Samuel Wilks

“ INSTEAD of placing on the table every imaginary form of stethoscope manufactured out of every possible material gathered from the shops of the instrument-makers, I will carry you back to the origin of the stethoscope, and you will see how, on the principle of selection and the survival of the fittest, the primitive instruments have departed from the scene and are now only to be found among the fossilized curiosities, the relics of former ages, on the antiquated shelves of some very old medical practitioner. ”

“ The fact is very interesting in a physiological point of view, and further corroborates the theory as to the value of a double set of senses, or, in a word, of the body being made up of two halves, for just as the two hands feeling different parts of an object gain an idea of extension, and the two eyes by obtaining different views of any substance get a knowledge of its solidity, so in the same way the two ears listening to the same sound more thoroughly appreciate its objectivity. ”

“ Fig. 4 is the same instrument with the sides cut out to make it lighter and more elegant, the ear-piece being the same as before, and the mouth also hollowed out. This was the stethoscope used and recommended by the late Dr. Hughes. By making the instrument still more elegant and slender we have the modern stethoscope in endless variety, as in Fig. 5. It is thus very evident how the modern instrument has been framed out of the original block of wood which was made the counterpart of Laennec's roll of paper. ”