On stethometry : being an account of a new and more exact method of measuring & examining the chest, with some of its results in physiology and practical medicine also an appendix on the chemical and microscopical examination of respired air / by Arthur Ransome.

  • Arthur Ransome
Date:
1876
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On stethometry : being an account of a new and more exact method of measuring & examining the chest, with some of its results in physiology and practical medicine also an appendix on the chemical and microscopical examination of respired air / by Arthur Ransome. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    We cannot thus strictly localize the position of a crackle or of an amphoric resonance, nor can we, without danger of error, compare the post-mortem appearances with the signs noted during life. Raciborski's attempt to improve upon this method, by dividing the body into thirty-two rectangular spaces, was not very successful; and Piorry's elaborate scheme of ver- tical, horizontal, and even obliquely-drawn lines, is far too complicated for general use. II. THE METHOD OF NATURAL MARKINGS. A somewhat more simple and perhaps more exact localization is secured by using the bony skeleton as a guide. If the ribs and costal cartilages are taken as very irregular parallels of latitude, and the sternum with vertical lines through the nipples as meridians, it is pos- sible to refer the underlying organs to them with some approach to accuracy. For various important objects, it is probable that this is the only readily applicable method. It is difficult to see what other means could be substituted for it when the observation is to apply a rule that shall fit various indivi- duals. Thus, to mark the normal positions of the heart and its great vessels and valves, the points where their sounds are best heard, the mutual relations of the heart and lungs, the size of these organs under differing conditions, the positions of the nipples in health and in disease, for all these ques- tions no general measurement, by inches or other linear measure, is possible, owing to the varying size and shape of different individuals. Moreover, whilst there are great differences in the measurements of individuals, there is
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