AUSCUI.TATION. 



Mediate and immediate auscultation. Methods, quiet, normal chest 

 sounds, tubal, bronchial, vesicular, respiratory, cardiac. Juvenile respiratory 

 murmur. Horse, left side, right. Ox, left side, right. Accidental sounds, 

 rumbling, gurgling, crepitation, friction. Sheep, special features. Goat, 

 force. Pig, Dog, Birds, morbid chest sounds. Increase, general, partial. 

 Decrease, general, partial. Absence. Bronchial sound in excess, in improper 

 place. Cavernous, amphoric, mucous sounds. Riles, sonorous, sibilant, 

 mucous, submucous, crepitant, subcrepitant. Creaking, metallic, tinkling, 

 .gurgling, splashing, friction. Timbre of Cough. Palpitation. Mensuration. 



This is a term used in medicine to denote the mode of exploring 

 'an organ by applying the ear over the region in which it is situ- 

 ated and deducing the healthy or diseased condition by the sounds 

 heard. First employed by I^sennec in human medicine it was 

 quickly availed of for the lower animals by Delafond and I,eblanc. 



Auscultation is mediate or immediate. Immediate Auscul- 

 tation is practised by applying the ear directly upon the skin, 

 either bare or covered with a handkerchief. In Mediate Aus-. 

 cultation an instrument called a stethoscope is employed to con- 

 vey the sound from the surface of the body to the ear of ex- 

 aminer. The common stethoscope is formed of soft wood (cedar 

 or ebony) or of gutta percha, is from five to seven inches long 

 and a quarter of an inch in the bore. The end applied on the 

 skin is widened into a funnel three-fourths of an inch across at 

 the mouth ; the opposite end is flattened out to applj' to the ear, 

 is about two inches in diameter and has a hole in the centre to 

 convey the sound. A flexible stethoscope is also used either with 

 one or two ear pieces and though less convenient in general than 

 the common variety possesses this advantage when the heart is 

 being examined that it conveys the sound without the impulse of 

 that organ. 



In mediate auscultation the ear should be closely applied to the 

 surface, the right ear being used for the left side and the left ear 

 for the right, but a preference should always be exercised in 

 favor of that in which the sense of hearing is most acute. If a 

 handkerchief is used a single fold only must be applied, otherwise 

 164 



