A Pocket Manual of Percussion and Auscultation for Physicians and Students (Paperback)

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: PERCUSSION. For the practice of percussion we employ a pleximeter, or a linger, upon which we strike with a hammer, or a finger, producing a sound, the character of which varies according to the condition of the- organs lying underneath the spot percussed. In order to determine the extent of the sound produced, we may imagine the following lines to be drawn upon the chest: (1) the mammary line, which begins at the union of the inner and middle third of the clavicle, and extends downwards through the nipple; (2) the paraster- nal line, which extends midway between the sternum and nipple; (3) the axillary line, which extends from the centre of the axilla to the end of the 11th rib. Upon the back we percuss in a line running parallel with the spinal column, and according to the various regions, reglo supra spinata, scapularis and infra scapularis. For the percussion of the abdomen, the linea alba and the known anatomical regions, are taken into consideration. Percussion Sounds- By the percussion of a portion of the surface of the body, we obtain either a dull sound, or one varying in its intensity, pitch, duration and timbre.] DULL SOUND. This always arises from the blow alone, whenever the subjacent organ does not possess sufficient elasticity to produce audible vibrations, and the percussion impulse is not transmitted through it to more elastic parts. The necessary vibratory power is lacking in all parts not containing air, and in all fluids. The dull sound therefore shows that there is underneath the percussed spot, liver, heart, spleen, new formation not containing air, uterus, distended bladder, stomach filled with fluid, hepatized lung, (or one emptied of its air by compression, ) or bloody, purulent, or serous fluid. The nature of these parts cannot be distin..