Written by René Laennec (1781-1826), a French physician and inventor of the stethoscope, A Treatise on the Diseases of the Chest and on Mediate Auscultation primarily reads as an observational and highly analytical encyclopedia, divided into three primary sections. The first is “Of the Exploration of the Chest,” in which Laennec describes the proper technique for using his stethoscope and also establishes a baseline for understanding auscultatory sounds. The following two sections are entitled, “Diseases of the Bronchi, Lungs, and Pleura” and “Diseases of the Heart and its Appendages.” This organizational style that Laennec employs lends itself to assessing anatomy as a means to determine pathology, a pervading philosophy within French Medicine at the time. While Laennec has been largely popularized and praised by the modern medical community for his invention of the stethoscope, a closer look into his personal and professional life reveals a man who is as enigmatic as he is brilliant.

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