Details
LANNEC, Ren Thophile Hyacinthe (1781-1826). De l'auscultation mdiate ou trait du diagnostic des maladies des poumons et du coeur, fond principalement sur ce nouveau moyen d'exploration. Paris: J.-A. Brosson and J.-S. Chaud, 1819.
2 volumes, 8o (213 x 134 mm). Half-titles, fol. a*2 in volume I uncancelled, 4 folding engraved plates. (Occasional mostly light spotting.) Original mauve printed wrappers with publisher's advertisement (identical on both volumes), original printed paper title labels on spines, uncut (vol. 1 backstrip split down the middle, other small tears to hinges of both volumes, backstrips a bit darkened); glassine protective wrappers, folding cloth cases, morocco lettering-pieces.
FIRST EDITION, first state, with the second leaf of the dedication (a*2) uncancelled. A LANDMARK WORK IN THE DIAGNOSIS OF DISEASES OF THE LUNGS AND HEART, ANNOUNCING THE INVENTION OF THE STETHOSCOPE. As head physican at the Necker Hospital in Paris, Lannec's investigations of emphysema, tuberculosis, and other chest diseases inspired him to improvise a technological innovation that would revolutionize physical diagnosis. Although auscultation had been known since the days of Hippocrates, and diagnostic percussion of the chest had most recently been advocated by Auenbruegger, these methods were often inconvenient and were subject to frequent misinterpretation. Experimentation with a rolled paper cylinder led Lannec to invent a more reliable diagnostic instrument, a foot-long tube of cedar wood, which amplified the sounds of his patients' hearts and lungs. Even more impressive than his invention of this brilliantly simple instrument, however, were the uses Lannec made of it: through methodical observation he taught himself the significance of the various sounds produced by the movements of the heart and lungs and drew up a clear and detailed classification system correlating the sounds, for which he developed a precise terminology, to different disorders and diseases. He set forth his discoveries in "this epochal work, which... offers a masterful correlation of stethoscopic signs of chest disease with corresponding autopsy findings that serves still as the foundation for bedside diagnosis of chest disorders" (Grolier Medicine). Lannec "virtually created the physical diagnosis of pulmonary diseases, giving clear, concise definitions of phthisis, pneumothorax, emphysema, etc. From his teaching came such terms as bronchial breathing; vesicular and cavernous respiration; mucus, bubbling, and sonorous rales; metallic tinkle; and egophony" (Heirs of Hippocrates). The most important diagnostic advance "between Auenbrugger and the discovery of X-rays" (PMM), Lannec's invention was quickly accepted throughout Europe. Four further French editions of De l'auscultation appeared before 1837, and the first English translation appeared in 1821, with an American edition appearing two years later. The invention of the stethoscope focused the attention of the medical world on Paris, and furthered the influence of the French tradition of clinical empiricism abroad: "Because the accurate use of the stethoscope could not be learned from the lecture method that had characterized eighteenth-century medical instruction, Paris in the 1820s became the center of clinical training in the use of the instrument. Hospital rounds were conducted with an increasingly international group of student observers, and when these early advocates of diagnostic auscultation and pathologic anatomy returned home, they also spread the French methods of bedside observation and instruction" (Grolier Medicine) For his achievements Lannec was showered with honors, becoming a member of the Collge de France and of the Acadmie de Mdicine, and a Chevalier of the Lgion d'Honneur. But soon after publication of the second edition (see lot 1159), Lannec succumbed to tuberculosis, the very disease that he had diagnosed so effectively, presumably contracted from his patients.
The illustrations include the first illustration of Lannec's early wooden tubular stethoscope, an example of which is offered for sale, along with his treatise, in the publisher's catalogue printed on the original wrappers of this first edition.
Dibner Heralds 129; En franais dans le texte 226; Garrison-Morton 2673, 3219, 3614; Grolier Medicine 57 (this copy exhibited); Heirs of Hippocrates 1364; Osler 1318; PMM 280; Waller 5491; Wellcome III, p. 429; Norman 1253. (2)
2 volumes, 8o (213 x 134 mm). Half-titles, fol. a*2 in volume I uncancelled, 4 folding engraved plates. (Occasional mostly light spotting.) Original mauve printed wrappers with publisher's advertisement (identical on both volumes), original printed paper title labels on spines, uncut (vol. 1 backstrip split down the middle, other small tears to hinges of both volumes, backstrips a bit darkened); glassine protective wrappers, folding cloth cases, morocco lettering-pieces.
FIRST EDITION, first state, with the second leaf of the dedication (a*2) uncancelled. A LANDMARK WORK IN THE DIAGNOSIS OF DISEASES OF THE LUNGS AND HEART, ANNOUNCING THE INVENTION OF THE STETHOSCOPE. As head physican at the Necker Hospital in Paris, Lannec's investigations of emphysema, tuberculosis, and other chest diseases inspired him to improvise a technological innovation that would revolutionize physical diagnosis. Although auscultation had been known since the days of Hippocrates, and diagnostic percussion of the chest had most recently been advocated by Auenbruegger, these methods were often inconvenient and were subject to frequent misinterpretation. Experimentation with a rolled paper cylinder led Lannec to invent a more reliable diagnostic instrument, a foot-long tube of cedar wood, which amplified the sounds of his patients' hearts and lungs. Even more impressive than his invention of this brilliantly simple instrument, however, were the uses Lannec made of it: through methodical observation he taught himself the significance of the various sounds produced by the movements of the heart and lungs and drew up a clear and detailed classification system correlating the sounds, for which he developed a precise terminology, to different disorders and diseases. He set forth his discoveries in "this epochal work, which... offers a masterful correlation of stethoscopic signs of chest disease with corresponding autopsy findings that serves still as the foundation for bedside diagnosis of chest disorders" (Grolier Medicine). Lannec "virtually created the physical diagnosis of pulmonary diseases, giving clear, concise definitions of phthisis, pneumothorax, emphysema, etc. From his teaching came such terms as bronchial breathing; vesicular and cavernous respiration; mucus, bubbling, and sonorous rales; metallic tinkle; and egophony" (Heirs of Hippocrates). The most important diagnostic advance "between Auenbrugger and the discovery of X-rays" (PMM), Lannec's invention was quickly accepted throughout Europe. Four further French editions of De l'auscultation appeared before 1837, and the first English translation appeared in 1821, with an American edition appearing two years later. The invention of the stethoscope focused the attention of the medical world on Paris, and furthered the influence of the French tradition of clinical empiricism abroad: "Because the accurate use of the stethoscope could not be learned from the lecture method that had characterized eighteenth-century medical instruction, Paris in the 1820s became the center of clinical training in the use of the instrument. Hospital rounds were conducted with an increasingly international group of student observers, and when these early advocates of diagnostic auscultation and pathologic anatomy returned home, they also spread the French methods of bedside observation and instruction" (Grolier Medicine) For his achievements Lannec was showered with honors, becoming a member of the Collge de France and of the Acadmie de Mdicine, and a Chevalier of the Lgion d'Honneur. But soon after publication of the second edition (see lot 1159), Lannec succumbed to tuberculosis, the very disease that he had diagnosed so effectively, presumably contracted from his patients.
The illustrations include the first illustration of Lannec's early wooden tubular stethoscope, an example of which is offered for sale, along with his treatise, in the publisher's catalogue printed on the original wrappers of this first edition.
Dibner Heralds 129; En franais dans le texte 226; Garrison-Morton 2673, 3219, 3614; Grolier Medicine 57 (this copy exhibited); Heirs of Hippocrates 1364; Osler 1318; PMM 280; Waller 5491; Wellcome III, p. 429; Norman 1253. (2)