The chief physician at the Hôpital Necker in Paris, René Laënnec (1781-1826,) was walking in the courtyard of the Louvre when he noticed some children playing with some long pieces of wood. At one end some of them were making different sounds whilst their friends were listening at the other end.
Laënnec remembered this experience when in 1816 he came across a shy, plump young lady patient who recoiled from having a male person examine her heart in the traditional way by placing his ear closely to her chest. The doctor picked up a magazine from his desk rolled it into a tube then tied it with a string. He placed one end on the chest of the embarrassed patient whilst he listened to her heartbeat at the other end of the roll.
The method worked, and the stethoscope was invented. Its name comes from the Greek word "stethos" meaning chest.
Later, Laënnec made a foot-long, trumpet-shaped wooden cylinder version of the device.
Laënnec remembered this experience when in 1816 he came across a shy, plump young lady patient who recoiled from having a male person examine her heart in the traditional way by placing his ear closely to her chest. The doctor picked up a magazine from his desk rolled it into a tube then tied it with a string. He placed one end on the chest of the embarrassed patient whilst he listened to her heartbeat at the other end of the roll.
The method worked, and the stethoscope was invented. Its name comes from the Greek word "stethos" meaning chest.
Later, Laënnec made a foot-long, trumpet-shaped wooden cylinder version of the device.
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| This early stethoscope belonged to Laennec. By Science Museum London |
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