Experiment 1 began at noon on August 1, 1825. "I introduced through the perforation, into the stomach, the following articles of diet, suspended by a silk string: . . . a piece of high seasoned à la mode beef; a piece of raw salted fat pork; a piece of raw salted lean beef; . . . a piece of stale bread; and a bunch of raw sliced cabbage; . . . the lad continuing his usual employment about the house." On the very first day of his research career, Beaumont's work dealt a bruising blow to Fletcherism*-seventy-five years before it was invented: "2 p.m. Found the cabbage, bread, pork, and boiled beef all cleanly digested and gone from the string." No chewing necessary.* Only the raw beef remained intact.
( Mary Roach )
[ Gulp: Adventures on the ]
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