Sir James Crichton-Browne [excerpt]

     Here is another story of the great brain specialist which shows how closely he follows public events, especially those which concern his own profession. President McKinley was lying dangerously, but not, as the American doctors then declared, mortally wounded by the assassin’s hand. Everybody was led to believe that the President would ultimately recover, and the papers on both sides of the ocean were taking very optimistic views. Meeting Sir James Crichton-Browne, I asked what he thought of the case. “If he lives more than eight days I shall be greatly surprised,” he said; and then, in a few technical words, told simply and shortly, he suggested what course the illness would be likely to follow. As a matter of fact, the ill-fated statesman lived just eight days.