A MEDICAL STUDY OF THE JURY SYSTEM. 381 



The second day he tried to remember all that the witnesses said, 

 and its bearing on the case, and at night was very weary and 

 went to bed early, but was wakened and disturbed by the other 

 jurors. The third day his head ached, and he could with dif- 

 ficulty follow the testimony. His appetite was poor and he was 

 drowsy. The fourth day he was astonished to hear opposing 

 evidence ; statements which had been made by apparently honest 

 men were affirmed to be false. He was shocked, and his first im- 

 pressions and personal interest were disturbed. His head ached, 

 and he felt weak and nervous ; his appetite and sleep were broken. 

 The fifth day he gave up all efforts to follow the testimony, or to 

 understand what was said. He felt stupid and excessively tired. 

 The other jurors began to complain of the food and the sleeping 

 rooms, and had several quarrels with each other on religious and 

 political matters. Foolish stories were told, and card-playing 

 and personal boasting filled up the evenings. They all mani- 

 fested disgust at the trial, and longed for the end, and declared 

 they would never be caught in a similar case. On the sixth day 

 the case was closed. The arguments of attorneys and the judge's 

 charge seemed very dull and wearisome. He felt sick, looked for- 

 ward to a release, and his interest in the case had died out. He 

 could not understand why so much was said that was contradic- 

 tory, and why the judge should not tell them the real facts of the 

 case. In the jury room no discussion took place : each one voted 

 "guilty" or not "guilty"; and when they found the majority 

 was " guilty," most of them followed the majority. Two of the 

 minority became angry, and refused to vote for over a day, ex- 

 cept in favor of the prisoner. They gave no reasons for their 

 belief, only saying that they were right and the rest of the jury 

 were wrong. Finally, one of these men was accused of having 

 some personal object in voting for the prisoner, and after a short 

 altercation he changed, and the other man followed him, and the 

 verdict "guilty" was agreed upon. 



In my experience as an expert witness I have frequently noted 

 the change of feelings in a moderate-drinking juror. If the pris- 

 oner was an inebriate, and the crime associated with excessive 

 use of alcohol, the first two days of the trial all moderate-drinking 

 jurymen manifest strong feeling for the prisoner. Later, when 

 they become tired, dull, and debilitated by the surroundings, all 

 this feeling changes to severity and desire to punish, no matter 

 what the evidence may be. All natural sentiments of sympathy 

 and kindness are replaced by the coarser, lower motives, as the 

 brain becomes disordered and weakened. If any of the jury have 

 had a similar weakness or committed a similar crime, they usu- 

 ally urge most severe punishment, and especially after they lose 

 their mental vigor in the bad air of the court room. In some 



