Excerpt from Blood-Pressure Primer: The Sphygmomanometer and Its Practical Application The application of instruments of precision for the study of conditions of the circulation marks an epoch in the history of medicine. The application of scientific instruments in clinical medicine has developed a large amount of valuable information concerning the relation of the heart, blood-vessels and kidneys, in both normal and pathologic conditions. We are now able by means of easily applied tests to gather accurately and quickly an enormous amount of detailed information which could have been found by no other means. This general increase in knowledge of special diseases has placed an added amount of responsibility upon the medical profession, for the public has so learned to appreciate the benefit to be derived from this broader knowledge, that patients now demand special methods of examination and study, in every case, far greater than was ever dreamed of twenty years ago. Among the many scientific instruments now employed in the study and practice of medicine, there is probably not one single instrument of greater use and of easier application than the sphygmomanometer. Its value has now become so fully established that it needs no argument to show an intelligent physician that the sphygmomanometer is a most important part of his armamentarium. In taking up this discussion of blood-pressure apparatus and blood-pressure tests, it is only necessary to call attention to the fact that the normal circulation is a vital function necessary in the maintenance of health and that the cardio-vascular system is involved to a more or less degree in the great majority of diseased conditions. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.