"TWILIGHT SLEEP” TESTS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 74, Issue 189, 12 August 1931, Page 10

"TWILIGHT SLEEP” TESTS

truth serum experiments. Scientists at the famous “crime de- | tection” laboratory of North-Western i University, Illinois, have been experi inenting with the anaesthetic known as ‘‘twilight sleep.” They say they believe that it can be employed as a “truth serum,” so potent that even the glibbest liar, when put under its influence, must break down and reveal the secrets of his soul. The scientists, when they have finished their experiments, hope to establish the infallibility of this “truth serum” so that it may be used on crim--1 inals. with a view to breaking down their lies and silence and discovering the. truth in many baffling mysteries. Ono large obstacle at present stands in their way. This is the law which provides that an accused person may not be forced to give evidence which may be used against him. “Twilight sleep” is an old. drug whose chief ingredients are morphine and scopolamine. Until it came into disfavour in some quarters, it was used frequently in obstetrical cases to deaden the pain of childbirth and remove the memory of that pain. The of. feet of the drug is to depress the ncr-

I vous system and create a condition of I amnesia or forgetfulness. Professor Leonard Keeler, associate in psychology I at the crime laboratory, and Dr. C. W. ; Muchlberger, assistant director, declare | that “truth serum” removes the inhibi--1 tions and breaks down the resolutions of patients to tell lies. The serum actuaHy, says Dr Muchlberger, stimulates a synthetic state of intoxication comparable with the condition induced by a , half-dozen drinks of gin. A dozen patients have already subj mitted to tests at the crime laboratory. I They have been mostly members of the | laboratory staff and young students of 1 psychology in search of a new experience, and willing to lend themselves to j the service of science. The patients ar- ■ rive at the laboratory at night. They , arc requested to recline on a couch and mild doses of the drug are administered .periodically over the space of an hour . I with a hypodermic needle. | The criminologists, at the end of an ; hour and a-half are ready to begin their : prying questions. The patient, before 'th., test begins, is given certain questions and is requested to answer them I truthfully and place them in a sealed 1 ; envelope, so that the experimenters will 1 not know the answers until the test is [finished.. The questioner stands over the patient and shouts his questions into his oar in order to penetrate through the patient’s drowsiness to his conscious mind. The patient remains at the laboratory all night and wakes in the morning with no ill-effects, but. does not remember what he was talking about the night before, says Dr Muehlberger. “The truth exists fundamentally in the mind, and with the inhibitions withdrawn by the effects of the drug it is promptly expressed,” he explains. The drug is dangerous when used in large doses. The records, so far, show that the answers of the patients have been ■SO per cent, truthful. The 20 per cent, of untruth I attribute to the fact that the patients were not. sufficiently under I the influence of the drug when the questions wcr? put.”