Armstrong – Table of Contents

(17). The law of May 26, 1930, written by Senator Joseph E. Ransdell, Democrat,
Louisiana, greatly widened the scope of the Hygienic Laboratory and changed its name to
the National Institute of Health (17). Initially the major changes were in the stationery
headings and the new name for the Hygienic Laboratory Bulletin. The impending
economic depression retarded significant growth until the move to the current campus in
Bethesda, Maryland in 1938 and after World War II.
A postscript to the Hygienic Laboratory’s experience with psittacosis in 1930
began on September 22, 1932 when Senator William E. Borah wired the National
Institute of Health for convalescent serum for Mrs. Borah who was seriously ill with
psittacosis in Boise, Iowa. Mrs. Borah had her own collection of “love birds” for a long
period. Senator Borah had known of the psittacosis outbreak at the Hygienic Laboratory
and that all the patients, except Shorty Anderson who succumbed to the disease, had been
treated with convalescent serum obtained through the strenuous efforts of Dr. Roscoe R.
Spencer. Unfortunately, no stored serum was on hand when Senator Borah’s request
reached the National Institute of Health. When Armstrong learned of the need for the
serum, he offered his own blood for Mrs. Borah’s treatment. Due to the emergency of the
situation, Dr. W. T. Harrison, Armstrong’s associate of many years, withdrew the blood
from Armstrong and processed it immediately to separate out the serum. The government
made special arrangements to ship the blood immediately by air. The Associated Press,
national and local newspapers printed almost hourly logs of the serum’s progress from
Washington, DC to Boise, Idaho (19). When the serum arrived, the attending doctors had
a professional disagreement. The older physician in charge declared that it was no use
giving the patient the serum since she was dying. The younger, more enterprising and