The Story of Dr. René Laennec and His Stethoscope
July 12, 2022
Born in 1781 in Brittany, France, Rene Laënnec (1781-1826) was the doctor who invented the stethoscope. … More The Story of Dr. René Laennec and His Stethoscope
Tag: stethoscope
Monaural Stethoscope (From the Collection #6)
February 13, 2021
The Story In 1816, a French physician named René Laennec invented a non-invasive tool for “looking into the chest.” His inspiration came during an awkward encounter with a young woman suffering from symptoms of heart disease. To preserve her modesty and spare himself the embarrassment of placing his ear directly on her chest to listen … More Monaural Stethoscope (From the Collection #6)
Would I Have Died? Pneumonia
August 3, 2012
Pneumonia is a historically feared phenomenon. Around 1200, the medieval philosopher Maimonides described the basic symptoms of pneumonia as “acute fever, sticking (pleuritic) pain in the side, short rapid breaths, serrated pulse and cough.” Even after Louis Pasteur’s Germ Theory began to inform the treatment of bacterial diseases such as pneumonia in 1861, the illness continued in its infamy as treacherous. In 1918, William Osler proclaimed that pneumonia is “the captain of the men of death.” … More Would I Have Died? Pneumonia