DIGESTION VISIBLE TO THE EYE. 
382 
of experiments, continued during a period of several years and 
under various conditions of health and external circumstances, it 
will be useful to give a brief outline of the case. 
“ Dr. Beaumont, while stationed at Michilimackinac in the 
Michigan territory in 1822, in the military service of the United 
States, was called upon to take charge of Alexis St. Martin, a 
young Canadian of eighteen years of age, good constitution, and 
robust health, who was accidentally wounded by the discharge of 
a musket on the 6th of June, 1822. The charge,” says Dr. Beau- 
mont, “ consisting of powder and duck-shot, was received in the 
left side, at the distance of one yard from the muzzle of the gun. 
The contents entered posteriorly, and in an oblique direction, for- 
ward and inward ; literally blowing off integuments and muscles 
to the size of a man’s hand, fracturing and carrying away the an- 
terior half of the sixth rib, fracturing the fifth , lacerating the 
lower portion of the left lobe of the lungs , the diaphragm , and 
PERFORATING THE STOMACH. 
“ On the fifth day, sloughing took place ; lacerated portions 
of the lung and stomach separated, and left a perforation into the 
latter large enough to admit the whole length of the middle fin- 
ger into its cavity, and also a passage into the chest half as large 
as his fist. Violent fever and farther sloughing ensued ; and 
for seventeen days every thing swallowed passed out through the 
wound, and the patient was kept alive chiefly by nourishing in- 
jections. By-and-by the fever subsided, the wound improved in 
appearance, and after the fourth week the appetite became good, 
digestion regular, the evacuations natural, and the health of the 
system complete. The orifice, however, never closed ; and at 
every dressing the contents of the stomach flowed out, and its 
coats frequently became everted, or protruded so far as to equal 
in size a hen’s egg, but they were always easily returned. 
“ On the 6th of June, 1823, a year from the date of the acci- 
dent, the injured parts w 7 ere all sound, except the perforation into 
the stomach, which was now two and a half inches in circum- 
ference. For some months thereafter the food could be retained 
only by constantly wearing a compress and bandage ; but early 
in winter, a small fold or doubling of the villous coat began to ap- 
pear, which gradually increased till it filled the aperture, and 
acted as a valve , so as completely to prevent any efflux from 
within, but to admit of being easily pushed back by the finger 
from without. 
“ Dr. Beaumont began his experiments in May 1825, and 
continued them for four or five months, St. Martin being then in 
high health. In the autumn, St. Martin returned to Canada, 
married, had a family, worked hard, engaged as a voyageur with 
