Twilight Sleep

"Twilight sleep," which has been dragged into the limelight, and which drew forth expressions of disapproval at the convention of the National Eclectic Medical Association now in progress at the civic center Auditorium, was unanimously defended and praised by the delegates of the California State Homeopathic Medical Society's convention yesterday morning, when the second session of the convention was held at Inside Inn at the Exposition.

Prominent physicians who defended the much talked of twilight sleep were Dr. Florence N. Ward of San Francisco, Dr. P. S. Hunt of Santa Monica and Dr. E. R. Bryant of San Francisco.

HAS STUDIED REMEDY.

Dr. Ward read a paper, said by the physicians present to be the most comprehensive of any articles ever prepared on the use and effects of the twilight drug. Dr. Ward has just returned from a stay of nine months in New York, where she has been studying the merits of "twilight sleep" under the tuteluge of Professor Schlossing of Frieburg, Germany, who has popularized the new anaesthetic. While in New York Dr. Ward witnessed hundreds of cases where twilight sleep was used, and states that all cases have been highly successful when the drug was administered in the proper manner.

"DOES NOT KILL PAIN."

Dr. W. F. Mundy of Forest, Ohio, made the following statement before the Eclectic medics:

"It does not produce the insensibility to pain claimed for it. It merely induces a loss of memory, with the bad effect that it generally renders the patient so unmanageable as seriously to hamper labor."

Before the Homeopathic doctors yesterday Dr. E. R. Bryant of San Francisco said:

"There is not a single case where twilight sleep, which is composed of scopalimin and morphine, will not be of benefit if used intelligently."

GOOD WORK, GOOD RESULTS.

Dr. Florence N. Ward's address in part, concerning "Twilight Sleep" is as follows:

"Clinical evidence is accumulating to show that in the Gauss method of morphine-scopalimin amnesia ('twilight sleep') we have a procedure of distinctive value. As in all techniques, requiring good judgement and painstaking work in their execution, poor results frequently will be encountered when it is imperfectly understood and poorly done.

"The hostility to its use and the prejudice against it have been due not only to the unwise exploitation in the lay press, but also to the forcing upon the profession of a method for which it is inadequately equipped.

"There is no doubt but that mitigation of the suffering of childbirth and the conservation of nerve force for women will hold a still larger place in obstetrics as the years go on. It is in line with the general trend of medicine for the amelioration of the condition for all types of patients.

TO EXALT ENTIRE FIELD.

"We in the profession who deal with the needs of women must recognize it and plan our work accordingly. By so doing, in perfecting one branch of obstetrics we shall exalt its entire field to a much more dignified position than it has hitherto held.

"In the present instance our best work may be accomplished by testing and bringing forward results upon a technique that has been so accurately worked by Gauss upon hundreds of cases. After standardizing this method modifications and developments will still further enhance its value, and should make obstetrics as accurant an association technique as has already been accomplished for surgery."

The delegates to the homeopathic convention were the guests of Dr. Guy Edmund Manning and Mrs. Manning at a reception last evening. The third day's session will be held to-day at the San Francisco Hospital.