Moments of Truth: Four Creators of Modern Medicine
BMJ 2004; 328 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.328.7453.1443-a (Published 10 June 2004) Cite this as: BMJ 2004;328:1443
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Dear Sir,
We forgive the reviewer of Thomas Dormandy's book Moments of Truth:
Four Creators of Modern Medicine for the fact that he misspelt the surname
of René Théophile Hyacinthe Laennec (1781-1826). Dr. Vlad apparently did
not have the opportunity to consult the original work: De l'auscultation
médiate, ou, traité du diagnostic des maladies des poumons et du coeur :
fondé principalement sur ce nouveau moyen d'exploration / par R.T.H.
Laennec, published by J.-A. Brosson et J.-S. Chaudé in Paris in the year
1819.
We are fortunate that we could peruse the original book in two
volumes at the Leiden University Library. It is also possible to view an
electronic image of this book at http://gallica.bnf.fr/.
Recently, we published a letter (1) in which we discussed the correct
spelling.
Sincerely,
MP Chandie Shaw,
JW Schoones
1. Chandie Shaw MP, Schoones JW. Laennec, tréma, and tuberculosis. Am
J Respir Crit Care Med 2004 May 15;169(10):1165
Competing interests:
None declared
Competing interests: No competing interests
Whether Laënnec, Semmelweis, Lister and Reed deserved the Nobel Prize
is a moot point. However, they could not have qualified (not Laënnec and
Semmelweis, in anycase) as they were dead before the Nobel, which is not
awarded posthumously, was instituted in 1901.
Competing interests:
None declared
Competing interests: No competing interests
Sir:
Noble prize is awarded to mostly those academicians who have three
things in common; invention of "something", which has tremendous effect on
human life globally; political affiliation; government alliances with
superpowers. May be Frenchman René Laënnec, inventor of the stethoscope,
Hungarian Ignaz Semmelweis, pioneer of linking puerperal fever with
septicaemia and anitsceptic obstetrics, Joseph Lister, more famous pioneer
of antisepsis, and American Walter Reed, discoverer of yellow fever spread
by mosquitoes were missing the latter two common denominators of Noble
prize at that time.
Reference:
Ioana Vlad. Moments of Truth: Four Creators of Modern Medicine.BMJ
2004; 328: 1443-a
Competing interests:
None declared
Competing interests: No competing interests
Better a stethophone
Sir,
When did anyone use a stethoscope actually to see anything? Shouldn't
Laennec's invention better be called a stethophone?
Competing interests:
None declared
Competing interests: No competing interests