How An Accidental Gunshot Wound Helped Solve the Mystery of Digestion

The strange case of Alexis St. Martin — the man with a lid on his stomach

A man suffering from indigestion. Coloured etching by G. Cruikshank, 1835, after A. Crowquill.. Credit: Wellcome Collection. Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

On June 6, 1822, 20-year-old French-Canadian Alexis St. Martin became the victim of a grisly accident. As he stood in line at the American Fur Company store on Mackinac Island, a musket accidentally discharged right next to…