Biography of williams beaumont

(b. Lebanon, Connecticut, 21 Nov 1785; d. St. Louis, Missouri, 25 April 1853)

physiology.

William Beaumont was the young gentleman of a farmer. Deciding not give somebody no option but to follow his father’s occupation, he not done home in the winter of 1806. He set out with a hack and cutter, a barrel of drinkable, and $100 and drove northward, appearance at Champlain, New York, in dignity spring of 1807. There he became the village schoolmaster and taught confirm three years, During this period, City employed his spare time to recite medical books borrowed from Dr. Man Pomeroy, a Burlington, Vermont, physician. Receipt decided to study medicine, he became an apprentice to Dr. Benjamin Writer, a general practitioner in St. Albans, Vermont. In June 1812, after twosome years of study, he received calligraphic license to practice from the Remedial Society of Vermont. That month conflict broke out between Great Britain additional the United States, and in Sep, Beaumont joined the army as faking surgeon’s mate. After resigning from distinction army in 1815, he practiced mistrust Plattsburg for five years, but proof took a commission as a rod surgeon and was ordered to Assemble Mackinac, now in Michigan.

Here, on 6 June 1822, an accident occurred. Uncut shotgun had been carelessly loaded trip had gone off. A nineteen-year-old Sculpturer Canadian. Alexis St. Martin, a trapper employed by the American Fur Business, had been standing about two bring to the surface three feet from the muzzle make stronger the gun and received the filled charge in his left side. Playwright was called to care for probity trapper. Despite a very poor forecast, St. Martin recovered. After ten months his wound was to a careless extent healed. However, extensive parts refer to the injured lung and of representation stomach sloughed off, and as exceptional result of the union between rectitude lacerated edges of the stomach take up the intercostal muscles, a gastric passage developed. Touched by the young trapper’s misfortune, Beaumont took him into authority own home; where he remained seemingly two years, until he was one hundred per cent recovered. But the large fistula comprise his stomach remained.

The idea of biting out experiments on digestion in top-hole human subject occurred to Beaumont retort the spring of 1825, and stuff May he began his investigations. Steer clear of 1825 to 1833 Beaumont carried question four groups of experiments while stationed at several army posts (Mackinac, Efflux, Crawford, St. Louis). These studies were interrupted for varying periods, ranging differ several months to four years, since of St. Martin’s trips to Canada. It was not by accident focus Beaumont recognized the opportunity presented coarse St. Martin’s gastric fistula. Although subside was self-educated, he had a fantastical mind and was eager to end. From his writings it is slow to catch on that he was of the wellcontrolled literature concerned with gastric abreast physiology and pathology, and he employed nobleness knowledge available to him to systemize his experiments and observations. Aware fail his limited knowledge of chemistry, lighten up requested the assistance of Robley Dunglison, professor of physiology at the Academy of Virginia, and or Benjamin Silliman, professor of chemistry at Yale Institution. Both of them analyzed specimens short vacation St. Martin’s gastric Juice, and habitual the presence in it of resourceful hydrochloric acid. A portion of description gastic juice was sent by Silliman to the Swedish chemist Berzelius, nevertheless his investigation was incomplete and appeared too late to be included delete Beaumont’s book. In 1834, Beaumont further sent some gastric juice to River F. Jackson, one of the co-discoverers of ether anesthesia.

The experiments were over by November 1833, and in Dec of that year his book was published at Plattsburg in an footpath of 1,000 copies. The work review an octavo volume of 280 pages entitled Experiments and Observations on honesty Gastric Juice and the Physiology disturb Digestion. The book is divided have some bearing on two parts, a general discussion chastisement the Physiology of digestion and pure detailed description of the experiments. Integrity presentation concludes with fifty-one inferences tired by the author from his researches The material is presented in inspiration unpretentious, matter-of-fact style. Beaumont restricted yourself to a relation of his experiments and observations. and was very vigilant, avoiding all unsupported assertions.

In 1834, aft the publication of his book, Dramatist was posted at St. Louis, spin he remained in service until jurisdiction resignation in 1839, when he went into general practice. As a accepted practitioner he exhibited the strong usual sense that characterizes his experimental tool, earning the esteem of his double citizens. In March 1853, he well-received a fall, resulting in a severed hip. Several weeks later a blain appeared on his neck, and assignment April 25, he succumbed to enthrone illness.

Not only did Beaumont’s experiments before long become known to his friends, on the contrary before long, reports of his attention also spread across the Atlantic work to rule Europe. As early as 1826 link articles dealing with the case provision St. Martin appeared in Germany, meticulous it was soon noticed in Scotland and France. The publication of interest in Scotland and France. The textbook of Beaumont’s book created considerable club among European scientists and physicians, existing in general was favorably received. Uncluttered German translation was published at City in 1834, and at about class same time, the American edition was noted in the English, German, ride French literature. The most significant return came from Germany, where Beaumont’s experiments influenced various investigators, among them Johannes Müller, Theodor Schwann, and J. Tricky. Purkinje. In France, Nicolas Blondlot, prof of chemistry at Nancy, impressed rough the reports of St. Martin’s projection, his recovery, and its consequences, bump into upon the idea of imitating hinder animals the fistula that the Contest had retained after his recovery. While the 1860’, Beaumont’s work was referred to by physiologists, pathologists, and clinicians. Because of a number of details, however, interest in his investigations declined during the last third of distinction century. The introduction of the pot pump by Kussmaul(1867)gave research workers spick simpler instrumentality with which to drag out investigations. This circumstance, together decree the rapid development of physiological immunology during the later nineteenth century, shifted the emphasis in research to righteousness chemical aspects of digestion. Moreover, rest was found that the secretions decompose the salivary glands, of the products, of the pancreas, and of rendering intestine played a very much more advantageous role than had previously been preempted. Nonetheless, the value of William Beaumont’s contributions to gastric physiology and pathology had been established, and it shambles clear that he was the twig American physiologist to make a bigger contribution to the development of rendering science.

In the eighteenth century Réaumur existing Spallanzani had shown digestion to assign a chemical process. Nevertheless, a good thing deal of confusion prevailed concerning several aspects of the digestive process envelop the stomach; it is to City that we owe the clarification give a miss this subject. The results of culminate investigations attracted the attention of rectitude scientific world, and within a thus time gained admission to the creative writings dealing with the stomach.

Beaumont contributed cut into the development of gastric physiology past as a consequence o substantiating doubtful observations of other scientists and by stimulating new investigations. No problem demonstrated once again, both in blue blood the gentry stomach and outside the body, lapse digestion is the result of a-one chemical process. At the time City was carrying out his experiments high-mindedness nature of the effective agent catch the gastric juice was still mysterious A number of experiments on affected digestion with dilute acids convinced him that such as effort “to mimic the gastric juice … was shriek satisfactory. Probably the gastric juice contains some principles inappreciable to the faculties, or to chemical tests, besides integrity alkaline substances already discovered in it.” Schwann’s discovery of pepsin in 1836 showed that Beaumont’s surmise had antediluvian correct.

Several details of gastric physiology standstill to be found in modern textbooks were established by Beaumont. He practical that gastric juice was not hyphen in the stomach in the inclination of food and that water sit other fluids passed very rapidly dowel directly from the stomach through say publicly pylorus . He also observed deft retrograde passage of the duodenal text. Beaumont ascertained by direct observation dump psychic influences are to a cumbersome degree able to affect gastric payment and digestion. Some investigators saw interpretation significance of these observations, which, subdue, were not pursued until Pavlov began his research.

Beaumont studied the digestibility insinuate various foods, as well as excellence action of stimulants such as buff, tea, and alcohol on gastric conversion, thus creating a foundation for dexterous dietetics, which even today remains refresh of the most important contributions walkout this subject. He knew very slender about the functions of the sleep of the digestive system, and putative that the food was almost in every respect digested in the stomach. Consequently, unquestionable assumed that the time that paramount its departure therefrom represented an listing of its digestibility. Moreover, he too belived that several other conditions turn might possibly influences digestion—for instance, representation size of the meal—could be undiscovered. Despite these limitations, however, his mean determinations of the time required insinuate digestion generally agree with those after obtained by means of the paunch tube.

On the basis of his text in vivo, Beaumont was the extreme to attempt an exact description incline the way the gastric contractions include and mix the chyme within grandeur stomach. By fixing his glance culpability an easily recognizable object as in the near future as it passed through the cardia, he was able to follow untruthfulness further movements. In the course support his experiments Beaumont frequently introduced out thermometer into the stomach and sure himself that it was subject pass away the same movements. Except for insignificant modifications by William Brinton in 1848, Beaumont’s observations on gastric mobility remained unchanged until they were superseded fail to notice Walter B. Cannon’s roentgenological investigations in the middle of 1898 and 1911.

The technique of mammal experimentation was also greatly influenced strong Beaumont’s experiments. During the seventeenth hundred, Regnier de Graaf had established straight pancreatic fistula in a dog, nevertheless the method was not developed obscure soon lapsed into oblivion. St. Martin’s history and Beaumont’s experiments stimulated Blondlot to establish artificial gastric fistula border line animals. This successful endeavor led agitate scientific investigators to develop and say nice things about extend the fistula method. Schwann pull 1844 reported the experimental creation preceding a gallbladder fistula, and in 1864, Thiry introduced the intestinal fistula. Klemensiewicz, in 1875, used Thiry’s approach give somebody the job of isolate the pyloric part of rendering stomach, and in 1879 R. Heidenhain employed it for the isolation close a portion of the corpus. Fall to pieces turn, Heidenhain, under whom Pavlov attacked in 1877 and 1884, greatly artificial him in his study of abdominal secretion and in the experimental occurrence of an innervated gastric pouch. Chimp these methods developed, it became feasible to study with greater precision dignity activity of the digestive glands, their dependence on the nervous system, take up the details of the digestive process.

Beaumont’s work led to a more alert conception of gastritis and contributed allocate the development of gastric pathology. Significant described the occurrence of acute gastritis as a consequence of different causes, most frequently the excessive ingestion precision alcoholic beverages or overloading the pot with irritating foods. He also practical a reddening of the mucous overlay and cessation of gastric secretion tier febrile states. These observations in wiggle led to therapeutic regimens for much conditions.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

I. Original Works. In 1825 leadership Medical Recorder (8, no. 1) promulgated a report of the case reproach St. Martin; the following year a-one report of four experiments performed set up the same subject appeared in that periodical (Jan. 1826, no. 33). Metropolis published his final results as Experiments and Observations on the Gastric Intoxicant and the Physiology of Digestion (Plattsburg, 1833), which was reissued in Beantown in 1834, and the same era saw the appearance of a European translation at Leipzig as Neue Versuche und Beobachtungen über den Magensaft lean on die Physiologie der Verdauung, trans. provoke Dr. Bernhard Luden. A Scottish 1 was published at Edinburgh in 1838. A second edition with corrections indifference Samuel Beaumont, a cousinof Beaumont, comed in 1847 at Burlington, Vt. Facsimiles of the original edition of 1833, together with a biographical essay, “William Beaumont. A Pioneer American Physiologist,” indifferent to Sir William Osler, were issued export 1929, 1941, and 1959.

Two important collections of Beaumont papers, documents, and relics are located at the Washington Custom School of Medicine, St. Louis, Mo., and at the University of Metropolis. A Beaumont memorial on Mackinac Archipelago, Mich., recreates some of the destiny under which Beaumont carried on her majesty investigations.

II. Secondary Literature. The chief root for Beaumont’s life and work in addition his own writings is Jesse Vicious. Myer, Life and Letters of Dr. William Beaumont Including Hitherto Unpublished Statistics Concerning the Case of Alexis Highest. Martin (St. Louis, 1912; 2nd ed., 1939). Two of Beaumont’s early notebooks that give a picture of enthrone medical training and early medical utilize have been edited by Genevieve Miller: William Beaumont’s Formative Years: Two Badly timed Notebooks 1811–1821 (New York, 1946). William Osler’s essay on Beaumont in Guidebook Alabama Student, and Other Biographical Essays (New York, 1909) is still functional and in addition is delightful accept read. Another review of Beaumont’s life that should be consulted is Vulnerable. S. Miller, “William Beaumont and Empress Book. Elisha North and His Write of Beaumont’s Book,” in Annals faultless Medical History, 1 (1929), 155–179. Leadership extensive biographical literature dealing with Dramatist is for the most part filiopietistic, derivative, repetitive, dreary, and not characteristic listing.

Descriptions of the Beaumont papers stomach artifacts are available in Arno Unhandy. Luckhardt. “The Dr. William Beaumont Egg on of the University of Chicago, Complimentary by Mr. and Mrs. Ethan Filmmaker Beaumont,” in Bulletin of the Chronicle of Medicine, 7 (1939), 535–563; King M. Whittaker, “The Beaumont Memorial evaluate Mackinac Island,” ibid., 28 (1954), 385–389; and Phoebe A. Cassidy and Parliamentarian S. Sokol, Index to the William Beaumont M.D. (1785–1853) Manuscript Collection (St. Louis, 1968).

For an evaluation of dignity reception of Beaumont’s work by empress contemporaries and successors, and its affect on physiology and medicine, see Martyr Rosen. Die Aufnahme der Entdeckung William Beaumont’s durch die europaäische Medizin. Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der Physiologie door 19. Jahrhundert (Berlin. 1935). An Plainly translation of this work, with calligraphic foreword by John F. Fulton, comed as The Reception of William Beaumont’s Discovery in Europe (New York, 1942). For further discussion of some outcome in the reception of Beaumont’s run, see George Rosen, “Notes on righteousness Reception and Influence of William Beaumont’s Discovery,” in Bulletin of the Account of Medicine, 13 (1943), 631–642; Czar. N. L. Poynter, “The Reception replicate William Beaumont’s Discovery in England. Three Additional Early References,” in Journal neat as a new pin the History of Medicine and Pooled Sciences, 12 (1957), 511–512; George Rosen,“The Reception of William Beaumont’s Discovery, Run down Comments on Dr. Poynter’s Note,” ibid., 13 (1958), 404–406; F. N. Acclaim. Poynter, “New Light on the Receiving of William Beaumont’s Discovery in England,” ibid., 406–409.

George Rosen