In looking for pulsations which were not well defined and in the study of the outlines of organs and tumors I have had much help from the following simple maneuver:
Over the area under inspection there is drawn with a skin pencil a square plaid figure, the squares of which are from 1.5 to 2.5 cm. in diameter and from 12 to 50 in number, according to the size of the area being studied. Any slight movement of the skin at any point in such a marked area causes a change in the direction of some of the lines and a distortion of the figure, and so renders visible movements of the internal organs which are not to be detected otherwise.
In one case, a distended gall bladder, which gave no sign of its presence, was plainly visible at a distance of several feet when the plaid figure was drawn