A MEDICAL STUDY OF THE JURY SYSTEM. 379 



told to decide between this and that statement, and if they think 

 this is true, they must find so and so ; if that is true, the verdict 

 must be so and so. In reality they have no very clear concep- 

 tions of any of the facts the judge has called to their attention. 

 They go to the jury room in a dazed mental state, or possessed 

 with some particular idea that has become fastened in the mind ; 

 some idea that has no logical support or sequence in the testimony 

 which has been offered. 



The following study of a case that was recently tried indicates 

 conditions that are present far more frequently than would be 

 supposed : 



The case was murder, in which an intricate chain of circum- 

 stantial evidence pointed to one of three men as guilty. The jury 

 was composed of five farmers, four mechanics, and three mer- 

 chants. Nine of them were active muscle workers, living in the 

 open air most of the time, and three were actively engaged in- 

 doors. The trial lasted eleven days. The jury were boarded 

 at a hotel, and had no exercise except walking to and from the 

 hotel to the court room three times a day. Four of the jury 

 complained of dull headache. On the fourth day, five of the 

 jury had attacks of indigestion, with pain and nausea. One had 

 chills on the night of the same day, and was given quinine freely. 

 Two men had attacks of what was called rheumatism, consisting 

 of pain and stiffness of the muscles, and a physician was called. 

 Eight suffered from insomnia and constipation after the fifth 

 night. All suffered from bad feeling and dizziness while in the 

 court room in the afternoons. Four had coughs and colds, for 

 which rock candy and rye whisky were freely used. Several ex- 

 perienced extreme drowsiness in the court room. The argu- 

 ments of counsel and the judge's charge occupied a day and a 

 half. After the verdict and the discharge of the jury, four of 

 them were confined to bed for several days. Here were twelve 

 men, suffering from functional disturbances due to bad air, 

 changed surroundings, and auto-intoxications, called to decide the 

 issues of life and death. 



In a case of murder and incendiarism, where the verdict of the 

 jury was criticised severely, the following were the facts : The 

 jury was composed of farmers, miners, tradesmen, and mechanics. 

 Four of them were sufferers from cough and influenza ; six com- 

 plained of loss of appetite and headache ; one suffered from ma- 

 laria, so called ; and one from a return of an old rheumatic attack. 

 The trial lasted eight days, and most of the time the jurymen 

 were practically sick made so by the surroundings and changed 

 conditions of living. The diet of hotels, consisting of rich meats 

 and desserts in great variety, is usually different from the aver- 

 age food of the average jurymen, particularly of the working 



