Practical observations on diseases of the lungs and heart / By Archibald Billing.

  • Billing, Archibald, 1791-1881.
Date:
MDCCCLII. [1852]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Practical observations on diseases of the lungs and heart / By Archibald Billing. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by King’s College London. The original may be consulted at King’s College London.

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    ON DISEASES OF THE HEART AND LUNGS. ON AUSCULTATION. In the annals of medicine nothing’ appears more extraordinary than that, until the beginning’ of the present century, no person should have thought of applying the ear to the chest, for the purpose of ascer- taining’ how far the actions of the lung’s and heart were in a natural or deranged state; and Laennec is as much immortalised by this simple but valuable improvement as Harvey by his discovery of the cir- culation, Jenner by vaccination, or Stromeyer by subcutaneous tenotomy to cure distortions. To de- nominate this a simple improvement may appear strange to many, who have fatig’ued themselves by reading the prolix descriptions of the varieties and complications of auscultatory signs, which have been given in books and published lectures, puzzling to such a deg’ree those who have not learned in the right way (which is easy withal), that even now we find some practitioners of the old school candid enough to confess that they fear they cannot accomplish it. Cui bono to give a description of the sounds of the voice, or of the breathing, or heart, to the extent of B