'TRUTH SERUM' TEST PROVES ITS POWER

Dr. House of Texas Tells Anesthetists It Makes Convicts Confess Their Deeds.

HE ADVOCATES ITS USE

Declares It Would Aid in the Governmental Control of Crime—50 Per Cent. Successful.

    Chronic liars can be made to tell the truth, delegates attending the first annual meeting of the Eastern Society of Anesthetists, which is being held at the Hotel McA1pin, were told yesterday by a doctor who has made 500 tests with scopolamin-apomorphia the so-called “truth serum.” Under its influence, they were informed, men accused of crime had confessed and men suspected of crime had been freed.

    It was Dr. R. E. House of Ferris. Texas, who described his experiments with scopolamin-apomorphia. He called it a humane use of the “third degree” and argued that society had the right to use it, as all of society's rights were superior to those of the criminal.

    “It therefore stands to reason,” he continued, “that where there is a safe and humane method existing to evoke the truth from the consciousness of a suspect society is entitled to have that truth.”

    Injection of scopolamin-apomorphia was such a method. Dr. House said. It caused consciousness, will power and all the special senses, except those of hearing and speech to be obliterated. With the patient in that condition the sense of hearing became the provocative stimulus of speech and the subject answered out of pure memory without any volitional control. He could no longer lie or fraud or chat and answers to questions were given without embellishment.

    In the examination stage,” Dr. House continued, “'the individual does not talk at random, but will reply to a direct question, and you will observe a condition of profound sleep or wakefulness without the ability to reason. This condition is called artificial unconsciousness. An individual will answer all questions, as the answer is stored in his mind, not truthfully but as memory. You will also note that the replies are given with child-like simplicity and with child-like honesty—without evasiveness, guile, deceit or fraud.

    When the technique is understood, the technician can prove the guilt or innocence of a suspected criminal. Some replies might be wrong, and they will be wrong if the individual misunderstands the import or the questions, but enough right answers can be obtained to clearly define the results.

    “Wrong answers may come from an insufficient amount of the drug or if the center of hearing is too deeply anesthetized or by asking too many questions, causing the brain to become tired. All questions must be short and plain; long questions must be subdivided, as the patient may forget them.

    In New Orleans a reporter from each of the three papers requested the privilege of the Secretary of the Parish Medical Society to prove or disprove the value of the ‘truth serum.’ They schooled themselves to defeat the purposes of the test by memorizing wrong answers to a prepared set of questions. All three admitted defeat.

    Under the influence of scopolomin-apomorphia Thomas Howell admitted a murder In St. Louis.

    “Analyzed in the light of its ultimate consequences three and a half billion dollars spent yearly by our Government for the control of crime does not represent the loss to society in life and property, but it does represent a demand for more instruments for the detection of the criminal. The best percentage of conviction society can show is 10 per cent. Therefore, out of ten ‘truth serum’ tests one could make nine failures and equal all the resources of society. My average to date, allowing for all tests not investigated is over 50 per cent.”

    Dr. P. R. Vessie of Gowanda. N.Y., told of using scopolamin-apomorphia to restore memory to victims of amnesia. He said that once identity had been established the patient became freed of his condition of amnesia.

Article from the New York Times, Wednesday, 22 Oct 1924.

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Today in Science History event description for birth of Dr. Robert Ernest House on 3 Aug 1875..