Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1914-11-23
TWILIGHT SLEEP" EXPERIMENTS,
New Treatment Tried by Heller in BROOKLYN
Without Pain in Ninety Per Cent of the Memory
Seems Oblteraed
Nv VANCE THOMPSON

|
TT THERE is one man in New York whost
i opinion on the Twilight Sleep" is worti
having that man is DR.. Jacob Heller, Of tn,
Jewish Maternity Hospital in Brooklyn. So
did not ask DR. Jacob Heller his opinion
on the Twilight Sleep"
knew that Doctor Heller had seen ar
article in a lay magazine dealing with the
subject and that he had stated that the
article in the lay magazine had drought
down upon Itself the Just criticism Of the
medical press"
What was the use? 1 don't want any just
criticism.
As matter Of fact the physicians of the
tranquil parts of the world have pretty we'll
| pronounced their definite judgment on the
! mother-sleep. II is by no means so new n
thing as the lay readers of newspapers might
fancy. Ever since the discovery of anes-
thetics drugs have been used TO still the
palms OF childbirth Anything that deadens
the nerves does that much.
What Doctor Gauss, of Freiburg, did was
to get the degree of anesthesla he wanted
by administering scopolamne morphine
The result was to smother the pain OF child
bearing In a pleasant kind Of drugged half
sleep. The point at issue was whether this
treatment was without danger for the
mother-wthout injury to the child. For
nine years the medical men have been fight
ing over this question in their magazines
and reviews.
In Paris few months ago the chief ply
sican of the maternity hospital told me
that the defect of the scopolamne- morphine
anesthesia was that It not only deadened
the nerves, but the muscles as well-that
it checked the natural and rhythmic mus
H.. a.
Results of the Tests
AT last, however-and in New York-the
Gauss method has been tested under con-
ditions which permitted a physician of the
highest standing and the most conservative
judgment G have named Dr. Jacob Heller)
TO pronounce strongly, almost irrevocably,
in favor of the Twilight Sleep" And the
Twilight Sleep" he has experimental with
is precisely that of Doctor Gauss of Koe-
nig's Klinik in Freiburg. His report, ex-
tremely technical-of course it was not
meant for lay mind-but perfectly clear
in its statement of fact has Just been pub
lished in the Medical Review.
Doctor Heller did not believe that the
method had ever been tried with any scien-
tifc degree of. .thoroughness, save, of course,
at Freburg, where 1t had become a routine
matter; and he determined to give 1t a
thorough trial at the Jewish Maternity Hos
pital in Brooklyn. He had the cooperation
of DR.. Kurt Schloessingk who had worked
with Doctor Gauss at Freiburg and was
familiar with the technique OF the method.
Now be 1t understood that his report is
based on 100 cases. taken from the charity
and private service of the Jewish Mater
nifty Hospital in Brooklyn. Before touching
upon the details of the multiple experiment
I shall give you-in ssentence-the as
result; It should send wave of
hope and courage through the woman world
Of pain.
Thus:
Judicously used, and with proper pre-
caution, the method is capable of re-
lieving pain In 80 per cent. of cases; and
It is free from any danger to life or
health OF mother or child.
In that plain and careful statement there
are wonderful hidden things-intimations of
a new strange day when only 10 women out
of 100 shall be left waiting under the an
Client curse !