In the autumn of 1977 we had to go to Moscow twice. This time too science was not left out: Ninel Sergeyevna could not refuse an invitation from the Institute of Chemical Physics of the USSR Academy of Sciences. Experiments lay ahead with biological objects and with action on chemical reactions. And that was very interesting. We had never before encountered such a programme. So there were bound to be discoveries.
By that time we had had more than enough contacts at various levels of the hierarchical ladder of science. We were not put off by the fact that the invitation came from a junior research associate rather than from the institute's management. Despite the hostility towards “mysterious phenomena of the human psyche” that the official academic community displayed at the time, we were convinced that sooner or later the attitude towards their investigation would change.
The experiments with mice, some of which had been irradiated with a lethal dose of roentgen rays while others had been inoculated with a tumour, have been described earlier. In this chapter we shall touch on Kulagina's action on chemical reactions. The experiments were conducted by senior research associates of the Institute of Chemical Physics, Candidate of Chemical Sciences B. D. Sviridov and Candidate of Physical and Mathematical Sciences S. V. Rykov.
The scientists prepared three solutions of complex composition, having first recorded their ultraviolet spectra. The solutions were then divided into two halves. One was kept as a control, and the other was sealed in ampoules of molybdenum and quartz glass. Before the experiment began they were kept in a refrigerator for two days.
I shall not describe how the tests went; I shall only quote extracts from the protocols drawn up on 15 and 16 October 1977. One of them states that Kulagina “irradiated the solutions with the maximum possible energy for four minutes. The irradiation was carried out with contact.”
The section “Results of the experiments” says:
“1. The ultraviolet spectra of the irradiated solutions, compared with the control samples, showed a decrease in the density of the initial compounds, since consumption of the substance is observed…”
One could go on quoting, but without specialist training the extracts from these documents would hardly be understandable. One thing is clear: chemists, like physicists before them, had found a new field of knowledge for themselves, one that it is for them to sort out, not for conjurers and psychiatrists…
Besides the action on substances sealed in ampoules, photographic paper in a black light-tight envelope was irradiated, as was a plate with a luminescent layer onto which a colourless solution had been applied that becomes coloured when irradiated with light. Ninel Sergeyevna also showed the chemists the “burning effect” and warmed their hands.
The conclusion on these experiments says:
“Three sheets of unexposed photographic paper were placed in a black envelope, which N. S. Kulagina irradiated for five minutes with contact. On development, partial fogging of the photographic paper was found, the intensity of the fogging decreasing from the top sheet to the last.
When the plate with the luminescent layer was irradiated, no colouring of the substance was observed.
As a result of the irradiation of the experimenters' hands, a burn appeared on them similar to a thermal burn (approx. 60 °C) and a light burn (tan), yet the thermometer showed room temperature.”
The scientists who dared, in those difficult times, to take up the investigation of N. S. Kulagina's phenomenon within the walls of an academic institute were also able to satisfy themselves of her other abilities with her eyes blindfolded. She read large print with her fingers, “guessed” Zener cards hidden in envelopes, and so on.
We do not regard the conclusion we have on the experiments conducted in 1977 at the Institute of Physical Chemistry of the USSR Academy of Sciences as an official document. They lasted a comparatively short time, a few weeks. The results were reported in the scientific world. I have recalled them to show that sooner or later the truth finds its way.
Long-term chemical experiments began ten years later, in 1987. This time the initiative came from Doctor of Technical Sciences, Prof. L. A. Volf, who heads the Chair of Chemical Fibres at the S. M. Kirov Leningrad Institute of Textile and Light Industry. Here is what Prof. L. A. Volf himself writes about them, relating the background to our contacts:
“Although the unique psychophysiological abilities of Ninel Sergeyevna Kulagina have been studied by specialists for quite a long time, opinions as to their authenticity and effectiveness still differ.
In experiments by authoritative experimental physicists she convincingly demonstrated phenomena of biointroscopy and telekinesis; her ability to deflect the magnetic needle of a compass with a movement of her hand has been recorded in protocols.
Medical scientists have in many cases established a healing effect emanating from Kulagina's hand.
On the other hand, a number of specialists, especially physicians, reject the Kulagina phenomenon; orthodox physicians put the successful treatment of patients down to misunderstandings. The opponents' main objection rests on the fact that in this case there is no practical possibility of presenting a control group of similar patients with whom a comparison could be made. From this the conclusion is drawn that the patients may have recovered not owing to the action of Kulagina's hands but under the influence of the means of traditional medicine which they continued to use (or had used earlier).
Something similar happened to me: an extensive bilateral pneumonia persisted even after a ten-day massive course of antibiotics, which was recorded radiographically. Yet Kulagina completely cleared the inflammation in the course of three sessions (days): the clearing on the X-ray was as obvious as it was incredible. (The radiologist, taken by surprise, at first mistook this picture for disintegration of the lung.) I had the happy opportunity not only to satisfy myself personally of the efficacy of the Kulagina effect, but also to demonstrate — literally, on my own skin — the brown pigmentation left by her hands, which faded with time.
After my unusual recovery I made an attempt to verify the existence of the ‘Kulagina phenomenon’ by objective quantitative methods known from chemistry. By agreement with Ninel Sergeyevna and with the management, the experiments were carried out at the Chair of Chemical-Fibre Technology of the S. M. Kirov Institute of Textile and Light Industry. Besides the staff of the chair, they were attended by the head of the medical school cooperating with the chair, Doctor of Medical Sciences, Prof. F. V. Ballyuzek.
The method of the experiments was as follows. N. S. Kulagina was offered objects to be subjected to her action, but it was not explained what results were expected. Next, the object of the action was divided into three parts. One was left untouched (control No. 1), another was handed to N. S. Kulagina (experiment), and the third (control No. 2) to a woman on the staff of the chair, who scrupulously duplicated Kulagina's actions.
All three samples were analysed under equivalent conditions. The planned programme was extensive. Part of it remained unfulfilled, some experiments need to be repeated, and a group of objects was found on which the ‘Kulagina phenomenon’ had no effect. The latter, incidentally, was also expected, since it is perfectly obvious that if this phenomenon extended to everything, then nothing at all ought to remain after its action.
Six tests were carried out: the influence of phenomenon ‘K’ was studied:
- on the concentration of hydrogen ions (pH) in water;
- on the concentration of hydrogen ions in ethyl alcohol;
- on the behaviour of a dye — methyl orange — in aqueous solution;
- on the viscosity of an aqueous solution of sodium caseinate;
- on the breaking of acetate textile thread;
- on the surface of plastics (polystyrene).
In all six studies the action of ‘K’ was recorded, whereas in the control experiments (control No. 1 and No. 2) no changes were detected in the media and samples tested.
Briefly, the results.
Experiment one.
A test tube of distilled water was held in Kulagina's hands for twenty minutes. Every 0.5–1 minute the pH was measured with a pH meter. During this time the pH of the water fell from 6.75 to 3.0 (the temperature of the water rose from room temperature to 30 °C). Over the same time the pH in control No. 1 did not change, while in control No. 2 it changed by about 0.1 (from 6.60 to 6.68), which does not exceed the experimental error (the temperature rising in this case from 18 to 25 °C).
Experiment two.
A test tube of ethyl alcohol was held in Kulagina's hands for seven minutes, after which the formation of acid was established by means of an indicator and litmus paper.
In control experiments No. 1 and No. 2 the acidity of the medium did not change.
Experiment three.
A solution of the dye — the sodium salt (methyl orange) — in a glass vial was held in Kulagina's hands for five minutes, after which the dye precipitated. In the control experiments no precipitate formed. Since it is known that methyl orange in its acid form is insoluble in water, it becomes clear that Kulagina converted the a-form of the dye into the H-form.
Experiment four.
Kulagina held a three per cent solution of sodium caseinate in a test tube for ten minutes. After this the viscosity was measured from the time of fall of metal balls in this solution, poured into a standard graduated cylinder. The rate of fall of the balls increased by fifteen to twenty per cent compared with the control (No. 1 and No. 2), that is, under the influence of phenomenon ‘K’ the viscosity of the sodium caseinate solutions fell. It follows from this that certain protein substrates may show sensitivity to the action of this phenomenon.
Experiment five.
On contact with Kulagina's hand the acetate thread broke, whereas in the control experiments (No. 2) the thread did not break.
Experiment six.
After Kulagina's fingers touched the polished surface of a polystyrene plastic, the relief of the skin of the fingers stood out clearly on it (in the form of dactyloscopic prints). In the control (No. 2) nothing of the kind was observed.
Thus the series of chemical experiments carried out makes it possible to confirm with sufficient conviction the existence of phenomenon ‘K’.
Beyond doubt, too, is the materialist essence of the Kulagina effect. As for elucidating the mechanism of this unique natural phenomenon — or, more likely, its mechanisms — there are, I think, not yet sufficient data today to pass definite judgements. For the present, one may suppose, the more important task remains the accumulation of experience. But for this, work with N. S. Kulagina is, unfortunately, poorly organized.
L. Volf”
31 March 1988
Professor Volf, despite the support of the staff of the chair, the management of the institute, his colleagues and representatives of other specialities, was unable to complete the planned programme.
The fact is that in 1987 one V. Strelkov came out with yet another crude, slanderous publication in the pages of the journal Chelovek i zakon, placing an article in which, in the worst tones of past years, he classed our research as anti-scientific and Ninel Sergeyevna among hoaxers and charlatans. We had to break off the work and seek protection of our honour and dignity in court.
In January 1988 the People's Court of Dzerzhinsky District of the city of Moscow found our suit against the editorial board well-founded and handed down a decision obliging the editors to publish a retraction. The Moscow City Court upheld the decision of the district people's court.
Thus the truth triumphed, but at a high price: the research programme was wrecked, and Ninel Sergeyevna, having suffered a heart attack, was out of action for a long time.
Let us return to the chemical research.
And here the time has come to say that we went to Professor Volf's chair fully confident of success, since we had behind us many years of experience of acting on water, plastics, and polymer and synthetic materials.
The “burning effect”, discovered first, and the action on plants, insects, animals and, finally, on human beings could not but raise a natural question: what is the stimulus that speeds up the opening of flower buds and the growth of plants, heals wounds and stops inflammatory processes… Since these metamorphoses did not occur instantly but some time after N. S.'s efforts, it was logical to suppose that in one or another living substance there occurs an accumulation of certain substances that sharply accelerate metabolism, or of some kind of energy that changes the behaviour of the organism. Where, in what structures, might the “traces” of this effect's action be noticed?
In our supposition, most probably in water, which, as is well known, is part of all structures of living matter; an adult human being consists on average of 65% water…
We began with ink. First we set out two glasses of tap water and let it stand. Then N. S. brought the palm of her hand up to one of the glasses, which stood half a metre from the other, and for several minutes, as it were, “burned”, irradiated the water. The other glass was not subjected to her action. Then, from an ordinary pipette and from the same height, one drop of black ink was let fall into each glass. How would they behave next?
In the irradiated water the black drop sank to the bottom, leaving an even trail through the body of the liquid. In the other glass, however, the drop at once spread out in a broad column of ink, and soon all the water was uniformly coloured, which testified to active diffusion.
In the irradiated water the diffusion proceeded not from the top but from the bottom, and took 5–6 hours longer than usual. The irradiated water looked blacker.
For a long time we could not find a plausible explanation for this experiment, curious at first sight.
When it turned out that the irradiated water acquires a sour taste, the picture, as it seems to us, began to clear. The rate of diffusion of the ink is connected above all with a sharp decrease in the surface tension of the irradiated water. To understand the cause of this phenomenon, one should bear in mind that “the surface tension of water is greater than that of any other liquid except mercury, but the introduction of even a minimal quantity of various additives into water sharply reduces its surface tension” (K. S. Losev. Water. Leningrad, 1989).
Another capacity of water, that of dissolving various substances, is connected with the wide “separation” of the centres of positive and negative charge in its molecules. Orienting themselves in an electric field, they tend to neutralise it. As a result, any charges in water attract or repel each other with a force 80 times smaller than in a vacuum. “This ensures the high solubility of substances in water, since the water molecules ‘pull apart’ the particles or ions of the substance, the force of attraction between which has been weakened” (K. S. Losev. Water).
Since in our experiments, without the addition of any substances, the ink dissolved more slowly, it may be supposed that in the irradiated water its electrical properties changed.
At first Ninel Sergeyevna acidified the water by holding her hand over an open glass. After five to ten minutes the water not only became sour to the taste but also caused a sensation of slight burning. The nature of this acidification could only be of organic origin, since in these experiments there were only two sides to the process: the water and the person. Insofar as certain minute particles, which were apparently emitted from the hand, got into the water, to that extent they could only be of organic origin.
It turned out that the acidity reading depended on the duration of the irradiation, on Ninel Sergeyevna's exertion, and also on the volume of water in the vessel. As a rule, fresh tap water was used, whose pH value, according to indicator litmus paper, was within 6–7 units.
The acid could be tasted at a pH value equal to 5 units. Further action led to an increase in acidity, and the pH value at times reached 3–2 units; the litmus paper turned cherry-coloured. At these values the water became bitter, leaving an unpleasant sensation in the mouth.
Experiments on the “acidification” of wines, cognac and various drinks, which became practically unfit for consumption, went just as successfully. On the basis of my own experience I can say that no ill effects resulted from drinking the “sour” water or any other liquid spoiled in the same way.
Each new experiment raised new questions.
Thus, having dissolved a teaspoon of soda in a glass of water, we obtained an unexpected result. The pH value of the water reached 9 units. The litmus paper took on a greyish-greenish colour. An alkaline medium had appeared. What would happen if Ninel Sergeyevna began to “burn” this water, ejecting particles of acid from her palm? It is known that when an acid combines with an alkali (soda) in water, bubbles of carbon dioxide should arise in the body of the water.
Our expectations were confirmed. As soon as N. S. brought her hand up to the glass, minute splashes appeared on the smooth surface of the water under her palm, and after them the tiniest gas bubbles began to rise vigorously from the bottom. The more Ninel Sergeyevna exerted herself, the more frequently the micro-splashes appeared on the surface, and the more energetically the water “boiled up” from the bottom of the glass. As soon as she drew her hand away, this “boiling” soon stopped. The palm over the glass again, and once more a storm.
Watching this astonishing phenomenon, I thought: what would happen if a litmus paper were quickly lowered into the thick of the bubbles? The result exceeded all our expectations.
Some of the bubbles managed to settle on the strip of paper; at those places its colour did not change but remained yellow, while the rest of the surface of the paper took on the colour corresponding to an alkaline medium. And the more intense the “boiling”, the more bubbles settled on the paper, the more yellow dots up to a millimetre in diameter remained on it, distributed unevenly over the area of the indicator.
No fewer than two dozen such experiments were carried out. Several times, along with a multitude of yellow dots, 3–4 dots of a bright cherry colour also appeared.
Gas bubbles rising from the bottom of the glass are a clear sign of a reaction in an alkaline medium of some substance of an acidic nature. It is sprayed out from the palms in the form of tiny droplets and reaches the bottom at high speed. The appearance of cherry-coloured dots on the litmus paper can evidently be explained by the fact that, with intense irradiation and violent “boiling”, individual drops with a high concentration of acid did not manage to reach the bottom of the glass and react with the soda. Caught up by the violently rising gas bubbles and settling on the litmus paper, they thus marked their presence. Their colour corresponded to a pH value of 2–1 units.
We saw something similar on the glossy surface of the picture taken with the “Polaroid”, which was mentioned earlier.
In exactly the same way N. S. irradiated fresh milk and raw eggs. The milk quickly turned sour, and the yolk, within some 10–15 minutes, lost its shape and turned into a greyish-yellow mass that spread over the saucer.
While at first the experiments were done with open vessels, the supposition that tiny drops of some acid were being ejected by Kulagina's organism was quite acceptable. On the basis of data from biology and physiology, one might have thought that the effect of the acidification of water could find confirmation on the basis of phenomena known to science. Some scientists who observed Ninel Sergeyevna's exercises and made certain measurements during them also came to this same conclusion.
In reality, however, everything turned out to be considerably more complicated. We were able to establish that water becomes acidic not only in an open glass but also in hermetically sealed vessels, be they glass bottles and flasks with plain and ground-glass stoppers, sealed glass ampoules, or metal capsules of stainless materials with screw stoppers on rubber gaskets.
Ninel Sergeyevna usually held such a closed vessel in her hands and reproduced the same tension as in the experiments with a glass of water. However, the duration of the action and the strain on her organism required to obtain a result increased considerably.
We took various kinds of water — both water that ran from the tap and water drawn from natural sources. Distilled water was used, both of the technical kind and in ampoules for medical purposes. Water from a well or a river was filtered through cotton wool or paper.
Once a laboratory chemist, examining samples of our water, noticed some tiny threads floating in it which, as he supposed, might have been left after the water had been filtered through cotton wool.
This water had indeed been filtered through cotton wool before N. S. irradiated it, since it had been taken from a well. I did not notice any suspended particles in the transparent bottle, either settling as sediment or remaining in the body of the water after filtration.
Circumstances were such that the water irradiated in the bottle was kept for several weeks before analysis. And when we poured part of the water from the bottle into a phial, we did not notice any foreign suspended particles. Only the chemist's remark about transparent threads made us pay special attention to the unexpected discovery.
Having examined the water attentively, I saw, under side lighting against a black background, a countless multitude of tiny thread-like particles. They were in constant motion, as if wound up. At home we kept several bottles of water irradiated at different times — filtered well water, tap water, and also unpurified water.
In all the samples thread-like suspended particles could be seen. It became clear to us that the matter here was not the filtration, not the cotton wool, but something else, connected with the factor of the irradiation of the water.
Thus, quite unexpectedly, we encountered yet another variety of phenomenon “K”, one which, as it seems to us, is of special significance.
Before going on to tell of further observations of these living “threads”, capable of dividing and developing, I want to say that we were unable to find an answer to the question of why water acquires a sour taste and its pH value drops sharply even when it is irradiated in securely closed vessels.
It is generally recognized that an increase in the acidity of water is nothing other than an increase in the concentration of positive ions in it. The question is, why does the concentration of these ions increase in irradiated water? Surely positive ions generated by Kulagina according to some completely incomprehensible laws cannot act on the water through the glass or metal walls of the vessel. Such a supposition is absurd and does not stand up to any criticism from the standpoint of the ionic theory of acids and bases and of chemical practice.
On the other hand, we know that in experiments studying the nature of the “burning effect” and others, short-lived sound and ultrasonic pulses were registered in Kulagina. The scientific report of the Institute of Radio Engineering and Electronics states:
“Near the hands of ‘K.’ in the working mode, the appearance of a sequence of acoustic pulses following with a period of about 1 sec. was registered.”
These pulses were comprehensively measured by both Moscow and Leningrad physicists.
These discovered ultrasonic pulses allowed me to put forward the idea that ultrasonic vibrations may lead to processes accompanied by the breakdown of water molecules and, consequently, its possible acidification. This supposition seemed at first glance quite logical, all the more so since there are direct indications on this subject in the specialized academic publication “Ultrasound”. (Sovetskaya Entsiklopediya. Moscow, 1979.)
But it only seemed so…
Water holds a multitude of riddles. It gives rise to more questions than science has so far managed to provide answers.
When we had become convinced that the appearance of the finest formations in irradiated water was not a chance phenomenon and did not depend on the salinity or hardness of the water or the nature of its source, we began to observe the development of these “threads” with particular interest. Repeated experiments made it possible to establish that after irradiation the water lost the transparency and colourlessness it had had before the experiment. And this was in no way connected with any contamination of the glass of the vessels that Ninel Sergeyevna held in her hands.
Against a dark background and with side lighting, the water had a violet tint reminiscent of methylated spirit.
The violet mist seemed to swirl within the body of the water, creating varying densities of colour. If one did not touch the bottle containing such water and did not try artificially to speed up the mixing of this pale-violet “mist”, one could watch for several hours as the ascending and descending currents within the body of the water created a play of random shapes. This indicates that some temporary structural changes were taking place in it. Gradually the violet tint “evens out” throughout the whole object, and after several hours it disappears without a trace.
The pH value changed sharply in these experiments too. The drinking water became bitter. Although it could be drunk without any risk of poisoning.
How are we to explain what we observed? Why did the water acquire a pale-violet colour?
As we remember, a violet colour was also observed when the aura was photographed in the shooting pavilion of the Leningrad Popular Science Film Studio, which was discussed earlier.
Evidently, in the bottle we were seeing the scattering of the violet part of the visible spectrum by the tiniest particles within the body of the water. Their size must be, in accordance with the Rayleigh scattering law, less than a tenth of the violet part of the spectrum.
If that is so, then what are these newly appeared particles that selectively occupy and hold their place and are in no hurry to submit to the random thermal Brownian motion of molecules?
Might one not try to explain the phenomenon by Ninel Sergeyevna's ultrasonic pulses?
As the vessel in which the water was irradiated, we used a thermos flask. Its glass bulb, as is well known, has double walls. Part of the air has been pumped out of the cavity between them. Thus, by using this vessel, we thereby completely excluded the possibility of a sound pulse being transmitted from outside into the inner cavity of the vessel. Yet the “threads” appeared in the thermos flask too.
I almost forgot to say that salty seawater, which we had brought back from the Black Sea, was also subjected to N. S.'s influence. And it behaved in the same way as all the other liquids in our experiments. Thus we once again find ourselves at yet another dead end in explaining phenomenon “K”.
Although the very fact of acidity being changed by some unknown form of energy is of fundamental importance and deserves special attention. However, in the experiments with water we encountered an astonishing phenomenon that goes beyond the bounds of physical or biochemical research.
The point is that in irradiated water — I repeat: distilled, fresh, salt, sea water, sterile fluid for intravenous infusion — after three to four weeks the tiniest microorganisms begin to appear and develop! Gradually they group together and, after several years have passed, form a fungus-like sediment resembling a jellyfish-like structure. Sometimes they attach themselves to the walls of the glass vessel and grow as “threads” into the body of the water at its various levels, creating peculiar multi-storey formations. During long storage the acidity of the medium increases, which is most probably a consequence of the vital activity of these microorganisms.
In some samples of irradiated water the pH value fell by 2–3 units over three years. The acidity increased both in water kept in the light in transparent glass containers and in water deprived of light in opaque metal vessels.
A drop of such water, drying on glass, leaves the finest film with various patterns resembling frost patterns. The same water, poured to the brim into a concave glass, left after evaporation a dense sediment, which hardened and took on a grey-yellow colour and a very dense structure.
Several times in recent years we have handed over samples of water with this mysterious structure to scientific institutions for investigation. But not once have we managed to obtain any definite conclusion from the scientists. Perhaps no analogues were found for what they saw, owing to the suddenly arising difficulty of investigating unknown matter, and the fear of becoming implicated in parascientific experiments. But are they not throwing out of the vessels they received, together with the irradiated water, a baby unknown to science?
Some, having come up against phenomenon “K”, consider that even without irradiated water there are enough problems for many years to come. And that the mysterious self-forming structures will overload the volume of information and confuse all the foundations on which one can still, for the time being, rely in studying Kulagina.
And yet in one of the laboratories some bold people were found who tried to ascertain the nature of the structure that had formed in the irradiated water. We were informed orally that among the bacteria, algae, fungi and protozoa known from the catalogues there are no analogues to what turned out to be in the samples submitted.
Such a cautious attitude to the problem that has arisen is easy to understand: the “living creatures” discovered may arouse serious misgivings among scientists — everyone remembers the ideas, of sad memory, of O. B. Lepeshinskaya, which were imposed in the 1950s, about cells being generated by structureless living matter. That alone is enough to make people avoid our test tubes like the plague.
But facts are facts. They cannot be renounced, whatever the doubts.
And in conclusion I shall tell of our latest attempts to establish the truth by investigating “living water”.
…At the beginning of 1988 an officer, M., who had suffered a liver disease, came to Leningrad from Afghanistan. Treatment in various hospitals had not helped him. In a grave condition, M., at the doctors' request, came into the hands of “K.” Warming with the hands did its work. To the surprise of the doctors treating him, the officer recovered completely. The question of his discharge from the army was dropped.
After M., Ninel Sergeyevna also had to “warm” the liver of the head of the medical service where the officer had been treated without success. In gratitude for his recovery, the head of the medical service decided to help in some way to get to the bottom of the nature of the “living water”, after he had seen our “stocks”, kept for years.
We sought to have an objective and, as far as possible, technically complete analysis made in a forensic medical examination laboratory, and to have the examination carried out anonymously. An authoritative expert conclusion on the irradiated Polydez intravenous infusion fluid, which was in its manufacturer's packaging, would remove any suspicions about the purity of the experiments. There could be no question of any known biological structures penetrating the glass of the bottle and the manufacturer's hermetic packaging. For us, the conclusion of the forensic medical examination of a military organization, in no way connected with us, was moral support.
The military doctor received from us four bottles with samples for examination, assuring us that he would see the matter through to the end according to all the rules.
Bottle No. 1 contained salty sea water brought from the Black Sea in 1983. N. S. had not irradiated this water; it served as a reference for comparison.
Bottle No. 2 contained the same sea water, but irradiated in September 1983. Its pH had been determined at the time as 4.5 units; immediately after irradiation a fairly acidic medium had formed. This is considerably harder to achieve in salt water than in fresh water.
Bottle No. 3 contained fresh water, and bottle No. 4 a sterile fluid.
Three months later we received, in an envelope stamped by a state courier service office, the long-awaited “Report of Comprehensive Examination”, signed by the chief forensic medical expert, a forensic chemist, the deputy director for research of one of the military institutes, the head of the experimental laboratory and the head of the bacteriological department, and authenticated with the round official seal of the medical service. From it we learned that in bottle No. 2 the pH had decreased still further and had become equal to 3 units. Over the 5 years during which the microflora had been growing, the acidity of the medium had increased.
The irradiated sea water had acquired antibacterial properties. Its bactericidal index, according to the examination report, was 4, whereas the reference sea water in bottle No. 1 had an index of less than 1/2 and, as follows from the conclusion, it stimulates the growth of bacteria.
In bottle No. 3, over the 5 years, a cloudy yellowish liquid with a flaky brownish-grey sediment had formed, which, strangely enough, also possessed antibacterial properties, with a bactericidal index of more than 40.
Finally, the manufacturer's bottle No. 4 contained a fluid, the blood substitute Polydez, a sterile solution for intravenous drip infusion. As the Great Medical Encyclopaedia says: “The preparation is used in the treatment of intoxications of various origins in surgical and infectious patients, and in septic conditions in obstetric and gynaecological practice.”
Two bottles of this preparation, made at the Leningrad Research Institute of Hematology and Blood Transfusion, were given to us by Prof. F. V. Ballyuzek, Doctor of Medical Sciences, in January 1985. He was acquainted with the experiments on the irradiation of water.
At that time Ninel Sergeyevna actively irradiated one of the Polydez bottles no fewer than ten times, for several minutes each time, holding the bottle in her hands. Each time the fluid foamed up violently. The same happened when she irradiated the bottle without touching it, from a distance of 10–15 centimetres. Small bubbles of foam filled all the free space and lasted for at least half an hour.
In time, the tiniest thread-like formations appeared in the bottles; they grew, clustered together and turned into a “fine flaky white sediment”.
The analysis showed that the Polydez had gone from sterile to non-sterile. However, its bactericidal index exceeded 400. No less strange is the fact that the preparation had become acidified. The hydrogen ion index had dropped sharply to a pH of 3. And this, as is well known, is altogether inadmissible for a blood-substitute fluid.
We kept the second bottle of Polydez as a control. It is in our keeping. No “threads” of any kind can be seen in it. The colour and transparency of the solution have not changed.
It follows from the report that the analysis was carried out comprehensively, using modern methods and technical equipment, with high accuracy.
The chemical composition was analysed for 12 parameters.
The chemists ran into difficulties they had not expected. For example, the irradiated Polydez could be examined for only six parameters.
On this point the report says:
“The concentration of ions in bottle No. 4 was determined with an error of about 30–40% owing to the specific nature of the composition; it proved impossible to determine the remaining parameters for the same reason.”
And this when the composition of Polydez is well known: it is a three per cent solution of low-molecular-weight polychlorvinyl alcohol with 0.9% sodium chloride.
Why did this composition turn out to be so difficult to analyse that only half of the possible parameters were determined, and even those with an error of 30–40%, “owing to the specific nature of the composition”, while the remaining parameters it even “proved impossible to determine for the same reason”?
Apparently we have here the same phenomenon that was discovered back in 1977 at the Institute of Physical Chemistry of the USSR Academy of Sciences. At that time Ninel Sergeyevna irradiated chemical solutions sealed in ampoules of molybdenum and quartz glass. In the record of the experiment we read:
“Nuclear magnetic resonance, the spectrum of the irradiated solution, showed the presence of a product (about 20%) different from the reaction product that forms when the solution is heated or irradiated with ultraviolet or visible light.”
In the sealed ampoules, wrapped in light-proof paper, the reaction after irradiation proceeded with a deviation from the usual norms. That is why 20% of a product different from the expected one was formed.
It turns out that in both cases the known methods of analysis do not make it possible to decipher the state of a substance that has been subjected to the action of the biological radiation of phenomenon “K”.
We carried out other chemical experiments as well, but we would like to report on them in journals for specialists.
At the beginning of 1989 we told the well-known director of the Kiev Popular Science Film Studio, V. P. Olender, about some of our experiments with water. Quite naturally, he at once raised objections concerning the soundness of the experiment and proposed repeating it with sealed glass vessels of water, which he intended to bring from Kiev. We agreed.
The next time, the film crew brought two sealed glass flasks filled with water.
For several days in a row Ninel Sergeyevna irradiated one of these flasks, holding it in her palms. Three to four weeks later the tiny formations already familiar to us appeared in it, and their number grew with every day…
As he had promised, the director kept this flask and sent it on to us in Leningrad. It is now in our collection.
In the other flasks of Kiev water, and several were made to V. Olender's order, including some for us, no changes in the water have been observed. They contain clean, clear water…
These are far from all the facets of phenomenon “K”, of Ninel Sergeyevna Kulagina, a phenomenon which, in all likelihood, is yet to be unravelled in the coming century.
Our departing twentieth century has done almost nothing to solve the riddle of telekinesis, the burning effect, “psi-photography”, “skin vision” and “living water”, although the said “K.” demonstrated her gift for a quarter of a century to every scientist who wished to see it. But that proved not to be enough.
When the manuscript of the book was already with the publisher, word reached us that Ninel Sergeyevna Kulagina had died after a grave illness. — Ed.