science · 15 July 1930 · 94 years ago
death
Died 15 Jul 1930 at age 54 (born 3 Aug 1875).
American physician who championed the use of scopolamine hydrobromide in criminology, which became known as a “truth serum.” Based on research into its use as a general birth anaesthetic by J. Christian Gauss, House interpreted from the results that a patient in the twilight state was unable to tell a lie. From 1924, House convinced Texas criminologists, to use the drug to “assist” in determination of guilt or innocence of a suspect. Later, it was found by legal challenges and CIA research in the 1950s that House's confidence was misplaced; its value was very much exaggerated. Any “truth” confessed under the drug's influence was distorted by the drug's halucinogenic side effects. Such use was ended. (Scopolamine is still used in minute doses to control motion sickness, and as a veterinary preanesthetic medication.
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