1. Scientists wanted to be able to see if you where infected by a virus through air or the bloodstream and used a higher dose then it would let them know that it wouldn't go into anything but except man.
1.1. "The next day, the inoculated four more monkeys with a different strain of smallpox, the Dumbell 7124, which researchers usually called the India strain." 143
1.1.1. Researchers wanted to infect all the monkeys with different strains so that they could get more results on how the disease are transmitted and which ones are more deadly
1.2. "Each day, the scientist would give some of the monkeys a shot of anesthetic and stretch them out on a table in a room next door, to examine them, and Shamblin would extract blood samples." 148
1.2.1. The researchers had to examine the monkeys daily, because if they were changing it wouldn't be noticeable in in the very beginning and they have to keep track of where the disease is spreading too throughout their body.
1.3. "Of the eight monkeys that were given the Harper or India strains, seven died, six of hemorrhagic smallpox, one of classical pustular smallpox. Harper was the only survivor." 157
1.3.1. To the researchers they felt like they're experiment was a success. They had infected two more sets of monkeys and they were able to say that smallpox infects no species but man. The very first experiment that was ever conducted wasn't a success, because Peter Jarhling had no help and had to do it all on his own.
2. Researchers were informed that there was a child's hand found that had smallpox pustules on it.
2.1. "The child had been American, white, three to four years old, and had died of variola major." 230
2.1.1. For researchers this was a good finding. They could be able to experiment on it and finally find a vaccine or a cure that would be able to stop it from spreading or help people from getting it.
2.2. "The arm was covered with dark brown pustules. The child had died at the moment the pustules were beginning to crust over. The crusts were very dark." 231
2.2.1. The child had no chance at being able to survive. If the researchers are able to find out how the pustules come, and able to find a way to stop it, then there would be a high chance that people would be able to survive longer if they did get the disease.
2.3. "The virus's last strategy for survival was to bewitch its host and become a source of power." 233
2.3.1. Researchers believe that there could be a chance that the virus could become it's own source of power, so having the child's hand in their possession is good, especially since it was the last known virus.
3. The scientists studying smallpox wanted to see how smallpox spread and how it was able to travel from one person to another.
3.1. "The smoke man switched on his machine, there was a whining sound, and a cloud of black smoke poured out of a nozzle and headed for Los's door and billowed down the hallway of the isolation ward." pg.46
3.1.1. Scientist wanted to be able to tell how smallpox traveled so when another case of smallpox would appear, they would know how to stop it from spreading to everyone else. To do that, they brought in a smoke machine that would resemble smallpox and how it spreads.
3.2. "The smoke was seeping outdoors under the raised casement window and flowing in a thin, fanlike, sheet up the walls of the hospital."46
3.2.1. This let the scientist know that when they have a patient with smallpox, everything has to be sealed. If they have the smallest crack in a window or door, the smallpox can spread to every place in the hospital even to other patients rooms on different floors.
3.3. "Smallpox particles are the same size as smoke particles, and they behave exactly like smoke. A biological wildfire had occurred in Los's room, and the viral smoke had gotten into the upper floors of the hospital. 47
3.3.1. Peter Los didn't follow the rules and when he had opened his window to get some fresh air, he didn't realize the fact that he was spreading smallpox to everyone above of him. Everyone that had got exposed to smallpox had to be put in a different hospital into isolation, so they could stop the spread of it.