Hobbies And Interests
Types
Originally, stethoscopes were monaural, meaning that the physician listened to chest sounds using one ear. According to Dr. Fred Weinberg, a Canadian physician with an avid interest in medical antiques, it was not until 1853 that George Phillip Camman published specifications for his binaural, or two-ear stethoscope.
Features
Though highly effective, early stethoscopes were crude in design, consisting of a straight wooden tube with a conical chestpiece and a rubber stopper. P.J. Bishop, of the Cardiothoracic Institute Library in London, reports that in 1828-29, the first flexible monaural stethoscope was introduced and consisted of articulated wooden tubes, or tubes of coiled brass or iron wire covered with woven silk. The presence of rubber tubing, springs that hold the ear tubes of binaural stethoscopes together and diaphragms, or disks, on the chestpieces may also aid in antique stethoscope identification.
Resources
Antique stethoscopes are often identified from published descriptions or manufacture's catalogs. Names associated with different stethoscopes include Stokes, Piorry, Davis, Fox, Ferguson, Quain, Walshe and Lloyd-Roberts. The Armed Forces Institute of Pathology in Washington, D.C. and other museums of medical history are additional sources of information regarding antique stethoscopes.