History & Classics
Neurasthenia, Eugenics, and the Twilight Sleep Method, 1906-1915
Document Type
Oral Presentation
Location
Indianapolis, IN
Subject Area
History & Classics
Start Date
11-4-2014 1:15 PM
End Date
11-4-2014 2:45 PM
Sponsor
Vivian Deno (Butler University)
Description
"Medical science has at last solved one of the greatest problems of humanity—the agony of women in childbirth…" So begins the forward of Hanna Rion Ver Beck's 1915 book, Painless Childbirth in Twilight Sleep. Developed in 1906 by German doctor Carl. J. Gauss and his associates, the Twilight Sleep method used a combination of scopolamine and morphine injections to create an amnesic state in women during childbirth. If successful, a woman would regain consciousness some hours after her child had been born with no memory of the labor or delivery. As articles and books like Rion Ver Beck's publicized the stories of successful Twilight Sleep births to an American audience, physicians published their impressions of the practice not only in medical journals, but also in popular media like the New York Times. Because research on the safety of the method was not conclusive, arguments for and against its use became centered in issues of morality and culture. Other historians have connected the advocacy for painless childbirth to the feminist and women's movements of the early 20th century. But the language supporters of Twilight Sleep used also reflects contemporary understandings of neurasthenia and the values implied in eugenics. This paper examines the ways in which both neurasthenic ideology and eugenic philosophy were advanced through the debate over Twilight Sleep.
Neurasthenia, Eugenics, and the Twilight Sleep Method, 1906-1915
Indianapolis, IN
"Medical science has at last solved one of the greatest problems of humanity—the agony of women in childbirth…" So begins the forward of Hanna Rion Ver Beck's 1915 book, Painless Childbirth in Twilight Sleep. Developed in 1906 by German doctor Carl. J. Gauss and his associates, the Twilight Sleep method used a combination of scopolamine and morphine injections to create an amnesic state in women during childbirth. If successful, a woman would regain consciousness some hours after her child had been born with no memory of the labor or delivery. As articles and books like Rion Ver Beck's publicized the stories of successful Twilight Sleep births to an American audience, physicians published their impressions of the practice not only in medical journals, but also in popular media like the New York Times. Because research on the safety of the method was not conclusive, arguments for and against its use became centered in issues of morality and culture. Other historians have connected the advocacy for painless childbirth to the feminist and women's movements of the early 20th century. But the language supporters of Twilight Sleep used also reflects contemporary understandings of neurasthenia and the values implied in eugenics. This paper examines the ways in which both neurasthenic ideology and eugenic philosophy were advanced through the debate over Twilight Sleep.