Auenbrugger, Leopold (1722-1809)
Inventum novum ex percussione thoracis humani ut signo Abstrusos Interni Pectoris Morbos Detegendi.

Vienna, J.T. Trattner, 1761.

First edition, first issue (without errata printed on verso of F8), octavo, A-F8; bound in tree calf, neatly rebacked, small ownership inscription to title, library perforated stamp on title and D5, release stamp on erso of title, 8 x 4 1/2 in.

Garrison-Morton 2672; Lilly, p. 127; Willius & Keys, pp. 190-213; Norman I.81; Heirs of Hippocrates 954.

Auenbrugger, considered an important contributor to modern medicine, observed that one could judge the amount of fluids in a patient's lungs by thumping on the chest. The resulting sound could be reliably used to determine the presence of fluid in the lungs, and led him to a deeper study of tuberculosis by use of his percussive diagnostic methods.