Three freshmen have built an "orgone accumulator," which, they claim, collects a nearly unknown form of energy that may prove of value in the treatment of several diseases, including cancer.

The three, Jeremy H. Griffith '60, Paul A. Jordan '60, and George W. Benedict '60, built the accumulator after reading a book by Dr. Wilheim Reich, "discoverer of orgone energy." Reich is also the author of several books on psychology.

The device is a wallboard box, about one cubic foot in size, which contains a smaller box made of galvanized iron. Between the two boxes are alternating layers of rock wool and steel wool. A tube from the inside draws off the accumulated orgone.

The operation of the device, Griffith explained, is based on Reich's principles of the behavior of the energy. Orgone is attracted to both organic and metallic materials, but is absorbed by organic matter, while being repulsed on contact with metals.

The organic-and-metallic box attracts orgone, which passes into the inner box, but is prevented from escaping by the metal. The builders of the box say that the presence of the energy was detected by an increase in temperature of about one degree centigrade inside. It may also be measured on a sensitive scintillation counter, according to Reich, although the three say they have not yet tried this.

Some people, Griffith noted, can feel the flow of orgone from the box in the form of heat or in a "cool, refrehing prickling" feeling, and some feel mild electric currents at the discharge tube of the box.

The three plan to build a bigger box for more decisive results. Large-size accumulators, Reich claims, may be of therapeutic value because of the increased supply of orgone which is provided. His experiments with motors run by the energy have not yet been published.