Evening star., 1923-07-09
Scopolamin May Be Good-But L
Use Cannot Be Sanctioned.

Here's the end, the absolute end,
of all human deception broadcasts
! the Brooklyn Eagle, commenting on
| the recent news out of San Quentin
penitentiary that scopolamin. a drug
will render a person incapable OF
lying. But the press is not disposed
TO welcome the discovery, or to re-
p, gard IL as a good thing either for
! criminology or for society in general
! Especially is it to be feared as a
social practice. particularly in domes-
! tic circles, for 1t opens up many
grewsome possibilities which editors
are quick to point out
! IF it's a truthful report we have
! of it''-and the Savannah News is sure
that "if the correspondent. who sent
! the story out had been treated of
course the tale is true"-an injec-
ton OF scopolamin administered to
| three convicts in the California pris-
on caused them to tell the absolute
| truth in answer to questions. because,
as scientifically explained by the doc
! tor in charge of the experiment, the
action of the drug is such as ito
render the person taking it incapable
of mental inhibition, deprive him OF
reasoning power and render it i'm
possible for him to tell lie while
under it's influence" And. the Balti-
more News points out, "the curious
thing about it is that there is at least
nothing inherently impossible" in the
| theory.
Treating the matter seriously, as a
number of writer's do. the Lynchburg
Advance concludes that the expert
ment injects "a new problem into
criminoIogy." Not so seriously. the
| wheeling Intelligencer conjectures
that eff the new drug is everything
that is claimed for it, the whole proc
| ess of criminal prosecution could be
very easily revoIutionized. There
would be no need of lawyers; juries
would be useless; witnesses would mol
he needed; and criminal trials would
he discarded. Whenever man was
| suspected of crime he would be given
! scopolamin and he would tell whether
or not he was guilty. If he said
| mo- he would be freed; if he said yes
Ihe would be sentenced, and that
would be all there was to ft-all
over, done and finished in a quar-
ter of an hour"
| But "eliciting truth by use Of the
Ihypodermic needle" as the New York
Post puts it, is not likely to prove
popular in criminal trials. 1T fall:
into the class of hypnotic. mesmerit
| and other suggestive practices which
! whatever they may have to recon-.
\ mend .them," have not, the ST. Eau
Pioneer Press holds, proved them
selves by experience" In fact. tht
tnew practice is not wholly unlike tns
l medieval ordeals by fire and water.
The Boston Traveller raises two I'M
| portant doubts" about the use OF drug
| in criminal procedure. The first II
1 whether the bill OF rights would per
init the secrets OF the mind to bt
unlocked in suoh manner. The sec
ond is, whether 1t is possible to make
and test completely reliable, and: Il
it is not completely reliable. whethel
/ ANYTHING revealed by 1t can be ac
cepted as conclusive proof OF guilt o.
point the Hartford Times concede:
that evidence secured under sucf
conditions would be regarded as con
/ elusive" but it's general acceptance
| when a human life hangs in the bal
i ance" is quite another matter, th'
paper declares. "Of course ther'
would be q great deal OF popular sym
opathy with an accused whose inno