The greatness of Auenbrugger’s discovery of the value of immediate percussion of the chest as a diagnostic measure was not recognized until many years after he first published. His little book met with a cold reception, while a French translation by Rozière de la Chassagne in 1770 attracted little notice. But Auenbrugger lived to see the appearance in 1808 of J. N. Corvisart’s classic translation of the book, after which the value of percussion was universally recognized. It should be noted that recognition did not occur until nearly 50 years after Auenbrugger first published.

English translation by J. Forbes, 1824 (reprinted in Willius and Keys, Cardiac classics, 1941., pp. 193-213); also with introduction by H. E. Sigerist, in Bull. Hist. Med., 1936, 4, 373-403. For bibliography of the Inventum novum see P.J. Bishop, Tubercle, 1961, 42, 78. The facsimile reprint by Max Neuburger (Vienna, 1922) includes a facsimile of the original edition, and translations into English, French and German.