10 Times Well-Loved Scientists Were Total Jerks

In 1822, a trader in the American Fur Company named Alexis St. Martin suffered terrible injuries when he was shot in the stomach. He was treated by a man called Dr. William Beaumont for his injuries, but the outlook didn't look good.

Despite the doctor's predictions, however, St. Martin survived, but was left with a hole in his stomach that would never really heal, known as a fistula. As he was unable to continue working for the American Fur Company, Dr. Beaumont took him on as an assistant and handyman. "What a kind gesture", we hear you cry, and indeed it was, but Beaumont also had an ulterior motive.

The doctor soon began performing experiments on the trader, attaching pieces of food to lengths of string and pushing them into his stomach via the fistula. This grotesque fishing trip was part of Beaumont's quest to prove that digestion was predominantly a chemical process, as opposed to a purely mechanical one.

Despite the fact that the experiments caused  St. Martin considerable amounts of pain, in between them he was expected to carry out "common servant's" work for Beaumont, as the doctor had made him sign a contract of employment to keep him around. After the pair parted ways, Beaumont tried to convince him to move to Missouri with him, but St. Martin had presumably had enough of being a human lab rat, and politely refused. 

After Alexis St. Martin's death in 1880, his last wish was to be left to decompose a little before burial. This gruesome request was to ensure that no more doctors got their hands on him, as many had begun to circle, and were just itching to perform an autopsy on his poor, prodded and poked body.