EDITOR'S TABLE. 



841 



MEDICAL EXPERT TESTIMONY. 



Messrs. Editors : 



Referring to Dr. Hamilton's excellent 

 article on " Medical Expert Testimony " in 

 the March "Science Monthly," I am re- 

 minded of a very amusing incident report- 

 ed in the " Daily Register " of this city a 

 few months since. A negligence case was 

 on trial in one of our courts. A physi- 

 cian was called as an expert, who testified 

 that the plaintiff was suffering from the 

 remote effects of an injury to the vaso- 

 motor system of nerves, and would in time 

 become insane. Being cross-examined with 

 some severity, the doctor was asked, among 

 other things, concerning his familiarity with 

 Gross, " On the Recent and Remote Effects 

 of Head -Injuries"; Lanery, "On Injuries 

 of the Head"; Zehmayer, "On the Sub- 

 sequent Effects of Nervous Shock " ; and 



Carson, on "The Surgery of the Head," 

 and he testified that he had read these 

 books, and his library contained them all. 



The opposing counsel called to the wit- 

 ness-stand a clerk from his office, who testi- 

 fied that the works above named vpere ficti- 

 tious, and the titles were invented by him 

 to expose the doctor's ignorance ! In addi- 

 tion to Dr. Hamilton's very logical protest 

 against the proposed appointment of a board 

 of experts to be used on all occasions like a 

 court crier or interpreter, I know of no more 

 forcible protest than the above incident. 

 These pedantic " experts " would be the 

 only physicians who could afford to accept 

 the position for its slender emolument, and 

 men of Dr. Hamilton's caliber, who are the 

 only men who ever should be called, would 

 be wholly excluded ! A. W. Gleason. 



New Toek, February 20, 1835. 



EDITOR'S TABLE. 



PROGRESS AT HARVARD. 



HARVARD UNIVERSITY is to be 

 congratulated on its leadership 

 in the important work of liberalizing 

 the traditional college education. It 

 has ended — or is on the way to ending — 

 the narrow and intolerant policy of 

 forcing upon all its students an old 

 study not required by them, and the 

 imperfect general acquisition of which 

 has become a reproach to the institu- 

 tion, and the standing scandal of col- 

 lege education. Harvard has at last 

 begun in earnest the work of putting 

 Greek where it properly belongs, on 

 the same basis as other studies. She has 

 divested it of its arrogant claims, with- 

 drawn the compulsion that has so long 

 given it factitious consideration, and 

 left it to be taken up and pursued like 

 other subjects by those who value it. 

 This is called waging war against the 

 noble study of Greek; desecrating clas- 

 sical ideals, and destroying liberal edu- 

 cation. It is quite the reverse. It is 

 giving freedom to Greek ; it is putting 

 classics on their rightful foundation, and 

 giving to education the liberality of 

 greater liberty. But there is wailing 

 in the classical camp. The newspapers 



are talking of the " fall of Greek," of 

 "perilous experiments," of "moment- 

 ous revolutions" and the sordid en- 

 croachments of the money-making spir- 

 it! And what has happened? Why, 

 Harvard University has consented to 

 accept of its candidates for admission 

 a certain thorough and well - defined 

 preparation in physics in place of the 

 Greek formerly exacted. This is surely 

 moderate, for they are not " fanatical 

 iconoclasts " who have carried this re- 

 form to its present result in Harvard 

 University. It is not true that this 

 venerable institution has got on a use- 

 ful-knowledge rampage and ordered all 

 its dead-language books to be thrown 

 into Boston Harbor. Those who desire 

 to study Greek can still do so, but, by 

 leaving it upon this basis, if there are 

 fewer Greek students they are certain 'i 

 to be better ones. One would think v 

 that this consideration would weigh 

 with the classicists, and that they would 

 not distress themselves because their 

 favorite study is to be elevated and 

 yield more creditable results in the 

 future. But, if they will be miserable 

 over such a manifest step of improve- 

 ment in dealing with their own subject, 



