Srinagar, Aug. 24 -- A patient coming to a clinician is never satisfied unless he or she is examined by putting the stethoscope on the chest and back and asked to breathe in and out. This routine although not so useful except in florid cases of fluid in the chest or loud murmurs of the heart can miss many clinically relevant information's. But then how did this stethoscope become a part of the doctor's armamentarium over the centuries?

The year was 1816 in Paris, and Dr. Rene Laennec a Paris born physician in 1816 was presented with a challenging case. His patient, a young woman, was suffering with symptoms suggesting heart disease. She was an obese lady and the doctor found it difficult for to perform a direct auscultation. This used to...