Eldemann's Whistle
While working though the papers of Sir Patrick Dun’s Hospital a few months ago, I came across a number of objects which had been donated with the archive, one of these was a small leather case containing what was clearly some kind of medical instrument.
With the help of the Thackray Museum this was identified as Eldermann’s modification of Galton’s whistle. Sir Francis Galton (1822-1911) invented his whistle in the late nineteenth century; he used it to test the audible pitch of hearing in a number of animals. A calibrated plunger enables the pitch of the whistle to be changed from the audible to the ultrasonic, and Galton established that the limit of audible sound in humans was about 18Hz.
M T Eldermann’s modification dates from about 1900, he improved Galton’s whistle so that sounds of 100Hz were possible, rather than the 84Hz Galton achieved. A rubber tube and ball would have originally been attached to the right end of the whistle in the photograph, which was used to force the sound through the chamber. The knobs could be adjusted to change the size of the chamber, which would change the pitch of the whistle. The numbers on the white dials could then be compared with a standard chart supplied with the instrument which would give the pitch of the note. The whistle would have been used to test acuity of hearing in patients. The Eldemann Whistle is one a number of items in the Dun's Hospital Archive relating to the ENT department of the hospital established in 1906 under Sir Robert H Woods. These include the stereoscopic slides (mentioned in an early post) and two case books, one from Sir Robert H Woods time and one from the time of his son, Dr Robert Rowan Woods, who succeeded his father at Dun's Hospital.
Aside from Eldermann’s Whistle the Heritage Centre holds an interesting collection of medical instruments and apparatus dating from the eighteenth to the twentieth century. The collection includes surgery kits, the contents of a dispensary, two early twentieth century doctor’s bags with their contents, as well as a considerable number of smaller instruments like Eldermann’s Whistle. The medical instruments collection which forms part of the Heritage Items Collection are available to researchers in the Heritage Centre. There is at present no online catalogue but if you are interested in viewing the items please contact us.
Images:
* Eldemann-Galton Whistle, part of the Sir Patrick Dun's Archive Collections - PDH/7/6
* Sir Francis Galton
* Advert for Eldmann and Galton Whistles, from a medical supply catalogue from 1929
* Amputation Kit, RCPI Heritage Item 271