But
it's a little less sad if that person can somehow add to people's
knowledge about illness, and thereby prevent future illness or death.
Then that person becomes a sort of hero.
Rene
Laennec, who was born in France on this date in 1781, helped a lot of people
become that sort of hero. He studied diseases of the chest (that is,
diseases of the heart and lungs) and listened carefully to the sounds
heard in the chests of both well and sick people. If a patient died,
he could often use an autopsy to determine what had gone wrong with
that person's systems. Then he could go back to his careful notes
about the sounds he had heard in the patient's chest, and he could
teach doctors what to listen for in future patients.
Apparently during Laennec's time, a doctor listened to people's chest sounds by pressing his ear to
their chests. However, one time while treating a “queen size”
woman, Laennec couldn't hear her heart well. He rolled up a piece of paper
into a funnel-shaped tube, and he put the narrower end of the tube up to his ear and the
wider end on the woman's chest. He could hear her heart, loud and
clear!
Later,
Laennec created a wooden version of the listening tube, and he called
it a stethoscope. Of course, using this wooden funnel he was only using
one ear to hear sounds.
Today's
stethoscopes have flexible hollow tubes that make them much easier to
use, and the sounds are carried to both ears through these tubes.
Also, modern stethoscopes' "funnels" have two sides—a diaphragm side and a
bell side—which transmit different frequencies of sound.
It
is ironic that Laennec, often called the father of chest medicine,
died from tuberculosis, a “chest disease” or more precisely a
bacterial infection of the lungs. His nephew is said to have
diagnosed his disease using one of his stethoscopes.
Make
your own stethoscope...
Of
course you can try what Laennec first did, and roll up a piece of
paper to carry sounds to one ear. Note: place the larger end of the
roll onto the chest and the smaller end up to your ear. Can you hear
a heartbeat?
For
a much fancier version of a stethoscope, check out Science Buddies
or Science With Me.
Also
on this date:
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