Medico-Legal Aspects of the Nervous System as a Functioning Unit of the Body

We have had the pleasure of working together in recent years on Law-Science problems. During that time we have become increasingly convinced that it is necessary for trial lawyer and scientist alike to think of the human being in terms of the nine main organ systems,'reserving a tenth category for the field of personality as the latter represents a synthesis of component structures and functions into variable reaction and behavior patterns. An injury or disability may involve impairment or destruction of an an atomic member or of physiological function; it may involve effects on personality, or psychic values, alone, without discoverable organic lesion, or it may cause disocations both in organ systems and in over-all personality. To achieve a scientific approach to medico-legal problems one must undertake focal analysis in the discovery, or exploratory phases, and synthesis in the phases of evaluation and prognosis.