(O k NlXLYST is dedi(:ated to the new 4-,! It is concerned with the total FOR ENVIRONMEJVTAL 2 QUALITY en% itonment p educate people to the We aim to hel thre:Ll@ to their environffiental weil-@ing 274 Madison A ven e, New York, N. Y. 1001 6 2 u and the need for ok change of attitude to quality rather than quantity values. This to insm that future generations do not inherit an env .tronmentat wasteland. 2 c Since it i,, one of the ironies of our ONTENTS -al advances and fabuit)us age of technologil scientific discoveries that there are now 2 ENT SETTING A GOOD IS THE FEDERAL GOVERNM available' to man more answers to hit UALITY? EXANIPLE FOR2 ENVIRONMENTAL Q problems than there are users of thow answers, another of out aims is the transfer YES of k now-liow. RussellE. Train C7tairymn, To this end CA2TALYST 'also relays by mental Quality ............. 6' Council on Environ .... 2 pertinent news and views of leaders in the. field, so that, by serving as. a kind of VASTLY MORE NEEDED transmittal belt, we may be a catalytic 2 bv Senator Gaylord A. Nelson ............... 7 influenle in getting relevant knowledge, MAN: PLAN ETARY DISEASE" 2 N,.earch and slills put to use. While our focus is primaily rAtionaL out concerns art by Ian L McHarg, Landscape Architect, environment is no respecter 2 and Pmfessor, Unirtrsity of Pennsylvania ............ 13 We are all fellow passengers on the PLANTS DISCOVERED TUNING IN ON US "sp3 ship earth" and have equal re.TorL-i-2 bilitv for maiintaining its environmental Interview with Ceve Backster, quality. plant researcher and polygraph expert . . . . . . . . . . ... . . . . 16 2 INDUSTRY SAYS - EDffOR: Vivian Fletcher MINING NEEDN'T BE A DIRTY WORD by Ian jVfacGregor, Ciairrpzatt aizd Chief EDITORIAL BOARD. Executive Officer, American Afetal Cli?nax . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Dr. Landrum BoUintt -Booth Hemingway 2 Dr. Robert Cushnun Murphy Departments Dr. Richard H. Pough Richard Vincent AUTHORS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Richard Whitt2emore 0 THE EDITOR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 LETTERS T @f Oftip: N.B. Wud Associates 2 PICTURE CREDITS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 CGpyright 0 1971 by CATALYST For NEWS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 Env2ironmental Quality. No portion of this RECENT BOOKS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ... . 37 magazinc,may be reproduced in any form without the written permission of ENVIRONMENTAL E2DUCATION Al DS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 CATALYST For -Environmental Quality. INDEX TO VOLUME I . . . . . . 43 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 The opinions expre&,ied by the authors are iheir own and do not necessarily reflect the -policy of CATALYST Fo 'Environmental Quality. PUBLISHER. Nelson Buhler C2orrespondence, manuwipts, photos, and requests for permission tu quote from Associate Publisher: John D. Rich CATALYST should be addressed to Vivia n Consultants- John Walker Hundley Enterprises 2 Fletcher..- Editor, CATALYST, 333 East 46th St., New York, N.Y. 100 1 7. (Telephone Publit:jtion Office: CATALYST For Environmental Quality, 274 Madiion 2212-986-1459.) Avenue, N.Y.. N.Y. 100 16. CATALYST is published quarterly-Spring, Summer. Fall, Winter. You can help in the fight for environmental uaiity if, after read 2 you -ription rates: SS per year in the U.S. and S8 per year elsewhere- q ing CATALYST, Sub.% Canada, 2 -$4 per year. pass it on to someone who also should be Single copies $1.50. Special rate for students concerned. 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He came projects. to this prestigious environmental Born in Clear Lake, Wisconsin in 1916, Gayi(ird Nelson post followi2ng more than a graduated from San Jose State College, California. ;ind re- decade of activity in conserva- ceived a law degree from the University of Wisconsin. fie has tion work. received honorary degrees from Wisconsin's Beloit, (:Oue@e, 2 After a 1956 safari to Africa, Northiand College, and Lawrence University. Mr. Train founded the African Following four years of Army service in World War 11, he State 2 Senate for Wildlife Leadership Foundation entered politics and served in the Wisconsin to train Africans in wildlife resource management. From 10 years. From 1958-62, he was Governor of Wisconsin. and 1965-9. he was president of the Conservation Fou 2 1962 he has been a U.S. Senator. ndation. since Then fie served for a year as Under Secretary of the Interior Cleve Backsler, founder and with environmental responsibi2lities. Born in Washington, D.C. in 1920, Russell Train graduated director of the Backster Re- from Princeton (B.A.) and later got a la search Foundation, has been a w degree from Colum- 2 bia. In his first career he was a tax specialist, serving in the polygraph (lie detector) expirt since 1948. executive, legislative and judicial branches of 'the Federal 2 He has served as an interrop. government. In 1957 Mr. Train was appointed a 'udge of the Federal Tax Court, a post he held until 1965 when he moved tion specialist with the Centr:i; into conservation work. o2ver Intelligence Agency and the L;S Army Counterintelligence Corps, Ian L. McH3rg is a. practicing 2 and as a polygraph consultant to many govemment agencies. landscape architect, regic 2 r of The Backster School the planner, professor, writer, and He is the founder and operato lecturer, who holds the Chair of first non-mflitary polygraph school 2 to conduct advanced in utilizing Landscape Architecture and courses m polygraph usage. And he has pioneered Regional Planning at the Univer- psychoplvanic re2flex instrumentation for stress monitoring sity of Pennsylvania. purposes other than the detection of deception. He is one of America's fore- Born in Lafayette, NJ. in 1924, Cleve Backster studied civil nit)st advocat2es of the ecological engineering, agriculture, and psychology at Texas University, approach in designing tomor- Texas A & M, and Middlebury College.. row's cities and countryside, and As chairman of the Research and Instrument Committee of his most recent book, "Desi2gn with Nature," spells this out. the Academy for Scientific interrogation for eight years, he Born in Clydebank, Scotland, Mr. McHarg has received contributed i new technique component which materially from Harvard a Master's Degree in Landsca pe Architecture and reduces the number of inconclusive polygraph examinations. 2 the degree of Master of Cit Planning. lie holds honorary doc- y torates from Amherst College and Lewis and Clark Coi e e. Ian NiacGrev and 2 _.or. Chairman g I Among the awards he has won ari the Horace Albright Chief Executive Officer of Memorial Lectureship at the University of Cal2irornia. the Dis- American Metal Clima.-, Inc., Lectu esh@ pany in 1957 as i@ tinguished Science r ip at Brookhaven National Labo- joined the corn ratory2, and the Bradford Williams Medal awarded by the vice president. He became presi- American Society of Landscape Architects. dent in 1966 and was elected Chairman of2 the Board in 1969@ (;j% lt)rd A. Nelson, Democratic Born and educated in Senator from Wisconsin, has Scotland, Mr MacGregor recciv an environn 2 in tallurgy ftoni been [ientalist ed degrees me 2 and the University of Glasgow throughout his political career. honorarv degrees 2 He was national co-sponsor of the University of Strathclyde. He also holds Earth Day, and has introduced a from the Montana College of Mineral Science and Technology (Doctor wealth of en-ironm2ental propos- of Laws), and from Tri-State College (Doctor of als fcv legislation. Science). Those signed into law in- Mr. MacGregor is a director of many companies. and serves clude: establishment 2 of criteria as a board member of The Conference Board, Inc. He is a ember of the Mining and Metallurgical Society of Anieri%-;l for maximum limits on pesticides in 2 ive Engineers. and is an associate as part of the inter@state water quality standard program, and the Society of Automot establishment of environmental education programs, creation of the Institute of Mechanical Engineers, London. .13 2 7 CATALYSI PLANTS DISCOVERED TUNING IN ON- US CATALYST Editor, Vivian Fletcher, interviews Cleve Backster, the polygraph expert who has discovered that plants read people s minds, react to death of other living things, feel leasure and pain, "faint", and remember. 2 p Vivian Fletcher Mr. Backster I understand that plants here dog's coat. Well, one night I was monitoring a plant's reactiot@ in your Backster Research Foundation laboratory have been about 20 or 30 feet from where I was feeding the dog. To m@ ",.:4 amazement the plant showed a strong reaction just as I crack- exhibiting very strange behavior. That they "cry out" when live shrimps are dumped in boiling water. That they sense ed open the egg. p c they "faint" when someone they fear is n upset the plant? peo I 's intents. Tha2t Fletcher, Someth.i g had near. That they "yelled" ouch when you accidentally cut your Backster. Right. The next night I watched close y while finger and put iodine on it. And that they seem to have "mem- going through this egg-breaking routine, and again the same @t4. o2ry," and respond to Pavlovian conditioning. Are these things thing happened. Now the idea of a plant reacting to the crack really true? mg open of an egg was awfully interesting to me. It serniec Cleve Backster- As a scientist, I would more cautiously de- that the plant was providing a valuable clue. I then ecide t( 2 scribe some of the capabilities you are suggesting. although the attach the polygraph electrodes directly to an unbroken egg plants we are working with are showing us some amazing per- and I succeeded in obtaining a nine-hour recording ftoiii one Fl tcher. Recording?2 ceptions not previously known to exist. This is not peculiar to e those here in my lab, however. Backster. A written chart readout from the polygraph Fletcher: You mean the plants I have in my apartment also well, a portion of that reading showed me something prett@ 2 have "feelings!" startling. Though this was a non-incubated, fresh egg, the chat Backster: I strongly itispect they do. The only thing differ- showed what seemed to be a heartbeat. There was a frequeti@ N A -n up to 2 dnt about our plants ib. that we are able to hook thei about 160 to 170 beats per minute - appropriate for a ct c polygrupli instrunientati( ti aiid it t meaningful readings re- embryo between three and four days along in incubation. A corded on the moving 2 chart papei. This allows us to conduct there was no other way to account for this frequency. li44 scientific experiments with our plants and offer evidence of when we.afterward opened up the egg,and carefully chcck;-@ their reactions. the contents, we 2found absolutely no physiological evidence Fletcher: You're a polygraph expert, aren't you? a chicken embryo. Backster: Yes, I've si)etit some '-13 years in behavioral stud- Fletcher. That's fantastic! What conclusions do yt,u ies on human beings, usirig the polygraph or so-c2alled lie from it.@ detector. Backster. No conclusions. Tii' was an observati(.in N@@ Fletcher. But more Teceiitly you've also been doing poly. did appear that we might be tapping into some kind t@f graph studies on plants, I unders2tand. field that could be providing the rhythm and guiditig IL-ickster: For the past rive, almost six years. And the plants development at a pte-embryo stage - a force field thai t* have not only provided us with unique intorrnation about conventionally understood within our pres2ent bo y ol Nk,, themselves: they have led to other discoveries. tific knowledge. Fletcher- Such as what? Fletcher. An you say you're now doing further resei. Back ter. Well right now we're doing some fascinating re- on this? sea2rch on chicken eggs, thanks to a plant reaction. backster. Yes, and we are finding that the heartbeat Fletcher. You mean one ol'your plants told you something quency shown in the original recording is a repeatable ob,-er. you didn't know about an egg" tion. 2 Backster. Something fliat could have profound implications Fletcher. How does your egg research relate to t c v..... for-origin-of-life research. research? Fletcher Can you fell iiie about il'7 Backster It seems to add weight to the i2dea that all living thit@Ir W, ckster. I don't like to talk about things while they're still munication capability exists ani(ing in the experimental stage, bu I I can tell you abodt some of our member i2t was the plant which first indicated awarenc@ preliminary observations. the egg was broken. And, of course, in the various I used to have a dobeniian pinclier, and I'd bring him here our plant research we get consistent indication of strt)i.., ;A* to the lab with me. Each iiiglit when2 I fed liiiii I used to add reaction to the death ofliving organisms, even isolatei .V OZ the yoke of an egg to his food. It's supposed to be good for a cells. One day when I happened to cut my finger, for exvt--,tk 16 6 CATALYS lit(line @)II it. the plant tliit was heitic! iiiuiiitored by ilic pt )IY- gr@j@it iiiiiielliatel), reacted to the death of st,iiie form of huil,Ljil cell 2 .111L)IIier occasion I was, about to eut a cup of yogurt here in the .),.I know how the jini is down at the bottot-n of the container. icilt US I stiri-ed the jam into the vogurt. a strong plant'reaction tin the I)oiygrapli chart. This puzzled us until we realized that 2 1 was a chemical preservative in the jam and this was terminating the yogurt cells. What c%%!(,vc getting from the plant appeared to be another reaction to-death chart reading. Al,@o, in our original experiment, live brine shrimps were dropped into boiling water and ai the int)ttient this occurred the monitored plant at the other end of the la6oratory reg- intered a reaction on the polygraph chart. Fit.-Icher@ So the slirinips or the yogurt cells or the tissue cells in your finger - whatever is dyiiig -- iiitist send out a message of some sort which the plant picks up and records. Backster: Sliglit correction. I would 2say whatever is abruptly killed must send out a message. Amore orderly dyiiig involves some preparation for death, and we've found that where this occurs tlierc is little if any plant reaction. Fletcher: That seems a strange distinc tion. ckSteT: Maybe not. It may be that wlial the plant is reacting to is sudden di2sor' ntation Bd ie -n a jilitural state ol'being. disorg:iiiization frot Fletcher: That could have ecological implications, of course. And I want to get into thi,,. But first, what got you started on this strange adventure with plants2" What made you think they iniglit know things nobody guessed? Backster: Well, it goes back to 1966. February 2nd, to be exact. I remein0er the date well because from then on a great deal about itiy life changed. Before that niy full-time activity had been use of the polygriph in testing people. I had been: an interrogation speciali-,t with the U.S. A.riiiy Counter-intelligence Corp., a polygralili specialist with. the Central Intelligence Agency, and I had @ itiunded the Backster School which @6nducts polygraph examinet training courses. 2 Fletcher: That's lie detection, you said. Would you explain how the polygraph works -- with people and with plants? Backster: Briefly, when testing people @ most polygraplis record three types of changes - the breathing pattern. the heart activity, and changes in the electrical pro- perties of the skin, whic2h is called galvanic skin response or psychogaivani@ reflex. It is this last portion of the polygraph that we have been using on plants. When testing huiiians. electrodes are attached to each of two fingers. With plants, tile electrodes are attaclied to each side of aleaf. Basicall . when testing people we y 3 rely oti reactions accompanying Ifireal-to-welf-beiiig; This occurs wfien a person faces discovery wtien at tempting deception to a question about a crime. 17 Vol. 11 No. I Fletcher: So on this day in February, 1,46t) Backster-. I had stopped work t ater a plant - that dracena o 2 ow ver there . an4 the thought popped into my mind to hook it up to a polygraph ne;jtb@, 2 Fict@:her: Whv Backster: I wanted to see if I could find out how long it took moisture tti get (run the rootsof the plant to the leaf area. So I placed electrodes on both sides ot'ii lea and then watched the polygraph chart - not really expecting there would he ;in, tracing changes at all 2 Fletcher: But there were ckster,- There not only were 2 but the pattern was not unlike human tracing@ Bi That was surprise number one. After watching the chart tracings for a few Minutes. 2 said to myself, I'll try to cause it to react by somehow threatening its well-being. decided to burn the leaf that had the electrodes on it. Well, that was the moment' Ek-for, I could reach for 2 a match - at the split second that I had the image of fire 'in my mind the recording pen bounded right off the top of the :hart Fletcher: You mea2n the plant read your mind" Backster: That's exactly what seemed to happen. I'm not one to jump to conclusions :.n-;, entist, the rirst thing I had2 to dL but what I observed rea ly shook me up. Being a sci Was to make sure I had not overlooked a logical explanation of the occurrencc. So started 2checking things out. Maybe this particular plant was somehow extraordinaty Maybe there was something peculiar about me. Or was there something uiiusua about the polygraph instrument. the room2, the location? No. Other people using other plants in other fates, were able to make similar observations. Plant@ p 2 not only seemed aware of people and reacted to them-, plants could a pafenti) p sense intent! Moreover 2- and this not only confounded me, but also scientist: from many disciplines whom I invited tocome and observe the phenoiiienk)n - physicists found they could not block out the 2apparent tratimitision Fletcher- What do you mean by "block out"' Backster: This was an attempt to isolate titit po-tion ol the electro-inagnetic spectrum involved iii @.conte foriii of transmission between a human and tl,v i,lant All types of shielding were useti. ti-.; iliplic successfully interrupted the trah\aiiiul2(in Fletcher: You said you coiiducretl experiments on other plants and in otliet 2 places. Would you be more -,pecitic.1 Backster: I tested plants in differcnt N"@ It 2 parts of the United Stjie!, and overseas in Lebanon when I jr,.eied 2 to conduct tests or to attetid of polygraph experts. The chai iiigs 2 obtained were alwin, -x@:jlar. Fletcher: You use the same 13. I 2 taph equipment that's used for ltuly).tvi, iiid you clamp 2the efec t rodes on ea, i! %;@le o I' a plant leaf. Doesn't that liniii @-,u to plants whose leaves are fairly thick? r A TA I, VrT -.stt'r: No. So Ion,,. as the plant leaf is large enough to Rickster: On our project to see if we can teach plants, at iie surface of the electrodes and tough enough so the the bei-4ii)niti 2 9 I was using an electrical impulse on them as a !es don't pre,,s through the leaf and short Out, most any conditioning thrdat-to-well-being. Because of the crudeness of plant ca7 n! tested. During initial observations, we the particular equipment, it turned out that I was giving them 2 varieties. We've also found that other. a stronger shock than I intended, and this too produced a I o 30 dil'ferent Ivc-getation will show meaningful tracings. straight-line "faint" recording. It got so that when I merely -1: Su2ch as? thought of using that electrical impulse on them, the plants Lettuce, onions ... in fact, just about an kind would "faint." This caused me to change to a "reward" basis y tt@le. Also most types of fruit. instead. 2 Fletcher: if pi Have vou had polygraph evidence of plants read- ants are capable of all the things we've been ople's minds? I mean, other than your own discussing we must obviously view them differently. I'm -er pe Icel 2 reminded of a friend of mine. She has so much love for animal t s er: We have made some interesting observations that life that she won't eat meat or fish. When she learns this about point in that direction. On one occasion, for example, plants and other vegetative forms she'll probably feel she scientist who is2 a plant physiologist visited our lab. shouldn't eat greens and vegetables either. he was present the plants did something similar to Backster: I don't see that our uncoveries are any threat to vegetarians. It may be that a vegetable appreciates becoming her: Fainting? part of a 2 higher form of life rather than rotting on the ground. ")ter: What we'd call fainting in a human. The plants Fletcher: Do you think a plant feels Man is a higher form? n reacting quite typically before she arrived - re- Backster: I don't know about that, but it's very interesting fluctuating patterns - but while she was in the room that p2lants will adapt to death of all kinds of living cells we've ere able to obtain was a straight line. it was downright tested except one. They do not adapt, in our experience, to ;sing. She'd made the visit to our lab to see for herself recurring death of huntaii cells. c reactions she'd read about. One at a time, I hooked Fletcher: Could you do some experiments to2 find out the different plants and couldn't get anything but a reaction of, say, a lettuce leaf to being eaten? The attached ix ine out of any of them. Finally the s' th plant did electrodes wouldn't seem to be a roblem because if the leaf 2 p ponses so I was somewhat vindicated. But before she can read the tester's mind, he wouldn't have to really eat it; he could just think of eating it. ,ed her, "Just what is it you do with plants in your -nts? Do you hurt them in any way?" And she said "I Backster2: Ah, but there we get into someth' g else that, in s in an oven and roast them in very interesti g order to get thqir dry n . We've seen this repeatedly in our experiments. @r my data." The plant senses intent. Intent is real. If we merely pretend ier: She was a plant killer and the plants knew it, so passed out? .,i ter: Well, that's one interpretation anyway. It doesn't /thing. But it may point a di2rection for further study- irty minutes after she left, I attached each of the five at had shown only a straight line and each then. (celient reaction capability. Have the plants appeared to "faint" in any other i er: Yes. One situation involves prelir@ary work on .,search p @ect we have 2 under way to see if we can roi its - if they can be conditioned by association to @nce of meniory. -r- You mean Pavlovian experiments such as that 1()g which salivated when a bell rang even though he ger fed at the time of the signal? Yes, but I don't want t2o get into the details of ,,tent until after its completion. f: But is there any evidence that plants have col- r: '4ot what can be called evidence in a strict scien- But we've ,een some indications that they might 2 example, in our brine shrimp tests a plant would @w no reaction to the death of the shrimp after the urth time it occurred. They appe3rcd to adapt - its memorv. t certain] y does! 7 19 that we're D(IlIg to do N(;Illetllil and watet- pollution. IL. we @let I)i) rezi,tioll I iiiii. disorgarii/.ers as air tile plant whatsoever. Wliatevet it is iliev're itined iti 14). iiii!, constaiitlv trN itig to ai'crt us Ik) tile t'JCI that all it)rtn, 2 true. You can't fool it are irrevi,QabiN interrelated. Tijut we c:jti'l dL) rletclier: 1 gatfier you als2o t'eel t fiat plants have a @,pt-,ial one eleii)ent of' our bi(isphere air. witer. eai:,Ij. affinity for their owners') 2 fauna - without it having destructive reperctj\,@i@ llai:k.,iter: It's certaitily true in 2 ytitit ti. t:; niy experietice. Take this everything else. What strike!i ine iiiiist about dracena plant. for 2 example. I do a lot of lecturing and I t hat plants have sensory perception, and that there ;I, often project a color 2 slide of this plant because it's the be some form of communication iiiig)iig all livitig til Lf original one we tested. When I show the slide and speak that it offers startling of tile 2 c, documentation fondly about tile plant there's a tirne correlation with a viewpoint. 2 reaction by the plant back here in tile lab, if we have the Backster: There's no doubt in my mind that we i!e a. polygraph equipiiicni activated. one. 2 Fletcher: No matter how far away you are? Fletcher: Is that perhaps what your research tea!@ [kick-.,.ter- Distance doesn't seem to have any bearing. directed at - trying to establis2h the oneness of all fit, Fletcher: klayb e when a person goes off on vacation and Back.%ter: There are many scientists working 2 Oil Va-iLlt,@ leaves her plants in the care of a neigilbor, she should take aspects of this. Our work may make a coijtribu; i @ft. W,@ 2 along a picture of the plants and certain y hope so. Wli:@! @ve'r,, look lotidiv at it occasionally, so 2 involved in doing is cxr)ziii4iiii@ they don't wither and die, as so scope of the present-dax 2 scientific knowledge. Tiit- often happens when u nder some-4)ne else's care. 2 we're uncovering lic-i- (i @N; Ba,:kster: I frequently suggest scientists wolildil ' Ie,.- 2 hypotfiesize. But in :ur just Iflut. Fletcher: Are you scrious'@ I 2 we're adhering stri%:tf-, to @it. was being fecitious. scientific method. 2 Backsler: I'm serious. It Fletcher: Do iii3it) riii-tia ilfas.s,angcatia plint with a rub- d),iiig cells in the drving blood trinsziiit ber ])and. The plant leaf was success- 2 s-icinals to the philod@ndron, the drccena ftill%@ baluiced into the PCR circuitry, a@@ the parsley in your refri- its @lectricil resistmce filling within the ,er2ator? Provocative questions? Indeed, rcs, re 11 sista cc limit of the instrumentation. 2 Cotitrary to my expectation, from but ones which are being scriot;sly, soberly and quietly investigated by t c outset the plant leaf tracing ex- ntist2s at several major American Ili -n@vard n SCIC bited a do,@% tre d. Then, after universities as a result of some biz.=e 2 findings by the Backster Research Further tracing from Back- Foundation of New York City. ster's experiment of February 2, 1966, showing his first de- cc "Stagger,-ng C-ds 2 The obi t: To discover if there is an lipi iiberate stimulation irom a @.-io%,.-n ccm=,uric,@t,on Iiiik be- t-,veen the cells of plants and animals it may be test plant. eackster regards it as significant that his intent through Nvhicli distress signals are trins- to harm the plant prod,.iced a mitted that broadcast threats a(Tainst to co"7,i@emp/ate, 2 stronger reaction (anxiety?) any member of the living community! than the actual burning. These staggering iinplicatioiis were Z7 li) e silgnal reported in an abstract published on 2 Se t ber 7, 1967, by Cleve Backster, may connect yem Om-ier interrogation specialist with all creation..." 2 the Central Iiitelligence Agency, -,vho operates a N"e%v York school for tr.-tiiiing law enforcement officers in the tech- 2 corn niques of using the polygraph monly knonvn as the lie detector. ,ibotit one minute of chart time, the Bac@-ster was one of t four-m2an panel tracina,'exhibited a contour similir to a efore the PGR reiction pattern typically demon- of experts called to testify b Normal 1964 Congressional Hea 2 strated by a human subject e-.penenr.- rings on the calm Use of Polygraphs by the Federal Cov- iii(r -tn emotional stimulation of short tracing 2 eminent. Foll@-%ving duty %vith the CIA duration. Even thouah its tracing had as -,in interrogation specialist, be became fiilcd to reflect the effect of the water@ 2 director of the Leonarde Keeler Poly- incr, the plant leaf did offer itself as a grayh Institute of Chicago. Since 1949, possibly unique source of datzi. "As I watched the PGR tricing 2con- he ias tcted as a consultant to almost every go-,,crnme' tiiiue, I %%-ondered if there could be a nt ageiicy Nviiich mikes 2 use of the polygraph. He introduced siiiiilaritv behveen the tracing from the the Bickster Zone Comparison poly- plant ai;d a PGR tracing from:a human. 2 graph procedtiri@-, which is the tech- I decided to try to apply some equiva- Army Poly- ]cut to the tlireat-to-%vell-being principle, 2 niqtie standard at the U. S. It ,vell-establislied method of trigzerinc t7iar,@i '@@chool. Topped 2 eniotionalit), in liunians. I rtrst @ied t-0 PGP, plate airotise the plant by inimersinz a plant with Pon 2 Changed his life. Teacliing poly- leaf in a cup of hot coffee. gut mere gral)li, lio%vever, became a second,.u-y in- was no measurable reaction. terest to 13.ickster on a February morn- "After a nine minute 2 interii-n, I de- inlr in 1966 %vbcn lie inide the discovery cided to obtain a mxtcli tnd bum the Considered wrlicli changed his life.- 2 ways to plant leaf being tested. At the instant These are wo the rds he used to ulc- of this decision, at thirteen minutes 2 produce scribe -,vhat liil)pened in his laboratory fift),-fl%-e sceotids of ch,.u-t time, there reaction that morning: 2 was i dramatic change in the PGR "Immediately follo%ving the witering traciiig pattern in the form of In abrupt of aii ofrice plant, I wondered if it would iiid I)rolotigecl up%vard sx,.-cep of the re- First cordiii en. I had not moved, or thought bout be possible to measure the rite at which burning I 2 water rose in a pluit from the root arei toiicllc c plant, so the timing of the ilito the leaf. I chose tile p-,;ycliogal- PCR pen tctik-itv qit-rcrested to iiie tb.,kt lab to I 2 vanic reflex (r@-'R) iiiocx as a possible the tricijicjl inif-rlit li c been trig,,,,,crcd Returned for a te of moisture by the meore tilootiglit of the harm I in- 4 nienns of ineastiriti(r the ra m with book Of n7atches, 6 Burned is not. iVe kno%v it is not within the 2nded to ilifliet upon the plint. This iio n fri ccurrence, if repeatable, would tend different k w @qu2encies, ANI, FNt, istence of or any form of siandl which ,%-e cm a indicate the possible ex i eans. Distance eindefiiied perception in the plant." sh 2 eld by ordinary in Om B@ackster began to explore how the seems to impose no limitation. For ex. d his ample, we -ire conducting research that uffering of other species affecte would tend to in2dicate that this signal )]ants, He bought some brine shrimp, rdiiiiril,,, used as live food for tropical can traverse hundreds of miles. !,Ih aiid@ 1-illed them by dumping them :ito boiling -,vater. As he saw the poly- 2 Q. Are plints attuned to stress? rapli recording needle leap frantically, le was a,,,@-ed by a startling and al)- A. Perhaps. I u@ed to have a Dober. )arently new conce -Pt: "Could it be t2hat man Ilinclier in my office. Ile slept in I bad m electric vhen cell life dies, it broadcasts a sig- the back- room -,vliere ial to other living cells?" If this was so, timer hook-cd to a loud pulsating alarm, le would h ave to completely autom,.ite %%,Iiich was located directly above his ts, removing all human iis experimeli bed. Actuation of the timing mechan- ,Iem2ents which mialit consciously or ism .v-,is accoinpwiied by a barely audi- LL& inconsciously contaminate the results. ble click which preceded the alarm by Space age lab. In the three2 years approximately five seconds. The dog Wheatstone bridge circuitry Is -"r -ster his held in place on philodendroi ce, BrLcl -i-, -C 2 spent rnap.v thoii- would inv. ably, hear tie cli k, =d I leaf by a special clamp device. of dollars in transforming his NN,oxild leave the room before the bell, iffices into 2a space-age assembly of which be disliked intensely started to liecliatlizecl shrimp-dtunp dishes, a so- ring. i'iltlioLi-,,h in a different room, @Nith Typical plant reaction to a electronic randomizer and :.e I L-new exactly when 2the dog carefully randomized brine as ?rogramm er circuitry and niultiple PCR @ea,,isi his room, even though I shrimp death, made on the 9 2 not ,Lr the click, because the automatic polygraph %-iith no iionitoring devices. But the results con could he '@nue to point in to a capability fo2r per- plants acluionviedged his o-,,cments by human in the Inboratory. -eption in -dl living cells - a perception showing reaction coincidental to the I asked click, reflecting the Dober-mtn's anxiety. hat Backster calls "primary". 2 h'un for raore details: Q. lvhat do you mem by primary? Q. In the find analysis, aren't saying that we must re-assess our A. I mean primary in the sense that niiions of sensory perception and intelli- 1'es 2to all cells that gence? this perception IP %ve have monil@orcS,I,,vithout regird to their assigned biological function. A' Who can say at this point? There are certainly implications here that c2ould have profound efrects on tl-iose concepts. /Vormai Q. What types of cells have you Our observations shotv that the signal calm tested? leaps across distinces, as I said befor2e. tracing A. We have found this same plie- I have been as far anvay ,is New Jersey :t nomenon in the amoeba, the parame- - about flfteen miles from Nlanhattan - have merely thought ibout return- Mecha2nism cium, and other single-cell organisms, and in fict, in every kind of cell we have 'no, to my offlce, only to learn when I actuates automatically tested: fresh frui2ts and N,cgct,@ibles mold returned that at the precise moment I cultures, yeasts, scrapings from tKe roof i,al had the thouglit - checked against Shf imp of the mouth of L human, blood 2 Sam- a stop .vatch - there was a coinciaental droppcd and iction by t@'ie plants to the thouglit of killed pies, even spermatozoa. re,. coming back. Ilelief? @V2elconie? We 't sure, but c idence indicates some- aren v Q. Do you mean that all of these thing lile relief. It isn't fear. cells have a sensing capacity? A. It seem2s so. Inci(lent-ill we have Yi fully to block %vliitever D-o plants have ei-notioiis? The tried wisuccess signal is being rccei%,cd by using a Firi- trend of Backster's researcli'results2 does day screen, screen c-.i-e and c%-eii lead- isidecd embrace profound iinplicitions. iiiicd containers. Still ilie communica- Do pl@ints liive eniotioins? Do tlicy make Gradual It seen-is that the2 sigiiil stn tion continues. ige sif-,nals of aw,,iretiess be),oiid our return cloctro- own al)ilities to c,OMI)rcllciid? It seems to normal may not ev2en fall within our d),n-,u-nic spectrum. If not, this %Vould so. Persork,,ill),, I cannot iini,,ilic a %%,orlcl calm certainly liive profound implications. so dull, so satiatcf.1, thit it sliotild reject 2 stitlr ne%v ideis which out of hand arre! a s 0 it lind of 1L si(.Ynal is it? miy 1.)e is ol(.1 iis the rir t @uiiin .tci(I in Q. NVII. the cliiin of life on our earth. Iiicxpli- A. I can ins%ver your question better cable has never i-ncaiit nliraculotis. Nor @il by telling you what -,ve think the does it nceess@irily niean spiritual. In 7 ic another extension of flic I;eii traced a t).;Pe from editor Ki Patr k's our liattir2ii r,rt,,I)h (if tlf)riti,il for the plant, -interview with Backster and a Let me 10"1%-c )'Ou to PO"cl(-r a cities- t, 2 Philodendron. tion Back-stcr asked me. Nfaii>, litilil Bi@b ic,,Ik,.(l iii the rooiii. The -,raF-Ii ""liters 2 have observed that game animals s(illc. f tirti(-d itly to one of a e,itation, aii4d ho,,v sense the exact moment of tile lpobb(,,d iii 2 tirkt,tily until he left. Then it opening of the hunting season. N%" cal;ti(-d e'IOIL'll (..(,,tiin to a ncn?zal tracinc, 2 e cin @rerliaps ascribe thi Lat(-r, ire t(,Ikcd abotit ic(zys to qimu- st 2 s to the noise of tile gunshots. But, howc, 14atc- the 1)larzt for a 771.t,-to,,7,raph, and in %%'e explii2n the similar observation of game's all Ba(-k-ster f-xl,lci,'Iic,d that fie preferred Bob of to "htirt" the I)Iant.2 I rcniark-cd that Henson ti parent a,.vareness of the exact adjusts moinesi2t 1)rrli(ips I etitilil (lo it, and reached for of the season's Close? Clc,,,e Backster contacts 2 may be approaching the ,nswcr o ])at in avtoitislzmc-nt as t t cltiestion, and a lot of others. tli(- I)lt;yit I)r(?c!ttccIct a violcntly ,itated Henson (-vrtj a-s I bc,,,,(zn to spea@. 2 leaves St;ll Ititc-r, the pl(int's readings be- room 2 -r and caly?zcr, and Backster cai;i(, cal;ii( (-.rl;l in(-([ that after ayt extended time, a Tl,-ig eclit-Ors the-y seetticd to bccoinc accustomed to 2 stillitili urid their reactions became less First mention tvanL'Cd proof.. 1712(irkc@d. It that point I bleto a cloud of stimulating of ci,7ejrcttc si7ioke over2 the plant wi.*hout plant here's vtfl7at t/7e ari(i it produced a lagged little 2 ,rai)h thtit Bfick%ler clicin't tr -'Icdendron .4 to inler- Ba2cester pl lirct btit tvitic7i I proclaimed to be a re- declines to 2 (ictioll of atinoyar?ce. burn plant till-lem! ll'liile Gcorcrc HarriTon was sliootfng 2 the photo,,,,rapli that appears on paaes 4 Kirkpatrick -.---Z3 all(i 5, B(ickster stiddeitly asked him it 2 and Backster ai?ythi?z(, tvas icron,7- the plant was ;7= debate methods Editor's note: The editors Of NATrO.IqAL shotL;Iyt(YtD.90itiethin(7 liwkc a stjmpatlietic WILDLIFE were as dottbtfttl as yoit iizay reaction to colivtcrnation, but was not be after reading Thorn Bacon's account beiiicy stiiiittl;ited in any twir. George ittcd that he had Itist discocered of 'Backster's Phenomenon' 2 so. we atl:i?t' Backster visited and photographed lzf'm in his that one lens tras not working refuses io 2 'property, 0,6ccs, ftist 0 ff Times Square in Neto aiztl had been tooi-njing about tile photo- ha2rm plant York City. graphs he hati already made. We foitnd a quiet, polite, serious and Alto-ether, we r2an the 1-nacliine on successful stitdent of the psychology of that 1)lant for ttco hours. and produced interrogation, workina, alniost full fin7e a dozen2 very intcrestina, reactions, some on the exploration of his discovery in of icliicli Backster re@oonized (tlzotteh itrick b 2 - Kirkpz an office clttttered with extrei7icly so- he is very reltictant to try to inter ret suggests he phisticated electronic gear 2 and decor- tltctri in hii?nan terms) and some otylers burn tte plant ated icitli tliti?nbt,icked records of I)Iayit that iiiacte no Yartictilar sense at aH, 2 -and otl?er cell life-reactions. like the tip-an -down reading yielded fIe s7zotced its the original tape from frotii a telephone conversation Backster 2 his first discovery of the phenoiizcnon, held in a ncic,,12bori)zg oLTice. The plant -2 i 'D 2 and yard after yard of tapes from suc- reticteti (liffcrently to the eriods of Further ceecling experinieiits. One thing im- Backster's talking and listeni@g for some r 2 conversation prevscd ti-T ininzcdiately: l@irst, Cleve rcaso;t. But it did react. about stimuli Backster is iiot some kind of a ntit. Ile 2 So the reactions continue, 'and Cleve really knows his bitsiness, at?d is pursit- B(ick-ster's work continties, as he at- tel2l ing hi@- irvcstiga,ions w:tlt grlat carc, to pts to analyze the nature of the avoid any chance of criticism frotit the plants' graphs. Some of the possible a2p- Rea to dottbtiyig scientific co)nintiriity, tltotialt I)Iicatiotis of the phenomenon, in inedi- of s he ad;iiits that sec7izs inevitable. 2 cal diannosis, cri?77in4l inuestirration and As ice talked, Backster set tip his other frelils, are so fantastic that he specially moorlirreci polygraph tci2tla a fair- avk-cd tile not to repeat them here. His -criotis paper on the phenomena , Cal -d ly orclili@ry pliilo(Ic2iidron Icaf clay?il)cd first a rt telephone Backster's in position for reading the I)sychogal- filled Evi(Icnee of a Primiry Perce t, l'on telephone tlani2c rcflex index. Ile ??zcntiotied that in Plant Life, is scliccliiled for'ptigjl,.Ca- conversatioi7 he no loiz,,,,,cr I?atzdlos hit 1)1(ii?ts reitli tioii in the International journal of P-,ira- aiiythijig bitt great care, St')Icc thc@ seem I)s),cliolo,,,y in lantiary 1969. Ile awaits to be atttzc7ic(i to 2 him (is their otcizcr the reaction of the scic?itific collimunfty; and caretaker. IT'licti a plant tizitst be we'atcait the reaction of NKTIONAL 2 haiicllcd or stitntil(ited to proditce a re- NVILDLIFL@ readers. 11"liat do you slip- Backster actio?i, that is iloy?c by his assistatit, Bob posc he has discovered? ilackst9er listening Ift:@isoit, icho "1)1(igs the heavy". DICK KIRKPAir,91CK talkin( 8