In a certain number of cases the matter is hopeless from the beginning, but in the majority the autopsy may be secured by the exercise of proper tact and patience. The laity should be educated to ask for the autopsy; and even at the present time laymen often show a greater willingness in this direction than some members of the profession. That physicians and undertakers who discourage or oppose autopsies should be avoided is a principle that should be instilled into the minds of the public at large. Undertakers soon come to recognize the aid given them by the autopsy in the matter of embalming and preserving the body, and the prosecutor should always show his readiness to allow the undertaker to profit by his operations, and to render him such definite help as may be within his power. As a last resort the offer of a small amount of financial aid in the burial expenses will secure sometimes a permission otherwise refused. In extreme cases the physician may decline to sign the death certificate, or the Coroner may be called in, or the case turned over to the Board of Health. Under suspicious circumstances such procedures are necessary, but threats to resort to these expedients should not be made without good reasons. With the request for the autopsy should be included the right to take such portions of organs or tissues as is necessary for a microscopic examination and for the complete diagnosis. It is, of course, never necessary and certainly unwise in the majority of cases to make any definite statements as to what or how much shall be taken away or left. No specimens should be taken if this is absolutely forbidden; and, while a half autopsy is better than none, the importance of the microscopic examination should be urged, if necessary, as strongly as the performance of the autopsy. The use of a written permission, such as is given above, obviates the necessity of making a special request for material and avoids the complications that such a request often brings about. Moreover, the legal decision above quoted grants the right to microscopic examination as included in the permit for the autopsy when such an examination is necessary to complete the aims of the autopsy.