Beaumont, William

Beaumont, William

(1785–1853) physician; born in Lebanon, Conn. He learned medicine as an apprentice to a doctor in Vermont, then became an army surgeon (1812–15, 1820–40). In 1822 he treated Alexis St. Martin, a Canadian victim of a gunshot wound to the stomach; because the wound never completely closed up, he was able to remove and observe gastric juices and the action of the digestive system over a period of years. He published his classic Experiments and Observations on the Gastric Juices and the Biology of Digestion in 1833, detailing 238 experiments indicating the presence of what are now known to be enzymes, such as pepsin and hydrochloric acid. His book, which showed for the first time that the stomach is a digestive organ and not a reservoir or grinding organ, marks the start of modern study of the digestive system. After leaving the military, he settled into private practice in St. Louis.

The Cambridge Dictionary of American Biography, by John S. Bowman. Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1995. Reproduced with permission.