In the course of my research for my book “The Garden” time
and again, I came across the work of the husband and wife Eugen Kolisko (21 March
1893 – 29 November 1939) and Lili Kolisko
(September 1, 1889 – November 20, 1976).
They shared with Ehrenfried Pfeiffer
the role of putting the flesh on Rudolf Steiner’s biological theories. It is my
understanding that, while Pfeiffer was tied up on other Anthroposophical
business during Steiner’s “Agriculture Course” lectures, the Koliskos were
present at Breslau
for them. This was the birth of the Biodynamic movement, which this year is
celebrating its
centenary.
Eugen Kolisko had a perhaps broader range of interest
than his wife. This above is my copy of “Zoology for Everybody” (1944) that
I discovered in the bargain bin in the bookshop at Emerson College. But his other works include
writings on nutrition, natural history, geology, chemistry, medicine, even
fiction.
Lili Kolisko, on the other hand, was dedicated to the
scientific method. Early on, pursuant to Steiner’s esoteric ideas about the
function of the spleen, through her microscope she discovered a new type of
speckled platelet, which she and Steiner termed “regulator cells”. This reminds
me somewhat of Wilhelm Reich’s microscopic investigations.
As much as Steiner himself celebrated her work, she was met
with a cold shoulder by the medics and scientists of the Anthroposophical
Society. These internal disagreements between the couple and other senior
figures in the movement effectively drove them from Germany to resettle in
England in the thirties. Eugen Kolisko died relatively shortly afterwards in
1939 leaving Lili in penury and eking out a living sewing purses.
10 Euros on eBay.
In 1936 Lili Kolisko published “Moon and Plant Growth” in
which she showed, by means of statistics and these beautiful photographs, how
the influence of the waxing and waning moon could be used to optimise sowing.
The Biodynamic idea is, in short, that you should plant root vegetables on a
full moon, and leafy ones on the waxing moon.
Agriculture of Tomorrow in the library at Steiner House.
The couple’s book, Agriculture
of Tomorrow (1939) is probably their masterpiece. Although Eugen had
compiled the research with his wife, just as they were about to start writing
it, he died, leaving the task to her. In it, they set out a series of
experiments exploring the influence of the moon and planets and the role of
chemical elements on plant growth, and upon the subject of nutrition. They also
perform a scientific breakdown of Steiner’s suggestions for the renewal of
agriculture.
In a sentence that could be penned today, in the book’s
introduction Lili writes, “I want to write therefore about the regeneration of
agriculture, which is the basis of the physical existence of men. Without
proper food mediating life-forces to the human organism, human beings cannot
grow strong and healthy, nor become able to develop the clear minds and moral
strength we so urgently need.”
Among the photographs in the book (see below) you can
glimpse the Kolisko’s house, Rudge Cottage, Edge, Stroud in Gloucestershire.
Lili Kolisko died there in 1976, and it’s interesting for me to reflect that at
that very moment I was
living only 3 miles away in Lypiatt, Stroud.
Because I am in Gloucestershire often, with two uncles and
aunts living just outside Stroud, and on this occasion travelling back from
Wales, I thought I would drive past their old house and have a look.
[Big
shout out to Jason Warland]
