The Stethoscope and those memories of a lifetime

My early childhood was spent in Nugegoda. I stayed with my grandparents smothered with love and affection. My father was helping to grease the wheels of the government far away from the Metropolis. My grandpa was an apothecary caring for the sick and the suffering. He was often seen leav-ing the house with his stethoscope. Whenever I fell ill he used this instrument to listen to my chest. I was simply fascinated and intrigued by this device with its brown tubes and black bell. These are my earliest recollections of this awesome instru-ment.

- By Dr NIHAL D AMERASEKERA

The stethoscope has become a tal-isman and so much of a part of every doctor. The word stethoscope comes from the Greek words stethos, mean-ing chest, and skopein, meaning to explore. The amazing story of the invention of this astounding instru-ment is steeped in history. In the autumn of 1816, Dr. Rene Theophile Hyacinthe Laénnec, a French Physician was walking in the court-yard of the Le Louvre Palace in Paris. He observed two children play-ing. Each one had a piece of wood placed on the ear. The pieces of wood were connected by a taut string. The taps from one piece of wood reached the other piece.

In those early days the heart sounds and breathing was heard by the doctor placing the ear on the patient’s chest. Once when a young lady came to Dr Laénnec for treat-ment, he was bashful and felt uneasy to place his ear on her chest. He made a tube with a sheet of paper and placed one end on the chest to listen. This wasn’t perfect but caused less embarrassment to the patient and the doctor. He remembered the acoustic phenomenon used by the two boys.

Laénnec spent several years trying to perfect an instrument and decided on a hollow wooden tube that amplified the sounds. This became the forerunner to the modern stethoscope. Doctors used wooden tubes as stethoscopes until the latter half of the 19th century. It took many more years to develop the modern bell and diaphragm type of stethoscope. In 1861 an Irish physician named Arthur Leared created a binaural model with two earpieces on the ends of stiff metal tubes. In 1862 George P. Camman of New York, perfected the design using flexible tubes with smaller ear connections. This binaural stethoscope was commercially pro-duced. In appearance his instrument is similar to the ones used today.