The Ypsilanti daily press. (Ypsilanti, Mich.) 1928-1962, 1943-06-09
BY Logan clerdenlug, N. o.

AAAo AhAAlAAAls
doctor can gather by means of
seeing, feeling and hearing, and
we briefly went over a case 10
show how the average doctor
would analyze such results.
Today let us go on TO the next
method used in physical examina-
ton - the information a doctor
can obtain through his sense of
feeling. Technically this is known.
as palpation and has been used
since the very earliest times. The
father Of medicine, Hippocrates,
used palpation thousands of years
ago on the shores of the Aegean
Sea.
In nearly all of us the sense Of
sight is far more sensitive than
the sense of feeling and hearing.
But as many people have found,
the latent senses can be greatly
developed. Good surgeons have a
very delicate sense of feeling. /
knew one who trained his fingers
by spending an hour day feeling
objects underneath two layers of
blankets and an eiderdown quilt,
with his eyes shut, so that when
he was palpating inside an alb
domon he would be able to make
the most minute distinctions.
Blind Physician
There was also the famous case
of physician in Chicago who was
blind, but who became one of the
foremost specialists in the coun-
try in diseases of the heart and
lungs. Perhaps the very fact that
he was blind, by compensation, in
creased the acuteness of his other
senses for diagnosis - those of
feeling and hearing.
One of the signs evident to pal
patton is crepitus. This was q
sign, incidentally, that Hippo
crates described long ago. Crepitus
means grating and it is felt over
a bone that has been broken. The
two ends of the bone are rough
and after the accident the sur
geon, in moving the limbs, rubs
these two edges over each other,
which conveys to his fingers the
sensation Of crepitus, or crepita-
ton.
Palpation is used in many other
conditions. For instance, if you
put your hands over the upper
part of your chest and say, zone,
two, three" the sensation OF vibra-
ton will be conveyed to your fin
gers. This is technically known
as vocal fremitus. 1t is obvious
that the vibration is produced in
the vocal cords and is carried
through the air spaces of the
lungs, through the skin, to the ex-
aiming fingers.
Difference in Vibrations
Now if the lung spaces are
filled up, as in pneumonia and
certain cases of tuberculosis, the
vibration will be transmitted bet
ter, which is a valuable sign. II
also there rs a pleurisy, so that a
soft wall or layer of tissue is in
terposed between your fingers and
the soft issue, the fremitus will
be diminished which is also a val
liable sign.
1t is evident that il takes a
great deal Of experience in exam
ming normal people and sick
people to be sure whether the
fremitus is increased or dimin-
ished. This is what medical stu
dents are supposed to get in the
course Of their education.
Palpation is also very valuable
In examination Of the abdomen for
disease. Many infiammations in
the abdomen throw the muscles
above into spasm and very deli
cate shades or degrees of spasm
or rigidity can be made out by
the experienced surgeon or dag
nostician.
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
J. S.: What is the cause of a
trouble called albuminuria and
how can it be cured, if it can lie
cured?
Answer: Albuminuria Is albu.
men in the urine. II means differ
ent things at different times. 1t
may occur in the course of a cold,
pneumonia or tonsilitis. 1t may
appear under conditions of over
exercise or overexertion. 1t is also
sign Of disease Of the kidneys.
The question of cure depends on
the trouble which lies behind it
and causes it.