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News o f the invention o f the stethoscope by Laennec in 1816 and o f positive reception o f this instrument by French medicài community reached Italy very soon, even before the publication o f the first edition o f the Traite de l'Auscultation médiate ( 1819). But initial curiosity and enthusiasm aroused by the new medical tool in many Italian universities, rapidly faded away, probably due to the lack o f expert guides and o f the patience needed by the initial training in mediated auscultation. In the mid-1820s, while old physicians and professors put aside the wooden chest-explorer as useless, a new generation o f young physicians - some o f them still in their medical studies - gave a new start to the Italian interest for Laennec's tube and, also by means o f technical ameliorations o f the instrument, contributed to definitively set the stethoscope as an essential aid for diagnosis o f chest diseases in our Country'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]