stethoscope

[Gr. stethos =the chest, and skopeō to see, to observe.] Med.: An instrument employed in auscultation (q.v.). It was invented by Laennec, who at first used a roll of blotting-paper for the purpose of concentrating and conveying sound to the ear; but, according to Tyndall ( Sound, pp. 42, 43), the philosopy of the stethoscope was enunciated by Dr. Robert Hooke (1635-1702. The simplest form of stethoscope, and that most commonly employed, consists of a cylindrical stem of porous wood, as cedar or deal, some seven or eight inches long, expanding at one end into a circular, funnel-shaped aperture from two and a half to three inches in diameter, which is applied to the chest, while the other end terminates in a smaller aperture, which is placed in the ear of the physician. Flexible stethoscopes of rubber are also employed; these are sometimes furnished with two ear-tubes, so that the sounds may by perceived by both ears. The chief use of the stethoscope is to enable the medical man to sound small portions of lung at a time, and so detect more correctly than by the unaided ear the exact seat of disease. stěth-o-scope, v. t. [STETHOSCOPE, 8.] Το examine with a stethoscope. "You wish me to submit to be ste tho scoped." -Savage: R. Medlicott , bk. i., ch. xxi. stěth-o-scop-ic, stěth-o-scop-Ic-al, a . [Eng. stethoscop(e); -ic, -ical.] Of or pertaining to a stethoscope; obtained or made by means of a stethoscope; as, a stethoscopic examination. stěth-o-scopic al-ly, adv. [Eng. stethoscopical; -ly.] By means of a stethoscope.