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In a Moment of Vision...

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It's 1816.

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A 35-year-old doctor by the name
of René Laennec

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is walking through Paris.

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He pauses to watch as two children
signal to each other

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across a long piece of wooden board.

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One child holds the board to her ear.

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The other scratches the opposite end

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sending the amplified sound
down the length of wood.

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Later, Laennec is called to assess 
a young woman with a heart condition.

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The patient is purportedly quite 
well developed

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and Laennec expresses some hesitation

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in pressing his ear directly 
against her chest.

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Remembering the children with the board,

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Laennec, in a moment of vision 
and dignity,

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tightly rolls a sheet of paper

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and places one end to his ear

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and one end over the young 
woman's heaving bosom.

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He is delighted by 
the clarity of the sound.

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Laennec spends the next three years
developing and testing various materials

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and mechanisms

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before settling on a hollow wooden tube
with detachable plug.

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His device becomes the forerunner

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to the metal, plastic, and rubber
stethoscope we still use today.