Evening star., 1938-11-27
Lie Detector Used to Prove
Mans Mind Unbalanced
Reporter Takes Test Himself in Futile
Effort to MisIeud Machine
BY the Associated Press.

BY the Associated Press.
TRENTON, N. j., Nov. 26--A
weary, little old fellow with sallow
cheeks and vacant eyes shambled
Into a special room in the mental
ward of the New Jersey State Hos
pital in Trenton.
Il hope this convinces you that I'm
sane" he said hollowly. You know
I'm getting old. Not many years to
60. I'd like to 60 back home"
DR.. John j. Taylor, jr., resident
physician, looked sympathetically
at the patient.
II hope so too, Joe," the doctor
said as he placed two shining, silver
disks in the mans palms and
fastened them there with wide rub
ber bands. Been long time hasn't
it?"
Three years, two months, six
teen days. was the toneless response.
"Voices" Urged Violence.
He had been committed after
threatening his wife and two chill
dren with death. Voices" advised
him to slay them-voices that came
to him in the solitude of the park
where he liked to wander, voices
that whispered in the darkness as
he tossed restlessly in bed, voices
that constantly haunted his tor
tured mind and put to flight his
sanity.
Joe's reaction to inSulin had been
favorable. He declared now with
all the energy he could muster that
the voices had gone and so had the
hallucinations and delusions that
made up the world of make believe
in which he had lived. He pro-
tested that he had no intention of
harming his family-that he wanted
to spend his last years with them.
But we can't believe him." DR.
Taylor explained earlier. He has
what we call hospital insight
into his own case. He knows the
answers that will mark him as sane
But we have never been able to
know whether or not he is sincere.
TO turn men who are super
ficially sane but at heart danger
ouSly mad on the world means more
murders of innocents. To keep
them here when they are sane-that,
too, is tragic"
Lies Generate Current.
The silver disks in Joe's hands
were attached to large radio-like
machine by two small wires A 22.5-
volt current flowed through the
wires and his body, enough elec-
tricity to create an itching sensation
on his palms. Whenever he lied
the needle registering the current
swung sharply, the result of addi-
tional current generated by Joe IS
body and amplified many times on
the registering device. a scroll that
moved slowly and recorded truth
and falsehood with mechanical re-
1entlessness, No ''piety nor wit could
lure it back to cancel half line
At the controls of the machine
was Jacques L. Bril-, a builder of lie
detectors which he uses extensively
In his work as consulting criminolo-
gist. He had installed the machine
for the use of New Jersey State
police, and DR.. Taylor had appro-
propriated it for clinical expert
ments.
DR.. Taylor asked Joe a series of
questions, every third a crucial
one. He asked Joe what his religion
was, If he was married, and then:
DO you hear voices?" He asked
how many children he had, if he
drove car and "do you ever have
a desire to kill any one?" He asked
how old the children were, whether
they went to school and ARE you in
truth and in fact Imperator Julius
Caesar"
Lies More and More Evident.
The record registered truth when
Joe denied he heard voices and that
he wanted to kill But it showed
Joe lied when he denied he was
Caesar and that his wife loved Marc
Anthony. The questions were re-
peated in other series, and each
time the lies became more evident
in the swing of the needle, just as
the truth was more pronounced on
repetition of conscientious answers.
You'll have to stay a little
longer" DR.. Taylor said.
Joe's shoulders dropped His
head bowed. He walked slowly from
the room.
I've experimental with the ma
chine six weeks DR.. Taylor ex-
planned. Il believe it will prove to
be hundred per cent correct in it's
diagnosis. Of course, We'll have to
chart improvement from commit
"A