Methodical abdominal palpation: the history of the development of the method

Despite the development of instrumental and laboratory methods, objective examination of a patient is an important diagnostic doctors tool, especially at the first contact with the patient and in outpatient practice. The physician Frantz Glnard (18481920) [France] and russian professors Vasily P. Obraztsov (18511920) and Theodor Georg (Fyodor) Hausmann (18681944) developed methodical abdominal palpation, which entered clinical practice a little more than a hundred years ago. Their brief biographies and scientific achievements are review, and the contribution of each of them to the creation of the abdomens palpation is discussed in the article. For the first time, some aspects of F.O. Hausmanns biography from archival sources are present and clarify.