Editing René Laennec (section)

==Other medical contributions==
[[Image:Laennec - Théobald Chartran.jpg|right|thumb|Laennec [[Auscultation|auscultates]] a patient before his students]]
He developed the understanding of [[peritonitis]] and [[cirrhosis]]. Although the disease of cirrhosis was known, Laennec gave cirrhosis its name, using the Greek word ({{math|κιρρος}} ''kirrhos'', tawny) that referred to the tawny, yellow nodules characteristic of the disease.

He coined the term ''[[melanoma]]'' and described ''[[metastases]]'' of melanoma to the lungs. In 1804, while still a medical student, he was the first person to lecture on melanoma. This lecture was subsequently published in 1805. Laennec actually used the term ''melanose'', which he derived from the Greek ({{math|μελαν}}, ''melan'', ''mela'') for "black". Over the years, there were bitter exchanges between Laennec and [[Dupuytren]], the latter objecting that there was no mention of his work in this area and his role in its discovery.

He also studied [[tuberculosis]]. Coincidentally, his nephew, Mériadec Laennec, is said to have diagnosed tuberculosis in Laennec using Laennec's stethoscope.<ref name=Roguin-2006-09/><ref name=Scherer/> Laennec wrote ''A Treatise on the Disease of the Chest'',<ref name=Laennec-Forbes-1835/><ref name=Forbes-1962/> in which he focused on diseases of the chest such as ''[[phthisis pulmonalis]]'' (tuberculosis) and diagnostics such as ''[[pectoriloquy]]''. He discussed the symptoms of Phthisis pulmonalis and what parts of the body it affects. It was written in an academic manner for learning purposes.<ref name=Forbes-1962>{{cite book |last=Laennec |first=R.T.H. |editor=Forbes, John |editor-link=Sir John Forbes |year=1962 |orig-date=1835 |title=A Treatise on the Disease[s] of the Chest |location=New York |publisher=Hafner Publishing Company}}</ref>

Laennec advocated objective scientific observation. Professor [[Benjamin Ward Richardson]] stated in ''Disciples of Aesculapius'' that "the true student of medicine reads Laennec's treatise on mediate auscultation and the use of the stethoscope once in two years at least as long as he is in practice. It ranks with the original work of [[Vesalius]], [[William Harvey|Harvey]] and [[Hippocrates]]."<ref name=CathEnc-08737b-Laennec>{{cite encyclopedia |entry=Laennec, Renee-Theophile-Hyacinthe |encyclopedia=Catholic Encyclopedia |entry-url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08737b.htm |access-date=18 August 2014}}</ref>