CHAP. II.] OBSERVATIONS OF BEAUMONT ON ALEXIS ST MARTIN. 7.1 



1834, pronounced himself in reference to the sound opinions of 

 Reaumur and Spallanzani as follows ; 



"Omnis Reaumurii atque Spallanzani opinio de succo gastrico nihil 

 nisi vana hypothesis videtur, utpote cum effectus, quos succo gastrico 

 i rnputaverimt soli potius saliva tribuendi sint." 



All doubts were however dispelled as to the essential part played 

 by the gastric juice in digestion when it became possible for expe- 

 rienced observers actually to inspect the interior of the living 

 stomach, to observe it under various conditions of rest and activity, 

 and to follow in situ the digestion of aliments which they purposely 

 introduced into its interior. 



Gastric Fistulce established by accident in Man. 



The obser "^ n ^ ae ^ ear 1822, ^ r Beaumont, a surgeon in the 



vations of Dr military service of the United States, had under his 

 Beaumont on care a young man, Alexis St Martin, who had been 

 MS patient, accidentally wounded by the discharge of a musket. 

 Alexis st Mar- rp^ c h ar g e ^ consisting of powder and duck-shot, was 

 received in the left side, the man being at a distance 

 of not more than one yard from the muzzle of the gun. " The 

 contents entered posteriorly, and in an oblique direction, forward 

 and inward, literally blowing off integuments and muscles of the size 

 of a man's hand, fracturing and carrying away the anterior half 

 of the sixth rib, fracturing the fifth, lacerating the lower portion of 

 the left lobe of the lung, the diaphragm, and perforating the 

 stomach." After a most tedious and interrupted convalescence, the 

 patient recovered : there remained, however, a large fistulous aperture 

 some inches below, and a little to the outside of, the left nipple. This 

 aperture, which measured about two and a half inches in circum- 

 ference, at first allowed the contents of the stomach to escape, 

 unless when occluded by compresses and bandages. Ultimately a 

 prolapsed portion of the mucous membrane of the stomach came to 

 act as a kind of valve which prevented the efflux of the gastric 

 contents, but yet was easily depressed with the finger. 



Having done all for St Martin which surgical skill and tact could 

 accomplish, Dr Beaumont conceived the idea of utilising his remark- 

 able patient for the purposes of science. Accordingly, taking the 

 man into his own house as a servant, he undertook several sets of 

 observations, only commencing the first of them, however, when 

 St Martin's health had been completely restored. The first series 

 of observations was commenced in the month of May, 1825, that is, 

 nearly three years after the infliction of the injury, and this was 

 followed intermittingly by other observations, of which the i latest was 

 performed in 1833. The results of Beaumont's observations were 

 incorporated by him in a work published at Plattsburgh in that 

 year. 



