Organon §86

Ask for more precise information about each symptom.

When the narrator has finished what he wanted to say of his own accord, the physician enters a closer determination of each particular symptom in the following way: He reads through the single symptoms reported to him and asks for further particulars about this or that one. For example:

1. At what time did this befallment take place?

2. Did the befallment occur before the medicine was used, while taking the medicine, or only some days after setting it aside?

3. What kind of pain, what sensation (described exactly) took place at this spot?

4. What exact spot was it?

5. Did the pain ensue in fits and starts at different times, or was it persistent, incessant?

6. How long did the pain last?

7. At what time of day or night, and in what position, was the pain the worst? At what time, and in what position, did it stop entirely?

8. Described in clear, plain words, how was the befallment or circumstance exactly constituted?