Beaumont, William (1785–1853)

US surgeon who conducted pioneering experiments on the digestive system. In 1822 he saved the life of a Canadian trapper wounded in the side by a gun blast; the wound only partially healed, and through an opening in the stomach wall, Beaumont was able to observe the workings of the stomach. His Experiments and Observations on the Gastric Juice and the Physiology of Digestion was published in 1833.

Beaumont was born in Lebanon, Connecticut, and joined the army as a surgeon 1812. Between 1825 and 1833 he carried out experiments on the Canadian patient. He extracted and analysed gastric juice and stomach contents at various stages of digestion, observed changes in secretions, and noted the muscular movements of the stomach. From 1834 he worked in St Louis, Missouri, where he became professor of surgery.