Farewell to the Internal Clock. A Contribution in the Field of Chronobiology

The author, obviously from Germany, unfortunately deceased before finishing the book, was a scientist, doing his research with enthusiastic love. The coauthorship of P. Becker is not clear. Much useful explaining and completing contribution was made in absence of the author by P. W. Barlow who wrote the Foreword (pp. vii–xx), letting the basic question (“internal? external? ”) open and wishing success to the late author’s idea of the lunar rhythms. As a designer of biological experiments in the cosmos, Barlow proposes how to arrive at the answering that question by placing biological objects onto special location (Langrangian equilibrium points) between Earth and Moon where the tidal force of the latter would be constant and the effect of moon tides should vanish. Barlow himself obviously analyzed, according to the Klein’s written instructions, the data collected in twenties by Kleinhoonte in Holland and mentioned in the book by Klein on p. 38 but not processed by himself due to his death. The Barlow’s results confirm postmortally the Klein’s lunar hypothesis: the“turning points” in the lunar tidal force (F, “fluctuation” corresponding with the local high or low tides) paralleled the times of the carefully determined “turning points” in leaves’ movements (T). Another important agreement with Klein, underlined also by Barlow, is that individual plants in the Kleinhoonte’s experiments display their turning points mutually independently, “at will” but in the times of different successively registered tidal turning points F. The problem of the mechanism of the lunar gravitational effect on plant will obviously, according to Barlow, have to be solved on the molecular level including e.g. actin, myosin and phytochrome. Dr. Klein’s critical attitude to the contemporary official chronobiologic science is clearly expressed by his citing from the Bertold Brecht’s “Life of Galileo” on page xxiii: “Gentlemen, let us not defend discredited teachings ! ” (underlined by M.M.) Dr. Klein alone, however, does not believe in success of this challenge in the near future: he predicts (p. 96) “initial silence . followed by a period of controversy, when the old theory is defended”. In the short Preface (p.1), the author distances himself “from superstitious beliefs relating to the Moon” but he does see the following paradox: the theory of an autonomous (underlined by M.M.) “internal clock” “actually rests only on “mystic foundations” whereas the basic view of the esoteric and of widespread folk beliefs, that there is a direct connection (underlined by M.M.) between the moon and biological functions, in fact comes closer to the truth”. The chapter entitled In the beginning was the leaf (pp. 5–11) introduces the reader into the main problem. Simple but historically famous phenomenon of the plant physiology – movements of leaflets and leaves, particularly of those of the various beans – Phaseolus – will be studied. Similar observations started as early as in the time of Alexander the Great on a species of pea. They are marked through the run of the centuries by the names of Androsthenes, Jean Baptiste de Mairan, Darwin Sen. and Jr., de Candolle and Bünning (Pauly 1983). Klein describes the standard research object – the bean plant and its leaves’ movements in details here. The most important is the situation when the “deciding” external “time giver” – the light/dark cycle is eliminated by constant light or constant darkness. The movements do continue, and Bünning concluded that the rhythms are generated by “internal clock”, independently from any external assistance. Nevertheless, the “internal chronometer” measures a day with a length different from the 24 hour solar day. Bünning explained this disagreement by supposing external correcting influences. In Chronobiology today (pp. 13–22), the broad connections between the bean chronobiology and that of other living organisms including man are outlined. More arguments are cited here testifying in favour of the existence of the “internal clock”, for example that the movements of bean leaves continue in various environments including mines. The main attention is paid