Recent Book: A Medico-Legist Looks Back: Final Diagnosis
| Date | 01 June 1964 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0032258X6403700618 |
| Author | Keith Simpson |
| Published date | 01 June 1964 |
| Subject Matter | Recent Book |
and to the person, whether police
officeror lawyer, who has to apply the
law and is required to decide, by mere
opinion or by action, if a particular
activit)' is unlawful or not.
The new edition deals with-all the
statutes and statutory instruments
relating to betting, gaming, lotteries,
prize competitions, amusements with
prizes and kindred matters, and deals
with them very thoroughly.
The first half of the book sets out,
in very readable form, the history of
the law relating to the different
subjects-betting, gaming, lotteries,
etc.-and
givesanecessary background
and perspective to an understanding
of the law. Each chapter of this part
of the book deals with its subject
quite exhaustively, both from the
purely legal and from the practical
points of view.
The second half of the book con-
tains all the statutes and statutory
instruments, set out very clearly and
annotated and explained. The cross-
referencing to the first part of the book,
where particular points are discussed
at length, is very good and completely
avoids what could have been disad-
vantages in this form of presentation.
A.
WHllTLE
AMEDICO-LEGIST LOOKS BACK
JOHN
GLAISTER:
Final Diagnosis. Hutchinson. 25s.
Retiring forensic pathologists of
note, most C.LD
...
Chiefs", and not
a few lawyers from the criminal bar,
have in the last IOyears recorded their
..
bag"
of crime cases, and these
memoirs will stand or fall with the
rest on the skill of their telling. They
must compete with the remarkable
files of Spilsbury, the wit and shrewd-
ness of Sydney Smith, the smoky
tongue of Cherrill or the smooth
professional pen of MacDonald
Hastings. Glaister fails in these essen-
tials for Scotland denied him the
rich colours of Soho or Limehouse,
or the bleakness of the Crumbles, and
he does not have among his talents
the gift of easy prose. Phrases like
.. teamwork, both regional, national
and international", .. to bring into
dissipation the importance of acting
as citizens", .. a horizon of new lines
of approach ", .. hard study along a
road towards the obtaining of the
necessary qualifications" and,
"I
couldn't convey my innate opinion
unless I was given latitude to explain
my meaning
"-these
make hard go-
ing of crime talk, and the lay public,
used to colour and pace, will find
much of Final Diagnosis tedious and
possibly indigestible.
303
Glaister makes some claims that
English pathologists will not envy:
"Scotland
is the only
part
of the
United Kingdom where the medico-
legist functions in such an allembracing
role"
...
"a
unique free-lance
investigator". And police officers
with longer memories will not, I
imagine, accept the author's contention
that both forensic science laboratories
and courses of instruction in scien-
tific crime detection grew out of the
experience of the Ruxton case. Truth
to tell, there is a certain lack of be-
coming modesty about this book
that
is to its detriment. The author
emerges, nevertheless, as a scientist
rather than a crime-solving sleuth,
adoctor after the truth, capable of
painstaking care in observation and
of logical thinking, a man whose
services to the Scottish Police no one
reading these pages could underrate.
It
is a pity that Glaister tends to
sermonize in his reflections, displaying
little of the sparkle that can make him
such good company after dinner .
..
Time",
Burns wrote,
"but
the
impression deeper makes, as streams
their channels deeper
wear".
Auto-
biography is, indeed, a difficult art.
KEirn
SIMPSON
june
1964
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