like causes, but this is not the theory
of the law.

Insanity is often very insidious. Many cases are easily classified, but
there is always the border line, the twilight zone, which is sure to
exist in moral questions and in all questions of human conduct, and this
is hard to settle. It is generally determined by the feelings of a jury,
moved or not by the prejudice of the public, depending on whether the
community has been lashed or persuaded to take a hand in the conduct of
the case.

Lawyers and judges are not psychologists or psychiatrists, neither are
juries. Therefore the doctor must be called in. As a rule, the lawyer
has little respect for expert opinion. He has so often seen and heard
all sorts of experts testify for the side that employs them and give
very excellent reasons for their positive and contradictory opinions,
that he is bound to regard them with doubt. In fact, while lawyers
respect and admire many men who are expert witnesses, and while many
such men are men of worth, still they know that the expert is like the
lawyer: he takes the case of the side that employs him, and does the
best he can. The expert is an every-day frequenter of the courts; he
makes his living by testifying for contesting litigants. Of course
scientific men do not need to be told that the receipt of or expectation
of a fee is not conducive to arriving at scientific results. Every
psychologist knows that, as a rule, men believe what they wish to
believe and that the hope of reward is an excellent reason for wanting
to believe. It is not my intention to belittle scientific knowledge or
to criticise experts beyond such general statements as will apply to all
men. I have often received the services of medical experts when valuable
time was given without any financial reward, purely from a sense of
justice. But all men are bound to be interested in arriving at the
conclusion they wish to reach. Furthermore, the contending lawyers are
willing to assist them in arriving at the conclusions that the lawyer
wants.

It is almost inevitable that both sides will employ experts when they
have the means. The poor defendant is hopelessly handicapped. He is, as
a rule, unable to get a skillful lawyer or skillful experts. A doctor's
opinion on insanity is none too good, especially in a case where he is
called only for a casual examination and has not had the chance for long
study. The doctor for the prosecution may find that the subject can p