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There were two main views on the body: all the parts of a body were co-related to one another, and the inputs and outputs of the body were very important for it to function properly. A 28-year-old French-Canadian named Alexis St. Martin became injured by a gunshot, and its wound was located on his abdomen. William Beaumont was called to treat St. Marin accident and then he saw and a great opportunity that enable him the studying of the stomach and the digestive system. At the time of Beaumont’s experiments, many other scientists were conducting research on digestion, but mostly, there was a major interest in indigestion; also known as dyspepsia. Dyspepsia was discovered to be a great distress during this time but there was little to none research about it. indigestion was classified as an ‘atonic neurosis’ which meant that there was a lack of stretchiness in the nerves of the stomach which in turn caused it to weaken. The causes were thought to be in the area of the nervous system.
Talking about diseases, people from the 19th century explained unknown diseases through their fears; they said that illness could be caused by the weather and climate, depending on the place’s temperature and humidity, and/or it could be associated with a catch-all phase of diseases that spread around contaminating everyone.
Such diseases, the people said, indicated a disequilibrium of the body, thus treatments aimed to help the body gain its balance again by the expulsion of blood, urine, defecates, and/or sweat.