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Jan. 28, I860.] The Leader andSaturday^ ...
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RELIGIOUS REVIVALS.* BETWEE N" the 'form...
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* The Itui'ivdl, in !(,» Physical. 2 y H...
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Scientific Evidence—The "Assessor" Propo...
all that the- 'scientific man shall not do , or be in reference to courts . of law , he proposes that a scientific assessor shall be appointed to sit as assistant judge , that " a position shall be , given to the scientific man ( i . e ., witness ) independent of the ¦ barrister , " and that " scientific men shall be allowed to deliver their evidence in- writing . 'V The most important of these proposals is for the appointment of an assessor Or" assessors to be nominated by the , Ckown , and in the Bev . Vebnon Haecottet ' s scheme of a bill for this purpose the duties of the Office are thus set forth : — " That the said assessor shall , conjointly with the judge , hear the evidence , and , if need be , under his sanction examine the witnesses on scientific points , and advise the
judge as to the scientific bearings of the evidence . " Sir . _ William Page Wo 6 d pointed out—what Dr . Smith might have learned from reading almost any criminal trial in which scientific evidence is adduced— " that it is a great mistake to suppose-that , a witness had difficulty in making a clear connected statement upon scientific matters in the witness-box ; " and after touching upon other points , expressed his belief that " it might be beneficial in strictly scientific cases to appoint assessors to sit with the judg-e , who should be bound to give their opinion in public , as well as the reasons upon which that opinion was formed . " But he added that the responsibility should i-emain with the judge .
Public interest in these questions is mostly excited in criminal trials , which are rarely , if ever , " strictly scientific ;" and without hastily deciding against assessors in any shape , we may remark that it would be highly inconvenient to have two judges on the same bench—one restricted to the scientific features of the case , and the other bound to survey and consider all . its bearings . Moreover , a , source of fallacy which runs through Dr . Smith ' s papei " , and infects much reasoning on this question , is the assumption that scientific men — " scientists " as Dr . Smith and Mr .. Ciudwick horribly designate them — are essentially different frorii , other men ; or are the exclusive possessors of methods of reasoning as well as of technical knowledge and procedures . Now , if we omit the reasoning belonging to the
highest branches of mathematics , this 13 far from the case ; and ordirnarily educated , clear headed persons are competent to follow and test the accuracy of scientific evidence when it is properly placed before them and sifted in their presence . If we deny this , we strike at the root of judge-and-jury trial ,, and must , in all cases in which . scientific evidence is involved , leave the decision entirely in the hands of a single" expert , " fur if there were two they might quarrel , and illustrate the proverb that "doctors disagree . " In eases relating to complicated conditions of the , human prgjinisny . \ ve must often '; as the best evidence we can obtain , take the opinion of a well practised surgeon or physician who has . seen the patient , and it is not reasonable to expect that the medical witness shall be able to convey in either a written or a verbal statement such a minute and comprehensive
account of the grounds of his decision , as shall prove to all other persons , the precise amount and character of the derangement he alleges to exist . If a doctor should conclude that" a child was ill of the measles who was covered with pustules of small pox , there would be ample' cause for rejecting his testimony ; but where natural and poison-induced diseases bear a strong resemblance to each other , and scientific men are not precisely agreed as to the minute grounds of distinction between them , the positive impression one way or the other of a skilful physician ought to have its weight , to be lessened or increased by collateral circumstances . In such a case , if two addresses were
made to a jury , one by the scientific assessor , excluding the bearing ¦ of non-scientific circumstances , and another by the judge , who would feel himself more or less relieved of the duty of dealing with the scientific evidence , it is difficult to conceive that the pl a n would work well . Sir W . P . Wopii evidently sees the impropriety of allowing the assessor to be a sort of private witness , influencing the mind of the judge , but not amenable to the . observation of the jury ; and the witness character of such a functionary - —always witness to opinion , and often to fact , as where he ufirims the sufficiency of a certain pi'ocess of detection- —renders it inconvenient that he should be protected from the ordeal of ah examination .
There is another operation of the assessor plait which ought to bo ¦ considered , and that is , its action in removing from the class furnishing scientific witnesses a considerable number of their ablest men . We have so many good lawyers that wo can spare enough to supply the bench without weakening the bar ; bub the number of scientific ¦ e xports known to possess sufficient knowledge and skill to vnuko their ovidenco of the first valno in a . difficult investigation is very email , and if all tho best wore taken to form assessors enough to attend , all courts and circuits , considerable harm would bo done . A demand for scientific witnesses would , of course , soon create 11 supply , but tho existence of a class of men who make a trade of selling scientific proof one way or tho other , is already a serious
¦ evil , and as a rule juries should bo cautious in attaching- much weight to tho statements of any evidenco-rnouyor lit all , In tho course of tho discussion at tho Society of Arts tho operation of scientific ovidenco in patent cases , and llio inoompotoney of juries to deal with them , was alluded to as proving tho need for n mow system . But it must nob bo forgotten , that wo are by no moans agreed as to what amount of protection 11 patient ought to give , and as inventions and processes multiply , this . difficulty must increase . Wo have already protected ao much , that nobody knows 5 ta extent ; and when tho etnto soils a now patent , tho purchaser buys n guesswork article , estimated pjwtly upon Jiis own judgment , » nd partly according tp that of his professional advisor . Tho fact is , that invention grows too big for tho patent process to comprehend it , and between the desiro to protect u now inventor , but at
the same time notto deprive the public of too great an amount of free working ground , we are constantly getting 1 into a fix . These , and other considerations , tend to place the patent question , with , its attendant evidence , in a category distinct from that of scientific evidence in ordinary cases , and we come back to the inquiry what are our principal desiderata in this respect . First , we think , cmces the need of a'public prosecutor , and a more precise . way of preparing evidence of all kinds , scientific included ; then we want a better education of the middle class , from whom juries are ordinarily selected , and the institution of popular lectureships on medical jurisprudence ; and lastly , and chiefly , we require a better training of the experts themselves , who now contradict and dispute wiih one another about every point of importance that can be raised .
Jan. 28, I860.] The Leader Andsaturday^ ...
Jan . 28 , I 860 . ] The Leader andSaturday ^ Analyst . 87
Religious Revivals.* Betwee N" The 'Form...
RELIGIOUS REVIVALS . * BETWEE N" the ' formalism of the Churches , and the depth and wealth and fruitfulness of the Religious Life , there is a wide region . It is in this region that we encounter lleligious Revivals . In the somewhat heavy and pretentious but thoughtful book which llr . Wilkinson has dedicated to the subject , we find much to commend : but there are serious limitations and objections to be arrayed against his views and conclusions . No pious orinleiligent person would think of ridiculing the recent religious revivals in the North of Ireland and in some parts of England and Scotland ; but no one gifted with what may be called the religious genius , or capable of appreciating the nature of religion , would assign them a high value or expect , from them grand and abiding-results . The question is not whether convulsionary movements like the present
are half impostures , half insanities ; the question is—what relation the present convulsionary-inovement holds to the divinest devotional and moral principles . Mr . Wilkinson treats all who are disposed to criticise the movement as mockers , or cold philosophers ; but many of them may be the lowliest adoi-ers of the Infinite God , yet turn from the obstreperous and the hysterical simply because they are adorers . What is profoundest , most prolific in the religious sentiment , is mystical , seeks secrecy and silence . Take it as represented and expressed in the Gospel of John and in tho Imitation of Christ ; and you find it solemn and serene—hushed , like some great forest which 110 human eye or human foot hath yet penetrated . We leave the Sadducees ; to deal with the revivals as 7 ¦ not Sadducees rebti however
the } think . proper ' :, we are . We ije , , the Pharisaic presumption on the part of Mr . Wilkinson ; and his friends , which scorns as a Sadducee every one Who does not deem horrible noises , hideous contortions , necessary to the a . walveinuent of the sonl , and to its outpourings ' of prayer _ and of praise . A religious revival , as distinguished from the religious life and t ' rom u religious reformation , is a reaction against the apathy ot si-cts ; whilst it proclaims that barren theological dogmatism has obliterated the faintest trace of moral teaching . We are intimately . acquainted with the working of the Presbyterian system in that part of Scotland Which is nearest the first scene of the revival in Ireland , and we cau testify that an explosion now and then of ferocious bigotry was the only sign of vitality ever given . ' . .. .
It is from Scottish Presbyterianism that the North of Ireland has received whatever it has of a religious character . Now ,. Scottish Presbyterianism was an admirable discipline—though it is ceasing to be so , "—but it i * ever was a religious nourishment . We have frequently felfc that it was a most erroneous notion to regard the Scotch as a religious people ; they are a highly acute and intellectual people , chained by a theological creed , controlled by an ecclesiastical government equally despotic . There is no room here for tho . . play of . the religious instincts , even if the religious instincts in Scotuhim > n were strong , which they are not . The mass of tho Presbyterians in Ulster , like their Scottish progenitoi's , have bowed to the thraldom of a creed of an ecclesiastical organisation ; they have not , however , been , anv more than the Scotch themselves , a religious people . Jiut
in the midst of religious penury there was abundance of Ortiugu fanaticism ; that is to say , there could not be religions love , but there could be party hatred . Indeed , the religion oF ' muny persona in the North of Ireland seemed to consist in cursing tho Pope . Scottish Presbyterianism , so far as wo are aware , has never produced a single devotional book ! Interminably argumentative , fiercely polemical , ifc had no time and no temper to ^ ive to . the worshipper thu tiiti u . 1 lost t morsel of spiritual food . If , also , by its inquisitorial machinery , it enfo .-cod moral dutioa , it taught none ; and who can deny that the Calvinistio doctrines of election and reprobation nro essentially immoral V But were nyt the Scotch a moral nation ? In many -important respects they were ; but this arose from tho puissant and ceaseless action of tho Scottish Inquisition over every family and every individual .
From inevitable circumstances , this Inquisition , both in Scotland and in Ireland , has , in ' modern dayB , relaxed its grasp : huiico a dead theological meehuniain , without any moral power . Is M » ore not here field enough , is there not necessity enough , for a reli g ious revivalP The dotuUs of thin revival , and of other BJmil . ir ruvivula contained in Mr . Wilkinson ' s volume , nro oVcnvholminyly repulsive . Of all pathologies , tho most disgusting is the pathology of rtiliyion in its abnormal manifestation * . When tho ancient and venerable bond between health and holiness is broken , wo know that maducHs and misery are not fur . oiT—ami through those Atheism , tho titanic audacity of denial . Grunting 1 thjvfc tho revival , orcn with iu , di < Jiriourt excesses , is bitter than 4 o « tl » , boater than tho drourinunH oj ' . 'tliu donorfr , ; granting that HOino ensuring moral benefits may bo lot ' l bfhhm by
* The Itui'ivdl, In !(,» Physical. 2 Y H...
* The Itui'ivdl , in !( , » Physical . 2 H , i /<\ Iiloc < l , ami Jtclli / luim Ahjhi'Ih , By W . ' AT . Wilkinson . Iioiidon t Ohnpmun and Hull .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 28, 1860, page 11, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_28011860/page/11/
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