An Interactive Annotated World Bibliography of Printed and Digital Works in the History of Medicine and the Life Sciences from Circa 2000 BCE to 2022 by Fielding H. Garrison (1870-1935), Leslie T. Morton (1907-2004), and Jeremy M. Norman (1945- ) Traditionally Known as “Garrison-Morton”

15961 entries, 13944 authors and 1935 subjects. Updated: March 22, 2024

FORBES, Sir John

2 entries
  • 11599

Original cases with dissections and observations illustrating the use of the stethoscope and percussion in the diagnosis of diseases of the chest: Also commentaries on the same subjects selected and translated from Auenbrugger, Corvisart, Laennec and others. By John Forbes.

London: T. and G. Underwood, 1824.

This is the earliest English work on the stethoscope. It "includes the first English translation of Auenbrugger's book on percussion, selected sections from Laennec's book on auscultation, and detailed reports from 39 cases from Forbes's practice in which auscultation and percussion were especially helpful" (W. Bruce Fye). Digital facsimile from the Wellcomcollection.org at this link.
See P. J. Bishop, "Reception of the Stethoscope and Laennec's Book", Thorax, 36, 487-492. https://thorax.bmj.com/content/thoraxjnl/36/7/487.full.pdf



Subjects: CARDIOLOGY › Tests for Heart & Circulatory Function › Auscultation and Physical Diagnosis, INSTRUMENTS & TECHNOLOGIES › Medical Instruments › Stethoscope, PHYSICAL DIAGNOSIS › Percussion
  • 6755

A manual of select medical bibliography, in which the books are arranged chronologically according to the subjects, and the derivations of the terms and the nosological and vernacular synonyms of the diseases are given. With an appendix, containing lists of the collected works of authors, systematic treatises on medicine, transactions of societies, journals, &c. &c &c.

London: Sherwood, Gilbert & Piper, 1835.

“First serious attempt by anyone in the English-speaking world to give a subject classification for medical literature” (Fulton). This was first published in volume 4 of Cyclopaedia of practical medicine, edited by Forbes, A. Tweedie, and J. Conolly, 4 vols., London, Sherwood, 1833-34.

Digital facsimile of the 1835 edition from Google Books at this link.



Subjects: BIBLIOGRAPHY › Bibliographical Classics, Nosology