All this training,involving thousandsof electricshocks, is
onlypreliminaryto therealexperiment.Once themonkeys
are regularly keeping the platform horizontal most of the
time,theyareexposedtolethalorsublethaldosesofradiation
or to chemical warfare agents, to see how long they can
continueto“fly”theplatform.Thus,nauseousandprobably
vomitingfromafataldoseofradiation,theyareforcedtotry
tokeeptheplatformhorizontal,andiftheyfailtheyreceive
frequentelectricshocks.Hereisoneexample,takenfroma
UnitedStatesAirForceSchoolofAerospaceMedicinereport
published in October 1987—after Project X had been
released.^2
The report is entitled “Primate Equilibrium Performance
Following Soman Exposure: Effects of Repeated Daily
ExposurestoLowSomanDoses.”Somanisanothernamefor
nervegas,achemicalwarfareagentthatcausedterribleagony
to troopsin theFirstWorldWar,but fortunatelyhasbeen
verylittleusedinwarfaresincethen.Thereportbegins by
referringtoseveralpreviousreportsinwhichthesameteam
of investigators studied the effects of “acute exposure to
soman”onperformanceinthePrimateEquilibriumPlatform.
Thisparticularstudy,however,isontheeffectoflowdoses
receivedoverseveraldays.Themonkeysinthisexperiment
had been operating the platform “at least weekly” for a
minimumoftwoyearsandhad receivedvarious drugsand
lowdosesofsomanbefore,butnotwithintheprevious six
weeks.
Theexperimenterscalculatedthedosesofsomanthatwould
be sufficient to reducethemonkeys’ abilityto operate the
platform. For the calculation to be made, of course, the
monkeyswouldhavebeenreceivingelectricshocksbecause