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
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 him. The blast hit St. Martin in the chest, breaking ribs, lacerating his lung and diaphragm, and setting his shirt ablaze.
When he didn’t immediately die, customers in the store summoned a doctor. Army surgeon William Beaumont arrived and made a startling discovery. The musket blast had penetrated the abdominal wall and torn a hole into St. Martin’s stomach. The food the young man consumed for breakfast dropped through the hole and lay on the floor.
The prognosis for a patient in this critical state was extremely poor.
Medical care being in its infancy, the standard treatment at the time consisted of bleeding the patient or administering emetics or laxatives. Still, St. Martin was young and strong, and the determined doctor vowed to save his life.
The next few weeks remained grim.
St. Martin developed a raging fever and a virulent wound infection. Food and…
