Magicians of Monmouth Saturday Evening Post by Shalett, S. Aug. 23, 1952 pages. 34-35, 58, 62, 64, and 66

 In the various laboratories can be found a multitude of scientific gimmicks and wonders.  There are “Arctic chambers,” where the temperatures can be sent down to ninety degrees below zero, and “tropical chambers” where the heat can rise to 120 degrees above, with varying degrees of humidity that will rot tires or make fungus grow on radio equipment.  There is an “anechoic” -- or silent -- chamber, lined with glass-fiber cones, where the quiet is so oppressive that a man imprisoned there too long would go mad.  Latest addition is a “stratospheric chamber” which simulates conditions of 200,000 feet altitude.  In a boilerlike contraption temperature can be dropped to 150 degrees below zero, while the pressure is reduced to one millibar.  That is 1000 times more rarefied than the pressure at sea level, and a human exposed to it without protection would literally explode like a suddenly overinflated balloon.  Obviously, experiments conducted in the stratochamber are going to be useful in paving the way for any “space operations” of the future.

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