insanity, which are so manifest that they cannot be otherwise interpreted; and where he has been confined and treated for this malady, the physician will have an easy duty to perform: but it is in cases which appear to be involved in difficulty, where the disorder, although existing and directing the actions, is not so ostensibly developed that the medical evidence becomes important, and capable by sagacity, experience and truth, of explaining and characterizing the state of the person’s intellect.
The important duty which the medical practitioner has to perform, when he delivers his testimony before a court of justice, should be clearly defined, conscientiously felt, and thoroughly understood,—his opinion ought to be conveyed in a perspicuous manner; he should be solemnly impressed that he speaks upon oath, the most sacred pledge before God
between man and man—and that the life of a human being depends on the clearness and truth of his deposition. He is not to palm on the court the trash of medical hypothesis as the apology for crime; neither should the lunatic receive his cure at the gallows by the infirmity of his evidence—but above all his opinion should be so thoroughly understood by himself; so founded in experience and fortified by reason, that it may resist the blandishments of eloquence and the subtil underminings of cross-examination. The physician should not come into court merely to give his opinion—he should be prepared to explain it, and able to afford the reasons which influenced his decision:—without such elucidation, Opinion becomes a bare Dictum, and endeavours to claim precedence, without courtesy or obligation to science.
It is to be regretted that on many occasions
where several medical practitioners have deposed, there has been a direct opposition of opinion:—this difference has sometimes prevailed respecting insanity,[5:A] but more frequently in cases of poison. It is not intended to account for this contrariety of evidence: much will depend on the sagacity of the counsel to institute the proper enquiries; and still more will be incumbent on the medical evidence, in order to explain and establish his testimony. On one side the evidence will be positive; and it is to be presumed that no member of the medical profession would directly state an individual to be insane without being able, satisfactorily to his own reason and conscientious feelings, to exhibit from his conversation, his actions or his writings unequivocal proofs of his derangement. To such well founded illustration, negative evidence would but little avail.
[5:A] Vide my Illustrations of Madness.
The Lawyers object is the interest of his employer, and for the fulfilment of his duty he is frequently compelled to resort to a severity of investigation which perplexes the theories, but more frequently kindles the irritable feelings of the medical practitioner. This distrust on the part of the lawyer, however unpalatable, is fully justified: most witnesses going into court, not with a wish to be examined, but with the preconcerted intention of proving to a certain extent;—and those most conversant in the history of human testimony, have been extremely scrupulous of admitting it as uniform truth until it has been carefully sifted. Guarded with these precautions and armed with professional experience, the medical practitioner may approach the tribunal of justice with confidence, and advantage to the cause of truth. However dexterous he may shew himself in fencing with the advocate, he should be aware that his evidence ought to impress
the judge, and be convincing to the jury. The most experienced physician who has seen insanity in all its forms, and viewed its more delicate shades, must in a question of this nature submit his opinion, to the comprehension and feeling of the ordinary persons who are to appreciate his deposition. Their Belief of the alleged insanity must be the test by which his scientific opinion is to be established. That which may be deemed by the medical evidence, clear and unequivocal madness, may not hit the sense of the gentlemen of the long robe, nor carry conviction to the jury.
It may here be important to investigate the sources from whence the popular feeling and intelligence concerning madness have been derived; or in other words, what are the foundations for the opinions of the generality of persons, on the subject of insanity? Patient enquiry, daily communication with deranged