Experiments and Observations on the Gastric Juice, and the Physiology of Digestion

Beaumont, William

Printed by F.P. Allen, 1833

Housed in a handsome custom made slip box, with chemise. Octavo. Worn, cloth backed boards. 280 pp.  Three woodcut engravings in text. Scattered foxing throughout.  

A pioneering work on digestion, based on experiments with patient Alexis St. Martin, whose stomach was exposed by a gunshot wound.  Beaumont (1785-1853), a United States Army surgeon, was the first to study digestion and the movements of the stomach in a living person. During the patient's recovery, through a permanent fistula, Beaumont was able to observe the process of digestion.  "Beaumont was the first to study digestion and the movements of the stomach in vivo. His work on the subject was the most important before Pavlov." - Garrison-Morton 989; Dibner, Heralds of Science 130; Fulton, pp. 186-190; Horblit 10; Lilly, p. 185; Wellcome 2:123; Waller 805; Norman Library 152; Norman, One Hundred Books Famous in Medicine, 61. 

Early signatures of J.H. and J.W. Jerome on endpapers.