MEDICAL JURISPRUDENCE. 264 MEDICI. (5) qiu'sliuus uf a miscellaneous iiatui'j, as age, identity, presumption of seniority, and life as- surance. In criminal trials in the United States each side hires its own experts, and, owing to the use of hypothetical questions and the advocate's eliciting only part of the truth, the spectacle is often presented of equally competent medical experts flatly contradicting each other. The etTcct which this has had in casting d()ul)l upon the value of expert opinion, ami the dissatisfac- tion to which it has given rise in the minds of judges, juries, and experts themselves, have led to numerous plans for remedying this defect in the present system of calling expert witnesses by establishing a class of ollieial experts; but most of these plans conllict with one or all of the fundamcnt,Tl principles of the common law relating to the cimduct of criminal trials: that the court shall bo the sole judge of the law, that the jury shall pass upon facts, and that the defendant shall have the right to present any proper evidence on his own behalf. In France ex])erls are generally selected from a list of ollieial specialists, termed experts assvr- menlcs, and if the parties cannot agree upon the experts, the court appoints them. The court may order an investigation and report by experts whenever necessary, and the order contains a statement as to the exact object of the investiga- tion, .ind appoints a referee (U- jiiyc eomntissairc. Harristers or arucats do not appear before the experts; but the parties are represented by solicitors or avoues, or sometimes by persons specially skilled in the matter under investiga- tion. The report must be signed by all the ex- perts (who are three in number), the rca.sons for any dissenting opinion being emboilied in the report. The ju<lges. however, are not bound by the report if it is contrary to their convictions. In Gernuiny, after the issues are determined upon which expert testimony is sought, the parties may agree upon the experts, and the court may appoint them. The court may limit the number of experts, or may submit to the parties the names of a number of experts, permit each side to challenge a certain number, and appoint those remaining. There is a class of nlluially appointed experts on certain subjects, and these have the preference in trials w liich concern those subjcct.s, imless there is some special reason to the contrary. The plan suggested by Sir .James Stephen in his Hinlory of the Cri'iiii)ial Law of ICntiluml. and used for some years in Leeds, has given much satisfaction. Under this plan, which re- quires a high standard of professional h<mor and knowledge, medical men refuse to testify unless liefore doing so they can meet in confer- ence with the experts of the opjiosing side, and have an exchange of views. As a result, it is stated that at Leeds medical witnesses are rarely eross-pxamincd, and often they are called on one Bide only. See KviDENCE; Bloodstains; Homicide; 1n- KANTICIDE; I.NSANITY. Consult: Hamilton and (iodkin, .1 .System of Legal MrUieiiic (New York. I'.IOO) ; and Heese. TrxtlxKilc uf Medical Jiiri.iiirti- ileiiec mill Tiuiriilniii/ ( I'hiladelphia, 1902). MEDICAL SCHOOL. See ^Iedical Educa- tion. MEDICAL SCHOOL, Netley. An establish- ment at Netley, near Southampton, England, for the technical education of medical officers for the 13ritish and Indian military service. Can- didates are examined competitively in the ordi- nary subjects of professional knowledge; and, passing satisfactorily through that ordeal, are then required to attend, for six months, at the AHlitary Medical School, where they go through practical courses of military lij-giene, military
- ind clinical-military surgery and medicine, and
pathology with morbid anatomy. There is a training school for army nurses in connection with the hospital at Netle.v, where women enlist for life or during competency for work in army hospitals, in the field, or in foreign lands in care of the sick soldiery. MEDICAL STATISTICS of the United Statks. In (lie Lniteil States of America, in- cluding the l'hilii)pines. Porto llico. and Hawaii, there were, in 1901, 115,222 physicians to a population of 84,.332,010. The last complete <lata we have concerning the number of and attendance upon medical schools are for 1899. In this year there were, including graduate schools, 1.57 medical schools in the I'niti'd States, with 28, "78 students and 43.S9 instructors. The growth in the number of medical students in twenty-one years has been 142 |)er cent. l)f the 157 schools, 122 are regular.' 21 are homa?o- pathic, eclectic. 2 physio-medical, and post- graduate. The status of these schools, while determined in part by the ruling of State boards of health or luedical examiners, as in New York and Illinois, is generally fixcil by the Associa- tions of the organized medical bodies of educa- tion. The ratio of physicians to population is less than 1 to (iOO in the United States, while in foreign countries it varies from 1 to about 1100 in the British isles to 1 to about ,S500 in Russia. We are said to have in proportion to our popula- tion four times as many physicians as France, five times as many as Germany, six limes as many as Italy. MEDICI, ma'de-ch^. The. The most cele- brated family of the Florentine Republic. The iledici owed their earliest distinction to the success with which they had imrsued various branches of commerce, and the liberal spirit in which they devoted their wealth to purposes of general utility. From the thirteenth century the Medici took Jiart in all the leading events of the Rei)ublic. From the time when Salvestro de" Medici attained the rank of gonfalonierc in 1378 the family ro.se nipidly to preemiiK'nce. the foundation of its greatness being especially due to (liovanni. who died in 1429, leaving to his .sons, Cosimo and Lorenzo, a heritage of wealth and honors hitherto unparalleled in the Republic. With Cosimo ( 1389-1404 ) , on whom was grate- fully bestowed the title of •Father of his Coun- try.' began the glorious epoch of the .Medici; while from Lorenzo was descendeil the collateral branch of the family, which in the sixteenth century obtained absolute sway over Tuscany. Cosimo's life, except during a short period, when the ,- bizzi and other families reestablished a successful opposition against the policy and credit of the >lediei, was one uninterrupted course of |)ros|)er- ity. ,'t once a munificent patron and a success- ful cultivator of art and literature, he did more than any sovereign in Kurope to reive the study of the ancient classics, and to foster a taste for
