Medicine: The Truth-Compeller

Scopolamin (also known as hyoscin), the poisonous alkaloid anaesthetic derived from henbane, deadly nightshade and similar plants, has added another function to its established use in childbirth (TIME, May 12), if we are to believe Dr. R. E. House, of Ferris, Texas, whose paper on its value in revealing truth in criminal cases created a sensation at the meeting of the American Association of Anaesthetists, held in conjunction with the San Francisco sessions of the American Medical Association.

The effect of the drug is somewhat similar to hypnosis, inhibiting all the special senses...

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