ases resembling the one under examination, and the
scientific reasons and authorities on which those views are advanced.

3. But here a considerable difficulty presents itself; it is so serious
that, owing to it, the weight of the medical expert's testimony with
judge and jury is often much less than could reasonably be desired. The
difficulty is to ascertain what really are the views of the medical
profession on any given subject. Of course no individual Doctors can
put themselves up as representing the convictions of the medical
profession, nor can they always appeal to the unanimous agreement of
their leading men. Leading physicians, unfortunately, are far from
entertaining concordant views on many most vital questions. It is this
want of agreement that has made the testimony of experts so powerless to
sway the minds of judge and jury.

The medical profession has no organization through which it can
pronounce judgment. In fact, many of its most conspicuous members have
adopted principles at variance with the deepest convictions of mankind
generally; such, for instance, are the followers of Darwin, Huxley,
Maudsley, and similar agnostic and materialistic leaders of modern
thought.

4. What still further diminishes the credit of medical experts is the
fact that, both in civil and criminal trials, they are summoned either
by the defence or by the prosecution, and are thus naturally selected,
not on account of their thorough knowledge, but on account of their
peculiar views known beforehand to the parties citing them. Thus their
testimony is likely to be partial to either side, and is distrusted; at
least it fails to command perfect confidence. The only way in which the
prejudices thus created against the physician can be overcome is by his
acquiring thorough knowledge of his specialty, and showing himself on
all occasions to be as honorable and faithful as he is evidently
experienced and intelligent.

5. The medical profession could be brought to be much more useful to
society for the discovery of insanity if we could have here something
like what exists in some parts of Germany. "The practice obtains there
of requiring the medical faculty of each judicial district to appoint a
special committee, to which questions of this kind are referred. This
committee is examined directly by the court, and gives testimony
somewhat in the same way, and with the same effect, as would a
common-law court when reporting its judgment