Some modern extensions of Beaumont's studies on Alexis St. Martin : Beaumont Foundation Lectures / W.B. Cannon.

  • Cannon, Walter B. (Walter Bradford), 1871-1945.
Date:
[1933?]
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Some modern extensions of Beaumont's studies on Alexis St. Martin : Beaumont Foundation Lectures / W.B. Cannon. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    14/96 (page 10)
    of beginning thirty-six years ago was sum¬ marized in a book published about twenty- one years ago under the title, “The Mechan¬ ical Factors of Digestion.” Since that time I have not been engaged directly in re¬ searches on alimentary functions. Other interests, however, that have occupied my attention during the past twenty-one years, have been the outgrowth of the earlier stud¬ ies, and they have significant bearings on the activities of the digestive organs. It has seemed to me, therefore, quite in con¬ sonance with the spirit of this occasion to consider some of these more recent interests in relation to the observations which Beau¬ mont recorded. Among these later inter¬ ests are those concerned with the nature of thirst and of hunger, the influence of gen¬ eral bodily conditions on digestion, and the effects of emotional excitement in the or¬ ganism. Although the record which Beaumont left us is in the main a direct descriptive account of observations which he made on St. Mar¬ tin, he occasionally summarized his expe¬ rience and drew conclusions therefrom. Furthermore, he expressed certain opinions regarding the nature of processes which he could not fully determine by observational methods. Among the opinions were those included in a brief chapter entitled “Of Hunger and Thirst.” I propose that we examine today Beaumont's views on these subjects and some of the more recent devel¬ opments which modify those views. First let us take up thirst. In a brief consideration of thirst Beaumont quotes Magendie, then probably the foremost