ABSOLUTE VALUES IN PERCUSSION

The statement is frequently heard in connection with the physical signs of early pulmonary tuberculosis that any demonstrable change in the percussion note over the lungs indicates a process which can no longer be designated as incipient. The impression is almost universal that abnormalities in the auscultatory phenomena precede by a considerable period of time any reliable signs that may be elicited by percussion. This conception has been challenged by C. E. Waller,¹ of Halahult, Sweden, who urges that more attention be paid to absolute findings in the percussion of any given area. He thinks that the disrepute into which percussion has fallen is due in a large measure to the habit of employing only the comparative method, in which the percussion note over analogous areas on the two sides of the chest are contrasted. The opportunity for errors of interpretation in the use of this method is obvious,