Evening star., 1923-08-26
Has Doubts as to the Value; r.
OF Truth Compelling Drugs q9gs

claiming at the same time any desire
60 poke fun at chemical research.
The drug may do AL. that Is being
claimed for IL and more. i don't
know, butt have my doubts. In
any event the discovery interests me
as a lawyer. have wondered
whether II could be used ;, in court.
Our law has ever been. that n man
may stand mute In the presence Of
his accusers and demand proof of his
guilt: that the accused fnnst be as
surned to be innocent until bis guilt
has been. proved beyond any reason
able doubsss, Would not "a defendant
haye a riEn to refuse.ntoi take the
medicines o s19a might be" a~perfectly
innocent nta h}and yet a, doubling
Long a 10 the Aatins had a motto
that in wins there was truth; yet we
all know that some men in wine are
colossal iiars. Alcohol may enlarge
the gentleS sensibilities OF some, yet
it brings out In others hidden in
stincts and unknown passions. The
consciousness of the accused might
be wholly, honest and his subcon
seriousness wholly dishonest Science
never yet has discovered a drug that
would have identical effect upon all
persons Morphia is hailed as great
but every now and then doctors find
an antipathetic patient whose nerv-
ousness is stimulated by IT. Instead
of producing sleep II produces tor
turing wakefuiness.
Il .-. X X
The seeking of truth compeller is
not new. The search is as old as
history. The meddevals had the trial
h.r a.. ;, t,h
was expected to walk unscathed over
red hot iron. The duello was once
held In high esteem as the means OF
determining the truth or falsity Of
an assault upon mans character.
The wager of battle became d favor
able method OF disclosing the truth.
and in the more modern days of He'll
Roarin' Jake Smith the water cure
was administered to extract truth. in
the Philippines. The French still con-
front the accused with the body of
his victim. and third degree methods
are not yet obsolete or even obsoles-
cent in America. Most lawyers have
their own theory as to how to detect
liar on the witness stand l had
mine and thought IL was infaIlible.
Experiments in the realm of truth
had convinced me that no man could
tell lie without swallowing upon II
as though II were a little too big TO
go down. and that this always caused
his Adams apple to distend. Like all
discoverers. / was persistent in the
advocacy OF my method until one day
man whose reputation for truth
and veractty was distinctly bad got
into trouble. My friends, knowing l
was to cross-examine him, came to
court to witness a demonstration OF
my pet theory. When the witness
took the stand he wore a long flowing
beard. ] no more could see his
Adams apple than 1 could see his
conscience.
Force. science, hypnotism and hu-
man ingenuity-ali have had hand
at unveillng the liar. Each may have
succeeded in one case or another but
none has gained infallbility II is a
trite saying Of the law that IL is
better that ninety-nine should 60
acquit than that one innocent man
should be punished. This is true and
II also is infinitely better TO let grow
ing civilization and quick ened con-
sciences move men to right things
than II is to try to squirt virtue into
humankind with hypodermic syringe
Copyright. 1923. 21st Century Press.)