THE SALIVARY CURVE: A PSYCHIATRIC THERMOMETER ?
GEORGE F. SUTHERLAND M.D.1
1 Chief, Division of Psychiatric Education & Training, Department of Mental Hygiene, State of Maryland, Baltimore, Md.
The method offers a most promising field of investigation for those who are prepared to invest the time and effort to learn the technique. It seems reasonable to anticipate that a considerable saving in time could be effected, for example, in the testing of therapeutic procedures by having recourse to an objective measure rather than impressions that rely upon statistical analysis for verification. It might be mentioned that one "sputnik" is more convincing than all the statistical evidence in the world.
At least one of the more venturesome pharmaceutical companies has already taken advantage of the motor conditional reflex in rats in arriving at suggested doses for each of its new tranquilizers. It is interesting to reflect that the medical profession accept the findings of the drug manufacturers obtained by a less precise method by comparison, yet seem reluctant to explore a much more exact technique in the clinical application of the drugs themselves.
