FORMATIVE CAUSATION.

The Sheldrake Hypothesis.

Copyright: New Horizons Research Foundation. (February 1986).

The theme of t h i s review formed the subject matter of a Conference held at the New Horizons Research Foundation on January 25th 1986.

The participants included (besides the s t a f f members)

Dr. Bruce Pomeranz, Professor of Zoology, University of Toronto.

Dr. Edward Mann, Professor of Sociology, York University

Dr. Ralph Jessup, Atmospheric Environment Service, Department of the Environment.

Dr. John Beresford, Clarke In s t i t u t e of Psychiatry, University of Toronto.

and thirteen others.

At the end of the meeting i t was unanimously agreed that a v i s i t and lecture by Dr. Sheldrake would be of great int e r e s t .

Dr. Rupert Sheldrake i s an English plant physiologist educated at the University of Cambridge, which he entered as a Scholar of Clare College, and obtained his Ph.D. (Doctor of Philosophy Degree). He also earned a rare d i s t i n c t i o n , e lection as Rosenheim Research Fellow of the Royal Society of London. He went on to use his t r a i n i n g i n plant physiology in a p r a c t i c a l f i e l d - - research on crop plants. However he has the kind of mind that engages i n serious thinking about the fundamentals of science and wishes to understand at the deepest;level.• Thus he interpolated into his career a year at Harvard to study philosophy, and while working on crop plants i n India paid heed to the ancient systems of thought which are taught there. I t was i n t h i s c r o s s - f e r t i l i z i n g milieu, so he says, that he evolved many of the ideas that went into the making of his book A New Science of L i f e (1981, Blond and Briggs Limited, London, England, and J.P. Tarcher, Los Angeles, di s t r i b u t e d by Houghton M i f f l i n Company, Boston, U.S.A.), whose publication has created a great s t i r . ' I t has been the target of rather b i t t e r c r i t i c i s m ; thus the anonymous reviewer i n the B r i t i s h weekly Nature (which i s e s s e n t i a l l y the vehicle of the s c i e n t i f i c establishment) described the book as an " i n f u r i a t i n g tract", "an exercise i n pseudoscience" and "the best candidate for burning there has been f o r many years". None the less a large number of persons educated i n various f i e l d s of science and learning, have found Sheldrake's ideas profoundly stimulating and i t may be a key that can open many locked doors i n the palace of knowledge.

Sheldrake's basic notion has become known under several names. The one he prefers himself i s "The Hypothesis of Formative Causation". Otherwise i t i s spoken of as the theory of "M-fields", i.e."morphogenetic f i e l d s " . The term "morphogenetic" indicates that Sheldrake's l i n e of thought had i t s s t a r t i n g point in a long-standing problem i n biology, that of embryological development. The in d i v i d u a l of any m u l t i c e l l u l a r species whether mouse, man, magnolia, or millipede, starts i t s l i f e as a single c e l l , which i s stimulated either by f e r t i l i z a t i o n or parthogenetically into growth. Growth i s always by repeated c e l l d i v i s i o n , perhaps about 50 times. The c e l l divides into two, the successors each divide into two, giving four c e l l s , and so on, the process only stopping at maturity. Clearly the process of c e l l d i v i s i o n i s not merely one of duplication, but involves d i f f e r e n t i a t i o n , i . e . the c e l l s are not mere copies of t h e i r predecessors but have di f f e r e n t c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s - - some become skin c e l l s , others keratinous, yet others become bone, muscle or nerve c e l l s , others go o f f into the c i r c u l a t o r y system as red or white blood c e l l s . Moreover the c e l l s are not merely d i f f e r e n t i a t e d from each other, but also, with high probability, as soon as they are

made}become functional, a s s i s t i n g i n the normal bodily processes, and moreover function together i n a coordinated way not only i n respect of the day to day metabolism of the organism but also in regard to the continued harmonious growth of the organism. The whole process i s calle d "morphogenesis" from the Greek morphe meaning "shape" or "form", and genesis, meaning origin, creation, development, or coming into being, and d i c t i o n a r i e s of biology define "morphogenesis" as "the development of form and structure".

In a century of embryological research b i o l o g i s t s have discovered remarkably l i t t l e about the way i n which the astoundingly complex process of morphogenesis i s regulated so that " i t unfolds with confounding precision". The sentence in quotes i s the s u b t i t l e to an a r t i c l e on embryology by Stephen S. H a l l which appeared i n the November issue of Science 85• The a r t i c l e gives no indication of any f a m i l i a r i t y with Sheldrake's ideas and i s therefore a l l the more cogent in drawing attention to the morphogenetic problem. E n t i t l e d "The Fate of the Egg',' i t commences by saying "The b i o l o g i s t s who investigate nature's deepest and longest-running mystery often use the term fate map to describe the s t a r t l i n g transformations that l i e i n store for the f e r t i l i z e d egg". It goes on to quote a remark by Rudolf J a f f of Indiana University and William J e f f e r y of the University of Texas in 1983 "Embryology appears to be unique among modern experimental d i s c i p l i n e s i n biology i n not only s t i l l possessing but s t i l l celebrating i t s ancient unsolved problems".

The term "morphogenetic f i e l d " had i t s o r i g i n i n embryology some f i f t y or more years ago.* A l l that was implied was that at any instant during the growth process the biochemical contents of the mass of c e l l s constituting the organism had a structure which was always changing i n time and varied not only from c e l l to c e l l but from one side of a c e l l to the other. Thus i t comprised an enormous number of concentration gradients. I t was th i s pattern that determined at each moment what happened to any new c e l l . I t was th i s "structure" constituted momentarily at any instant by the t o t a l i t y of d i f f u s i n g biochemical substances -- enzymes, proteins, and others -- that "guided" the developmental process.

As w i l l be seen, the "M.F.", i . e . "morphogenetic f i e l d " was, even i n embryology, more a useful concept than an explanation of embryological development. This i s so even i f only because the f a n t a s t i c complications of the multitude of biochemical substances i n the l i v i n g c e l l , and the

extraordinarily large number of t h e i r interactions makes the process unpredictable i n terms of reduction to ordinary physics and chemistry. However many b i o l o g i c a l thinkers such as Hans Drieschjearly in t h i s century and l a t e r Gurwitsh and Weiss have looked f o r something more than the purely biochemical morphogenetic f i e l d . More generally, various philosphers, ranging from General Smuts to A l f r e d North Whitehead have advocated a " h o l i s t i c " or "organismic" theory of r e a l i t y ; nature i s seen as composed of heirarchies of autonomous l e v e l s of wholeness and organization. (Arthur Koestler f e l i c i t o u s l y called them "holons"). Thus the c e l l i s more than the sum of i t s parts, but i s i t s e l f subordinate to the whole organism.

Rupert Sheldrake's own approach, while subsuming many aspects of the theses of these fore-runners, has some t o t a l l y new features. He e n t i t l e s i t the Hypothesis of Formative Causation, and presents i t as a set of six main postulates.

1. The universe functions not so much by fixed laws as by habit patterns. The more deeply ingrained the habit, the more e f f e c t i v e l y timeless or "absolute" i t appears. Newer patterns are less strongly fixed, and can actually be observed "growing up".

2. These habit patterns are carried across both space and time, - from the past to the present - by morphogenetic f i e l d s , or "M-fields". Like the f a m i l i a r f i e l d s of e l e c t r i c i t y , magnetism, and gravitation, they are intangible, and can be inferred only from th e i r influence on tangible things. But unlike these more f a m i l i a r f i e l d s M-fields are highly detailed and carry tremendous amounts of "information".

3. M-fields have no energy of t h e i r own i n the usual sense, but rather act as "blueprints" or "guide r a i l s " f o r known phenomena. They act on material systems at the subtle quantum l e v e l , giving form and d i r e c t i o n to otherwise vague and indeterminate processes.

k. L i v i n g things "tune i n " to appropriate sequences of physical, behavioral and psychological M-fields throughout t h e i r l i f e cycles, through a process calle d "morphic resonance" - the resonance of l i k . e upon l i k e . The genetic material of a species provides the "tuning system".

5. When an organism learns a new behaviour or extends an;! existing capacity, t h i s new q u a l i t y i s fed back into the related M-fields, by the same process of morphic resonance. Repeated by enough individuals, the new conditions becomes part of the "nature" of the species. Propagation i s worldwide and e f f e c t i v e l y instantaneous.

6. The s t a b i l i z i n g influence of morphogenetic f i e l d s i s not absolute but p r o b a b i l i s t i c : M-fields interact with nature's random and creative forces. In t h i s way, habit and innovation work i n a kind of dynamic balance, which would account f o r nature's endless variations on established themes, evolutionary leaps between periods of s t a b i l i t y , and so fo r t h .

We are indebted to Dr. Bruce Pomeranz, Professor of Zoology i n the University of Toronto f o r a valuable commentary on Formative Causation.

1. The role of formative causation i s to impose order (or form) on the outcome of processes which themselves conform to the ordinary energetic requirements of physics e.g. the law of conservation of energy, but the regulative function of formative causation i t s e l f involves no energetic transactions.

2. Formative causation functions through morphogenetic f i e l d s (MF).

3> In the case of inorganic structures new MFs are s w i f t l y established. Newly synthesized chemicals shouldn't have M-fields f o r t h e i r crystals, so they should be very d i f f i c u l t to c r y s t a l l i z e at f i r s t but es i e r as time goes on. Crystallographers say "Everyone knows that things get easier to c r y s t a l l i z e as time goes on. I t ' s in the elementary textbooks as just one of the established f a c t s " . Again they say people get better at doing i t , which may, of course, be true. But that doesn't explain why contaminated crystals turn up a l l at once i n si m i l a r i n d u s t r i a l processes around the world, where people are trying not to produce them. Another explanation i s that "seed" cr y s t a l s tra v e l around as dust p a r t i c l e s i n the a i r , to s e t t l e out i n the test tubes i n labs around the world, or that they are carried from lab to lab on the clothing or the beards of migrant s c i e n t i s t s ! This too i s conceivable, i f somewhat implausible, but again, proper experimental design can rule out such explanations.

A l l sciences have t h e i r f o l k l o r e , by the way, and it's always very revealing. The anomalous phenomena ,that people recognize and talk about i n pubs a f t e r hours but can't explain, reside i n t h i s area. They don't get into textbooks except in the most general terms. However: with l i v i n g forms the setting up of new MFs i s a slower process but none the less i s r e a l . Once a primitive organism developed a primitive thumb or "proto-thumb" the r e s u l t i n g MF encouraged th i s channel of development i n i t s descendents. To a degree the B r i t i s h embryologist, C.H. Waddington may be said to have anticipated this feature of formative

causation with his concept of genetic "canalization" of which he also spoke as being a "creode", functioning over time .

^. An M.F. works by a process which can be called "resonance". This only bears an analogy to mechanical or e l e c t r i c a l resonance. Whatever the object whose development i s being regulated, i t obtains i t s guidance from an ex i s t i n g MF by a kind of "tuning i n " .

5- An MF i s nonlocalized i n space or time. This i s possible because i t i s not based on matter or energy. Similarly, i t s operation i s not limited by physical conditions i n the way that transfer of matter or energy i s circumscribed. Thus, there i s no l i m i t a t i o n preventing instantansous transfer of information. In t h i s respect i t resembles quantum theory phenomena l i k e the EPR effect, i . e . the Einstein-Podolfsky-Rosen e f f e c t .

6. The MF theory does not seek to explain o r i g i n a l causation, and implies a reasonable degree of conservatism i n b i o l o g i c a l species and i n the universe generally.

?. Formative causation i s independent of c h e i ^ a l i t y , i . e . of "handedness". Thus the l e f t hand i s the same as the right hand geometrically; the hands are e s s e n t i a l l y congruent and point f o r point reconcilable under four dimensional rotation.

8. Formative causation seems toJ form independently of scale. Thus a li m i t e d interference wixh the developmental process can a l t e r the scale without modifying the form. That i s to say the MF resonates with geometrically similar, even i f not geometrically congruent, forms. Thus i n 1939 Weiss showed that i f one took an egg of the dragonfly Platycnemis pennipes, and constricted i t at the middle by tying, then the posterior h a l f would develop.into a complete normal embryo except f o r being h a l f - s i z e ! <r

9. Formative causation does not operate i n a r i g i d l y deterministic way. The MF defines a f i n a l form of maximal probability, but the form i s subject to some s t a t i s t i c a l v a r i a t i o n , and not absolutely specified.

10. The morphogenetic f i e l d of a structure higher i n the h i e r a r c h i c a l scheme conditions the operation of component structures, which by reason of being components are subordinated to the MF of the higher structure. Thus the MF of a thumb

modifies and conditions the MFs of the component c e l l s and the MF of each c e l l conditions the MFs of subsystems i n the c e l l such as the n u c l e o l i , the Golgi apparatus, the endoplasmic reticulum, the DNA and the various RNAs and other inclusions.

11. Thus, although the MF of each component operates with a degree of autonomy and s t a t i s t i c a l uncertainty the MF of the composite structure coordinates the e f f e c t s of the lower MFs and s t a b i l i z e s the f i n a l form. S i m i l a r l y the same f i n a l form can be attained by several d i f f e r e n t paths, as i n "convergent evolution"} in A u s t r a l i a , f o r example, the marsupial group of animals have evolved p a r a l l e l forms to dogs, cats, mice, bats, anteaters, bears, and many other mammalian types that occur on other continents.

The theory also predicts that the M-fields of long-extinct species should s t i l l be around, and^through these kinds of tuning s h i f t s , s u f f i c i e n t l y s imilar species could pick up some of t h e i r c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s . I t ' s quite an amazing thought r e a l l y , but think of a t e l e v i s i o n analogy: destroying a TV receiver wouldn't have the s l i g h t e s t e f f e c t on the broadcasting s t a t i o n . I f you looked into the l i t e r a t u r e on teratology -the study of freaks and monstrosities - you f i n d numerous examples of mutant types c a l l e d atavisms, or reversions to remote ancestral forms. Examples would include three-toed horses, and human babies born with t a i l s . (Compare the Drosophila mutant i l l u s t r a t e d below).

12. In the formative causation system of ideas memory i s a resonance with previous conscious states. In remembering, a brain would be tuning in to i t s own past states stored i n an MF and not within i t s physical s e l f . (We can see how t h i s might overcome problems constituted by "reincarnation" memories). This idea coheres well with that of S i r John Eccles, one of the world's greatest neurphysiologists, that the mind i s not to be found i n the brain. He has postulated that mind, though non-material,can influence (by non-energetic means) the p r o b a b i l i t y that a synaptic nerve junction i n the brain w i l l fire.9 13. Habit i s a "morphogenetic f i e l d " of the i n d i v i d u a l . I n s t i n c t i s an MF of the species. Does t h i s f a c t imply the truth of the most famous of Lamark's hypotheses, namely the inheritance of acquired c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s , at l e a s t those of a behavioural kind? In t h i s connection i t would seem that any serious thinkers should be prepared to review William McDougall's celebrated (or notorious) experiment on the hereditary transmission of acquired s k i l l i n laboratory r a t s .

McDougall's experiment commenced at Harvard i n 1920 and measured the speed of learning by laboratory white rats of the purebred Wistar s t r a i n on how to escape from a tank of water. I t was found that l a t e r generations progressively showed more a b i l i t y , a Lamarkian type of r e s u l t . The hi s t o r y of the several repetitions of t h i s kind of study i n other laboratories i s a complex one. These studies are quoted sometimes i n genetics textbooks as being v i t i a t e d by certain errors of experimental technique or of interpretation and therefore not supportive of Lamarkian e f f e c t s . However i t i s possible to come away from reading up of the whole thing with the impression that f o r some not e a s i l y explained reason, once a thing has been learned i t i s easier f o r i t to be done again. Thus does every success set up a morphogenetic f i e l d that enhances the p r o b a b i l i t y of l a t e r successes? This t i e s i n with the possibly "false hare", or perhaps "red herring" started by L y a l l Watson i n his stimulating book L i f e t i d e (Hodder and Stoughton, London, 1979)» in which he references learning among Japanese macaque monkeys. The ide has become quite wellknown as the "Hundredth Monkey" e f f e c t .

Ik. Irrespective of whether the "Hundredth Monkey" ef f e c t i s fact or f o l k l o r e (as Watson miself hints i t may be), i t seems to be the case that new behaviour patterns on occasion spread with exceptional r a p i d i t y through animal populations. An example i s the t i t s i n England. These l i t t l e birds quite suddenly developed the s k i l l of using t h e i r beaks to peck through the t i n - f o i l seals of milk bottles put by the milk deliverers outside people's doors. I t i s speculated that some genius b i r d discovered t h i s approach to fresh milk, and by imitation the a b i l i t y spread through the entire t i t population of the B r i t i s h I s l e s . What was surprising was the r a p i d i t y with which the s k i l l was diffused. This suggests that i t may be i n the f i e l d of learning behaviour that the MF hypothesis may be most e a s i l y tested. We have attached a number of newly occurring situations i n the area of animal behaviour that might well be followed up. (See Sheldrakiana, from the Fortean Times, and "Aussies f i g h t giant-toad invasion"). More generally we may note that i n t e r s s t i n formative causation as a testable hypothesis has evoked several offers of prizes f o r suggestions as to good experiments.

We are indebted to Dr. Ralph Jessup f o r the following comments on formative causation. I t could be claimed perhaps that the Sheldrake hypothesis, while having a great deal of truth i n i t and possessing a degree of importance, i s not t o t a l l y new but represents an independent rediscovery of the hypothesis of "hidden variables" as advocated by various ph y s i c i s t s , e s p e c i a l l y Dr. David Bohm (See Wholeness and the Implicate Order, 1980, Ark Paperbacks, Routledge and Kegan Paul, London). Hidden variable or implicate order theory bases i t s e l f on empirical physical facts belonging p r i n c i p a l l y

to quantum theory, such as the exclusion p r i n c i p l e and the ERP e f f e c t (Einstein, Rosen, Podolsky effect) which imply a non-energetic, non-localized set of connections between physical e n t i t i e s that have once been associated with each other. Thus there i s a s i m i l a r i t y between the hidden causative variables or implicate order of things and the morphogenetic f i e l d s . There i s also a s i m i l a r i t y i n respect of the way i n which the past imposes behaviour on the present.

We may, i f we wish, go further and compare the Schoodinger f i e l d which i n i t s e l f i s neither material nor energetic with an M.F. On consideration the analogies are s t r i k i n g .

NOTES.

1. Sheldrake dates his interest i n these problems from about I966 when he participated i n discussion with a group of s c i e n t i s t s and philosophers at the University of Cambridge, England, who engaged in the exploration of areas between science, philosophy, and r e l i g i o n . Besides meeting frequently f o r discussion the group, "The Epiphany Philosophers", published a very interesting journal, Theoria to Theory. I t included Professor Richard Braithwaite, Professor Dorothy Emmet, Dr. Ted Bastin and others.

2. The term "morphogenetic f i e l d " seems to have been originated by the embryologist P. Weiss. I t appears Weiss himself had s l i g h t l y unorthodox or " v i t a l i s t i c " views so his use of the term i s not quite so reductionist as the one we have given here. However, be that as i t may "morphogenesis" and the idea of the related " f i e l d " became f a i r l y commonplace in the l i t e r a t u r e and most students of embryology would understand these terms i n a conventional and orthodox sense as envisaging only the operation of "ordinary" physical -chemical processes. (See P. Weiss, Pr i n c i p l e s of Development, Holt, New York, 1939).

3. Hans Driesch (1867-19^1) was an experimental embryologist. As a r e s u l t of his own researches he evolved a philosophical position with respect to biology which could be described as "vitalism". However, i t might be f a i r e r to compare Driesch's point of view to that of A r i s t o t l e (himself no mean b i o l o g i s t ) . Driesch postulated an "entelechy" - -an A r i s t o t e l i a n word "enteleche" - - an innate p r i n c i p l e drawing or guiding the organism to i t s developmental goal. Driesch became a professor of philosophy at the University of Cologne. Interestingly enough he worked i n psychical research and was President of the Society f o r Psychical Research (in England) 1926-27.

4. Similar and perhaps more s t r i k i n g experiments were done by Hans Driesch (see h i s book, Science and Philosophy of the Organism, 1908. A and C Black, London). When one of the c e l l s of a sea-urchin embryo at the two-celled stage i s k i l l e d , the remaining c e l l gives r i s e to a small but complete sea-i r c h i n .

5. The behaviour of slime moulds may r e f l e c t t h i s kind of phylogeny. Though present behaviour i s regulated i n a purely biochemical way how did i t come about i n the f i r s t place?

6. In addition to the account i n Sheldrake's book an informative and balanced discussion of McDougall type of experiments w i l l be found i n Arthur Koestler's book The Case of the Midwife Toad, Hutchinson, London, 1971. Interestingly, psychologists and g e n e t i c i s t s who are f a m i l i a r with the rat experiments are often t o t a l l y ignorant of the fact that McDougall was f a r more famous i n the world f o r his contributions to psychical research (or parapsychology - he coined the word). He was President of the Society f o r Psychical Research, 1920-21,

While on the subject of sages and savants who have contributed i n some degree to the general background of thought from which Sheldrake's ideas have emerged, we might note Henri Bergson, whose views on memory (Matter and Memory, 19H» A l l e n and Unwin, London) are mentioned by Sheldrake. He was President of the S.P.R. in 1913• S i m i l a r l y S i r A l i s t er Hardy some years back i n his book The L i v i n g Stream (C o l l i n s , London, 1965) raised important questions as to how the c e l l s i n l i v i n g organisms or colonies communicate with each other. S i r A l i s t e r was not only one of the most eminent of B r i t i s h b i o l o g i s t s but from 1965-1966 was President of the S.P.R.

An example of regulation. On the left is a normal embryo of the dragonfly Platycnemis pennipes. On the right is a small but complete embryo formed from the pos­terior half of an egg tied around the middle soon after hying. (After Weiss, 1939.)

A normal specimen of the fruit fly Drosophila (A) and a mutant fly (B) in which the third thoracic seg­ment has been transformed in such a way that it resembles the second thoracic segment. The fly consequently has two pairs of wings instead of one.

0 1 ' 1 • 1 S » 13 17 21

Generation*

The average number of errors in successive generations of rats. (Data from McDougall, 1938.)

The migration and culmination stages of two species of slime mould. On the left are the newly-developed composite organisms, formed bv the aggregation of numerous free-living amoeboid cells. These migrate as 'slugs', and then grow upwards, differentiating into stalks bearing spore bodies. (After Bonner, 1958).

Rumours concerning the commando-style antics of the sheep of the Welsh valleys have been around for years. The animals were said to negotiate cattle grids by tiptoeing across or in some cases rolling over the obstacle. Now a film has been taken to prove it. 82yr-old Skip Morgan, of Shennybridge in Gwent, took the film in the Brecons in June 1983. "1 was amazed," he said. "I saw the sheep on the one side and thought they shouldn't be there, and then the ram started coming back. He picked his way along and across the bars as though he were walking a tightrope." The 16mm film (see photos) was shot from Mr Morgan's car.

A local councillor said the design of the grids would have to be changed. "Sheep are not as daft as people think," he said. A Ministry of Agriculture spokesman commented: "Sheep from the Welsh hillsides are particularly nimble and athletic, but the rolling-over-the-grids business is more difficult to understand. I would like to see it happening." Western Mail 17+23 June 1983.

A writer in the Guardian, for 28 Feb 1985, points out that the sheep in no other region of the British Isles seem to have yet picked up the Welsh sheep's trick of rolling across grids. Outside Britain only the lowland sheep of Sweden's Malmoehus region have manifested the technique. In allusion to Dr Rupert Sheldrake's controversial ideas on the develop­ment of non-corporeal systems governing form and behaviour, this writer says: "Among the questions which immediately arise are how long it will take the Swaledales of Yorkshire to learn, and whether, when they do, they will be demonstrating the theory of formative causation." To eliminate the remote possibility of learning by observation, the writer suggests the sheep of the Falklands be monitored as a control group. "If Sheldrake is right it is only a matter of time before the Falklands sheep assert themselves." • Another glimpse of new behaviour patterns came to light when the Asda superstore in Castleton, in Greater Manchester, was prosecuted after bird droppings were found in its ham. According to the Daily Telegraph 23 July 1985 the manager explained that the local sparrows and starlings were cleverly beating all attempts to keep them out of the large building. It was, he said, a common problem these days when the large covered open-plan spaces offered warmth, food, water, perches and no predators. "No wonder they want to stay," he added. When strong blasts of air at the doors failed to keep them out, the supermarket installed heavy ribbon curtains. This worked for a while, but the crafty birds now ride in on the backs of forklift trucks. The store lost its case and was fined on two counts. • In the meantime Rupert Sheldrake has asked if Fortean Times readers know of any occurrences of simultaneous action among plants or animals similar to what happened to the musk (Mimulus moschatus), a flowering plant discovered in British Columbia in 1824. It was widely cultivated as a house-plant for its lingering musk-like scent, used to relieve the musty damp of houses before the invention of the damp course. Suddenly, in 1913, the flowers of musk plants all over the world completely lost their perfume, as far as anyone can tell, at the same time. Roy Genders,author of The Cottage Garden (Pelham, London, 1969), thinks this might have happened because the plant reverted to its original scentless and hairless form, but this does not explain how it should have happened "in all gardens at the same time."

If you know of any other examples of this kind of simultaneous change, please write in.

S T R A N G E D A Y S / 1 9

New Horizons Research Foundation Paper 14 The original copy deposited at the University of Manitoba Department of Archives and Special Collections contains more pages than this digital copy. Due to the time that would be involved in seeking usage permissions, the pages listed below have been omitted from this digital copy which is being made freely available for research and educational purposes.

Page(s) 13-21 Daniel Drasin, “Interview: Rupert Sheldrake, PhD,” New Realities,

volume 5, number 5 (December 1983), pp. 8, 10-15, and 54-55. 22-28 Michael D. Swords, “Morphogenic Fields and the Interlinkage of

Things across Space and Time: The Hypothesis of Rupert Sheldrake,” INFO Journal, volume 10, number 2 (June 1985), pp. 2-8.

29-34 Susan Blackmore, “Is This the Secret of Life?: British Scientist Proposes that Invisible Blueprints from the Past Form the Future,” Fate, volume 38, number 9, issue 426, pp. 32-42.

35 William D. Marbach, “A New Theory of Causation; Or a Book to be Burned?,” Newsweek (7 July 1986), p. 64.

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TRENDS AND IDEAS

Scientists' test: Can learning be contagious? By Michael Kernan Tie Washington Post $ojne Cambridge students were

*i0wn a string of characters from fee Persian language mixed in .frith similar shapes that had no -meaning. When the students, who -htid no knowledge of Persian, later tried to reproduce these cnarac­ters from memory, they were far more successful with the real ones than with the nonsense characters. - Is it possible that the millions of Persians who had been drawing those characters for centuries created a worldwide force field, a Kind of resonance, that guided the 'students'hands?

The experiment won first prize for a British psychology professor named Alan PickeriagTn as lntrl-gQing competition. He shares $16,500 with Yale psychiatrist ~>ry E. Schwartz, whose project

roiving recognition of Hebrew yds won him a tie. for first, and den Mahlberg, a Wisconsin psy-Bogist, who came in third.

T~ Competttkm *The prizes were awarded the oXher day st the Tarrytown House Executive Conference Center in jarrytbwn, N.Y, home of Robert Schwartz's unconventional think-tank for expanding the horizons of Xmericah leaders. •• ..The competition has been going

JBfor four years and has attracted almost 600 responses from 12 countries. The object was to find .Ways of testing Dr.-Rupert Shel­drake's startling Theory of Form-5Bve Causation: the idea that learning is contagious; that any re­peated behavior forms an energy Jieid, a "morphic resonance," that

Vers the globe and makes it essi-for others to learn the behavior,

hen Sheldrake's book "A New _ ence of Life" came out In Eng­land in 1981, the important British Magazine Nature was so shocked it •lied the book "the best candidate

burning there has been for iy years?'

. s „ut now, it appears, the sclentif-^ establishment, the mainstream, * 3 (Sheldrake prefers to call it, is .Mfring more attention. Possibly a a le of morphic resonance right tMre. -4Tie reason for the hostility is

Education that Sheldrake's hypothesis goes straight to the most basic scientific concepts. For example, he suggests that the morphogenetic field has a role in deciding what pattern a life form takes.

How, he asks, do embryonic oeQs with absolutely identical DNA know to develop, one into a kidney, one into a heart and so on? How does a fingernail know to grow back in its original form?

"Plato held that somewhere there was an eternal, archetypal fingernail," he once remarked. "I say that the field is caused by actu­al fingernails of the past, a kind of pooled memory." ,

Chemists are familiar with the fact that a new compound is dif­ficult to crystallize.when first synthesized. But each time after that, it gets easier. Sheldrake es­cribes this to the influence of the previous crystals. - '

Meanwhile, things are happen­ing in Britain in spite of Nature magazine. The Open University there is planning some experi­ments in the biology and psychol­ogy labs. "They Just have to pay a stipend

to some graduate students and they're off and running," said Shel­drake."This means the Idea is get­ting into the scientific main­stream. It's a three-year project and would cost about $13,000. It could make a real difference."

He has other plans, too. At Christmas time he hopes to moni­tor the marketing of a new puzzle in England and to study how fast people learn to solve it One recalls the Ruble's Cube uproar a few years ago: At first it was so hard to solve that people actually publish­ed books on the subject, but soon it became relatively easy to solve, and faded from sight

The most appealing thing about Sheldrake's hypothesis is that, as he often points out, it can be proved or disproved quite easily, with fairly simple and Inexpensive experiments. No need for 'endless theoretical debate. This is one rea­son why the more adventurous foundations take so much interest in him.

He is getting some funding, for instance, from the non-profit Inter national Center for Integrate Studies in New York.

Kxperuuvm And there is the Tarrytown

test Soon after Sheldrake's came out, the centre $10,000 for the best expe The Tiger Trust In Holland $5,000 more, and Meyster of West Germany kicked in $1

Most of the entries came North America and Europe, few from Africa, India and A lia. They were sent by che dentists, psychotherapists, w. engineers and homemakers. ideas involved animal exp ments, and there were some the Tarrytown staff never quite understand. A few pe wrote to say the whole thing blasphemous.

Sheldrake was interested thai three winners were working words (the third-prize winner

tested a learning test with real ogus Morse code signals).

I think they're all very «x said the scientist, who holds grees from Cambridge and Hi vard. "They're extremely encot aging, especially since they can confirmed without much cost could test all kinds of languages I've done some work myself wi Hindu words. I think the thing remember is that this is not just academic interest. It could be vei important in the future of educ tlon."

It could also, as he well know build a bridge between the conven tlonal science world and the shadowy world of the paranormal Scientists who now simply turn their backs on such notions as te­lepathy and ESP, refusing even entertain the possibilities, ma soon be forced to consider them.

Sheldrake, faithful to the ideals of the scientific method, sticks to his experiments: Try it and see.

TII £ C U A Ii DI A N' Wednesday July 30 19S6

Kuperi Sheldrake: picture by Frank Martin

Rupert Sheldrake on a test of the collective memory

w a y s CAN YOU recognise words written in Hebrew? Probably >ou can, without even know­ing it. In recent experiments carried out in the psychology department at Yale Univer­sity, Professor Gary' Schwartz has found that people who do not know Hebrew are able to distinguish between real words written in Hebrew script and false words com­posed of the same letters in a scrambled order.

Schwartz selected 40 three-letter words from the Hebrew Old Testament, 20 of them common and the other 20 rare. He then made meaning­less anagrams of each, giving 80 words in all. Dozens of Yale students who did not know Hebrew were shown the words one by one in a' random order and asked to guess the meaning of each, writing down the first English word that came into their heads. They were then asked to estimate on a 0-4 scale the confidence they felt in their guess.

Their guesses of the mean­ings were all wrong. But, remarkably, they reported feeling more confident about their guesses when they were viewing tha true words than the scrambled words. They seemed to have an intuitive awareness of the correct forms of the words; and Schwartz found that this effect was roughly twice as strong with the common words than the rare words. The effects were highly sig­nificant statistically.

Schwartz carried out these experiments to test for the effects of morphic resonance, a process whereby something which has boen learned by many members of a species should become easier for others to learn, even in the absence of any known means of connection or communica­tion. This kir.d of collective memory is an essentia) feature of the hypothesis of formative causotion, des­cribed in my book A New Soionee of Life.

Th;.- hypothesis stirred up

considerable controversy in the scientific world when I first proposed it five years ago, and in 1932 the Tarry­town Group of New York offered a $10,000 prize for the best lest of the hypothesis, either supporting or refuting it. A second Drize was offered by a Dutch foundation, and a third by my German publishers.

The competition closed early this year, and the inter­national panel of judges (Prof David Bohm of London Uni­versity, Prof David Deamer of the University of California, Prof Marco de Vries of the Erasmus University, Rotter­dam and Prof Michael Oven-den of Mic University of Urrcish v.V.r.i'sibia) selected Schwartz as of the win­ners. Tied wiih him in first place was Alan Pickering, a psychologist at JIatiield Poly­technic, who quite indepen­dently devised and per­formed a similar experiment using real and scramble! Persian words, written in Persian script (which resem­bles Arabic).

Pickering showed students one of these words for ten seconds, and then asked them to draw it. Their repre­sentations of the real words turned out to be very signifi­cantly better than those of the scrambled words. As in Schwartz's experiment, the subjects were not told the purpose of the tests, nor did they know that some of the words involved were meaningless.

Schwartz and Pickering both concluded that their results were consistent with the predictions of the hypo­thesis of formative causation. At the recent prize-giving ceremony in New York, they pointed out that the true words have been read by mil­lions of Jewish and Persian people over the years, and that this could have enabled the American and British students to recognise the writien patterns uncons­ciously.

The third prize-winner, Arden Mahiberg, a psycholo­gist in Madison, Wisconsin, also obtained resuks consis­tent with the hypothesis in experiments involving Morse code. Subjects ignorant of this code were given learning tasks involving either the normal M«rse code or a new code formed by assigning the dots and dashes to different letters of the alphabet. The real code, which has of course been learned by mil­lions of people, turned out to be easier than tha new one.

An alternative explanation could have been that these results simply depend o:i recognisable patterns in the written words or code which ; have nothing to do with mor- • phic resonance or collective j memory. AU three psycholo- i gists carefully considered this possibility.

Schwartz tested all his sub­jects a second time, now tell­ing them that half of the words were real and tha others false and asking them to guess which were which. The results were no belter than chance, showing that the subjects were unable to do consciously what they had already done unconsciously.

Moreover, both Schwartz and Pickering asked their colleagues in the field of cog­nitive psychology to work out which words were real and which false en the basis of their structural patterns. They could not do so with any significant success.

New experiments using Hindi words are already in progress, and further research is being designed to provide yet more critical tests for the effects of forma­tive causation. If indeed mor­phic resonance is involved in the acquisition of knowledge, the implications will be very far-reaching For example, it might hi possible to df-viso new educational methods to lake more efi'eeiivc advan­tage of this hitherto unsus­pected boost to learning.