Info on a human "experiment" performed in Nanking. WARNING: Disturbing content.

[derigel]

*Originally posted by KenGr *
**I’ve resisted posting this hoping I could find a good reference, but I’ve been unable to. I remember reading of an incident many years ago (I think from Australia) where a man suffered a serious abdominal injury and, although he recovered, he ended up with an opening into his stomach (more or less like the cows mentioned above). The doctor involved did many experiments on digestion, taking things in and out of his stomach. Eventually the patient got tired of being a lab experiment and disappeared, but I think it is quite possible to put openings in many parts of the body if you don’t worry about medical ethics (or normal human feelings). **

I don’t know if this is what you’re thinking of, but there was a very similar case where in 1822 a young trapper in Canada named Alexis St. Martin was shot in the abdomen with a shotgun. He somehow recovered, but had a hole leading from his stomach to the outside of his body, known as a permanent gastric fistula, for the rest of his life. Apparently he’d just cover it up when he ate in order to keep the food from falling out. The attending physician, Dr. Beaumont, performed a series of experiments on the young man to learn more about the digestive process. You can read about it here:

http://www.guineapigzero.com/AlexisStMartin.html

[KenGr]

Yes, it was Alexis St. Martin and I saw the story at Mackinac, in Michigan. I get confused about my travels sometimes. Fascinating story.