The physical diagnosis of diseases of the lungs / By Walter Hayle Walshe.

  • Walshe, Walter Hayle, 1812-1892.
Date:
1843
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The physical diagnosis of diseases of the lungs / By Walter Hayle Walshe. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    30/328 (page 14)
    Sect. I].— AprricaTion OF THE HAND. By application of the hand, is meant the act of laying the hand on the external surface of the chest. Its object is to ascertain the form’ of the different regions of the thorax (little or no information can be derived from it regarding the general conform- ation of the cavity); the state of the general, and especially of the partial, motions of the walls ; the amount of vibration communicated to the hand from those walls, and the existence or absence of fluctu- ation in the cavity of the pleura. In employing this method of diagnosis, the palmar surface of the fingers and hand should be laid gently and evenly on the surface. If the object be to investigate the form or motions of the thorax, this is the only precaution, in addition to those recom- mended for the proper performance of inspection, which sit is necessary to observe; if the thoracic vibration be the subject of examination, it is advis- able to place the patient in the horizontal position. Application of the hand as a means of investigat- ing the motions of the chest is of very limited utility ; it is inferior in point of accuracy and ready employment to inspection, and can at the best do little more than confirm the results obtained by this latter method. In the state of health, the hand laid upon the surface receives the impression of a double series of movements occurring beneath; these are the partial and the general motions of inspiration and of expiration. Considerable practice is, how- ever, required to enable the observer to distinguish the general from the partial class, and no particular