A treatise on the diseases of the chest and on mediate auscultation / by R.T.H Laennec ... ; translated from the latest French edition, with notes and a sketch of the author's life, by John Forbes ... ; with plates ; from the third revised London edition, with additional notes.

  • Laennec, R. T. H. (René Théophile Hyacinthe), 1781-1826. De l'auscultation médiate. English
Date:
1830
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A treatise on the diseases of the chest and on mediate auscultation / by R.T.H Laennec ... ; translated from the latest French edition, with notes and a sketch of the author's life, by John Forbes ... ; with plates ; from the third revised London edition, with additional notes. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    But, perhaps, the most striking tribute rendered to Mediate Auscultation, in this or any other country, and one which seems likely to be productive of the most important results, is that for which it is indebted to the present enlightened Director General of the medical department of the British army. In a letter with which I was honoured by Sir James Macgrigor, on the publica- tion of my Collection of Cases illustrating the use of the Ste- thoscope and Percussion, he infprmed me that he had given gen- eral directions to the medical officers of the army to make trial of the new methods, and to report the result. I have also learnt from my friend Dr. Burnett, one of the medical commissioners of the navy, that no opportunity is lost in that department of the public service, in recommending the use of the stethoscope. The translation now presented to the public, I wish to be con- sidered as complete, in as far as regards the chief subject of the treatise. The Cases, however, needlessly and uselessly diffuse in the original, I have, in almost every instance, abridged. In dif- ferent parts of the work, also, I have here and there omitted a few passages which seemed to have no necessary, or at least use- ful connection with the subject of it. The whole of the Trea- tise, indeed, I have endeavoured, not to abridge i>ut to condense, by the use of as concise a mode of expression as possible : and if I have succeeded in my intentions, my translation, I flatter myself, will be more valuable than if it had been strictly literal; a good deal of the original being written in a diffuse and verbose style by no means commendable in a work of science. By these means, and by the use of a much larger page and closer form of printing, I have been enabled to comprehend the whole in one volume, containing only about the same number of pages as one of the two volumes of the original. little treatise of M. Collins, so well translated by Dr. Ryland ; to the papers and remarks of Dr. Hastings, Dr. Johnson, Mr. Jowett, &c. in the Ed. Journ. of Med. Sc., Med. Chir. Rev. &c. &c. ; and to ;i most valuable paper (which has been pub- lished since the last sheet of my work lias parked the press) in the Edin. Journ. for Oct. 1827, by Dr. Duncan, iun. The last-named gentleman is entitled to the honour of having been one of the first, if not the first, who made use of the stethosco] percussion in this country.—Since the publication of the second edition of this work, additional testimony of the great progress made by Auscultation in this country, has been afforded by all our medical journals. Bat for the most impor- tant addition to our literature on this subject, we are indebted to Dr. Williams, whose very valuable and scientific little treatise {A Rational Exposition, &c.) I strongly recommend to the student.