A Treatise on the Diseases of the Chest and on Mediate Auscultation #229659

With all its imperfections as a translation, I have no hesitation in pronouncing the following work to be one of the most valuable that has ever been presented to the medical profession in this country. The original Treatise will remain an imperishable monument of the genius and industry of the author; and the discovery of which it treats, will entitle him to a distinguished rank among the benefactors of mankind. As a standard work on the pathology and diagnosis of the diseases of the chest, it is not only without an equal, but may be considered as almost perfect in its kind. Much, no doubt, will hereafter be discovered that will modify and improve the delineations of disease which he has left us, but their great outlines must remain, unalterable as nature itself.<br><br>To be convinced of the vast importance of auscultation as a means of diagnosis, it is only necessary to peruse the present treatise; and I can offer no more powerful incentive to the reader, than to add my humble testimony in support of every statement contained in it, which I have had an opportunity of verifying. Several forms of disease there recorded, have not, as yet, come under my observation, and in some of the more common affections, I have not hitherto had occasion to notice every one of the signs described; but in no case have I met with any circumstance, either of a positive or negative kind, which could give me the slightest reason to doubt any essential parts of the author's statements.<br><br>At the same time, it would be exacting too much from the weakness of humanity, to expect, that the author of Mediate Auscultation should, in no case, have yielded to the enthusiasm naturally inspired by the consciousness of so great a discovery.