|
|
Article: The man who listened to the heart.
- Article from:
- Children's Playmate
- Article date:
- January 1, 2006
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2006 Benjamin Franklin Literary & Medical Society, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
|
When you go to your doctor, he or she uses a stethoscope (STET-Huh-skope) to listen to the messages sent by your body. Your doctor can hear the ticktock of your heartbeat or check your lungs for possible congestion.
There was a time when a doctor could only listen to these important sounds by putting his ear to a patient's back or chest. This did not work very well because there was nothing to amplify the sound.
The idea for the stethoscope came to a young French physician, Rene Laennec, when he had stopped to watch two children at play. The children held a wooden stick. One child scratched his end of the stick, while the other child held the opposite ...