[f. STETHO- + -METER. Cf. F. stéthomètre (? from Eng.)] An instrument for measuring the extent of the movement of the walls of the chest in breathing.
1850. Quain, in Lond. Jrnl. Med., II. 927, note. The instrument … must have a name, and I have therefore called it a Stethometer.
1861. S. S. Alison, Phys. Exam. Chest, 341. Dr. Quain’s stethometer … resembles a watch, having a dial and index.
1877. M. Foster, Physiol., II. ii. (1878), 256. The movements of the chest walls may be recorded by means of the recording stethometer of Burdon Sanderson.
So Stethometric a., pertaining to or obtained by means of the stethometer; Stethometry, measurement by a stethometer, the use of the stethometer.
1876. A. Ransome, Stethometry, vii. 137. The stethometric register in June, 1872, was as under:— [etc.]. Ibid., 138. Stethometry is also sometimes of service in supplementing the examination of the chest by other methods.
