Laennec's book is in the
category of the eight or ten greatest contributions to the science
of medicine.(*) His description of tuberculosis is perhaps the most
masterly chapter in clinical medicine. This revolution was effected by
a simple extension of the Hippocratic method from the bed to the
dead-house, and by correlating the signs and symptoms of a disease with
its anatomical appearances.
(*) John Forbes's translation of Auenbrugger and part of his
translation of Lacnnec are reprinted in Camac's Epoch-making
Contributions, etc., 1909.--Ed.
The pupils and successors of Corvisart--Bayle, Andral, Bouillaud,
Chomel, Piorry, Bretonneau, Rayer, Cruveilhier and Trousseau--brought a
new spirit into the profession. Everywhere the investigation of disease
by clinical-pathological methods widened enormously the diagnostic
powers of the physician. By this method Richard Bright, in 1836, opened
a new chapter on the relation of disease of the kidney to dropsy, and to
albuminous urine. It had already been shown by Blackwell and by Wells,
the celebrated Charleston (S.C.) physician, in 1811, that the urine
contained albumin in many cases of dropsy, but it was not until
Bright began a careful investigation of the bodies of patients who had
presented these symptoms, that he discovered the association of various
forms of disease of the kidney with anasarca and albuminous urine.
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