The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1923-11-28
TRUTH SERUM
|STR|EDOUT
IN PRISON
Or. House, Discoverer Of
Strange Drug, Describes
His Experiments.
BY j. e. CROWN,
Cosmopolitan News Service.

NEW ORLEANS, La, Nov. 28.-
DIR. e. House, of Texas. discoverer
Of the drug scopolamin as the
truth serum began q demonstra-
ton with the serum in Parish
prison today. Members of the New
Orleans Parish Medical Society, he
fore whom he spoke last night re-
garding his experiments with the
strange drug, predicted that if DR..
he would be hailed as the discoverer
Of a humane third degree to be
applied to prisoners.
II want to make it clear that the
administration of scopolamin does
not make the patient tell the truth"
DR.. House said today before start
ing his experiments. ''It does, how
ever, permit one to get information
from the person to whom it is
Misunderstanding that is
stamped on the mind Of the sub
ject as memory"
How DIR. House discovered the
amazing workings of the drug was
revealed today.
History OF Drugs.
''It began seven years ago." he
said, when / was delivering a
patient in Ellis county, Tex. had
been using scopolamin in child birth
cases and my patient was apparent
ly unconscious when her baby was
born. Two women attending her
asked for the family pair of scales
to weigh the baby. The husband
searched and couldn't find them.
"'I wonder where those scales
are he said when he came back,
I can't find them And then the
young mother spoke. They're in
the kitchen on a nail behind the
picture she said.
81 thought at first had not
administered scopolamin.' But next
day when the patient was conscious,
found she had not remembered
either question or answer about the
scales, though she had told accu-
rately where they were.
cit dawned what 1t might mean.
Il peple could be asked and could
answer questions under the inf1u-
ence. of scopolanin and not re-
member what they had said.
Kept Work Secret.
II went to work experimenting
and l kept my observations to my
self. l knew what ridicule would
mean. For five years I worked
and experimental and recorded my
observations. / tried questioning
patients under scopoIamin. in 800
cases before / presented my theory.
ION February 13, 1922, made
my first test on a criminal in the
Dallas county jail in Texas. After
that, with the consent of the Texas
authorities / experimental In thir-
ty-one criminal cases and obtained
the release OF twelve OF them who
lad been charged with crime. The
Investigations of their statements
made under the influence OF scope
!amn brought out the evidence that
set them free.
81 don't know what you might
call my batting average in expert
ments on criminals. There is no
accurate check on my percentage
of success or failure. But I do
know that in seven private tests,
in which the truthful answers to
the questions to NC asked were
known in advance, my average was
100 per cent.
Government Rats Low.
THE best the Government can
do is 10 per cent in its criminal
trials, taking the United States as
a whole OF 100 men who go to trial.
only ten are convicted and three OF
| them are usually innocent. So II
the use OF scopolGmin in arrivinc
at the truth in criminal trials is
only II per cent effective. it sti.
! would beat the present system BY
per cent.
AZ administer ii approximately
in the arm ScopOlamin isn't any
| thing new.
1T is the product known as
scopota- from a plant. It comes
| from Europe. 1t was used first in
1894 to alleviate the pain OF child
birth and with morphine was the
basis Of the so-called twilight sleer
that was given such wide publicity
in experiments by German obstetri
clans 1t was used in the control
Of highly nervous insane patients
IL was the basis OF the old Kelley
cure for drug and alcoholic addicts.
1T is very old. The ancientS
used il to dull the sensihilitles oil
| criminals they were about e
execute
ut operates 10 contract the
gynapses. what the layman would
call the couplings or the 'connec.
tons OF the nervous system, That
so to speak. breaks the circuit
But / found in my experiments
that the sense or hearing il the
most powerful brain connection
Under sccpOlamIn the patient hears
and answers short questions They
| must be short, In a long question
the impression Of the first part al
the question seems to fade. and the
nafinnl the taaI auhs q