The true function of the handwriting expert is to act as a sign-post to the jury. His observation has been trained to notice minute points of resemblance and difference, and he is thus in a position to point out in what respect and to what extent two handwritings resemble one another or differ, and it is then for the jury to draw their own conclusions from the facts laid before them. It is now no uncommon occurrence for a judge in summing up a case to the jury to emphasise the point that the evidence of the expert is only a matter of opinion, and that the real decision rests with them. In this way it is possible for the judge to correct the too decided statement of opinion which the expert is sometimes, under stress of cross-examination, forced to give. Netherclift, who was the chief expert in the days when Lord Brampton was at the bar, had such faith in his methods that finally he came to believe that he could never make a mistake. This belief received an amusing check in a case in which he was under cross-examination by Lord Brampton (then Mr. Hawkins). Netherclift had claimed that his system gave infallible results, and had further stated that his son, whom he had trained, made use of the same system. "Then," said the wily advocate, "your son working on your system is as good as you are?" "Yes," replied the father with some pride in his voice, "he is." "That is to say, he, too, is infallible?" "Yes," again replied the witness. "Well, now, Mr. Netherclift, was there ever a case in which you and your son appeared on opposite sides?" Netherclift tried to evade the question, which, he complained, was an unfair one, but on being pressed was forced to admit that on a certain occasion he had given evidence on one side and his son upon the other. Swift came the unanswerable retort, "How comes it then that two infallibles appeared on opposite sides?" Netherclift's dogmatic manner rendered him peculiarly liable to fall into traps like this, and many were the occasions on which he was found tripping. Readers of Lord Brampton's book will recall another amusing instance in which the expert was "put in a hole" by his opponent, who tells the story in these words: "When I rose to examine I handed to the expert six slips of paper, each of which was written in a different kind of handwriting. "Netherclift took out his large pair of spectacles, magnifiers, which he always carried. Then he began to polish them with a great deal of care, saying as he performed that operation, 'I see, Mr. Hawkins, what you are going to try to do--you want to put me in a hole.' 'I do, Mr. Netherclift, and if you are ready for the hole, tell me--were those six pieces of paper written by one hand about the same time?' "He examined them carefully, and after a considerable time, answered: 'No; they were written at different times, and by different hands.' "'By different persons, do you say?'" "'Yes, certainly.'"