Research Beginnings

THE VERMONT CONNECTION TO EARLY CLINICAL INVESTIGATION

The Larner College of Medicine’s physical address—89 Beaumont Avenue—is a nod to Vermont’s connection to one of the pioneers of clinical medical research, Dr. William Beaumont. This box of 19th century surgical tools, which carries a brass nameplate inscribed with Beaumont’s signature, now resides in the collection of the Dana Medical Library.

Born in Connecticut in 1785, Beaumont trained to be a doctor in St. Albans and the surrounding area, including visits with Dr. John Pomeroy at his home and office in Burlington.

Later, as an army surgeon posted to Michigan, he encountered a patient, Alexis St. Martin, a fur trapper who had been accidentally shot in the stomach. Under Beaumont’s care, St. Martin recovered, but his stomach wound never fully closed, enabling Beaumont to observe the process of digestion in the human body as never before, resulting in his 1838 treatise, Experiments and Observations on the Gastric Juice, and the Physiology of Digestion, one of the first major clinical research works published in the U.S. Though his methods and treatment of his former patient diverged far from current standards, today’s research can trace a line back to this early student of medicine in Vermont.

19th century surgical tools of Dr. William Beaumont

Dr. William Beaumont’s engraved signature on the lid of his surgical tool box.