- sphygmoscope
- An instrument by which the pulse beats are made visible by causing fluid to rise in a glass tube, by means of a mirror projecting a beam of light, or simply by a moving lever as in the sphygmograph. [sphygmo- + G. skopeo, to view]- Bishop s. an instrument for measuring the blood pressure, with special reference to diastolic pressure; the tube is filled with a solution of cadmium borotungstate, and the scale is the reverse of that of a mercurial manometer, the pressure being made directly by the weight of the liquid and not by compressed air.
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n.a device for showing the heartbeat or pulse as a visible signal, especially a continuous wave signal on a cathode-ray tube.* * *
sphyg·mo·scope (sfigґmo-skōp) [sphygmo- + -scope] a device formerly used to make the pulse beat visible.
Medical dictionary. 2011.