Gunshot Victim Revealed Digestion Science

In 1822, a French-Canadian man named Alexis St. Martin survived a gunshot wound that left a permanent hole, or fistula, in his stomach. U.S. Army surgeon William Beaumont used the opening to place food directly inside and observe digestion in real time. Through repeated experiments, Beaumont documented how stomach acid broke down food. This experiment laid the early foundation for modern understanding of human digestion.

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