6. Always avoid superlatives and all epithets of feeling or impressions on the mind. 7. Always avoid speculative opinions and reference to moral circumstances, unless specially required to do so. 8. State your conclusions at the end of the Report in as few sentences as possible. 9. Keep a rough draft of all your Reports, for future reference. 10. Transmit Report, signed and dated, without unnecessary delay, to the proper authorities. =Dying Declarations.=--The principle on which these are accepted is founded, partly on the awful situation of the dying person, and partly on the absence of interested motives in one on the brink of eternity, and which is supposed to obviate the necessity of a cross-examination. The law presumes that any one cognisant of impending death will tell the truth, and such declarations are equal to evidence on oath. The greatest care must be taken by the medical man who is called in to see a person supposed to be dying, with regard to any declaration he or she may wish to make. He must be satisfied as to the mental condition of the person. The medical attendant should simply take the statement as it is made, writing it down on the spot, or as soon after as possible. The identical words used should be committed to paper, and no suggestions or interpretations of his own should be made. Leading questions should never be put, nor any attempt made to induce the patient to make any statement. When we consider the condition of the patient, the possibility of delirium induced by the severity of the injury, together with the dread of death, it is, to say the least, injudicious to introduce the suspected party into the room for the purpose of identification, though this procedure has been suggested by some writers. In every case, however, it is advisable for the medical attendant, as soon as he sees that the case must end fatally, to acquaint the patient in the presence of others of the fact, when any statements made may then be taken. It is preferable that such statements be made before a magistrate if time will allow. It should also be borne in mind by those receiving dying declarations, that in England “it must be shown that the deceased, at the time he made the statement, was under the impression that death was impending; not merely that he had received an injury from which death must ensue, but that, as the popular phrase goes, ‘he then believed he was on the point of death’” (R. _v._ Forester). In one case (R. _v._ Fagent, 7 C. & P. 238) it was held that a declaration was inadmissible, because the person making it asked some one near her whether he thought she would “rise again”; and it was held that this showed such a hope of recovery as rendered the previous declaration inadmissible. The declaration should be signed by the person making it, and witnessed by some one present at the time.