An American Pioneer in Nutrition and Digestion1 LYMAN F. KEBLER2 1322 Park Road, N.W., Washington, D. C.
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Y CURIOSITY was very much aroused when I came across the following ~ t a t e m e n t , "The ~ first American investigation on the subject of human nutrition . . . . was carried on by J. R. Young in Philadelphia in 1803." Most of us labor under the impression that Dr. William Beaumont was by far the earliest American worker in this field. He began his work in 1825 and published his findies in 1833, in a book entitled, "Experiments and Observations on the Gastric Juice and the Physiology of Digestion." The story is well known to scientists in the various branches of medicine and need not be related here. Much has been written about his work. The investigation referred to by the above quotation is entitled, "An Experimental Inquiry into the Principles of Nutrition and the Digestive Process." To say the least, the two titles give one the impression that the studies covered very similar lines, as indeed they did. After some search several copies of Dr. John Richardson Young's thesis were located. It proved to be an inaugural dissertation of the University of Pennsylvania, as a part requirement for his medical degree. Much importance was then attached to the publication 'Presented before the Division of the History of Chemistry at the ninety-seventh meeting of the A. C. s., ~altimore,~ ~ r ~ ~ April 5, 1939. Former government specialist in fods, drugs and cosmetics. 8 Bulletin No. 80, Office of the Experiment Station, lJ. S. Department of Agriculture, Washington. D. C.,1900, p. 106.
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of these independent researches.-Bythe Medical School of the ~ n i v e r i i t ~Its . library contains hundreds of them. This young physician was born in 1782, obtained his baccalaureate degree from the College of New Jersey, later Princeton University, in 179.9, his medical degree in 1803, and died in 1804. The werk was done, therefore, while a student, before he reached his majority. Notwithstanding his youth, this investigation is most interesting, original, ingenious and of far-reaching importance. The early death of the author and the obscurity of the publication of his thesis probably account for the little attention-given to this remarkable rese.arch on nutrition and digestion. But for this thesis his name would have been forgotten. It is his one claim to fame. One naturally wonders why the work of this young genius was not given some consideration by the famous world scientists who attended the Thirteenth International Congress of Physiologists in Boston in 1929, during which gathering such signal honors were accorded Dr. Beaumont. The frog certainly has proven to be a useful experimental animal d u r i n ~the intervening years. The author in a beautiful tribute dedicated his thesis to his father-preceptor, Young. It is also inscribed to Benjamin a Dr. n d Samuel , Smith Barton, M.D., because of his eminent skill in his profession and for the many granted him. On page one is a quotation from Antoine L. Lavoisier which
reads, "We ought in every instance to submit our rea- experimenting on himself. A number of other workers soning to the test of experiment and never search for in nutrition and digestion antedated the work of Dr. truth, but by the natural road of experiment and oh- Young. The best known are Ren6 A. F. Rbaumur, servation." George L. L. Buffon, Lazaro Spdanzani, and Antoine The revolution wrought in chemistry by Lavoisier L. Lavoisier. All of these and others are referred to by and his cruel, untimely death stirred the scientific the young medical student. world then and for years thereafter. His system of Dr. Young carried out his experiments with bullchemistry was rapidly gaining a footing in the United frogs, snakes, and on himself, but the bullfrog (Ram States. The young student's professors of chemistry, ocellata) was the chief experimental animal. Why this John Maclean of the New Jersey College and James cold-blooded animal was selected may be judged in Woodhouse of the Medical School of the University of part from some of the comments in the thesis. The Pennsylvania, were both disciples of Lavoisier. It was value of the frog as a test animal was then foremost probably from these teachers that he obtained his first in the minds of scientists, because of the report by knowledge of Lavoisier's classic work in chemistry Luigi Galvani that electricity causes the contraction of and his establishment of the modem system of meta- the muscles of a dead frog. Furthermore, the bullbolism. He probably became acquainted with the frog is carnivorous, swallows his food whole, does not controversies between his instructors and other Ameri- bite and, like man, has a membranous stomach, which can chemists and the eminent Joseph Priestley on the can he easily reached and emptied through a capacious subject. Priestley was a staunch phlogistonist and an mouth and an accommodating gullet. The embryo opponmt of the French chemist's system. doctor tells about removing the stomach contents of two While engaged in his medical studies he probably bullfrogs. In one he found the remains of two spring also came into personal contact with such additional frogs with the soft parts more or less digested. The prominent scientists as Adam Seybert, John R. Coxe, hones were soft and flexible. The second frog's stomach Robert Hare, ~enj'amin Rush, Benjamin Silliman, contained a mouse, more or less digested, including the Samuel Cooper, Caspar Wistar, Charles Caldwell, and teeth. This was useful information. It showed that others who either lived or studied a t the time in Phila- the gastric juice of bullfrogs acted on muscular tissue, delphia, then the scientific center and the largest city hones, and even teeth. It undoubtedly influenced the in the United States. The Philadelphia Chemical course of some of his experiments. Society, the first chemical society in the world, was Being desirous of knowing what length of time it then in a flourishing condition and brought many distin- would require a bullfrog to digest a small frog, he tied guished scientists to its meetings. Certainly i t was a a pack thread to the hind legs of a living spring frog wonderful environment in which a young man might and caused a bullfrog to sw~llowit, which he readily did. receive an education. After fiv$ hours he withdrew the spring frog, found i t Several brief sketches of John R. Young are in dead, and the external surface materially acted on; inprinL4 The reader is referred to them for generalities. troduced it again for seven hours and on withdrawal The object of this article is primarily to call attention found the abdominal muscles dissolved and the bones to some of the unique features of his investigations. of the feet soft; he then caused the remains to be swalNutrients he described as substances taken into the lowed a third time and after six more hours a withsystem, suited to supply material for growth and drawal disclosed that the t e h r e was lost and only a waste of solids and fluids-a pietty good definition, part of the legs could be brought up. Many similar even one and a third of a century later. Oils and sugar experiments were carried out, covering frogs, beef, and he considered the principal articles of diet. Refer- veal, always with the same results. He tried the same ence is made to Dr. Wm. Stark living on olive oil and experiments with snakes, with the same results, except flour (bread) for fourteen days and gaining over four that snakes dissolved their food only about one-half as and a half pounds. Bones, he noted, are subject to rapidly as the bullfrogs: He repeatedly removed the constant waste and require calcareous material for re- . gastric juice from the stomachs of the bullfrogs by pair. The utility of water and oxygen in life is inter- means of a small spoon and always found it acid to estingly discussed. litmus paper. The young physician also found that the Dr. Wm. Stark (1741-70) made5 extended digestion gastric juice of man and that of the bullfrogs and snakes experiments on himself, a third of a century before Dr. agreed in their action on flesh. Heat or warmth was Young entered the field-the earliest experiments of found to be a potent factor in effecting solution. This the kind recorded. The studies covered both simple confirmed the earlier findings of the genius, Spallanzani, and mixed foods. Among them may be mentioned regarding the action of gastric juice. The latter made milk, olive oil, bread, eggs, butter, beef, sugar, suet, some unique gastric digestion experiments by swallowgoose meat, and marrow. These early experiments are ing hollowed-out blocks, filled with meat, and after a seldom referred to in either dietetic or nutritional litera- time regurgitated them, by tickling his throat. The ture, but Dr. Young evidently studied them. It is object was to find out to what extent the gastric juice alleged that Dr. Stark shortened his life by excessive digested the meat inside of the hollow blocks. This torture he continued until he became so nauseated 'KELLYAND BURRAGE, Am. Mcd. Biog., (1920). VMYYTH,"The works of the late William Stark," (1788). that he was forced to stop these experiments. Dr.
Young conducted gastric digestion tests on himself. One consisted in swallowing the condyles (joint ends) of the thighs of a chicken. At the end of three days they were removed and found to be reduced to mere shells. The experiments proved that the gcptric juice of the bullfrog dissolves the tissues of a lifeless or dead frog, but will it dissolve live tissue or 'the tissue of a living frog? To prove this point Dr. Young introduced the spring frogs' hind legs iirst into the alimentary tract of bullfrogs, leaving their heads and forefeet just outside of the big mouth. The spring frogs held on with their forefeet. The frogs were kept in this position for one and one-half days, then withdrawn, and found to be covered with gastric juice, but perfectly alive and not dissolved in any part. These ingenious experiments left no reasonable doubt in the matter of the gastric juice of the bullfrog not dissolving living tissue. They also serve to explain why the walls of the bullfrog's stomach are not dissolved by its gastric juice. They likewise supply presumptive, if not conclusive evidence, why the gastric juice does not dissolve the walls of the living human stomach. Lazaro Spallanzani was one of the cleverest and most ingenious investigators. His experiments will maintain a footing among the learned as long as experimental philosophy lasts, but Dr. Young questioned his views regarding the inability of carnivora to digest vegetable matter. In order to test the point of difference he introduced small linen bags, with strings attached, containing bread, whole wheat, beans, and peas, into the purely carnivorous stomachs of bullfrogs. At the end of thirty hours, the bags were withdrawn. It was noted that the wheat, beans, and peas were not acted on, but the bag that contained the bread was quite empty. The bags containing the seeds were again introduced and allowed to remain three additional days, when they were withdrawn and al! found quite swollen, but intact. The bags with the beans, peas, and wheat, well bruised, together with s h e bread, were again introduced into the stomachs Of bullfrogs and withdrawn a t the end of two days. All of the bags were then found to be empty. The conclusions to be drawn are self-evident. The entire live seeds resist the action of the gastric juice of bullfrogs, but carnivora can and do digest unprotected vegetable seed substances. Other beans and wheat seeds were introduced in linen bags and when withdrawn a t the end of six days were found to be swollen and soft. These same seeds were again introduced and a t the end of six more days it was found on withdrawal that germs protruded from both the beans and the wheat. These experiments give support to the observation made by Morgagni, the anatomist, namely, that a young woman suffering with gastritis, during a violent spell of nausea, vomited a small plant with perfect leaves and roots. Our young investigator also reported finding an acid condition present in all stomachs examined, both man and other animals, carnivorous and otherwise. This
acidity he found was not due to either vinous or acetous or other fermentations, but had its origin in the stomachs themselves and was a part of the gastric juice itself. Having traced the acid to its origin, the next step was to ascertain its nature. After a series of tests he came to the conclusion that i t was phosphoric acid. This, of course, was an error. Some of my scientific friends, to whom I have related the experimental work of Dr. Young, can hardly credit it and think it is just a fantastic tale. A careful study of Dr. Young's thesis leads to the inevitable conclusion that his findings in many particulars anticipated those of Dr. Beaumont by more than twenty years. It is true the former were carried out largely with bullfrogs, cold-blooded animals, while the latter were made with man, a warm-blooded animal. But in other respects the experiments and the results were closely paralleled. Dr. Young must be given the credit of being the American pioneer in studying nutrition and digestion. In concluding this paper I believe it is desirable to call attention to certain interesting features and misfortunes of the Young family. The father, Dr. Samuel Young, was born in Ireland, 1730, educated in Trinity College of Dublin and the Medical School of Edinburgh. He, therefore, like his son, had a splendid education. He came to America before the Revolutionary War, practiced medicine in Elizabethtown, where the son was born, near Hagerstown, Maryland. The father apparently did not actively participate in the conflict of the continental army. He is not listed among the "Medical Men of tire Revolution," 1876, by James M.'Toner. The services of well-trained physicians were needed by both the home folks and the army during those trying times. The elder physiaan died in 1838, one hundred eight years old. Ann Richardson Young, the mother,, of whom little seems to be recorded, died of pulmonary. tuberculosis a t the age of thirty-one, leaving, besides her husband and son, two daughters, one eight and the other six. After receiving his medical degree, the brilliant son joined his father in the practice of medicine. He was then in frail health. A deadly disease was eating away his vitals. The partnership was terminated within one short year. The great white plague took his life. What the world lost in the death of this young genius can only be predicated on his accomplishments of a few short years as a student. His two sisters died of the same disease. So did another young physician who affiliated himself with the elder Dr. Young. It is most remarkable, to say the least, that the father, living in a tuberculosis-infected environment and necessarily inhaling and swallowing myriads of tuberculosis germs, lived to the unusual age of one hundred eight years. His resistance to this disease must have been most remarkable. One naturally wonders why some of this was not to some degree a t least transmitted to some one of his children.
