Aids to Forensic Medicine and Toxicology | Page 5

medical man has no right to claim privilege as an excuse for not
divulging professional secrets in a court of law, and the less he talks
about professional etiquette the better. Still, in a civil case, if he were to
make an emphatic protest, the matter in all probability would not be
pressed. In a criminal case he would promptly be reminded of the
nature of his oath.
A medical man may be required to furnish a formal written report. It
may be the history of a fatal illness or the result of a post-mortem
examination. These reports must be drawn up very carefully, and no
technical terms should be employed.
No witness on being sworn can be compelled to 'kiss the book.' The
Oaths Act (51 and 52 Vict., c. 46, § 5) declares, without any
qualification, that 'if any person to whom an oath is administered
desires to swear with uplifted hand, in the form and manner in which an
oath is usually administered in Scotland, he shall be permitted to do so,
and the oath shall be administered to him in such form and manner
without further question.' The witness takes the oath standing, with the
bare right hand uplifted above the head, the formula being: 'I swear by
Almighty God that I will speak the truth, the whole truth, and nothing
but the truth.' The presiding judge should say the words, and the
witness should repeat them after him. There is no kissing of the book,
and the words 'So help me, God,' which occur in the English form, are
not employed. It will be noted that the Scotch form constitutes an oath,
and is not an affirmation. The judge has no right to ask if you object on
religious grounds, or to put any question. He is bound by the provisions

of the Act, and the enactment applies not only to all forms of the
witness oath, whether in civil or criminal courts, or before coroners, but
to every oath which may be lawfully administered either in Great
Britain or Ireland.
A witness engaged to give expert evidence should demand his fee
before going into court, or, at all events, before being sworn.
With regard to notes, these should be made at the time, on the spot, and
may be used by the witness in court as a refresher to the memory,
though not altogether to supply its place. All evidence is made up of
testimony, but all testimony is not evidence. The witness must not
introduce hearsay testimony. In one case only is hearsay evidence
admissible, and that is in the case of a dying declaration. This is a
statement made by a dying person as to how his injuries were inflicted.
These declarations are accepted because the law presumes that a dying
man is anxious to speak the truth. But the person must believe that he is
actually on the point of death, with absolutely no hope of recovery. A
statement was rejected because the dying person, in using the
expression 'I have no hope of recovery,' requested that the words 'at
present' should be added. If after making the statement the patient were
to say, 'I hope now I shall get better,' it would invalidate the declaration.
To make the declaration admissible as evidence, death must ensue. If
possible, a magistrate should take the dying declaration; but if he is not
available, the medical man, without any suggestions or comments of
his own, should write down the statements made by the dying person,
and see them signed and witnessed. It must be made clear to the court
that at the time of making his statement the witness was under the full
conviction of approaching or impending death.

III.--PERSONAL IDENTITY
It is but seldom that medical evidence is required with regard to the
identification of the living, though it may sometimes be so, as in the
celebrated Tichborne case. The medical man may in such cases be
consulted as to family resemblance, marks on the body, nævi materni,

scars and tattoo marks, or with regard to the organs of generation in
cases of doubtful sex. Tattoo marks may disappear during life; the
brighter colours, as vermilion, as a rule, more readily than those made
with carbon, as Indian ink; after death the colouring-matter may be
found in the proximal glands. If the tattooing is superficial (merely
underneath the cuticle) the marks may possibly be removed by acetic
acid or cantharides, or even by picking out the colouring-matter with a
fine needle. With regard to scars and their permanence, it will be
remembered that scars occasioned by actual loss of substance, or by
wounds healed by granulation, never disappear. The scars of leech-bites,
lancet-wounds, or cupping instruments, may disappear after a lapse of
time. It