William Beaumont 1178175 226094483 2008-07-16T20:15:35Z MOhistory 7486054 new link yaaaay [[Image:William Beaumont.jpg|thumb|Dr William Beaumont]] '''William Beaumont''' ([[November 21]], [[1785]] - [[April 25]], [[1853]]) was a surgeon in the [[U.S. Army]] who became known as the "Father of Gastric [[Physiology]]" following his research on human digestion. ==Biography== ===Early life=== William Beaumont was born to Samuel and Lucretia Abel Beaumont in [[Lebanon, Connecticut]].<ref>{{cite book | title = Life and Letters of Dr. William Beaumont | author = Myer, Jesse S. (editor) | year = 1912 | publisher = C. V. Mosby Company | location = St. Louis | url = http://books.google.com/books?id=wkcDAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA1&dq=beaumont+life+and+letters#PPR4,M2}} </ref> In [[1811]] William trained to become a doctor through an apprenticeship with Dr. Truman Powell in [[St. Albans (town), Vermont|St. Albans, Vermont]]. From [[1812]] until [[1815]], Beaumont served as a surgeon's mate in the army during the [[War of 1812]]. After the war ended he started a private practice in [[Plattsburgh, New York]], but by [[1819]] Beaumont had rejoined the army as a surgeon. He was assigned a location at [[Fort Mackinac]]. Beaumont took a leave in [[1821]], and married Deborah Green Platt in Plattsburgh, before returning to his post. Deborah was divorced from Nathaniel Platt, whose uncle [[Zephaniah Platt]] founded Plattsburgh after the end of the Revolutionary War. ===Experiments with St. Martin=== {{Unreferencedsection|date=April 2008}} [[Image:Engraving by Dr William Beaumont.gif|thumb|From Beaumont's ''Experiments and Observations on the Gastric Juice and the Physiology of Digestion'', 1833 (p. 27)]] On [[June 6]], [[1822]], an employee of the [[American Fur Company]] on [[Mackinac Island]], named [[Alexis St. Martin]], was accidentally shot in the stomach. Dr. Beaumont treated his wound, but expected St. Martin to die from his injuries. Despite this dire prediction, St. Martin survived - but with a hole, or [[fistula]], in his stomach that never fully healed. Unable to continue work for the American Fur Company, he was hired as a handyman by Dr. Beaumont. By August of [[1825]], Beaumont had been relocated to [[Fort Niagara]] in New York, and Alexis St. Martin had come with him. Beaumont recognized that he had in St. Martin the unique opportunity to observe digestive processes. Dr. Beaumont began to perform experiments on digestion using the stomach of St. Martin. Most of the experiments were conducted by tying a piece of food to a string and inserting it through the hole into St. Martin's stomach. Every few hours, Beaumont would remove the food and observe how well it had been digested. Beaumont also extracted a sample of [[gastric acid]] from St. Martin's stomach for analysis. In September, Alexis St. Martin left Dr. Beaumont and moved to [[Canada]], leaving Beaumont to concentrate on his duties as an army surgeon. Beaumont also used samples of stomach acid taken out of St. Martin to "digest" bits of food in cups. This led to the important discovery that the stomach acid, not only the mashing and pounding and squeezing of the stomach, digests the food into nutrients the stomach can use; in other words, digestion was primarily a chemical process and not a mechanical one. During [[1826]] and [[1827]], Dr. Beaumont was stationed at [[Fort Howard (Wisconsin)|Fort Howard]] in [[Green Bay, Wisconsin]]. In [[1828]] he was transferred to [[St. Louis, Missouri]]. While en route to St. Louis, Beaumont was ordered to stop at [[Fort Crawford]] in [[Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin]] to treat malaria. He would remain in Prairie du Chien for the next five years. While there, Beaumont arranged for Alexis St. Martin to come to serve as his handyman again. In early [[1831]], Dr. Beaumont conducted another set of experiments on St. Martin's stomach, ranging from the simple observation of normal digestion to the effects that temperature, exercise and even emotions have on the digestive process. ===Publication and afterwards=== {{Unreferencedsection|date=April 2008}} [[Image:Beaumont William gravesite.jpg|right|thumb|180px|Gravesite of William and Deborah Beaumont (''Life and Letters of Dr. William Beaumont'', p. 295)]] Beaumont left the army in [[1832]] and moved to [[Washington, D.C]]. There he met St. Martin once again, and performed another set of experiments on how various foods were digested in the stomach. In [[1833]], Beaumont returned to Plattsburgh, New York, where he wrote a book about his experiments on digestion titled ''Experiments and Observations on the Gastric Juice and the Physiology of Digestion''. In [[1834]], Beaumont reenlisted and was stationed at St. Louis. He left the service in [[1839]], and maintained a private practice in St. Louis until his death in 1853. Beaumont is buried in Bellefontaine Cemetery [[St. Louis, Missouri]]. ==Legacy== *St. Martin returned to Canada during the spring of 1833, and would never see Dr. Beaumont again. St. Martin died in [[1880]]. *Several institutions are named for William Beaumont, including: **[[William Beaumont Hospital]] in [[Royal Oak, Michigan|Royal Oak]] **[[William Beaumont Hospital]] in [[Troy, Michigan]] **[[William Beaumont Hospital]] in [[Grosse Pointe, Michigan]] **[[William Beaumont Army Medical Center]] in [[El Paso, Texas]] **Beaumont Highway, in Beaumont's hometown of Lebanon, was named in his honor == Selected writings == * Beaumont, William. "Experiments and Observations on the Gastric Juice and the Physiology of Digestion." Plattsburgh: FF Allen, 1833. * [http://books.google.com/books?id=H6F4_9joRkgC&pg=PA1&dq=gastric+juice#PPR3,M2 Beaumont, William. "Experiments and Observations on the Gastric Juice and the Physiology of Digestion."] Maclachlan and Stewart (Edinburgh), 1838. == References == <references /> == Further reading == * [http://books.google.com/books?id=wkcDAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA1&dq=beaumont+life+and+letters#PPR4,M2 Life and Letters of Dr. William Beaumont] Jesse S. Myer (editor), C. V. Mosby Company (St. Louis), 1912. * {{cite book | last = Harré | first = R. | title = Great Scientific Experiments | publisher = Phaidon (Oxford) | year = 1981 | page = 39 }} *[http://archon.mohistory.org/controlcard.php?id=925&q=william+beaumont William Beaumont Papers -- Missouri History Museum Archives] == External links == * [http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=9315 Burial site] * [http://www.james.com/beaumont/dr_life.htm Life of Dr. William Beaumont] {{DEFAULTSORT:Beaumont, William}} [[Category:American physicians]] [[Category:Military physicians]] [[Category:Military medicine]] [[Category:1785 births]] [[Category:1853 deaths]] [[es:William Beaumont]] [[fr:William Beaumont]] [[ro:William Beaumont]]