Title:
Treatise of the diseases of the chest
Publication Date:
1821
Rene Laennec was a French physician who, in 1816, invented the stethoscope. Using this new instrument, he investigated the sounds made by the heart and lungs and determined that his diagnoses were supported by the observations made during autopsies. Laennec is considered the father of clinical auscultation and wrote the first descriptions of bronchiectasis and cirrhosis and also classified pulmonary conditions such as pneumonia, pleurisy, emphysema, phthisis and other lung diseases from the sounds he heard with his invention. Laennec perfected the art of physical examination of the chest and introduced many clinical terms still used today.
Adopted by:
Dr. Robert Homer