William A. Hammond, the dynamograph, and bogus neurologic testimony in old New York

April 25, 1870, court of General Sessions, New York City, Doctor William A. Hammond, neurologist and former Surgeon General of the United States Army, testified at the trial of his patient Daniel McFarland. McFarland had fatally wounded famous journalist Albert Richardson in November of 1869. Dr. Hammond said McFarland suffered from temporary insanity due to cerebral congestion from over use of the brain. Hammond told the jury he had, "devoted the last five years of his professional life exclusively to the study of the mind", and opined that the evidence of cerebral congestion was profound: McFarland's head was hot, and his carotid throbbed. The proof came from the test with the dynamograph machine: McFarland could not keep a pencil still to trace a straight line in the center of a moving piece of paper. The dynamograph, Dr. Hammond assured the jury, measured the power of a man over his will and thus provided "full and decided evidence" there can be no doubt that McFarland "could not control his will". What were the motivations behind the testimony of this famous expert witness? Did bogus neurologic testimony exist in old New York over a century before our time?     

The York 113: osteological analysis of 10 mass graves from Fishergate,York

Abstract

Routine developer-led excavation of land at the site of the Barbican Leisure Centre in York, UK resulted in the discovery of 10 post-medieval mass graves located in and around the foundations of a partially-ruined medieval church. These graves contained a total of 113 skeletons. The skeletal assemblage was notable for the absence of children and infants, comprising only adult and adolescent individuals, with significant male bias. Individuals were slightly shorter than average for the period. Rates of ante-mortem trauma were low, peri-mortem trauma and specific infectious disease were absent, and generally the assemblage exhibited higher than expected prevalence of pathological conditions that may be indicative of increased physical stress. The combined osteological and historical evidence suggests that these graves may represent Parliamentarian casualties of epidemic disease pertaining to the 1644 Siege of York.