The prevailing mood of the painting is stoicism: one man enduring for the sake of science, the other for subsistence. Given the painting's intent-the glorification of medicine {and Beaumont and Wyeth labs}-it's fair to assume the emotional content has been given a whitewash. It can't have been a hoot for either. At least once in his notes, Beaumont mentions St. Martin's "anger and impatience." The procedure was not merely tedious; it was physically unpleasant. The extraction of the gastric juices, Beaumont wrote, "is generally attended by that peculiar sensation at the pit of the stomach, termed sinking, with some degree of faintness, which renders it necessary to stop the operation.
( Mary Roach )
[ Gulp: Adventures on the ]
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