Armstrong – Table of Contents

According to Topping (49), Atlas was summoned for questioning before the
Congressional House Un-American Activities Committee but was cleared of any
incorrect political activities or utterances.
During the early visits, Atlas became aware that the author was a novice in
virological knowledge, and he would admonish the author to read more extensively about
virology. However, novice that he was, the author discovered a chink in Atlas’ armor. In
all innocence, the author asked about the controls that Atlas used in his human volunteer
program. Atlas erupted like an angry volcano, spewing forth many well-chosen
expletives. The gist of his reply was that he did not need controls since he was very
familiar with the signs and symptoms of the common cold, and he knew when colds
developed in his volunteers. Despite the author’s status as a novice, he had enough
training to realize that scientific experiments, especially those dealing with biological
systems, required adequate controls in order to establish the validity of the observations.
Repelled by Atlas’ arrogance, the author did not press the discussion further. Inasmuch as
the time had come for the author to begin work in the Q fever unit, he felt that he could
no longer spare the leisure moments, nor did he have the inclination to visit again with
Dr. Atlas after the above conversation.
After a period of several months or longer, Atlas started talking about another
“momentous development.” He claimed that he had developed a chemical test to detect
the presence of the cold virus agent growing in the eggs (see Surgeon General Scheele’s
remarks above to the Congressional Committee). Atlas had enlisted the help of a
biochemist, Dr. George Hottle, to aid in the development of the technique. Dr. Hottle was
a very quiet, unassuming, apparently competent biochemist whose personality contrasted