A Breton by birth, he had a hard, up-hill struggle as a young man--a struggle of which we have only recently been made aware by the publication of a charming book by Professor Rouxeau of Nantes--"Laennec avant 1806." Influenced by Corvisart, he began to combine the accurate study of cases in the wards with anatomical investigations in the dead-house.

Before Laennec, the examination of a patient had been largely by sense of sight, supplemented by that of touch, as in estimating the degree of fever, or the character of the pulse.
Auenbrugger's "Inventum novum" of percussion, recognized by Corvisart, extended the field; but the discovery of auscultation by Laennec, and the publication of his work--"De l'Auscultation Mediate," 1819,--marked an era in the study of medicine.

The clinical recognition of individual diseases had made really very little progress; with the stethoscope begins the day of physical diagnosis.

The clinical pathology of the heart, lungs and abdomen was revolutionized.

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.