Note 98 — Front matter (continued 6)

(page page 314).—Doctor William Beaumont was an army surgeon. While stationed at Mackinac, in 1822, he was called to treat a young man named Alexis St. Martin, who had received a gunshot wound in his left side. The wound healed, but there remained a fistulous opening into the stomach, two and a half inches in diameter, through which Beaumont could watch the process of digestion. His experiments regarding the digestibility of different kinds of food, and the properties of the gastric juice, were continued through several years—indeed, until Beaumont’s death (1853); but the first publication of results was made in 1833, and at once gave Beaumont an international reputation among scientists. Through several years, Beaumont (who resigned from the army in 1839) was stationed at Fort Crawford, where many of his experiments were conducted.