BEAUMONT, WILLIAM (1785-1853), American physi ologist, was born on Nov. 21, 1785, the son of a farmer. He studied privately under a practitioner, and after being granted a licence to practise by the Third Medical Society of the State of Vermont, became a surgeon in the United States army. His Ex periments and Observations (1833) indicate Beaumont's im portance in settling the chemical nature of digestion, the signifi cance of the gastric juice, and the causes of the interruptions in its secretion.