Medical men are often called to give evidence as to dying declarations where there is a charge of homicide, and where the cause of the death of the declarant is the subject of the declaration. They should remember that the declaration will not be admissible unless the deceased was conscious of approaching death and made it under a sense of his impending doom; any hope of recovery, however slight, renders the declaration inadmissible; and the question turns rather upon the expectation of death at the time of making the declaration than upon the interval between it and the death [263]. An entry made by a medical man, in the course of his profession, is admissible in evidence after his death, if it be against his interest; and such an entry will be received as evidence of collateral and independent matter, etc. When |106| the question was as to the age of a child, the book of the accoucheur who attended the mother was produced; it contained an entry as follows, “W. Fowden, Jun.’s, wife; _Filius circa hor. 3 post merid. nat._ etc. W. Fowden, 1768, April 22. _Filius natus_ wife, £1 6s. 1d.; Pd. 25 Oct. 1768.” The word “Paid” was against the pecuniary interest of the accoucheur, so the entry was admitted to prove the date of the birth [264]. In England the rule is thus laid down as to excluding experts from the room during the examination of witnesses; “medical or other professional witnesses, who are summoned to give scientific opinions upon the circumstances of the case as established by other testimony, will be permitted to remain in court until this particular class of evidence commences, but then, like ordinary witnesses, they will have to withdraw, and to come in one by one, so as to undergo a separate examination.” A similar rule prevails in Scotland and in the United States [265]. It would seem that the court has power to limit the number of experts in any case [266].