Introduction
Pleomorphism
is basically the concept that cells,
and especially one-celled microorganisms, can change form
under certain
conditions to cells of another type. For example an example
of pleomorphism
in human cells might be the morphing of skin cells to connective tissue
cells,
or of blood cells to bone tissue. In the field of
microbiology, the
concept primarily implies that bacteria of one species might change to
bacteria
of another species under certain conditions. For example,
this theory
might allow that under certain environmental conditions, a typhoid
bacillus
could morph into a staphylococcus bacteria. In the
alternative healing world, and on the fringes of conventional
mainstream science, there are those who feel that
pleomorphism of microorganisms is widespread, and that such
pleomorphism is
how nature performs various tasks of toxin cleanup and tissue removal
in
the human body. In effect, this theory states that bacteria
simply change
to whatever form is most handily needed in the body, based upon cues
from
the body itself. Indeed, in the many parallel theories of
biological terrain assessment and adjustment, the underlying assumption
is that "infection"
by microorganism really indicates nothing more than imbalances in the
inner biochemical terrain of the body, and that if the inner terrain of
the body is allowed to normalize, then the "infectious organisms" will
cease their inflammatory activity, as their presence is no longer
needed, as determined by the interior milieu.
In
these models, bacteria and other microorganism are not seen as
dangerous, invasive or pathogenic, nor infectious, but rather as simply
responding to cues from the body that cleanup is needed.
In other words, they are seen as performing simply necessary cleanup
functions in response to cues from the local body tissues.
So, in these models, bacteria are not seen as pathogenic or aggressive,
but rather, inner biological terrain, the interior milieu of the body,
is seen as the chief determinant of the presence or absence of certain
"infectious" processes. Therefore,
in these particular pleomorphic models, the interior milieu, or inner
terrain, is seen as having primacy in determining presence or absence
of "diseases" due to microorganisms. Thus, it would make
sense that one would treat an infectious illness by simply adjusting
the inner terrain of the body
to allow it to become more healthful, thus eliminating the need for the
presence of the "infectious" organisms. Conversely, any
attempt to treat an infectious
illness with antibiotics (or hydrogen peroxide, ozone or colloidal
silver,
all of which are favorite armamentaria in the alternative healing
world)
or other "aggressive" means would be seen in most cases as
short-sighted and
merely cosmetic, as the practitioner would be attempting to treat a
symptom of a deep imbalance, rather than addressing the deep imbalance.
Further, these
theories would suggest that most, if not all, antibiotics and other
aggressive
antimicrobial means would actually further imbalance and disrupt the
inner
terrain, thus eventually leading to further degeneration.
A
number of theorists and practitioners in
the raw foods world, among many other fields of natural healing as
well, seem
to also subscribe to theories which dictate the primacy of biological
terrain.
Thus, in treating illnesses which seem to be of microbiological origin,
they
would favor simply correcting the inner terrain via dietary
modification
and other simple means. Many people in the raw foods world,
for example,
believe that the primary reason for the many health benefits derived
from
a raw foods diet is simply improvement in inner biological
terrain. This improvement in inner terrain is seen as due to
the fact that the person has ceased intake of toxic foods and rather
increased intake of truly healthful and nurturing foods, thus allowing
the body to naturally improve its inner terrain.
I
have often fielded private inquiries recently from list members seeking
more information on pleomorphism, particularly where
to find further info on this theory, and I realized this morning that I
should
probably post my recent replies to those folks on the list as
well! So here are some thoughts on where to find more
information on pleomorphism!
Off the
top of my head right now, here are a few references on general
pleomorphism of bacteria:
Beauchamp and Pasteur
Beauchamp,
a contemporary of Pasteur's, differed with Pasteur on a number of
theoretical models. Whereas Pasteur felt that bacteria were
the "all" (primary and sufficient cause) in causing illness, Beauchamp
felt that the inner terrain (biological terrain, or interior milieu)
was far more important in determining whether illness manifested or
not. Incidentally, on this point, noted philosopher Douglas
Humer reports in his excellent book on the subject that Pasteur
capitulated on his deathbed, admitting that terrain ruled.
They
also differed, as mentioned above, on
pleomorphism: Pasteur felt that it was impossible, and that bacteria
existed in numerous and separate strains or species, while Beauchamp
and his allies felt that bacteria are really one big family, and that a
bacteria (e.g., salmonella)
can revert back to a primitive prototype bacteria, which can then
re-differentiate
into a different type of bacteria altogether (perhaps an e. coli
species
or typhus). This is not so weird as it sounds: it is well-known in
modern
conventional scientific circles that cells in the human body, under the
proper
influence (hormonal, electrical fields) can revert back to primitive
cells
and then re-differentiate into a different type of specialized tissue
cell.
Robert O. Becker, MD, did a lot of work on this in the 70s and 80s, and
it
is recounted in his books on electric fields and human
health.
Royal Rife and His Colleagues in the Early 1900's
Dr.
Royal R. Rife, the developer of the Rife microscope back in the 1930's
and the inventor of the Rife Ray Beam Ray plasma healing device (back
in the 1930's and 1940's) was very much a believer in pleomorphism and
claimed to have seen ample evidence of such under his microscope. He
was rather closely allied with some mainstream East Coast academic
bacteriological researchers (Dr. Arthur Kendall, at Rockefeller
Institute) at that time
who were pushing pleo big time until the bio establishment backlashed
against them and they literally went into hiding!
If
you were to get hold of a copy of the book by investigative reporter
Barry Lynes about Rife and his work (called "The Cancer Cure that
Worked"), he has about two chapters loosely devoted to Rife's
involvement with pleo theory. Lyne's book is available almost
anywhere, including many vendors on the Web, for about $10.
Next,
if you were to do a search on "Royal Rife" and microscope, you would
come across many Web articles on Rife, many of which touch on his pleo
theories. Funny thing, the biggest thing he took heat about
from the bio establishment was his pleo theories, and not his weird
microscope. Beware if you do a search on Rife alone (no
microscope), as there are thousands of web pages devoted to the Rife
Ray
Beam device, which will lead you a bit off-topic.
Incidentally, I
happen to have 3 modern ones in my labs -- many folks claim that they
reverse Lyme disease and cataracts, as well as many other things, in
weeks; lots of
folks use them for cancer, which scares me, since most of them are not
making
dietary changes as well.
Modern Bacteriology and Pleomorphism
Incidentally,
since Kendall's time, and the terrible political attacks upon him for
his pleo models, pleomorphism has become much more accepted in
mainstream microbiology since 1960. Numerous well-known and
reputable scientists have confirmed the basics of pleomorphism, as well
as documented specific cases of pleomorphism in a number of different
species of bacteria. The related issue of the primacy of
bacterial determinism
in illness versus primacy of biological terrain is more disputed,
because
of the tremendous ripple effect which the acceptance of biological
terrain
as causative would have on the pharmaceutical industry and food
industry, as well as the reputation of many leading biochemists.
As
an example of modern scientific acceptance of pleo, two French
biologists (Sonea and Panisset) published a book in the early 1980's
entitled "A New Bacteriology", which contended that bacterial pleo was
now proven scientific knowledge, and they cited numerous articles from
various fields to support this contention.
Web Resources
There
are also quite a few web pages devoted to pleomorphism, if you were to
search on that word. However, if you do a web search on the
word, you might also want to include "bacteria" or "microorganism" as
another search term. Why? Folks in the medical community,
especially oncologists and pathologists, sometimes uses the word
"pleomorphism" in a different sense: to indicate highly variable cell
nuclei in cancerous or pre-cancerous human tissue cells.
Two
of the best web pages I have found on pleo are:
Chris Bird
The
latter link above contains a reprint of the late Christopher Bird's
article in Nexus magazine in the early 1990s on THE MYSTERY
OF PLEOMORPHIC MICROBIAL ORGANISMS. Herr Professor Doctor Enderlein
Lastly,
there is also a German medical doctor, Herr Professor Doctor Gunther
Enderlein, who was a microbiologist and researcher who studied live
blood for more than 40 years. He wrote over 300 articles and
published a compilation of some of his work in 1925 in a book entitled
"Bacteria Cyclogeny", now available in English. Dr. Enderlein
died in
1968. A few of his articles were published in "Explore! for
the Professional"
journal over the past 10 years on pleomorphism and related topics.
Indeed,
a few were also on iridology, but his iridology articles tend to lose
me!
I have his articles from "Explore! for the Professional"
somewhere,
but you can go to some web sites on Enderlein's work, at:
I wish to thank Dr Kirk Slagel, the Medical
Education Director for Pleomorphic Products SANUM, for providing me
with
much-needed additional background information about Dr. Gunther
Enderlein.
Alleged Human Macro-Scale Pleomorphism
You
didn't think I was going to let this pass without at least a mention,
did you? It seems that there are some humans, many of them
authors and lecturers who make lots of money by claiming this and other
outlandish things, who contend that animals and humans can shapeshift
at will (e.g., human to eagle and back, human to coyote to owl to fish
to dog and back), and I guess, in all fairness, that this is an example
of a type of deliberate individual pleomorphism. One of the
foremost authors in this field, some guy with a PhD in something,
teaches a course at Esalen Institute (Big Sur) each year on deliberate
shapeshifting, and claims that he has done it himself (human to animal
and back) several times. There
are also many folks who believe that a specialized deviant race of
near-immortal humans, usually called "the Athanor", many of whom are
shapeshifters, live among us undetected. Then we could get
into the mystical masters who claim that they have immortal bodies,
and have been alive for hundreds or thousands of years, and can
materialize
or de-materialize their bodies at will.
But,
I think that is straying too far afield.
Secondly,
regarding shapeshifting, a true but trivial story. When I was in the
corporate world
as a director of a large team, I developed a casual friendship with a
young man on another nearby team; we worked together on certain
projects. He was rather overweight, and he felt that this
issue
was interfering with his self-esteem, as he weighed over 360 lbs.
and was about 6 feet tall. I therefore lobbied his boss in an
attempt
to get the company to pay for him to attend the shapeshifting course at
Esalen Institute, arguing that if he could shapeshift at will into a
slim, trim, buff guy then it would help his self esteem and his work
productivity. He liked the idea and was willing to attend,
but
his rather mainstream immediate boss (my peer) would not authorize the
expenditure, despite being given a photocopy of the catalog course
description, which warranted that when the course was over, he would be
able to shapeshift at will. I also envisioned that a
shapshifter
might have other advantages as well in corporate environment.
Imagine! You could turn into an owl or a hawk in
the middle
of a boring meeting, and take a shit on everyone!