Hektoen International

A Journal of Medical Humanities

Tag: Necker Hospital

  • René Théophile Hyacinthe Laënnec and the stethoscope

    Philip R. Liebson Chicago, Illinois, United States Laennec examines a consumptive patient with a stethoscope in front of his students at the Necker Hospital, 1816 Théobald Chartran   What constitutes a high-tech instrument? Obviously, in the field of medicine, one that has been developed to improve evaluation of a given condition and lead to a…

  • The stethoscope

    Fiona Robertson Scotland, United Kingdom   Laennec, at the Hospital Necker examining a consumptive patient by auscultation Painting by Théobald Chartran (1849–1907)     One of the most iconic tools of the medical profession is the stethoscope. Here we see René-Théophile-Hyacinthe Laennec, a French physician, using his prototype monoaural stethoscope. It was a wooden cylinder…