My object in presenting this paper is to call attention to a well-known but much neglected subject, the investigation, in diseases of the chest especially, of the character of the second sound at the orifice of the pulmonary artery. It appears to me that many physicians, although gauging quite accurately the tension in the systemic circulation, by means of the pulse and the character of the aortic second sound, pass over as almost unworthy of notice the examination of the pulmonic area. And yet, in a few seconds, with the stethoscope as much may be learned of the conditions of the circulation in the lungs as has been learned, at the aortic area, of the systemic circulation.
In diseases of the mitral valve, whether obstructive or regurgitant, all authorities agree as to the importance of the accentuation of the pulmonic second sound, in deciding as to the degree of obstruction