Ferguson Stethoscopes

The Ferguson model of the monaural stethoscope was designed in England and became the most popular model used in the later half of 19th century medical practice.

Dr. John Creey Ferguson was an Irish physician educated at Trinity College and The Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh. His close friend in Dublin was Dr. William Stokes, who was an expert on auscultation and wrote a text on stethoscope while just a medical student! Dr. Ferguson spent one year in Paris studying with Laennec and Kergaradec to learn the use of the stethoscope, most especially for fetal auscultation. In 1830, Dr. Ferguson published his classic treatis on "Auscultation the only unequivical evidence of preganancy" in the Dublin Medical Transactions (the only issue of this journal ever published). Dr. Ferguson was noted for his advocacy of using the stethoscope for fetal auscultation. He eventually becamethe First Professor of Medicine at Queens University, although he recieved little rcognition at home or abroad. There is no record of his designing a stethoscope.