3-003-987 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The late Sir John Forbes, M.D., 1861. Queen Victoria's doctor, famous for translating the work of René Laennec, inventor of the stethoscope. 'Many living physicians can remember with what contemptuous disregard the doctrines and art of physical diagnosis were first received in England. John Forbes introduced them into this country. The first edition of his translation of Laennec's "Treatise on Auscultation and Diseases of the Chest" was published in 1831, the fifth in 1838, when at last the new method began to be more generally practised, and the diagnosis of pulmonary and cardiac diseases especially rendered more clear and certain, with incalculable advantage to practicable medicine. His "Original Cases Illustrating the Use of the Stethoscope, with a Translation of Auenbrugger," &c., was published in 1833, and gave a fresh impulse to the art of mediate auscultation...He held the appointments of Physician in Ordinary to her Majesty's Household and to the late Duke of Cambridge, Physician Extraordinary to the Prince Consort, and Consulting Physician to the Hospital for Consumption'. From "Illustrated London News", 1861.