This statement accords with my own experience. The special study which they direct to the investigation of a particular case, in which they are acting as partisans, tends neither to enlarge their views nor enlighten their understanding upon the subject. It certainly would do so, if they could persue the investigation with that careful and impartial spirit of inquiry that alone leads to knowledge. Erroneous tests of insanity have been incorporated into works of law, and these dogmas have become a part of the judicial mind. Practically ignorant of nervous disorders and the physiological knowledge necessary to comprehend them, and unused to contact with the insane, what wonder is it that the judicial ideas of insanity are as crude as the antiquated law which inspired them. The study of the mind is the study of the human body. He who declares that mind is a function of the brain alone, asserts an untenable theory. Every organ in the body ministers directly or indirectly to the manifestations of mind. _Mens sana in corpore sano_ is an axiom. Every organ in the body is connected by direct continuity of nervous structure with the brain. The mind, as a separate entity, exists only in the imaginations of men. It can only be studied in relation to its corelative matter, the body. He who most perfectly comprehends the latter must, of necessity, learn much of the former; and it is the special province of the physician to study both. As he is the custodian of the diseased body, so, likewise, is he the ablest minister to the mind diseased. Physicians should be both judges and jury in questions involving mental derangement. Our present Commission of Lunacy is a sufficient guarantee of honest, intelligent and just decision. If any particular doubts arise, more experts can be summoned; and should there still be doubts, it is ever safe and practicable to delay proceedings whilst the accused is kept under observation. The provisions of sections 1763 and 1766 of our civil code, respecting the examination of persons alleged to be insane, before juries and assisted by counsel, should be repealed. Such an act would meet the approval of every legal gentleman and jurist whose opinion I have been able to obtain at this time. In common justice to medical men, whose time and knowledge are so indispensable in medico-judicial investigations, a provision should be made for their extra compensation, similar to that in section 271 respecting short-hand reporters in criminal cases. Thanking you, Mr. President and gentlemen, for your respectful attention, I will close, with the hope that the profession of the State will lend its generous efforts to correct our present system of expert service, and the trial by jury of person held to be insane. [Illustration: Decoration]