In women we must ask also about the _monthly sickness_, because it is suppressed in cases of moderately advanced tuberculosis. Nephritis, anemia, heart trouble and emotional disturbances may have that same effect. It is a measure of the degree of disease, not its type. For the purpose of dispensary consultations I do not think we should take any family histories except when we suspect tuberculosis. But when the history leads us to think that the person may have tuberculosis, the social worker can help the doctor by asking the patient questions about the possibility of the same disease in mother, father, or others who are in contact with the patient--grandfather, grandmother, or other relatives or friends living in the same house. We believe less and less in the heredity of tuberculosis, more and more in infection by contact. If separated from a tuberculous father or mother in early infancy we believe that the child does not acquire tuberculosis. But the main mode of infection is by association in the same house, over a prolonged period, with people who have tuberculosis. Often the patients do not know or will not confess that anybody in the family now has tuberculosis or has died of it. But if we can establish the fact that one of the patient's family has died after having a cough for many years, that he grew very weak, and spit blood, we have established the diagnosis without the name. Not the degree of relationship to a tuberculous patient, but _the amount of time spent in the same house with a tuberculous individual_--what we call the degree of "exposure" to tuberculosis--_is the important thing_. _Past history_ After getting the patient's present symptoms, one should ask, "Were you ever sick _previous to this illness_? If so, what troubles have you had?" That is of use in clearing up the limits or boundaries of the present illness. The sicknesses which the patient says he has had are not of very much use to us in diagnosis because we cannot get true answers. The patient's diagnoses or his doctor's are apt to be vague or meaningless. But the questions about the patient's past history tend to make him more clear as to the date when his present illness began. Hence his answers on these points should be written down very briefly, a word or two only about each, and usually in the words used by the patient. In our written histories in hospitals we usually take a considerable body of notes about the patient's habits. I do not advise this for social workers. But there are certain routine questions which should be asked of all patients concerning their _appetite_, _bowels_, _sleep_, _weight_, and _work_. The answers should be recorded in a separate paragraph, at the end of the history.