The influence of a tiny island in northern Michigan on medical history

My family and I visited Mackinac Island this past weekend.  It’s a tiny, beautiful island (only 8 miles around) with a deep history, and the only transportation methods are by bicycle, horse, or your own legs – no automobiles allowed.  Growing up, my parents took us there yearly for vacation.  

As I have always been a bit of a nerd, one of my favorite sites on the Island was the Dr. William Beaumont Exhibit at the American Fur Company Retail Store, a site of medical significance that intrigued my future PA brain.

Dr. Beaumont was assigned duty as the post surgeon at Fort Mackinac in 1819 [1,2]].  Several years into Dr. Beaumont’s assignment, Alexis St. Martin, a French Canadian trader in his twenties, was traveling through the Island and was accidentally shot in the abdomen inside the American Fur Company store [2].

St. Martin’s injury was thought to be fatal, but Dr. Beaumont had him brought to the fort’s hospital.  Under Beaumont’s care, St. Martin survived, but the gunshot wound in his abdomen never fully healed.  The wound actually fused to St. Martin’s abdominal wall muscles, creating a permanent hole that allowed Dr. Beaumont to observe the digestive process of a living human being.  Dr. Beaumont worked with St. Martin for years and ultimately published his findings in Experiments and Observations on the Gastric Juice and the Physiology of Digestion [3].  

What still amazes me the most is that Alexis St. Martin still lived until age 78!

A medical science nerd to this day, I still take my husband and daughter to Beaumont’s memorial sites on our yearly visits to Mackinac Island, and this past weekend was no exception.

… just a little medical history to start your week, my APP Colleagues!

-Nikki Rataj Casady, DMSc, PA-C

email@appcolleague.org