Chemical Warfare Secrets Almost Forgotten
Review by Enoch Callaway, MD, Professor of Psychiatry Emeritus, UCS
© 2006/2007
J.S. Ketchum
J.S. Ketchum
Documenting a Lost Decade of Clinical Research
© 2006/2007
J.S. Ketchum
J.S. Ketchum
The unfortunate officer was flown back to Edgewood Arsenal where I, as psychiatrist in residence, was sent to examine him. I remember that during his atropine-induced delirium, he saw tiny paratroopers coming through the ceiling with gaily colored parachutes. Later I found that micropsia (seeing things as smaller than they really are) often accompanies atropine overdosage. I did think it odd, however, that apparently no other belladonnoids were described as producing such Lilliputian hallucinations. Dr. Ketchum, however, noted that this feature was common to all of the more than a dozen atropine-like drugs (including BZ) that he studied. Fascinating as Dr. Ketchum’s stories of his adventures in the Army Chemical Corps may be, and as important his defense of the military use of the “gentler” incapacitating chemical agents, I suspect that the most lasting value of this book will lie in the details of the actual studies done with these pharmacological substances. The experiments with Army volunteers were remarkable for the care with which they were designed and carried out. The last 80 pages of the close to 400-page volume are set aside as a technical appendix, containing many details of the actual studies and summary graphs and tables of the extensive data gathered. But it is the verbatim record of the responses of numerous volunteers, while intoxicated with various psychochemical agents, and which are scattered throughout the earlier informal narrative chapters of his historical chronicle, that will be particularly invaluable if similar research with chemical warfare agents is ever revived.
Finally, this variegated volume will correct some of the many errors, misconceptions and outright lies that have grown up around the Edgewood Arsenal research program. A combination of a sensation seeking press, compensation seeking litigators and mawkish anti-military “bleeding hearts” has resulted in massive misinformation. One can only hope that this persuasive book will set some of the record straight.
Finally, this variegated volume will correct some of the many errors, misconceptions and outright lies that have grown up around the Edgewood Arsenal research program. A combination of a sensation seeking press, compensation seeking litigators and mawkish anti-military “bleeding hearts” has resulted in massive misinformation. One can only hope that this persuasive book will set some of the record straight.
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About the reviewer
Dr. Callaway was born in LaGrange, GA, and graduated from Columbia College and College of Physicians and Surgeons. He later studied at Grady Hospital (Emory University), Worcester State Hospital, University of Maryland, Johns Hopkins University, as well as the Baltimore Psychoanalytic Institute and the US Naval Hospital, Bethesda, Maryland. During the Korean War he served as Lieutenant (s.g.) US Naval Reserve at Edgewood Army Chemical Center, Bethesda Naval Hospital and the Naval Medical Research Institute. He moved from the University of California, San Francisco, in 1958 and is now Emeritus Professor of Psychiatry.
In addition to clinical work and teaching, Dr. Callaway has done research in psychopharmacology and brain electrical activity and is the author of over 100 edited papers and a monograph. He has edited several volumes and served as editor and review for numerous scientific journals, as well as serving as board member and officer in various scientific societies.
Dr. Callaway was born in LaGrange, GA, and graduated from Columbia College and College of Physicians and Surgeons. He later studied at Grady Hospital (Emory University), Worcester State Hospital, University of Maryland, Johns Hopkins University, as well as the Baltimore Psychoanalytic Institute and the US Naval Hospital, Bethesda, Maryland. During the Korean War he served as Lieutenant (s.g.) US Naval Reserve at Edgewood Army Chemical Center, Bethesda Naval Hospital and the Naval Medical Research Institute. He moved from the University of California, San Francisco, in 1958 and is now Emeritus Professor of Psychiatry.
In addition to clinical work and teaching, Dr. Callaway has done research in psychopharmacology and brain electrical activity and is the author of over 100 edited papers and a monograph. He has edited several volumes and served as editor and review for numerous scientific journals, as well as serving as board member and officer in various scientific societies.
