Abstract
THE pulse has in all ages been held by physicians to be a valuable aid to the diagnosis of disease, but until the invention of the sphygmograph, or pulse-writer, the determination of the character of the pulse was left to the tutored tact of the doctor's finger, which varies much in delicacy of perception in different operators, and in the same practitioner at different times. At most the finger, even of the most experienced, can only detect, regarding the pulse, that it is soft or hard, quick or slow, jerky or languid, regular or irregular; but the finger is incapable of analysing the beats, and detecting any departure from the normal standard of each of their component elements. The sphygmograph, which is quite a modern invention, causes the pulse to write its own autograph, enables us to see at a glance the peculiar characters of the pulse, and to ascertain how and where it differs from the healthy or normal pulse.
Article PDF
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Sphygmography . Nature 23, 438–439 (1881). https://doi.org/10.1038/023438a0
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/023438a0