Page:The Art of Cross-Examination.djvu/210

 doctors who have already testified against you, and who swore they had had seventy-five similar cases in their own practice, are mistaken in their diagnoses and conclusions?"

Witness (embarrassed and in a low tone). "Yes, sir, I am."

Counsel. "You never heard of Helen Potts until a year after her death, did you?"

Witness. "No, sir."

Counsel. "You heard these New York physicians say that they attended her and observed her symptoms for eleven hours before death?"

Witness. "Yes, sir."

Counsel. "Are you willing to go on record, with your one experience in twenty years, as coming here and saying that you do not believe our doctors can tell morphine poisoning when they see it?"

Witness (sheepishly). "Yes, sir."

Counsel. "You have stated, have you not, that the symptoms of morphine poisoning cannot be told with positiveness?"

Witness. "Yes, sir."

Counsel. "You said you based that opinion upon your own experience, and it now turns out you have seen but one case in twenty years."

Witness. "I also base it upon my reading."

Counsel (becoming almost contemptuous in manner). "Is your reading confined to your own book?"