:yj^ 



BEAUMONT 33 



That the inner coat of the stomach is of pale pink color, varying in its hues 

 according to its full or empty state. 



That the motions of the stomach produce a constant churning of its contents 

 and admixture of the food and gastric juice. 



That these motions are in two directions, transverse and longitudinal. 



Beaumont failed, however, to ascribe any digestive function to 

 the saliva. He maintained that food finely divided placed directly 

 into the stomach was as completely digested as that which entered 

 by the oesophageal route. 



When he began his work the status of the physiology of 

 digestion had been very well described by William Hunter; "some 

 physiologists will have it that the stomach is a mill ; others that it is 

 a fermenting vat ; other again that it is a stew pan ; but in my view 

 of the matter it is neither a mill, a fermenting vat nor a stew pan, but 

 a stomach, gentlemen, a stomach." When William Beaumont com- 

 pleted his labors there was a marked advance in knowledge of the 

 digestive process. Among the most important results of his work 

 was his complete and accurate description of the gastric juice, whi 

 has been quoted in so many text books since his day. 



"Pure gastric juice when taken directly out of the stomach of a healthy adult, 

 unmixed with any other fluid, save a portion of the mucus of the stomach with 

 which it is most commonly, perhaps always combined, is a clear, transparent fluid; 

 Inodorous; a little saltish, and perceptibly acid. Its taste, when applied to the 

 tongue, is similar to mucilaginous water, slightly acidulated with muriatic 

 acid. It is readily diffusible in water, wine or spirits; slightly effervescent with 

 alkalies, and is an effectual solvent of the materia alimentaria; it possesses the 

 property of coagulating albumin in an imminent degree; it is a powerful anti- 

 septic, checking the putrefaction in meat; and effectually restorative of healthy 

 action when applied to old foetid sores and foul ulcerating surfaces." 



His work confirmed the observation of Prout, that the acid con' 

 tents of the gastric secretion was hydrochloric. He recognized the 

 fact that the elements of the gastric juice and the mucus of the stom- 

 ach were a separate secretion. He established by direct observation 

 the marked influence of mental states on the secretion of gastric juice 

 and on digestion. His was the first comprehensive and thorough 

 study of the motions of the stomach ; and to quote Osier : "His study 

 of the digestibility of different articles of diet in the stomach remains 

 today one of the most important contributions ever made to practical 

 dietetics." 



A German edition of the work was issued in 1834. In 1838 Sir 

 Andrew Combe, an eminent English physician, published an English 

 edition of the work, so as to give it greater publicity in the British 

 Isles. Probably no fairer or more impartial estimate of the value 

 of Beaumont's contribution to science has been made than that of 

 Sir Andrew in his preface to the British edition. Answering the 

 objection that Beaumont had made no original discovery in the phys- 

 ology of digestion, this advocate claims that by "separating the truth 

 clearly and unequivocally from the numerous errors of fact and opin- 

 ion with which it was mixed up, and thus converting into certainties 

 points of doctrine in regard to which positive proof were previously 

 inaccessible, he has given to what was doubtful or imperfectly known 



V 



