Failed to get the grammar of "distinguished authorities though they may be"

Does "distinguished authorities though they may be" refer to "although the alienists may be distinguished/famous"?

Context:

As one result of this condition, we receive these offenders in the state hospitals, not on the diagnoses made by the alienists at the trials, but on replies made by them to these test questions, about which they are little more capable of judging, distinguished authorities though they may be, than anyone else.