Abstract

Critical study of the career of Théophile Laënnec, with particular reference to his medical history, gives cause to query the commonly accepted belief that his whole life was a constant battle against pulmonary tuberculosis. He developed respiratory symptoms almost immediately on his arrival in Paris but they were those of bronchial asthma and responded promptly and completely to a change of environment. It was only in the concluding years of his life and when he was worn out by overwork that the symptoms of tuberculosis appeared and thereafter the disease progressed rapidly to its fatal termination.