Well, it’s soon to be 5:00 Somewhere In Time on Mackinac Island, as one of our treasures here in the northern neck of my woods beckons.
This week I’ll be on the road and eventually on a ferry to fudge heaven for a couple of days, renting a bicycle for the little over 8 mile trip around the island, and who knows — maybe even a carriage ride.
While browsing around for a good video of the island to share, I came upon a recent historical account of a connection to Mackinac Island and medical science.
An Army surgeon by the name of William Beaumont was stationed to Mackinac Island in 1819 when just a few years later a man named Alexis St. Martin was accidentally shot at close range in the abdomen, leaving an open wound the size of a baseball.
The good doctor treats the man’s wound for several months, but the opening never healed. Not to let a good scientific opportunity go to waste, Dr. Beaumont begins 238 documented experiments, observing through this opening that is directly into the stomach of St. Martin how food is digested. It was Beaumont who documented that digestion was an act of stomach acids breaking food down, and the doctor became known as the “father of gastric physiology.”
There are further details here at the Smithsonian, if you have the stomach for it. Ha. Good luck.
Just another factoid of Michigan history, folks, and how the mitten state has helped shape the world beyond Henry Ford, Jeff Daniels, Madonna, Ted Nugent, Derek Jeter, Magic Johnson, Diana Ross, Francis Ford Coppolla, Charles Lindbergh, and Thomas Edison.
Here’s to science, to Friday, to 5:00 Somewhere, to road trips — I’m soon off on an adventure! Enjoy your weekend, I’ll miss you all next week!
Cheers!
