PLATTBURGH -- French-Canadian Alexis St. Martin returned several times to the United States, where hundreds of physiological experiments were conducted on him by Dr. William Beaumont,The Father of Gastric Physiology.

CUTTING-EDGE RESEARCH

In 1833, Beaumont's notes and drawings were consolidated in a book, Experiments and Observations of the Gastric Juice and the Physiology of Digestion published by by F. P. Allen, a local newspaper publisher in Plattsburgh.

The book was later published in Great Britain, France, Germany and Scotland.

Dr. Paolo Fedi of Beaumont Gastroenterology Services was able to secure a first-edition copy of the rare tome.

The book was poorly published because this was a newspaper, Fedi said.

It was not a publication that was done in a bound book. Beaumont never used any of the important universities at that time. He never connected with them. So this book, a few copies remained.

Medical interest surged in Beaumont's research and his study of St. Martin.

Everybody wanted him to come to their place, but this guy refused to connect further, Fedi said.

He went into Canada and disappeared from any public venue. He didn't want to have anything anymore.

SUCCESSFUL PRACTICE

St. Martin would not meet in St. Louis with Beaumont, whowas stationed there in 1830 and was appointed Surgeon at Jefferson Barrack and later the Arsenal.

About 1835, he took up his residence in St. Louis and two or three years later he resigned from the Army and took up private practice, according to his obituary.

Beaumont lived in St. Louis 19 years, where he was appointed Professor of Surgery at Saint Louis University's Medical Department.

He died (April 25, 1853) after a slip on the ice while he was going to see a patient, Fedi said.

Beaumont is buried in Bellefontaine Cemetery in St. Louis as his wife, Deborah Greene Beaumont (1799-1870) and their daughter, Sarah Beaumont Keim (1825-1913).

Their son, Israel Greene Beaumont (1829-1901 is buried in the Woodlawn Cemetery in Green Bay, Wisconsin.

Living in Plattsburgh here, he had an office where the store that is now called Ashley Furniture is, Fedi said.

He had an office and practice there. There is a plaque there that was placed by the Medical Society, I think in the '70s.

After his publication, he was able to determine that the stomach is able to digest food because it produces acid. They called it at the time muratic acid. Now, it's what is called hydrochloric acid. Before that we did not know the stomach was producing acid. The science at the time held food sat or putrefied in the stomach.

Beaumont's experiments with St. Martin proved and demonstrated otherwise.

That made an explosion of research everywhere, Fedi said.

His work was really fundamental to the understanding of the digestion of the GI tract.

He was a great observer. He was able to kind of look at the stomach and he realized that the weather, the stress of different things was able to affect the stomach of the GI tract, illnesses.

So when Alexis was drinking too much, they were able to see that his stomach wasn't really healthy, and it was taking much longer to digest than what was normal.

The pioneering medical researcher also noticed similar outcomes for the effects of tobacco on the stomach.

Beaumont put Plattsburgh on the map for medical history because at that time there was not really major hospital or any other things here, Fedi said.

Because of the Army base and him, it became an important site.

PARTED WAYS

St. Martin, born April 8, 1802 in Berthierville, Quebec, died June 24, 1880 in Saint-Thomas de Joilette in Quebec.

The wood chopper fathered 22 children, and his burial site remained secret until 1962.

He was so worried that somebody would come and get even when he was dead, he left a will that stated his body should be left to decompose for four or five days before he was put in the ground and one should know where the body would be, Fedi said.

Alexis Bidagan dit St-Martin is buried at St. Thomas Parish Cemetery in Joliette, Quebec.

A great-niece of his made it public that he was actually buried in the cemetery of a specific church, so they were able to put a tombstone with his name and other things," Fedi said.

"It is just outside of Montreal.

Beaumont name's graces the Beaumont Hall Science Building at SUNY Plattsburgh, the William Beaumont Army Medical Center in El Paso, Texas, and the largest health care system in Michigan.

It's still amazing that many people do not know anything about this history, Fedi said.

I have medical practice called Beaumont. Many people are like 'You're Italian, why do you use this French name?'

I love history. I'm fascinated with the idea that I can use his name for a practice of the GI tract.

Email Robin Caudell:

rcaudell@pressrepublican.com

Twitter:@Robin Caudell

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Bizarre 'stomach' case put Plattsburgh on the map - Plattsburgh Press Republican