancelled because only two people applied to attend despite the promising programme offered by Prof. Madeleine Bastide (Immunologist, Montpellier), Dr Pia Malnoë (Molecular Biologist, Nyon, Switzerland) and Dr Michael Friedjung (Astrophysicist, CNRS). It seems that our colleagues in France are in much the same position as we in the UK when it comes to putting on a conference. Attendances at gatherings of the Science Group and the Science Section in recent years have dwindled to a handful. This is in contrast to meetings in Germany, Holland or Switzerland which can attract some five or six dozen participants. What is it about the meetings in France and UK that keeps away the Waldorf science teachers? What must we do as a scientific community interested in anthroposophy to create the right conditions to meet together? Perhaps these questions might provoke members to respond so that we could begin a correspondence on the matter in these pages.
David Heaf
Tree stem diameters fluctuate with tide
It is well known that tidal ebb and flow is linked to the Moon and that many biorhythms are synchronised by it. Yet it came as a surprise that young trees (spruce, elder) get thicker and thinner in correspondence with Moon cycles – but how?
Scientists no longer think it unusual that the Moon affects plants. It has been long known that planting according to moon phases affects growth. Many plants do better if planted during a waxing Moon. Timber researcher Professor Ernst Zürcher of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich holds this view. Zürcher and colleagues1 kept young trees and live stem segments under controlled temperature, humidity and photoperiod and noticed a rhythm of stem diameter change with a period of about 25 hours. They report that the period and nature of the variation is reminiscent of variations in the level of the water table in boreholes, or of the flow of springs. They are also similar to those of coastal tides only greatly attenuated.
The researchers found a strong correlation between the gravimetric curves calculated for the locality from position data for Sun, Moon and Earth with the tree stem diameter cycles and the tidal data. They postulate that a reversible flow of water mass is involved between symplast and apoplast. However, what is clear is that this is a phenomenon awaiting a biological explanation.
Zürcher points out that these findings could be significant for the quality of harvested wood. Foresters have traditionally taken note of Moon phases and some violin makers are reported to have ‘preferred particular Moon phases’ for choosing their timber.
David Heaf
1. Zürcher, E., Cantiani, M-G., Sorbetti-Guerri, F. & Michel, D. (1998) Tree stem diameters fluctuate with tide. Nature 392, 665-66 (16 April))
Short and long whiles – News of research into time
The phenomenon that subjectively experienced time passes more quickly in brighter rather than darker surroundings has recently been investigated by J. Aschoff (Max-Planck-Institut for Behavioural Physiology) and S. Daan (Göttingen University). They arranged for 18 subjects to live for weeks in areas of different light intensities and to estimate by pressing a button short time intervals of 10 – 20 seconds. This simple protocol made it possible to investigate experimentally people’s inner perception of time.
The brighter the surroundings the later the experimental subjects pressed the button. An actual minute was experienced as shorter in the light. Conversely in dimmer lighting the signal was premature as if inwardly time was experienced as stretched out.
In more intense lighting all we see around us is more colourful and richer in contrast; a greater wealth of outer phenomena reaches us through the eye. Something similar happens in the field of acoustics. Lively conversation makes time fly; in silence it passes slowly. There are corresponding examples with the other senses. A whole host of sensory stimuli which can thus never be processed to their full extent constantly lead to an acceleration of our perception of time. People are returned to their inner soul life when the world of the senses is withdrawn through darkness or silence. If nothing happens in this inner life we get a distorted picture of time standing still, namely boredom.1
It is one of the contradictions of our civilisation that people bemoan time passing too quickly yet in modern architecture and lighting technology the demand is expressed for the greatest possible lighting intensity.
The research findings would suggest that various time-zones could be created in the home according to the function of the rooms occupied (kitchen, bathroom etc): the gaze could be led from the brightly lit desk to dark corners corresponding to zones of slow time. For instance, according to how much inner time, how much calm or liveliness a conversation requires one could seek out the most fitting space – ‘roman’ or ‘gothic’ temporal zones.2
Wolfgang Held
1. This article first appeared in Das Goetheanum 12/1998, p173 under the heading Kurz und lange Weile. (‘lang Weile’ = ‘long while’, ‘langweilen’ = ‘to bore’.). Translated by David Heaf with the author’s permission.
2. Source of original research report: Naturwissenschaftliche Rundschau 10/97.
New Hibernian Way
Please see page 8.
Future meetings
Forum on Moral Technology
21 – 26 September 1998, Glengorm Castle, Isle of Mull, Scotland.
Topics covered: Changes in the elemental world, morality in social convention, the interior of the Earth, karma & morality, morality & the etheric world, selfless love as a driving force, acting from moral intuitions, the transformation of the Grail, spiritualising technology. Activities include afternoon workshops, music making and an evening concert.
Cost: £440 including full board (5 nights). Full details from: Anthro-Tech Association (UK), Church Brae, Tobermory, Isle of Mull, PA75 6PH. Tel: +44 (0)1688 302532.
Water for Earth and Man – Perspectives for our dealing with water
A Science Workshop, 30 September to 4 October 1998 at the Goetheanum
This year’s autumn conference of the Science Section will be devoted to the theme of Water for Earth and Man. The question of how people deal with the water element, long since a matter of survival in some regions, will become one of the greatest challenges of the future. In recent years it has attracted increasing public interest. This has resulted in a whole host of projects including: ground water conservation; cleaning up lakes and rivers; providing water supplies and their artificial treatment in settlements and cities; and questions of water quality. Hardly a month passes without a conference of specialists being held somewhere.
Various aspects of this theme have continued to play a major part in the work of scientists engaged with anthroposophy. This work ranges from consideration of the flow organism of the earth, to methods for investigating water quality, to flow treatment of water for sewage management and pharmaceutical processes – not forgetting the significant approaches to a meditative deepening of thinking in relation to water.
The conference will deal with some aspects of this wide ranging theme. This means some selectivity is necessary. Thus we have decided not for the time being to consider the so called energising or ‘in-forming’ of water because it is still too little scientifically understood. Also the many pharmaceutical, educational and religious aspects of water will by and large not be considered.
After an opening lecture by Wolfram Schwenk (Institute for Flow Research, Herrischried) the central themes of the four days, to be introduced by morning lectures are: Water and Earth, Water Supply and Sewage, Water, Technology & Art; and Learning from Water!
With the theme The blue planet: geological overview of the oceans, Wolf Christian Dullo (Prof. of Palæo-oceanography, GEOMAR, Kiel University) will first give us a picture of the great water cycles of the earth. Then Helgard Zeh (Dipl. Eng. for Landscape Design, Worb) and Uli-Johannes König (Dr. Agr., Institute for Biodynamic Research, Darmstadt) will address current questions in dealing with water both in agriculture and in cleaning up water courses. In the evening, Norbert Pfennig (Emeritus Prof. of Microbiology, Konstanz University) will describe man’s water use throughout history and thereby lead into the second day’s theme. On the second day this will be picked up through contributions by Marten Gast (Director of Amsterdam Water Treatment Works) on the drinking water supply of a large city (Amsterdam) and by Erhard Meißner (Dr. Eng., State Water Authority, Munich) together with Andreas Bockemühl (Dreiseitl Studio, Überlingen) on sewage treatment. The third theme, Water Technology and Art will be introduced in the evening by John Wilkes (Artist, water specialist, founder of Flow Forms, Forest Row), and resumed on the following day with contributions from Christian Liess (Prof. of Flow Theory, FH Konstanz) and Georg Sonder (Dipl.Phys, Dipl. Eng, Sonder Energietechnik Balingen) on flow engineering and the intervention in nature connected with it, as well as from Eduard Naudascher (Emeritus Prof. of Hydromechanics, Karlsruhe University) on the ecological and social consequences of dam projects. Finally, Herbert Dreiseitl (Artist, water specialist, Dreiseitl Studio, Überlingen) will introduce the last theme with a contribution on the significance of artificial treatment of water as a cultural element. Detlev Ipsen (Prof. of Sociology, GH Kassel) will then with reference to an actual project show the possibilities for developing man’s relationship to water. The conference will end with a contribution from Johannes Kühl (Science Section, Dornach) on the question: ‘What can we learn from water?’
In the afternoons there will be trips to rivers and lakes, projects and technical installations in the Basel and Dornach district as well as workshops and opportunities for discussion on various themes to do with water. The conference will include a simultaneous exhibition.
The conference organiser is Johannes Kühl in collaboration with a group of scientists and practitioners in the field, especially the ‘Working group on flow research’ which has been active for several years. A detailed invitation is available from the Science Section secretariat at the Goetheanum. The language of the conference will be German.
To receive a copy of the printed programme and other information contact: Johannes Kühl, Goetheanum Science Section, Hügelweg 59, CH-4143 Dornach, Switzerland. Tel.: +41 61 706 4210, Fax: +41 61 706 4215, e-mail: science_goetheanum@compuserve.com.
Science Section of the School of Spiritual Science
There will be a Science Section meeting at Hawkwood College, Stroud, Glos, on the weekend of the 17/18 October 1998. There will be two related aspects to the meeting. One will be a sharing of the vision of the Section’s future work, together with Johannes Kühl, the new Science Section leader, who will be visiting from the Goetheanum. The second aspect of the meeting will be working with Class Lesson 9 in specific connection with the Science Section. This will focus on the relationship of the elements, planets and stars, and their associated moral qualities, to the natural, astronomical/mathematical dimensions of science section activities.
The meeting is open to all members of the First Class of the School of Spiritual Science who are interested in this kind of work. If you would like to make a contribution, and/or further details, please send a SAE and information will be sent when it becomes available. Write to Robert Rose, 1 Sunny Terrace, Vicarage Street, Painswick GL6 6XS.
Science Group
The theme of the next Science Group Conference will be “The Human Heart”. Philip Kilner, Nick Thomas and Graham Kennish will bring prepared contributions and form the focus for group participation and discussion. How valid is the current popular and medical perception of the heart as a pump? What sustains this model and how much is lost in maintaining it? Wynstones will again host the meeting from 7.30 pm Friday 6th to 1 pm Sunday 8th November 1998.
If you are interested in coming, please contact Graham
Kennish, Birch Cottage, Haresfield Lane, Brookthorpe, Gloucester GL4 OUP or leave a phone message with your address on 01452 812537. We will have the usual open discussion sessions, but if you have a prepared contribution in mind it would be most welcome, so mention it when you contact him. Practical details will then be sent to you in late September. Please don’t use his email address, given in the last Newsletter, as he will be unable to access it during September (only).
(Stephen Talbott’s article on the heart and blood circulation appears in the September 1998 issue of Archetype – formerly NewsletterArticles Supplement. Ed.)
Goethe, Chaos, and Complexity
A Symposium, 9-10 April 1999, Purdue University, USA
The recent trend in the natural sciences away from Newtonian reductionism to holistic and contextual approaches has given new currency to Goethe’s scientific thought and work. Over the past few years, among other things, parallels have been recognized between Goethean science and the burgeoning disciplines often referred to as chaos theory and complexity, and there even exists anecdotal evidence that Goethe variously influenced the thinking of key figures in the relatively brief history of these fields. Germanists have confirmed the presence of such parallels in certain of Goethe’s literary texts and have begun to consider their implications for his poetic work in general. At present, however, such attempts remain tentative and sporadic. The present symposium was conceived as a means of providing direction and focus for related endeavours. Papers are welcome that address any aspect of the topic of the symposium, e.g., Goethe’s philosophy of science in the context of chaos and complexity; his scientific methodology in the light of the new disciplines; the reciprocal relationship between scientific and literary work(s) within the relevant framework; individual poetic texts as “hard” (real) or “soft” (metaphoric) models of chaos and/or complexity; the implications of specific literary works, so understood, for other areas of concern, such as history of society; or even the limits, limitations, or ultimate justification of such inquiry. Given the desirability of attracting interdisciplinary participation, papers should be presented in English.
Please send proposals of one to two pages for papers of thirty minutes’ length by September 1st to: Herbert Rowland, Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907, Campus phone:
765-496-1685 FAX 765-494-1700
e-mail: hrowland@concentric.net
Astronomy Conference
Monday 9th August – Friday 13th August 1999
This conference is being held to coincide with the total eclipse of the Sun on the 11th Aug. 1999, visible in the U.K. only from Cornwall and part of Devon.
The main lecturers are: John Meeks, Waldorf school science teacher; Ron Jarman, MA(Cantab.); John Wood; Alan Brockman, Chairman of the Experimental Circle of the Biodynamic Agricultural Association; Olaf Koob, Professor of Medicine.
Afternoon activities will include eurythmy and a workshop on the invertible cube presented by Robert Byme. We are privileged to have a piano recital by Bernard Roberts which will fittingly conclude the day of the eclipse. A concert on the lute has also been arranged. The conference will close at lunchtime on the Friday.
Conference Fee, including lunches: £80.00. Should accommodation be required, all enquiries will be forwarded to the conference centre which is an old Cornish manor house, situated in a delightful setting a few miles from Tintagel, near Bodmin Moor.
Full details of the conference will be sent out in 1999. The conference has about 40 applicants to date. Some are staying in local B&B accommodation. Accommodation is still available, but most of Cornwall is fully booked. Lawrence Edwards has suggested that capillary dynamolysis tests be made before during and after the eclipse.* Experienced volunteers to assist with this are being sought.
Further details from: Henry Goulden, The Chapel, Treligga, Delabole, Cornwall, United Kingdom, PL33 9EE. Tel: 00 44 (0)1840 212728.
(* It would be interesting to see if Lily Kolisko’s striking CD pictures obtained in sequence through an eclipse can be repeated. – Ed.)
Future courses
In search of technological responsibility: Agriculture, Biosafety, and Democracy
Course dates: 10-29 January 1999. Taught by Christine von Weizsaecker, Tewolde Berhan G Egziabher and Wes Jackson
This three-week residential course examines the challenges of genetic engineering and biotechnologies and their effects on politics, economics, culture, food, farming, and biodiversity in general. It will consider the intended and unintended consequences of human attempts to restructure the nature of our world, which is resulting in the reduction of diversity. It will address questions such as: Who is responsible? How do science and technology, administrations and legislators, and industrial and agricultural players interact with each other? How do we handle the processes of labelling, patenting, liability and biosafety? These issues will be explored in the context of both highly technological countries and the developing world, and participants will look at research into alternative and sustainable agriculture methods based on the way nature’s ecosystems have maintained stability over millions of years.
Christine von Weizsaecker is a biologist, activist, and writer in the field of genetic engineering, risk, and culture. She is a leading NGO representative at the international negotiations on biodiversity and biosafety; Wes Jackson is the president of The Land Institute and the author of ‘New Roots for Agriculture’, ‘Altars of Unhewn Stone’, and ‘Becoming Native to This Place’; Tewolde Egziabher is General Manager of Ethiopia’s Environmental Protection Authority. He was involved with negotiations for the Convention on Biological Diversity and is the African spokesperson in negotiations for a Biosafety Protocol.
Schumacher College is an international centre for ecological studies which welcomes course participants from all over the world. The short residential courses are led by thinkers and writers with an international reputation for the significance and originality of their work, such as Fritjof Capra, Stephanie Mills, Thomas Moore, Christine and Ernst von Weizsaecker, David Orr, Wes Jackson, Wangari Maathai, and Humberto Maturana. Courses take place in a supportive learning community designed to live out ecological values.
Transferable Masters Level Credits are available on this course. Some scholarships are available to people who can best use the knowledge gained on the course to contribute towards a sustainable future.
For details, contact: The Administrator, Schumacher College, The Old Postern, Dartington, Totnes, Devon TQ9 6EA, UK; Tel: +44 (0)1803 865934; Fax: +44 (0)1803 866899; Email: <schumcoll@gn.apc.org>;
Web: http://www.gn.apc.org/schumachercollege/
Schumacher College is a department of The Dartington Hall Trust, a registered educational charity.
M.Sc. in Holistic Science
Schumacher College, in partnership with the University of Plymouth, is launching the first postgraduate programme in the world to offer an MSc in Holistic Science. This new programme has the goal of providing an integrated framework of study and research that recognises the changes occurring in science as it goes beyond interdisciplinarity to the understanding of complex wholes and their emergent properties at the levels of organisms, communities, ecosystems and the biosphere. These changes are also responses to the limitations of conventional science in dealing with crises in the state of the environment, in food production, health, community structure, and quality of life.
It has become evident that basic assumptions need to be re-examined so that values and ethics become integral to scientific practice, instead of add-ons. Holistic science includes qualities as well as quantities in our understanding of nature, our relationship to it and to each other. We are moving from a science of manipulation to one of participation in natural processes which are too complex to be controlled but which we can influence, for better or for worse.
Schumacher College was set up in 1991 by The Dartington Hall Trust to explore innovative forms of learning for sustainable living. It has become world-renowned for the quality and relevance of its short (2-4 week) courses, taught by distinguished thinkers and scientists, who include Fritjof Capra, Lynn Margulis, James Lovelock, Vandana Shiva, James Hillman, Humberto Maturana, and Theodore Rozsak. Students registering for the MSc in Holistic Science will have the opportunity to select two options from these regular short courses, for which academic credit is available during their one-year course at Schumacher College. In addition, there is a programme of core courses in Holistic Science that covers methodology, philosophy, the sciences of complexity as they have developed in physics, chemistry and biology, and applications to a diversity of complex systems – from individual organisms through communities to the global level of the geobiosphere – Gaia. These core modules will be taught primarily by the resident faculty, Professor Brian Goodwin, who is also the MSc Course Co-ordinator, and Dr Stephan Harding, Course Tutor and Staff Ecologist, with assistance from other qualified teachers.
Students will also undertake research that addresses some problem with practical applications such as integrated water management, assessment of the quality of habitats, cooperative enquiry into community health issues, or dynamic modelling of an ecosystem, of agricultural methods (eg, chemical vs. organic), or of a Gaian regulatory process. Staff at the University of Plymouth will be involved in research supervision, together with resident faculty. The extensive resources of the Dartington Hall Estate, including the College of Arts and the Social Research Unit, could also be used in research that seeks to bridge traditional disciplinary boundaries.
A significant component of study and research at Schumacher College will be participation in the communal life of the College. This provides an opportunity for teamwork and experiential learning through interaction with the diversity of highly motivated, informed and talented people who attend the short courses. This will complement and extend the emphasis on participation and cooperative enquiry that is an integral aspect of holistic science. Students who graduate from this programme will be able to make significant contributions to the development of the new participatory science that is already emerging, and its applications to contemporary problems related to the quality of life on our planet.
For a copy of the MSc student handbook, send your name, mailing and postal addresses to: The Administrator, Schumacher College, The Old Postern, Dartington, Totnes, Devon TQ9 6EA, UK; Tel: +44 (0)1803 865934; Fax: +44 (0)1803 866899; Email: <schumcoll@gn.apc.org>; Web: http://www.gn.apc.org/schumachercollege/.
Reviews
‘Confronting the experts’
edited by Brian Martin. State University of New York Press, 1996. Review of Harold Hillman’s contribution.
Harold Hillman (a British researcher in physiology and neurobiology who has mainly worked at the University of Surrey) recounts his experiences working in various research labs and of his controversial findings, which made him extremely unpopular in the academic and research world.
He discovered that the chemical ATP and the related phosphates creatine phosphate and arginine phosphate (which are connected with muscle contraction) were sensitive not only to light, but also to sound (even the sound of humans conversing), to electricity, to different concentrations of sodium and potassium ions and to centrifuging. He realised that the procedures being used in standard biological tests were affecting the results and became concerned about the reliability of the knowledge derived from these procedures.
Later he also discovered that the electron microscope drastically distorts the view of the cell and that the current standard view of the structure of the cell with its various membranes, Golgi apparatus, endoplasmic reticulum was in fact almost completely wrong. The reliance on and complete faith in the power of the electron microscope had led biologists to believe that what were in fact artifacts of the microscope were real structures in the cell. Hillman later examined brain slices and came to the conclusion that here also the orthodox view was completely wrong. Instead of the four kinds of cells which are believed to exist in the brain, Hillman (using light microscopes instead of the electron microscopes) became convinced that “there are relatively few, widely spaced nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord. The greatest proportion of the central nervous system is a ground substance consisting of a fine granular material with ‘naked nuclei’.”
Later in the article Hillman states: “I have shown to my own satisfaction that [1] at least some popular important biochemical research techniques have never been controlled (i.e. have never had control experiments performed to (a) verify assumptions and (b) assess the effects of the procedures on the test results), [2] most of the new structures in cells apparent by electron microscopy are artifacts, [3] there are only nerve cells and naked nuclei in a ground substance in the brain and spinal cord, [4] there are no synapses, [5] the transmitter hypothesis is doubtful.” Do any readers know Hillman’s work or of any corroborative findings from other sources (Steiner?)? Hillman mentions Virchow’s discovery of what he apparently called ‘neuroglia’ or ‘nerve glue’, part of the brain substance which apparently does not stain. Hillman was virtually ostracised and as far as I am aware his findings have been simply ignored, though never satisfactorily challenged.
Paul Carline
(The other contributions in the book are also interesting for illustrating what difficulties the experts run into when they confront their fellow experts. Anyone starting on an environmental campaign whether it be fluoridation of the drinking water, electromagnetic radiation, coastal pollution etc could learn much from the book. Ed)
Screwtape Two
by John Davy (1979), performed by Michael Burton.
The flyer for this performance reads: “Manoeuvrings, machinations and mischief unmasked: A mysterious leak of documents from a source close to the Department of Infernal Strategies. Direct from the Underworld, an experienced devil, writing to his nephew, reveals the manner in which the opposing forces are attempting to stop human beings from becoming free.
Documents leaked from the nether world during the 1930’s allowed C. S. Lewis to expose some of the clandestine operations being directed from below by a moderately senior devil, old Uncle Screwtape. His letters to his nephew (C. S. Lewis – The Screwtape Letters), one of his agents in the field, revealed some of the infernal techniques then in use to lead human souls astray.
But since the thirties, methods in hell have become more sophisticated. Luckily for humans, in 1980 there was a second leak. Through the interception of the late John Davy, former science reporter for the Observer and head of Emerson College, a second series of letters was uncovered. Michael Burton presents them in a humorous, but very revealing, performance. Complete with horns, infernal music (Marilyn Manson) and a shifty-looking postman running a delivery-service between hell and earth, seven letters are presented in a highly-entertaining performance that lasts a little over an hour.
The letters actually follow the content of the first seven chapters of Rudolf Steiner’s The Philosophy of Freedom, and their arguments are very relevant to how we understand the state that the world is in. In our times, two ideas rule our lives more than we are generally aware of, and the effects these ideas exert are with us everywhere: One is that we cannot know the world as it really is except through relying on scientific instruments that show a reality quite different from what our senses give us. The second idea is that human beings can never know the source of their own actions and therefore cannot be free. However, both these assertions can be challenged, and letting a devil be his own advocate is a very successful, as well as entertaining, way to get us examining the basic assumptions present all around us and in our own thoughts and actions. Copies of the letters will be on sale at the performance.”
Screwtape Two is being performed at various locations in the UK in 1998. The performance is well worth seeing even if only for the challenge of trying to spot the various key thoughts of the first half of The Philosophy of Freedom when presented in a somewhat less philosophically technical, though not less clear form. As a way of drawing the attention of a wider public to a book that is not exactly everybody’s bedtime reading it has a lot to recommend it. Whilst Screwtape appears to be reading each of the letters which he has just written before sending them off to his nephew, it was clear that Michael Burton had them sufficiently ‘off by heart’ to be able to perform them.
Michael Burton is an actor and playwright and has been attached to the English Mystery Drama Group since 1992. His performance was first tried at a conference entitled ‘Evil in our Time’ of the New Zealand Anthroposophical Society held in May 1998. Copies of the script can be ordered from him at his temporary UK address (until Nov. 1998) from Ruskin Mill, Millbottom, Nailsworth, Stroud, Glos, GL6 0LA, Tel: 07970 387122, Fax: 01453 834377, email mask.studio@virgin.net.
David Heaf
Publications
Archetype
The Science Group Newsletter Articles Supplement now has the somewhat less cumbersome name Archetype, after we were advised by the ISSN administration and the British Library that such a journal name is not in current use, although had been formerly.
This September’s issue (No. 4) has the following contents: ‘Elements of a differential and integral calculus in counterspace’, P. P. Veugelers; ‘Progress towards complimentarity in genetics’, Johannes Wirz; ‘Between discordant eras’ (Theme: the heart and blood circulation); Stephen L. Talbott; Correspondence, Ron Jarman, Norman Grant.
It can be ordered from the Editor, Dr David J. Heaf, Hafan, Cae Llwyd, Llanystumdwy, Cricieth, Gwynedd, LL52 0SG, UK. Cheques with order payable to ‘Science Group’. Price £4 including UK postage. Overseas add for p&p £0.50 (EU), £1.00 (elsewhere).
An order form for Archetype and back issues of the Supplement is enclosed with this Newsletter.
Elemente der Naturwissenschaft
Articles mostly in German, abstracts in English.
No. 68(1) 1998 A Refined Biocrystallization Method applied in a Pictomorphological Investigation of a Polymer Jens-Otto Andersen, Jens Laursen & Per Kølster; Zur analytischen Bearbeitung der Tropfenbilder Natasha Bodrova, Nikita Iroshnikov & Georg Unger; Über die Zusammenordnung der Weltenzweiheit in der Physis: Zum Erkenntnisanliegen von Friedrich A. Kipp Stephan Stockmar; Von der menschlichen Farbwahrnehmung zur Intentionalität Georg Iliev; Beitrag zur Untersuchung der Postulate der Speziellen Relativitätstheorie von Albert Einstein Mario Matthijsen.
Editor: Dr. Johannes Wirz, Forschungslaboratorium am Goetheanum, Hügelweg 59, CH-4143 Dornach, Switzerland. Email:100716.1756@Compuserve.Com. Distributor: Verlag der Kooperative Dürnau, Im Winkel 11, D-88422 Dürnau, Germany Tel: +49 7582 93000, Fax +49 7582 930020. Subscription 28.- DM/year for 2 issues, 16.- per single issue, inclusive of p&p.
Mathematisch-Physikalisch Korrespondenz
Articles mostly in German.
Nr. 192(Easter 1998) Die Liniengeometrie der Raum-Zeit: ein Ansatz zur Überwindung des Welle-Teilchen Dualismus in der Quantenphysik Hans Thiel; Book Review: Finsler Set Theory: Platonism & Circularity, Birkhäuser, Basel, 1996; Bericht über Experimente mit künstlicher Einsamkeit im Vorfeld der Astronautik Georg Unger.
Nr. 193 (St John’s 1998) Reflexionen über das Buch von Jos Verhulst: “Der Glanz von Kopenhagen” – geistige Perspektiven der modernen Physik R. Brandt; Die Indischen und Pakistanischen Bombentests – nicht nur eine politisch Frage Georg Unger; Book Announcement: “Morphologie von Kristallformen und Symmetrischen Polyedern” by Renatus Ziegler, Verlag am Goetheanum, 1998. Review by Georg Unger of Arnold Bernhard’s two lectures published under the title “Geometrische Bilder für den Menschen und seine nachtodliche Verwandlung.” Introduction by Georg Unger to the work of Paul Schatz. Konstruktion einer Parabel aus 2 Linienelementen Alexander Stolzenburg.
Subscriptions are Sfr40/DM45 per year. Available from Dr. G. Unger, Mathematisch-Physicalisches Institut, Dorneckstr. 15, CH-4143 Dornach, Switzerland.
Late News
The New Hibernian Way
It was hoped that we would be able to include here a report by a participant in the third block course of The New Hibernian Way, the UK Goethean science training, which took place between the 25th July and 8th August 1998 at Trigonos, Nantlle, North Wales, but it was not received before going to press. 26 participants were led by Jochen Bockemühl, Almuth Bockemühl, Margaret Colquhoun, and John Playfoot in studies of landscape and the living world through the media of drawing, painting and poetry.
On Thursday 6th August the course held an open evening for people living in the vicinity. 50 people were taken through an impressive overview of the course participant’s activities by Jochen Bockemühl. This was made particularly vivid and comprehensible by the beautiful artwork on display in the workrooms. In a nearly two hour presentation Bockemühl was able to cover many aspects of an approach to knowing the world about us which involves consciously schooling our faculties of observation and becoming aware of the activities of perception and thinking in the cognitive process. Perhaps the most striking topic of his presentation was the demonstration of how the landscape, ranging from the near-desert conditions of a slate quarry to the rich, moist, shelter of a verdant verge, was dramatically reflected in the form and leaf series of ragwort, Senecio jacobaea, a common weed of agriculture in the locality.
The course included visits led by Charles Lawrie to the stone circles at Penmaenmawr and the Druid site of Dinas Emrys. Participants also visited the studio of the tree sculptor, David Nash, at Blaenau Ffestiniog.
It is hoped that a fuller report on this course might be available in time for the next Newsletter.
David Heaf
Membership
The Science Group is open to members of the Anthroposophical Society. Others may join as associate members. Nick Thomas is Chairman of the Science Group. David Heaf is its acting Treasurer.
Annual membership subscriptions are as follows: £5 (UK), £6 (EU) & £7 (elsewhere). It would help enormously with the administration if subscriptions are paid by banker’s order where possible. If you notice that newsletters have stopped coming, the most likely explanation will be that you have not sent a subscription for more than a year, despite having been sent a reminder.
The Group currently has 90 members.
Next issue
The March 1999 issue of the newsletter will go out near the beginning of that month. The closing date for copy for that issue is 20th February 1999. Copy should ideally be either typed/printed in black (not grey) or on MS-DOS diskette in a format accessible to Microsoft Word 6.0 or sent by email.
Copy should be sent to: Dr David J. Heaf, Hafan, Cae Llwyd, Llanystumdwy, Cricieth, Gwynedd, LL52 0SG, UK.
Tel/Fax: +44 (0)1766 523181.
Email: 101622.2773 (at) Compuserve.Com.