Beaumont, William, 1785-1853

Physician and physiologist.

A native of Lebanon, Connecticut, Beaumont was certified to practice medicine by the Third Medical Society of Vermont in 1812. He served in the army during the War of 1812 and from 1819 to 1839 was an army medical officer. During that time he served at posts in the midwest including Fort Mackinac, Michigan; Fort Niagara; Fort Howard in Green Bay; Fort Crawford, Wisconsin; and Jefferson Barracks near St. Louis. On several occasions from 1825 to 1833, Beaumont studied the digestive process through a gunshot-wound patient he had treated in 1822 and whose wound had never fully healed, leaving Dr. Beaumont with unique access to the patient's stomach. Beaumont is known as the father of gastric physiology. He wrote Experiments and observations on the gastric juice and the physiology of digestion (1833).

U. S. Army surgeon.

William Beaumont was born in Lebanon, Connecticut in 1785. He obtained a primary education and remained on his family's farm until he reached the age of 21. During the winter of 1806-1807, he traveled to Champlain, New York, to live with his brother Samuel, and teach school. During this period he borrowed medical books from Dr. Seth Pomeroy of Burlington, Vermont. In 1810 Beaumont informed his parents that he would begin studying "physic" as an apprentice to Dr. Benjamin Chandler of St. Albans, Vermont, while supporting himself by store keeping. After receiving his license to practice in Vermont in 1812, Beaumont enlisted in the U.S. Army as a military surgeon for three years. Following five years in private practice in Plattsburgh, he was commissioned as a post surgeon at Fort Mackinac, Michigan. There he saved the life of wounded fur trapper Alexis St. Martin. St. Martin was left with a fistula to his stomach. Beaumont became celebrated as a scientist through publication in 1833 of his long series of experiments on digestion that he performed on St. Martin. In 1834 Beaumont was sent to St. Louis, where resigned from the military five years later and spent the remainder of his life in private practice.

Physician and United States Army surgeon. Pioneer in study of and experimentation in functions in the human stomach.

Army surgeon noted for his scientific research on the human digestive process.