Readers of this publication will know that experiments, proving that the stars work in earthly substances, have been carried out for many years.

These statements caused me to search for a scientific method which would lead eventually to proofs. I chose Capillary-Analysis, a method which I had used previously in proving the effective working of potencies, and which, later on, I developed in many ways.

After Dr. Steiner had read through and approved of my two manuscripts on potencies, he gave me a number of new tasks, amongst which was: "Study the formative forces of the following plants ... .". These formative forces were to be found by working plant extracts into filter paper. Dr. Steiner's original statement led to no result. Therefore, he gave further advice later, suggesting that salts should be used as an aid. He did not specify which kinds of salts. From the year 1924 onwards my experiments, showing that the planets work in metal-salts, were linked with further experiments studying the "formative forces" in the plant kingdom.

Capillary-analysis which deals with substances, was developed into Capillary-Dynamolysis. This is concerned with the working of forces, hidden within matter, which cannot be grasped by ordinary chemical analysis of substances.

In 1927 it was possible to prove that during a solar eclipse the normal working of a gold-salt is changed; the sun reacts on a gold-salt. So in the course of years, experiments showed that silver-salts react to the moon; iron-salts to the planet Mars; tin-salts to the planet Jupiter; copper-salts to the planet Venus; and quick-silver salts to the planet Mercury. Nothing of the existing material on the two latter: copper and mercury, has been published so far.

In 1936 experiments with gold-chloride were carried out in Brussa, Asia Minor, through the generous financial help of Miss Roelvink. (In 1927 there was a solar eclipse which could not be studied at a place of totality). The results of the 1936 experiments were published in the same year in the "Mitteilungen" of the Biological Institute at the Goetheanum Number 5. This Number also contained the results of experiments during a partial eclipse of the sun on 30th June 1935, visible in the Arctic Ocean, Greenland, northern Asia and northern Europe; and, furthermore, results of experiments made during the partial eclipse of the sun on 30th July 1935, visible at the South Pole and in the Antarctic Ocean. So Also were the results of experiments made during the annular eclipse of the sun on 21st August 1933, which was visible in Middle Europe, but only as a partial eclipse.

Later on, there were published, --this time in the English language--studies concerning the total eclipse of the sun on 20th May 1947. The line of this eclipse ran between the southern part of South America, the Atlantic Ocean and Central Africa. It was partially visible at the Cape of Good Hope and in Johannesburg. Therefore it was not visible in England. Many scientific expeditions traveled to the zone of totality. My experiments took place in England. The results were published later in the same year, in September 1947.

This year, 1961, again owing to the generous help of friends interested in my work, I was able to travel to a place in the zone of totality. A medical man, Mr. Christian Gartner, who wanted to take photographs of this eclipse himself, thought that I should be given an opportunity to follow a solar eclipse, with my experiments, at a place of totality. With the cooperation of the "Arbeitsgemeinschaft anthroposophischer Arzte", (working community of anthroposophical Doctors), Mr. Gartner, with great enthusiasm, collected a fund, covering the expenses of a journey from England to Italy; the costs of necessary materials, such as gold-chloride, for the experiments; also the not insignificant expenses of photographing the results. Here I would like to express my cordial thanks to Mr. Gartner, Dr. Strempel, Miss Astrid Strempel and Miss Weleda Gartner, as well as all the other friends who contributed to the achievement of this expedition. It was very important to me to be able to study this eclipse at the place of totality.

Each eclipse has its own individuality. In 1936 there was an eclipse in the month of June. Two days before the solar eclipse, Saturn stood square to Mars; on the 18th June Saturn became square to Mercury, and Jupiter came into opposition with the moon. On the 19th June at 1 a.m. Venus came into conjunction with the moon; one hour later, at 2 a.m. Mars was in conjunction with the moon. Two days after the solar eclipse a conjunction of Mars and Venus took place. In my publication of 1936 I drew attention to the fact that "this solar eclipse took place amidst a remarkable set of planetary conditions".

In the year 1961 we have different celestial conditions, which convey an extraordinary significant message to us.

Saturn and Jupiter were standing close to the sun. On 5th January there was a conjunction of Jupiter and Sun on 5th January a conjunction of Saturn and Sun. On the 18th February Saturn came into conjunction with Jupiter, a so called "Great Conjunction".

On 15th February there was a total eclipse of the Sun.

The planet Mars, at the end of December 1960, was in opposition to the Sun. During the Great Conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn, we find Mars standing in opposition to these two planets, as well.

Twenty years ago, in 1940--1941, there was a threefold Great Conjunction, in which Mars also took part. (See my publication of 1952, "Saturn und Blei": an attempt to combine the study of the phenomena of Chemistry, Astronomy and Physiology). In 1961,a Great Conjunction near the Sun took place shortly after the total eclipse of the Sun. These are significant celestial events, happening in the year l961 An attempt had to be made to demonstrate them all in the experiments.

Therefore the journey was planned so that I left England on the 8th February. I arrived in Bordighera on the 10th February shortly before midnight. Immediately, that same night, the first experiments were set up. The experiments were then continued, without interruption until noon on the 16th February On the afternoon of 16th February the return journey to Stuttgart was started. Experiments were continued from 17th February, at midday, until the 21st February inclusive Then the journey to Switzerland followed, to obtain the photographs of the results of the experiments made earlier, and also to continue experiments covering the Mars-Moon conjunction on the 24th, and the Saturn-Moon and Jupiter-Moon opposition on the 25th February. The results of these experiments were also photographed. On the 27th February, Dr. Steiner's birthday, the return journey back to England began. It was a great joy to be able to bring this work to a successful conclusion just on Dr. Steiner's hundredth birthday anniversary. This work was again a confirmation of the validity of Dr. Steiner's indications The experiments proved that planetary forces work effectively in metal solutions. It would be ideal if details and pictures of all these experiments could be published. At present this does not seem possible. Therefore fourteen characteristic pictures have been chosen from more than 400 photographs (which again are only a proportion of all those of the experiments carried out).

The preparations for the solar eclipse, as well as for the Great Conjunction, began in December 1960, at times previously calculated: 2 hours before sunrise, at sunrise, at the beginning of the eclipse, at the middle of the eclipse, at the end of the eclipse, and a few hours beyond. In Bordighera the sunrise was at 7 hours 32 minutes 20 seconds. The beginning of the partial eclipse was at 7.24 a.m. The middle of the totality was 8 hours 34 minutes and 6 seconds. The end of the partial eclipse was at 9.44 a.m. Only occasionally was a day omitted. There were similar preparations for the Great Conjunction. Here unfortunately statements of different times were given. The calendar published by the Mathematical Astronomical Section of the Goetheanum put the Great Conjunction at 1 a.m. on the 19th February. Other astronomical calendars said 18th February at 4 p.m. This is a difference of nine hours. Mr. Gartner telephoned the observatory and asked for a statement of the exact time. Again it was given as 4 p.m. on the 18th February. As a precautionary measure, all the experiments were made at both times. This made considerably more work. But since inaccuracies in the statements of time have been found often, this extra work was unavoidable.

The following series of experiments were set up:

1. Gold-chloride(1/2% solution).


2. 1% Gold-chloride plus 1% Silver-nitrate mixed in equal parts.


3. . 1% Silver-nitrate allowed to rise first in the filter paper Then, at different times: before, during and after the eclipse, 1% Gold chloride allowed to rise in the filter paper.


4. 1% Silver-nitrate plus 1% Iron-sulphate, mixed in equal parts.


5. 1% Silver-nitrate plus 1% Iron-sulphate plus 1% Lead nitrate, mixed in equal parts


HORIZONTAL METHOD


6. 1/2% Gold-chloride


7. 1/2% Gold-chloride plus 1% Silver-nitrate. mixed in equal parts.


8. 1% Gold-chloride at first "sucked-up" in filter paper. (With this method "sucking-up" is a more accurate description than "rising") 1% Silver-nitrate was added at the corresponding times of the eclipse.


9. 1% Silver-nitrate at first sucked up. then 1% Gold chloride


10. 1% Silver-nitrate plus 1% Iron-sulphate, mixed in equal parts.


11. 1% Silver-nitrate plus 1% Iron-sulphate plus 1% Lead nitrate, mixed In equal parts.

These eleven series meant uninterrupted activity from morning until morning again. At the most, there was two hours free for resting. It is strenuous activity, beginning with writing particulars of the experiment on the filter paper; preparing the solutions; observing the process of the rising of the solutions in the filter paper; drying the results; and finally cleaning and rinsing the glass dishes which have been used. It should be remembered that this uninterrupted activity had to be carried on in Bordighera continuously from the 11th to the 16th of February. These remarks are only included for the benefit of those who want to make such experiments in a conscientious way. They give an approximate impression of the amount of time necessary.

For this brief report, the Number 8 Series (Horizontal Method) is taken, illustrated by a few typical pictures.

Picture 1. The dark kernel originates from the sucked-up Gold chloride. The white point in the center is the hole for the supply of the solution, into which is dipped a one centimeter long filter paper "wick". The Gold-chloride expands quickly in the filter paper. One can either determine the quantity of the liquid in advance, or break off the process of sucking when the center has reached a certain expansion. During and after the drying, different delicate tones of color develop. Starting the description from the center, there is at first a pale yellow zone, which gradually passes over into peach-blossom pink, then bluish-violet (a dark ring in Picture 1). This is followed by a somewhat lighter ring (pink-violet) and is finished with a dark violet ring. The colors in the whole picture are very delicate.

The Silver-nitrate is added, which flows at first more slowly through the Gold-chloride picture, and then quickly through the white surface of the filter paper. During the "coming into being", that is, in the moist condition, the formation of the inner kernel remains almost untouched in its color. The change sets in a little later. In consequence, the colors are very beautiful. There is a bluish-violet kernel, with a frame of Silver-nitrate, which on the outside, gradually takes on a brownish coloring. During the drying process, the picture begins to change. The silver comes into conflict with the gold. The yellowish center takes on a slightly brownish coloring, the light violet becomes covered with a gray veil. The violet-pink tones of the gold can still be seen shining through. The broad, light outer ring shows a mixture of silver-gray, light brown tones; the border is a sharply contoured dark brown line, which sometimes looks almost black. This is followed by a delicately frilled end zone.

The end product is an oval or egg form. This arises partly from the fact that the sucking" capacity of the filter paper varies; it is different across the paper from the direction at right angles to this. Under certain conditions this difference can be eradicated, and an almost perfect circle can arise.

Picture 1 was obtained on 11th February 1961 in Bordighera. The Silver-nitrate was added to the gold picture at 9.33 a.m. This corresponds to the point of time of the totality on the 15th February.

Picture 2. Made on 12th February, at the same time, shows a few changes. The colors are clear, beautiful and similar to those of the previous picture. The egg form is enclosed by a well-defined, dark, slightly wavy line. The edge is more sharply pronounced than that of the previous picture. The greatest change is in the Silver band which winds in mobile, wavy lines sometimes above, sometimes below the border line. The whole is surrounded by a narrow light brown zone. This picture gives the impression that the Silver has become "more alive" in its formative forces.

Picture 3. The result obtained on l3th February shows a progressive change in the effect of the forces. The picture is softer, looser. The colors are still beautiful. The egg form begins to dissolve a little; the sharp outer borderline is missing; the "egg" is hollowed in at the edge. The more living wavy line of Picture 2 is still recognizable but it has become more loosened.

Picture 4. The result of 14th February showed further progress of the loosening. Between the inner gold kernel and the outermost border a strongly-waved, brownish zone has again been inserted. It can be noticed that the "egg" form has become more rounded.

Picture 5. On 15th February at 8 a.m., during the partial eclipse, a further loosening shows itself in the Silver-nitrate. An observant reader can probably still notice that between the gold kernel and the border of the picture there are still remains of the wavy zone present in Picture 3. The outermost border is finely indented and strongly differentiated from the previous results. The egg shape is somewhat distorted.

Picture 6. On 15th February 8.30 a.m. The oval gold kernel is surrounded by a brown silver radiation, which is also distorting the egg-shape. It looks as if the whole form is drawn together. The brown tone was visible immediately as the picture arose. But the Silver-nitrate had expanded further in the filter paper without making its presence known in color. One can find two borderlines sketched in, but so faintly that they only become visible in the photographs if the prints are over-developed from the negative, so that the picture appears much darker than the original. There seems to be only a white space contained within a light-brown, irregular outline. At a little distance away a second ring is forming, but it is only hinted at, shadow-like. Therefore it is not a drawing together, a contraction, but an expansion which has happened.

Picture 7. This is the result of the experiment at 8.33 a.m. This seems to be the most important of the series during the totality. At first the whole picture showed the silver-gray color described earlier, but it had a remarkable dark reddish-brown kernel which appears in no other experiment. Never before has it happened that Silver-nitrate has shown a reddish change of color. In a way this picture can be perceived as twofold. One half is unformed, the other radiant from within. The unformed half has a sharper outline, which breaks off and appears in the other half of the picture only at a few separate places. The dark reddish center is surrounded by a light "corona".

Picture 8. Mr. Gartner took a photograph of the corona of the sun at the same time, so these two pictures can be compared: the photograph of the sun with the moon before it; and the picture of the experiment, with the gold-chloride, over which silver-nitrate has poured. These two pictures can make a powerful impression upon the observer.

Picture 9. On 15th February 8.35 a.m. This picture shows that the distortion of the "egg shape" is proceeding further. The outer circumference is strongly indented. This is followed by a zone which has remained white, and which is contained within a shadow-like borderline not visible in the picture.

Picture 10. On 15th February 11 a.m. Here is seen the strongly distorted egg form, in so far as it is still possible to speak of an "egg form." What appears on the photographic reproduction as notches, are seen As the picture arises, during the experiment, to be delicate radiation's leading to the center. As the picture darkens, they disappear. This time the white intermediate zone has expanded strongly, and is enclosed by a black line. which forms an almost perfect circle. Beyond the black line, the end of the circle of filter paper is perceptible like a faint shadow.

Picture 11. On 15th February 12.35 p.m. The distortion of the egg form is receding a little. The pointed silver notches are becoming rounded, but we still have the white, broad, intermediate zone, and a black, very sharply drawn border line. Again the silver nitrate has drawn an almost perfect circle.

On 16th February strong after effects of the eclipse of the sun could still be seen in the working together of gold-chloride and silver nitrate. The experiments were continued in Stuttgart from 17th February onwards, and afterwards in Switzerland. Only towards the 20th February did relations in the world of matter approach normal conditions again (See Picture 12).

It was important to me that this time the research work could be spread over a wider territory than usual. The experiments began in England, and continued in Italy and then Germany; then Switzerland and back again in England. In this way astronomical events which were closely connected with each other were studied at different localities without any disturbing differences in the results. What was started in Stuttgart could be continued in Switzerland, and so on.

Four months have now passed, and during this time the pictures have changed further Some have only darkened, without changing in form. The outlines have become less clearly defined. Some have changed greatly. New photographs were taken. Pictures 1, 2 and 3 have darkened only slightly. Picture 7 has darkened very much, but the form remains unchanged. The reddish-brown kernel has become much more pronounced.

Those experiments which showed a colorless intermediate zone, such as Pictures 10 and 11 have altered most. The white zone has become brown. This result may be compared with what I have always found in earlier experiments, during a solar eclipse. The effectiveness of the gold can be extinguished completely, so that the picture may remain empty: white. Some time afterwards, the surface which has apparently remained white, that is unchanged by the silver-nitrate, becomes black. Perhaps a reminder may be given of the results during the solar eclipse of 1936.

Picture l4 is another photograph of the experiment at 12.35 p.m., taken four months later on the 18th June. This picture may be compared with Picture 11.

Picture 13 is an example of those pictures which have remained almost unchanged. It represents the experiment of 11th February at 8.33 a.m. which has been photographed again four months later. It should be compared with Picture 1. Similarly one can take Picture 12 as a comparison. The one experiment was made in Italy four days before the solar eclipse (Picture 1), and the other in Germany five days after the eclipse of the sun. (The formative forces are almost identical).

Picture 12:

Colored slides were made of most of the results of the experiments, and also of those where changes had occurred after four months.

Picture 15 is a colored reproduction of the experiment made at 8.30 a.m. on 15th February during the partial eclipse in Bordighera. This colored photograph was made four months later, on 21st June 1961. It should be compared with Picture 6, the black and white photograph taken in Switzerland a few days after the solar eclipse. In describing Picture 6 it was pointed out that the silver-nitrate had spread further than the picture indicated, that two borderlines like faint shadows were there, but that they could only be made visible by over-developing the photograph. After four months the picture had matured and now showed a brown band of silver nitrate. Producing colored reproductions is costly. Therefore in this publication there is only one colored picture. Readers are asked to exercise their imaginations, especially when looking at Pictures 10. 11 and 14, and to complete the tones of color which have emerged in the broad, white, intermediate zones, after the process of maturing.

After research, spread over more than thirty years, it has again been possible to prove, with irrefutable evidence, that "earthly substances" gold-chloride and silver-nitrate - are influenced, when in solution, by the "workings of the stars": Sun and Moon. Dr. Steiner's statements are once more confirmed by natural-scientific experiment.