The stethoscope is recognised globally as the preeminent symbol of medical expertise, but how did this global acceptance come about following its first introduction in the clinical context of post-Revolutionary Paris? This thesis examines one part of that story by addressing the three following questions. Firstly, why did practitioners in the British Isles become interested in the practice of mediate auscultation and the stethoscope? Secondly, how did they become able to form accurate diagnoses through the use of the stethoscope? Thirdly, how did their interactions with the stethoscope as a physical tool impact their understanding and uptake of the instrument?
The main claim of this thesis is that British practitioners, despite working in a different medical context to that of Paris, had their own methods of developing skill with the stethoscope. These methods allowed British practitioners to appreciate the utility of the stethoscope in making diagnoses, enabled their acquisition of the skills necessary for its use and encouraged their interaction with the instrument itself. The thesis considers in turn the methods of early adopters, its introduction into formal medical education, and the unique approaches taken in using the instrument in obstetrics. It develops a new approach to object study which combines material culture, the social history of technology, and object use. The thesis also demonstrates how the skill of practitioners became embodied in the physical stethoscopes.
The thesis answers important and neglected questions regarding the history of the stethoscope and offers a novel analysis of skill development in medicine, outlining a new approach to object study that is of relevance beyond the study of mediate auscultation and the stethoscope.
