The defocussing and the depolarization of a high energy muon beam in a beryllium filter, often used to eliminate accompanying pions, have been studied. The quantum mechanical transport equation of Waldmann, which can also be used to describe the multiple scattering of Dirac particles, is solved with a distorted wave Born approximation. Calculations are done for both the Thomas-Fermi and the Hartree-Fock potential of the beryllium atom. It is shown that the Hartree-Fock potential leads to a less divergent beam. The depolarization of a longitudinally polarized muon beam in passage through a thin beryllium foil is also studied.