CHAPTER III. 



PHYSIOLOGY OF DIGESTION— WILLIAM BEAUMONT 



We have traced the development of the physiology of alimenta- 

 tion from its crude beginnings, when debate waged as to whether 

 digestion consisted of mechanical trituration or whether it consisted 

 wholly of a fermentative process, to the time when some real light 

 began to be shed upon the subject by experiment with the gastric 

 secretion itself. No contribution to the subject of gastric digestion 

 has been of such moment as the work of William Beaumont on the 

 gastric secretion of the French Canadian, Alexis St. Martin. The story 

 of Beaumont's life and the circumstances surrounding his work con- 

 stitute one of the most fascinating chapters in the history of Ameri- 

 can Medicine. 



As physicians, we have become familiar with the names of Beau- 

 mont and St. Martin early in our student career. They have become 

 inseparably associated with the study of gastric juice and its func- 

 tions. Standard works on physiology introduce the chapter on diges- 

 tion with such sentences as: "Gastric fistulae have been made in 

 human beings, either by accidental injury or by surgical operation. 

 The most celebrated case is that of Alexis St. Martin, a young Can- 

 adian who received a musket wound in the abdomen in 1822. Obser- 

 vations made upon him by Dr. Beaumont formed the starting point of 

 our correct knowledge of the physiology of the stomach and its secre- 

 tions."* ''The first fistula of a digestive gland to be the subject of a 

 thoroughly scientific investigation was one resulting from a gun shot 

 wound in the stomach of a Canadian hunter. As the consequence of 

 his accident, the hunter had all the rest of his life a stomach fistula 

 opening at the upper part of the abdomen, through which the interior 

 of the stomach could be observed and gastric juice could be obtained. 

 Beaumont collected a large number of important facts (1825-1833) 

 concerning the digestive process of the stomach and concerning the 

 movements of that organ." ''Beaumont's study of St. Martin's stom- 

 ach showed that in acute catarrh the mucous membrane is reddened 

 and swollen, less gastric juice is secreted, and mucous covers the sur- 

 face." Instances might be quoted almost ad infinitum of references 

 in medical literature to Beaumont's classic study of gastric digestion. 



Beaumont; His Early Life: William Beaumont, the third child of 

 Samuel Beaumont, who had seen active service during Revolution days 

 prior to the Declaration of Independence, was born November 21st, 

 1785. There was nothing unusual in his childhood and youth. As he 

 grew to manhood his sympathies and political leanings were in accord 

 with those of his father, who was a staunch Democrat and patriot. 

 While no church record assures us that he was of the faith of his 

 parents, Congregationalist, his biographer asserts that when the roll 

 of the drum announced the approaching hour of worship he was 

 among those who slowly wended their way over the hills on foot or on 



*Haliburton's Handbook of Physiology; Tigerstedt's Physiology; Osier's 

 Practice. 



