Remember playing doctor? The Fisher Price doctor’s kit of plastic medical supplies? My favorite was easily the little stethoscope, although I also enjoyed—and still do—the feeling of pressure on my arm when the nurse (well, back then it was my sister, pretending to be a nurse) wrapped the Velcro band tight and pumped it up to take my blood pressure.
Of all medical supplies, the stethoscope is the classic doctor’s accessory. Is it any wonder that its origins are French? It was invented in 1816 by René Laennec at the Necker-Enfants Malades Hospital in Paris. It consisted of a wooden tube and was monaural. It was quite similar to the common ear trumpet of the time.
Medical supplies have come a long way—since 1816, certainly, and since my childhood doctor-playing days—and the stethoscope has evolved to include not only acoustic, but electronic, recording and fetal monitoring possibilities. But the stethoscope, cool and heavy against the chest, remains the symbol of the profession.
