Armstrong – Table of Contents

catastrophes after the Laboratory opened, until it eventually closed down around 2004,
primarily because of less virulent organisms under investigation.
Each of the units contained sterile cubicles and protective cabinets enclosing 30-
watt ultraviolet light to sterilize the air. Workbenches were provided with glass hoods,
fluorescent illumination and ultraviolet irradiation to destroy exposed pathogens. Water,
gas and electricity controls were installed on the near face of the bench, making it
unnecessary to reach over infectious material. An electric grill air exhaust, also present in
the protective cabinet and sterile cubicle, drew the air away from the bench and sterilized
it at temperatures exceeding 500C before releasing it through the roof outlet.
Other facilities in each unit included an autopsy room, one constant “high” room
(70F to 120F), one constant “low” room (10F to 60F), one large and two small animal
rooms, a storage room, a cage washing and sterilizer room, a water distillation room, a
serological laboratory, and an office and library-conference room.
The initial research operations in the six units were: 1) Rickettsial diseases; 2)
Pathogenic molds; 3) Psittacosis and related diseases; 4) Brucellosis; 5) Poliomyelitis and
other central nervous system diseases; and 6) “The common cold” (with reservations).
The units became fully operational within a short period after the dedication and the
completion of construction.
The following anecdote may be apocryphal, but several of the senior
investigators, in conversation with the author (EAB), attested to the veracity of the
described event. Armstrong, with his critical thinking and questioning character,
apparently had some reservation about the efficiency of the airflow control in the new
building. In order to see whether the airflow control was working efficiently, he decided