Complete Record - Heirs of Hippocrates No. 1411

WILLIAM BEAUMONT (1785-1853). Experiments and observations on the gastric juice and the physiology of digestion. Plattsburgh: Printed by F. P. Allen, 1833. 280 pp., illus; 22.2 cm.

Beaumont, an Army surgeon from Connecticut, was stationed at Michillimackinac, Michigan Territory, in 1822, when an accidental gunshot wounded a French-Canadian guide, Alexis St. Martin. Although the wound healed, it left a permanent fistula. Beaumont recognized the possibilities of studies of the gastric juice and the digestive process and, for the next ten years, made the most of them. This unimpressive-looking little book, cheaply printed and bound, is a cornerstone of modern physiology and a great American medical classic.

Cited references: Cushing B206; Garrison-Morton 989; Osler 1972; Waller 805; Wellcome II, p. 123

Gift of John Martin, M.D.