An Interactive Annotated World Bibliography of Printed and Digital Works in the History of Medicine and the Life Sciences from Circa 2000 BCE to 2024 by Fielding H. Garrison (1870-1935), Leslie T. Morton (1907-2004), and Jeremy M. Norman (1945- ) Traditionally Known as “Garrison-Morton”

16049 entries, 14134 authors and 1945 subjects. Updated: November 1, 2024

HUTCHINSON, John

1 entries
  • 930

On the capacity of the lungs, and on the respiratory functions, with a view of establishing a precise and easy method of detecting disease by the spirometer.

Med.-Chir. Trans., 29, 137-252, 1846.

Invention of the spirometer, making possible the determination of the vital capacity of the lungs. Hutchinson used the spirometer while evaluating candidates for life insurance as a physician for Brittania Life.  Particularly, he researched the safety of coal mining and the presence of charcoal in miner's lungs. He also theorized that air pollution could lead to poor health. Hutchinson’s work first appeared in summary form in Lancet, 1844, 1, 390-391, 567-70.



Subjects: INSTRUMENTS & TECHNOLOGIES › Medical Instruments › Spirometer, OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH & MEDICINE › Miners' Diseases, RESPIRATION › Respiratory Physiology