A treatise on the different methods of investigating the diseases of the chest, particularly percussion, and the use of the stethoscope / Translated from the French with an additional preface by W.N. Ryland.

  • Collin, V. (Victor)
Date:
1825
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A treatise on the different methods of investigating the diseases of the chest, particularly percussion, and the use of the stethoscope / Translated from the French with an additional preface by W.N. Ryland. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    CHAP. II. Of Percussion. Section I. This mode of investigation, imagined by Avenbrug- ger, and brought to perfection by Corvisart, was for a long time the only one in practice, and with experienced practitioners contributed much to the certainty of diagnosis in diseases of the chest. Since the discovery of auscultation, it has lost none of its advantages ; and it would be an error to suppose that the assistance of the Stethoscope renders its use unnecessary. The cavity ofthe thorax, which in the healthy state, is almost entirely filled by the lungs, and always more or less distended by air, returns a sound when struck, very si¬ milar to that of an empty barrel. (This comparison, though inexact, is the most correct I have been able to find.) The word percussion has been applied to the means employed to ascertain the nature of this sound. The sound returned by the chest when struck upon, is always proportioned to the capacity of this cavity, and to the thickness and elasticity of its walls, but has not the same character at all points. It varies, 1st, Ac¬ cording as the part is covered by thick and fleshy inte¬ guments ; 2d, According to the degree of leanness, of fatness, or of infiltration * of the subject ; 3d, Accord¬ ing to the posture of the patient ; 4th, According to the manner in which percussion is practised. All these varieties should be well known in a healthy subject, to enable us to appreciate the changes arising from disease. 1st. According to the Points of the Chest struck upon. A clear sound is obtained whenever we strike upon a bony part covered by the skin only, or by thin muscles sufficiently stretched to transmit the shock wholly, with¬ out absorbing any of the sound. The most favourable * The anasarcous state of the integuments of the chest.