is accurate as to the events and period of time and, more importantly, is true to the man William Beaumont.
Beaumont seized the day when a patient with an external wound to the abdomen offered the opportunity for study of gastric and intestinal function through the opening, a fistula, in Alexis St. Martin's stomach. Beaumont was not hasty, but with the technology of the day, described everything he found with, what history has proven, were excellent observations and studies over an extended period of years. Beaumont even used his own funds to pay for St. Martin's expenses and travels in order to perform his experiments.
The value of Beaumont's observations are beautifully stated by Osler, "There had been other instances of artificial gastric fistulas in man which had been made the subject of experimental study, but the case of St. Martin stands out from all others on account of the ability and care with which the experiments were conducted. As Dr. Combe says, 'The value of these experiments consists partly in the admirable opportunities for observation which Beaumont enjoyed, and partly in the candid and truth-seeking spirit in which all his inquiries seemed to have been conducted.' It would be difficult to point out any observer who excels him in devotion to truth and freedom from the trammels of theory or prejudice. He tells plainly what he saw and leaves everyone to draw his own inferences, or where he lays down conclusions, he does so with a degree of modesty and fairness of which few, perhaps in his circumstance, would have been capable... But he (Beaumont) has a far higher honor than any you can give him here-the honor that can only come when the man and the opportunity meet-and match. Beaumont is the pioneer physiologist of this country, the first to make an important and enduring contribution to this science. His work remains a model of patient persevering investigation, experiment
