Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 47.djvu/392

380 class. The result is always overeating and under-exercise. This alone would quickly break up or disorder the mental activities. In addition to this, the confinement in the bad air of court rooms brings new sources of poisoning, particularly deficient oxidation, which of itself is sufficient to derange the normal brain functions. The crowded rooms at hotels are either overheated and badly ventilated or cold and noisy. The time for retiring and rising varies, and the usual habits of the juryman are changed in every respect. His accustomed food, sleep, and exercise, and his manner of thinking and the subject of his thoughts, all are broken up. He is asked to follow an intricate chain of reasoning, and discriminate the errors, and told that this is true and that is true, and that the law should lead him to some other point. He is flattered, and his pride is roused to do the best he can. He grows more incapacitated daily as the evidence accumulates and his system becomes deranged. Then, in despair, he will suddenly form some conclusion, guided by a fancy for some attorney or some remark by the judge. Perhaps a stubborn member of the jury has formed a conviction on the first day of the trial, and all the rest of the time is passed unconscious of evidence, pro or con, and in the jury room his very stubbornness wins.

In a noted murder trial at Portland, Me., it was evident that the jury had been impressed favorably to the prisoner. The prosecuting attorney suggested to the sheriff that he invite the jury to church. Sunday evening to hear a noted preacher. The topic of the clergyman was, "God's Hatred of Sin, and " The attorney knew the topic and the intense dogmatism of the preacher, and calculated its effect on the jury. A verdict of conviction followed, due almost entirely to the sermon.

The personal characteristics of the jury are often the only doors through which they can be influenced. Religious, political, and social or personal prejudices are often considered by counsel in the presentation of the evidence. In reality, the average juryman becomes more incapacitated to rise above his prejudices, or to reason impartially, every day he is confined to the court room. At the end of a long trial he is utterly unable to form any new views, and nothing remains but his old prejudices, and these are often more fixed than ever.

The following record of a juryman's experience was made by a carpenter of more than average intelligence. He put down each night his impressions: The first day he was impressed with the magnitude of the case and the sadness of the prisoner. He did not sleep the first night, for the reason that four men occupied one room. The air was bad, and two men snored loudly.