Dr. Beaumont's Miracle

Young Army surgeons of the 1820s probably hoped for better postings than Fort Mackinac, a garrison on the Northwestern frontier. Nevertheless, when Dr. William Beaumont arrived at the wooded island in the straits separating Lake Huron and Lake Michigan, he conscientiously set about providing the best possible services to the soldiers, fur traders and villagers under his care.

. . . A group of voyageurs was inspecting merchandise at the American Fur Company store when a shotgun accidentally discharged, sending buckshot and wadding into the chest and stomach of nineteen-year-old Alexis St. Martin. With a gaping hole in his left side "more than the size of the palm of a man's hand" and with his shirt on fire (the muzzle had been nearly touching him), the young man fell to the floor.

. . . St. Martin fought a violent fever for ten days and then, astonishingly, began gaining strength . . . Eventually a flap of skin grew over the opening in St. Martin's side and stomach; by lifting this appendage the curious could observe the digestive process at work. Beaumont realized he had a rare opportunity to add to science's then-limited knowledge of human digestion.

. . . The value of this medical research meant little to St. Martin. Although the experiments were painless, he did not share the doctor's enthusiasm for scientific advancement. "The man with the lid on his stomach" was also forced to endure the taunts of fellow voyageurs. (His brother, Etienne, after stabbing one such jester, is reported to have said, "If they do not let my brother's stomach alone, I will kill the whole brigade.")

. . . Today a simple message inscribed on a stone close to Fort Mackinac commemorates the unique contributions made to scientific knowledge by the frontier phsician and his patient: "Near this spot Dr. William Beaumont USA made those experiments upon St. Martin which brought fame to himself and honor to American medicine."