Beaumont, William

Beaumont, William
born Nov. 21, 1785, Lebanon, Conn., U.S.
died April 25, 1853, St. Louis, Mo.

U.S. surgeon.

He served many years as an army surgeon. When treating a trapper whose abdomen had been perforated by a shotgun blast, Beaumont collected gastric juice for analysis and showed that it contained hydrochloric acid, which supported his belief that digestion was a chemical process. He also reported on the effects of different foods on the stomach and established alcohol as a cause of gastritis.

* * *

▪ United States army surgeon
born Nov. 21, 1785, Lebanon, Conn., U.S.
died April 25, 1853, St. Louis, Mo.

      U.S. army surgeon, the first person to observe and study human digestion as it occurs in the stomach.

      On June 6, 1822, while serving at Fort Mackinac (now in Michigan), Beaumont was summoned to Michilimackinac to treat Alexis St. Martin, a 19-year-old French-Canadian trapper, who had been wounded at close range by a shotgun blast. The shot had removed a portion of the abdominal wall and left a perforation in the anterior wall of the stomach. During the year it took for the wound to heal, the aperture in the abdominal wall never sealed but was held closed by the inversion of tissue surrounding it. As a result, a gastric fistula, or passage, remained. When it was depressed with the finger, Beaumont could view the activities occurring within St. Martin's stomach.

      Three years after the near-fatal accident Beaumont began physiological studies of St. Martin's stomach. He believed that the process of digestion was essentially a chemical process carried out by chemicals in the stomach. Determined to prove this hypothesis, he collected samples of gastric juice and sent them for analysis to several chemists, who established the presence of free hydrochloric acid in the juice. Beaumont also reported on the effects of different foods on the stomach, finding that vegetables were less digestible than other foods, that milk coagulated prior to the onset of digestion, and that cold gastric juice had no effect upon food. In 1833 he published Experiments and Observations on the Gastric Juice and the Physiology of Digestion.

      Beaumont's experiments threw new light upon the nature of gastric juice and the digestive process in general, and established alcohol as a cause of gastritis (inflammation of the stomach's mucous membrane).

* * *


Universalium. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужен реферат?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Beaumont, William — (21 nov. 1785, Lebanon, Conn., EE.UU.–25 abr. 1853, St. Louis, Mo.). Cirujano estadounidense. Sirvió muchos años como cirujano del ejército. Tratando a un trampero cuyo abdomen había sido perforado por el estallido de una escopeta, Beaumont… …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • Beaumont,William — Beau·mont (bōʹmŏnt ), William. 1785 1853. American surgeon whose Physiology of Digestion (1833) revolutionized the study of gastric digestion. * * * …   Universalium

  • Beaumont, William, Lord Beaumont — (1438–1507)    A staunch adherent of the house of LANCASTER, William Beaumont, Lord Beaumont, continued to resist Yorkist rule even after the destruction of the Lancastrian male line in 1471.    After his father John Beaumont, Lord Beaumont, died …   Encyclopedia of the Wars of the Roses

  • William Beaumont — (21 de noviembre, 1785, Lebanon, Connecticut 25 de abril, 1853, San Luis) fue un cirujano estadounidense. Prestó servicio durante muchos años como cirujano del Ejército de los Estados Unidos. Al estar atendiendo a un tr …   Wikipedia Español

  • Beaumont — Beaumont, Charles de ► C. de E.U.A., al SE de Texas, en el estuario del Neches River; 114 320 h. * * * (as used in expressions) Beaumont, Francis Beaumont, William Neilson, James Beaumont …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • William Beaumont — Infobox Scientist name = PAGENAME box width = image size =150px caption = PAGENAME birth date = November 21, 1785 birth place = Lebanon, Connecticut death date = April 25, 1853 death place = residence = |citizenship = nationality = United States… …   Wikipedia

  • William Beaumont — Dr William Beaumont William Beaumont (21 novembre 1785 25 avril 1853) était un chirurgien de l US Army qui se rendit célèbre par ses recherches sur la digestion humaine, on dit de lui qu il est le « Père de la Physiologie Gastrique » …   Wikipédia en Français

  • William Comyns Beaumont — For other persons named William Comyn(s) see William Comyn William Comyns Beaumont, also known as Comyns Beaumont, (1873–1956)[1] was a British journalist, author, and lecturer. Beaumont was a staff writer for the Daily Mail[1] and eventually… …   Wikipedia

  • Beaumont — /boh mont/, n. 1. Francis, 1584 1616, English dramatist who collaborated with John Fletcher. 2. William, 1785 1853, U.S. surgeon. 3. a city in SE Texas. 118,102. 4. a male given name. * * * I City (pop., 2000: 113,866), southeastern Texas, U.S.… …   Universalium

  • William — /wil yeuhm/, n. 1. a word formerly used in communications to represent the letter W. 2. a male given name: from Germanic words meaning will and helmet. * * * (as used in expressions) Huddie William Ledbetter Aberhart William George William… …   Universalium

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”