John Bell (1763–1820),the ‘Father’ of Surgical Anatomy

Abstract

John was one of four very talented sons of the Reverend William Bell. Two qualified as advocates and both became professors. John and his younger brother Charles (later Sir Charles) entered medicine. John qualified with the Edinburgh MD degree in 1779, then obtained the FRCS Edin diploma in 1786. As a student, initially he studied anatomy under Professor Alexander Monro secundus, and it was soon evident to him that his teacher did not have any first-hand knowledge of the problems encountered by surgeons. He then decided to teach anatomy, while practising as a surgeon, and was among the first to emphasize the relevance of anatomy to surgical practice. During this period he lectured and wrote on anatomy and surgical anatomy. After 1800 he, like many of his surgical colleagues, was excluded from the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary as a consequence of the activities of Professor James Gregory, one of the most influential of the managers of that institution. When he stopped lecturing, he continued practising as a surgeon and wrote several influential textbooks but he never forgave Gregory for exclusion from the Infirmary. He was soon recognized as one of the foremost surgeons in Scotland. He spent the last few years of his life on the Continent attending to the surgical needs of the numerous expatriate Britons who lived there.