THE CAREER OF WILLIAM BEAUMONT, 1785-1853: SCIENCE AND THE SELF-MADE MAN IN AMERICA (PHYSIOLOGY, MEDICAL MALPRACTICE, GASTRIC JUICE, EXPERIMENT, HUMAN USE, MISSOURI).

摘要

William Beaumont, M.D. (1785-1853) was one of the first Americans to achieve an international reputation in medical science. He accomplished this when he published a book, Experiments and Observations on the Gastric Juice and the Physiology of Digestion in 1833. This work contributed significantly to the body of knowledge concerning the human digestive process; Beaumont's data was decisive in a prolonged controversy among physiologists concerning the existence and function of gastric fluid.;With the guidance of the Surgeon General, Beaumont began to make experimental use of St. Martin's peculiar wound. He was aware that his opportunity to observe the process of human digestion in an otherwise healthy human being was important to medical science. Beaumont brought to this work only the modest training of a medical apprenticeship rather than university training.;The William Beaumont Collection at the Washington University School of Medicine Library in St. Louis constituted the primary sources for this study. Other collections in Connecticut, Michigan and Wisconsin supplied additional valuable information.;William Beaumont spent the final twenty years of his life in St. Louis where he was involved in early efforts to create a medical society and thus establish standards in the community for the practice of medicine. He was twice involved in court battles in the city, one in which he was accused of medical malpractice.;Two aspects of Beaumont's career made it remarkable: first, his scientific was conducted on the American frontier from 1822 to 1832. He was an Army Surgeon, and was stationed during this period at Fort Mackinac, Fort Niagara, Fort Crawford, and finally, at Jefferson Barracks near St. Louis. He performed his research in the rude facilities of army hospitals; his equipment was primitive and homemade. Second, his experiments were performed on another human being, a young French Canadian fur trapper, Alexis St. Martin, who received an accidental gunshot wound in the stomach in 1822. Beaumont treated the patient at Fort Mackinac, and after months of care, it was apparent that St. Martin's wound had healed in such a way as to produce an opening or fistula into stomach.;His career chronologicaly embraced the early American Republic, from his service in the War of 1812 to his death prior to the Civil War. His work with St. Martin posed questions concerning the experimental use of human beings for science. Beaumont's determination to maintain a career in science in a developing country show to be a self-made man, a scientist and physician.