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.
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References
1.
StruthersJBellCharlesSir. In: Historical Sketch of the Edinburgh Anatomical School. Edinburgh: Maclachlan & Stewart, 1867: pp. 44–55, 44, footnote 1. Gordon-TaylorGWallsEW. Sir Charles Bell: His Life and Times. Edinburgh: E & S Livingstone, 1958: p. 177.
2.
BellR. A Dictionary of the Law of Scotland. Intended for the Use of the Public at Large, As Well As of the Profession (vol. I, 1807; vol. II, 1808). Edinburgh: John Anderson, 1807–08. See also the entry for Robert Bell (22 June 1784) in the Register of the Society of Writers to Her Majesty's Signet. Edinburgh: printed for the Society by Clark Constable Ltd, 1983: p. 25. He was admitted an advocate on 4 July 1812, and died on 1 November 1816.
3.
For biographical details of John Bell, see: ChambersRBellJohn. In: Biographical Dictionary of Eminent Scotsmen. Glasgow: Blackie & Son; Dublin: W Curry, Jun.; London: Simpkin & Marshall, 1835: vol. I, pp. 197–200; StruthersJ (op. cit. ref. 1): pp. 37–44; ComrieJ. History of Scottish Medicine. 2nd edn. London: Baillière, Tindall & Cox, 1932: vol. I, pp. 323–5; Anonymous. Bell, John (1763–1820). In: Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1963–64: vol. II, pp. 167–8. A full-length biography of John Bell is not presently available. A footnote in Letters of Sir Charles Bell states as follows: ‘John Bell's life was never published, for, on consultation together, the brothers [i.e. Charles and George Joseph Bell] decided that it was better to allow his works to speak for him, than to excite anew the controversies into which his enthusiasm for his profession had drawn him. That they judged wisely has been shown by the esteem in which his professional works are still held.’ Bell C. Letters of Sir Charles Bell, K.H., F.R.S.L. & E. Selected from his Correspondence with his Brother, George Joseph Bell. London: John Murray, 1870: p. 267. Struthers (op. cit. ref. 1), Comrie (above) and the Dictionary of National Biography (above) give his year of birth as 1763, whereas in Chambers’ Biographical Dictionary, and in other sources, it is given as 1762. According to Struthers, his date of birth was 12 May 1763.
4.
He was also styled the Professor of Scots Law.
5.
For example, BellGJ. Commentaries on the Laws of Scotland, and on the Principles of Mercantile Jurisprudence. 4th edn. Edinburgh: Archibald Constable & Co., 1810; BellGJ. Principles of the Law of Scotland. 3rd edn. Edinburgh: Oliver & Boyd; London: Simpkin & Marshall, 1833.
6.
For biographical details of Charles Bell, see, for example: StruthersJ (op. cit. ref. 1): pp. 44–55; Gordon-TaylorGWallsEW (op. cit. ref. 1); Anonymous. Bell, Sir Charles (1774–1842). In: Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1963–64: vol. II, pp. 154–7. Note that many other biographies of Charles Bell are also available. He wrote numerous letters to his brother George Joseph, and maintained a detailed diary, and Struthers cited these. See: BellC (op. cit. ref. 3). For observations on his early childhood and education, see: Gordon-TaylorGWallsEW (op. cit. ref. 1): pp. 1–14. His early talent as an artist was nurtured and developed by his association with David Allan, the painter.
7.
This was Margaret Morice, or Morris. She was his father's second wife.
8.
StruthersJ (op. cit. ref. 1): p. 37.
9.
Bell'sJohnMD thesis was Dissertatio Medica Inauguralis, de Febre Maligna, quae, anno 1779, Legionem de Buccleugh afflixit. Edinburgh: Balfour & Smellie, 1779: 28 pp. This was dedicated to the Duke of Buccleugh.
10.
This was ‘Lang Sandy’ Wood. He actively promoted the best traditions of the profession. He was Deacon (or President) of the Incorporation of Surgeons in 1762. For biographical details, see ComrieJ (op. cit. ref. 3): vol. I, pp. 328–9; vol. II, p. 481; Masson AHB. Portraits, Paintings & Busts in the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh. Edinburgh: published privately for the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, 1995: pp. 210–11. For details of John Bell's indenture, see: Minute Book, College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, 1771–93, 4 June 1779, p. 164 (under ‘Apprentices booked’, ‘Alexander Crichton and John Bell to Alexander and Thomas Wood’).
11.
The title of John Bell's probationary Fellowship dissertation is not available in the Library of the College of Surgeons, the Library of the University of Edinburgh or the National Library of Scotland. For reference to John Bell's final examination for his third and last lessons for the Fellowship of the College, see: Minute Book, 1771–93, 14 August 1786, p. 296.
12.
StruthersJ (op. cit. ref. 1): p. 38.
13.
StruthersJ (op. cit. ref. 1): p. 39.
14.
KaufmanMH. John Aitken (d. 1790) — Grinder or scholar?Journal of Medical Biography2003;11:199–205.
15.
Anonymous (op. cit. ref. 3): p. 168.
16.
The ‘feu’, in this case, refers to the granting of a piece of land to John Bell by the College of Surgeons on which he could build a house, and for which he was required to pay an annual rental.
17.
BellJ. Letters on Professional Character and Manners; on the Education of a Surgeon, and the Duties and Qualification of a Physician. Addressed to James Gregory, M.D. Edinburgh: John Moir, 1810: p. 579.
18.
A photograph of this Indenture appears (as Figure 46) and a complete transcription of this manuscript are given in Gordon-TaylorGWallsEW (op. cit. ref. 1): pp. 178–80.
19.
KaufmanMHJaffeSMAn early Caesarean operation (1800) performed by John and Charles Bell. Journal of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh1994;39:69–75.
20.
See: KaufmanMH. Medical Teaching in Edinburgh during the 18th and 19th Centuries. Edinburgh: Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, 2003: pp. 88–9.
21.
BellJ. Memoir of the Present State of Naval and Military Surgery. Addressed to the Right Honourable Earl Spenser [sic], First Lord of the Admiralty. Yarmouth, 20 January 1798. See also: Kaufman MH. The Regius Chair of Military Surgery in the University of Edinburgh, 1806–55. Amsterdam: Rodopi BV, 2003: pp. 47–54.
22.
BellJ. Memorial Concerning the Present State of Military and Naval Surgery. Addressed Several Years Ago to the Right Honourable Earl Spencer, First Lord of the Admiralty; and Now Submitted to the Public. Edinburgh: Longman & Rees; London: Cadell & Davies, 1800.
23.
See, for example: JacksonR. An Outline of the History and Cure of Fever, Endemic and Contagious; More Expressly the Contagious Fevers of Jails, Ships, and Hospitals; the Concentrated Endemic, Vulgarly the Yellow Fever of the West Indies. To which is added, an Explanation of the Principles of Military Discipline and Economy; with a Scheme of Medical Arrangements for Armies. Edinburgh: Mundell & Son; London: TN Longman, & Murray & Highley, 1798. The second edition was published in 1805: Jackson R. A System of Arrangement and Discipline for the Medical Department of Armies. London: J Murray, 1805. See also: Kaufman MH (op. cit. ref. 21): pp. 53–4.
24.
BellJ. Discourses on the Nature and Cure of Wounds. Edinburgh: Bell & Bradfute; London: T Cadell Jun. & W Davies, 1795. A second edition was published in 1800 and a third in 1812.
25.
See:TurnerAL. Story of a Great Hospital: The Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh 1729–1929. Edinburgh: Oliver & Boyd, 1937: pp. 94–6; RisseGB. Hospital Life in Enlightenment Scotland: Care and Teaching at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh. Cambridge: University Press, 1986: pp. 92–7 (soldiers' ward), pp. 101–5 (seamen's ward).
26.
See: MilesA. The Chair of Military Surgery. In: The Edinburgh School of Surgery Before Lister. London: A & C Black, 1918: pp. 108–20.
27.
BellJ (op. cit. ref. 21); BellJ (op. cit. ref. 22). See also: JacynaLS. Philosophic Whigs: Medicine, Science and Citizenship in Edinburgh, 1789–1848. London: Routledge, 1994: pp. 92–7; KaufmanMH (op. cit. ref. 21): pp. 51–3.
28.
Thomson later stated, referring to himself in the third person: ‘It is believed that the more immediate object of Mr Thomson's visiting London at this time [in 1792] was to qualify himself for teaching anatomy, a design which he afterwards relinquished partly in consequence of difficulties with the outlay that would have been necessary, and partly in consequence of the high impression which he had formed of the abilities of Mr John Bell, who about that time entered on this department of instruction in Edinburgh.’ From: ThomsonJ. An Account of the Life, Lectures, and Writings of William Cullen, M.D., Professor of the Practice of Physic in the University of Edinburgh. In two Volumes. Vol. 2. Commenced by Dr John Thomson and Dr William Thomson, and concluded by David Craigie, M.D., F.R.C.P.E., F.R.S.E., &c. &c.Edinburgh: W Blackwood & Sons, 1859: vol. 1, p. 13.
29.
BellJ. Engravings, Explaining the Anatomy of the Bones, Muscles and Joints. Edinburgh: Bell & Bradfute & T Duncan; London: J Johnson & GGG & J Robinsons, 1794; BellJ (op. cit. ref. 24); BellJ. The Anatomy of the Human Body. Volume I. Containing the Anatomy of the Bones, Muscles, and Joints. Edinburgh: Printed for Cadell & Davies, 1797 (the Preface is dated September 1793); BellJ. The Anatomy of the Human Body. Volume II. Containing the Anatomy of the Heart and Arteries. Edinburgh: Printed for Cadell & Davies, 1797; BellJ. Engravings of the Bones, Muscles, and Joints, Illustrating the First Volume of the Anatomy of the Human Body. 2nd edn. London: TN Longman & O Rees, & T Cadell & W Davies, 1804. Most of the figures in this volume were drawn, engraved or etched by the author. A few of the plates in this volume, while similar in style to those prepared by Bell, are signed ‘I Beugo sculp’. This was John Beugo, who ‘distinguished himself in the art [of engraving] both in line and stipple’, although his principal works consisted of portraits. See: GuyJC. Edinburgh engravers. Book of the Old Edinburgh Club 1916;9:79–113 (see pp. 96–7).
30.
BellC. Engravings of the Arteries, illustrating the second volume of the Anatomy of the Human Body by J. Bell, Surgeon; and serving as an Introduction to the Surgery of the Arteries. London: TN Longman & O Rees; Edinburgh: T Cadell, jun. & W Davies, 1801 (text, 8 pp., illustrated with 10 plates drawn by Charles Bell, and engraved by Thomas Medland).
31.
BellC. The Anatomy of the Human Body. Vol. 3. Containing the Nervous System, with plates. Part 2. The Anatomy of the Brain, and Description and Course of the Nerves. Part 2. The Anatomy of the Eye and Ear; of the Nose and Organ of Smelling; of the Mouth and Organ of Taste; of the Skin and Sense of Touch. London: TN Longman & O Rees, & T Cadell & W Davies, 1803; Bell C. The Anatomy of the Human Body. Vol. 4. Containing the Anatomy of the Viscera of the Abdomen, the Parts in the Male and Female Pelvis, and the Lymphatic System. In 4 Parts, with an Appendix. London: TN Longman & O Rees, & T Cadell, 1804.
32.
BellJ. The Principles of Surgery, in two volumes: Volume first; of the ordinary duties of the surgeon, …: Volume second; a system of surgical operations …Edinburgh: T Cadell Jun. & W Davies; London: TN Longman, O Rees & W Creech, P Hill & Manners & Miller, 1801; Bell J. The Principles of Surgery, Volume second. Containing the operations of surgery. Part first, The Operation of Lithotomy and the Diseases of the Urethra. In four sections…. London: T Cadell, jun. & W Davies; TN Longman, & O Rees, & W Creech, P Hill, & Manners & Miller, 1806; Bell J. The Principles of Surgery, Vol. II, part II, containing the anatomy, and pathology, of the skull, & brain, in the form of discourses…. London: Longman, Hurst, Rees & Orme, & Cadell & Davies, 1806; Bell J. The Principles of Surgery, Volume third, containing a Series of cases, calculated to illustrate chiefly the doctrine of tumors and other irregular parts of surgery, and to instruct the young surgeon how to form his prognostics and to plan his operations. London: Longman, Hurst, Rees & Orme, & T Cadell & W Davies, 1808.
33.
See: StruthersJ (op. cit. ref. 1): p. 43. The present whereabouts of this material has yet to be established.
34.
Not all of these were published in 1799–1800. Some appeared several years later. For example, see: GregoryJ. Additional Memorial to the Managers of the Royal Infirmary. Edinburgh: Murray & Cochrane, 1803: 513 pp.
35.
DawpluckerJ (pseudonym). Remarks on Mr John Bell's Anatomy of the Heart and Arteries. London: GG & J Robinson, 1799: For reference to both of these pamphlets, see: BellJ (op. cit. ref. 17): p. 504. According to Comrie J (op. cit. ref. 3), ‘Jonathan Dawplucker’ was a pseudonym for James Gregory. The title of this pamphlet is usually abbreviated to Review of the Writings of John Bell, Surgeon in Edinburgh, by Jonathan Dawplucker. See also note 36, below.
36.
Cited by StruthersJ (op. cit. ref. 1): footnote 2, p. 41.
37.
DawpluckerJ (pseudonym). Number Second, Being remarks on the first volume of Mr Benjamin Bell's System of Surgery. London: no publisher cited, 1799. See also BellJ (op. cit. ref. 17): p. 504. Jonathan Dawplucker was the pseudonym used by Dr J Barclay according to the index in the National Library of Scotland as well as the Catalogue of Printed Books in the Wellcome Historical Medical Library. II. Books from 1641 to 1850. A-E. London: Wellcome Historical Medical Library, 1966: p. 99. This is inconsistent with the information published by StruthersJ (op. cit. ref. 1): footnote 1, p. 41. See also notes 34 and 35, above.
38.
BellB. A System of Surgery, vols I and II (1785), vols III and IV (1786), vol. V (1787), vol. VI (1788). Vols I-V, Edinburgh: Charles Elliot; London: GGJ & J Robinson. Vol. VI, Edinburgh: Charles Elliot; London: C Elliot & T Kay, GGJ & J Robinson.
39.
ThomsonJ. Outlines of a Plan for the Regulation of the Surgical Department of the Royal Infirmary. Submitted to the Consideration of the Managers of that Institution. Edinburgh: C Stewart & Company, 1800:14 pp.
40.
JacynaLS (op. cit. ref. 27): p. 56.
41.
See, for example: GregoryJ. Memorial to the Managers of the Royal Infirmary. Edinburgh: Murray & Cochrane, 1800. Gregory's decision was ostensibly made to improve continuity of patient care by allowing surgeons to become better acquainted with the patients in the wards. For Gregory's summary of his proposals, see: Minutes of the Managers of the Royal Infirmary, vol. VI, series 1, 5 January 1789–31 December 1800, pp. 398–404.
42.
BellJ. Answer for the Junior Members of the Royal College of Surgeons, of Edinburgh, to the Memorial of Dr. J. Gregory, Professor of the Practice of Physic in the University of Edinburgh, –Physician to the King for Scotland, –and one of the Managers of the Royal Infirmary of this City. Edinburgh: Peter Hill; London: Cadell & Davies, Longman & Rees, 1800: See also: Bell J, Bell C. Memorial for John Bell and Charles Bell, Members of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, against the Managers of the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh. Edinburgh: Mundell & Son (Printer), 1801: 78 pp.
43.
See: TurnerAL (op. cit. ref. 25): p. 128.
44.
See: BellJ (op. cit. ref. 17).
45.
CockburnH. Memorials of His Time. Edinburgh: Adam & Charles Black, 1856: p. 106.
46.
A law of the College stated that every person had to produce a Burgess Ticket before they could be admitted to membership of the College. Such tickets were given to individuals in recognition that they possessed full municipal (i.e. voting) rights in the City of Edinburgh. Bell's Burgess Ticket was a parchment certificate entitled ‘The Oath of each Burgess at his Admission’ and measured approximately 19 by 14 inches. This indicated at the bottom that it was ‘designed and written by Order of Thomas Cleghorn, Lord Dean of Guild — AD 1782 — Butterworth Script — D. Lizars Sculpt.’ The latter was Daniel Lizars, the father of John Lizars, anatomist and surgeon, William Home Lizars, an Edinburgh engraver, and Alexander Jardine Lizars, who taught anatomy in Edinburgh until 1841. He then moved to Aberdeen on his appointment to the Chair of Anatomy initially at Marischal College, Aberdeen (from 1841–60), and, when unification occurred, at the University of Aberdeen from 1860–63. Close to the beginning of the document it states as follows: ‘That I profess with my heart the true Religion presently professed and renouncing the Roman Religion called Popery.’ It ends with the following: ‘and so often as I shall break any part of this my Oath I oblige me to pay to the common affairs of this Burgh One Hundred Pounds, Money, and shall remain in Ward ay and while the same be paid So help me GOD.’ This Ticket would have been made out to ‘John Bell’, and stated that he was ‘made Burgess & Guild Brother, in sight of [the Deacon of the College of Surgeons of Edinburgh] his Master’. It was then signed and dated by the Lord Dean of Guild.
47.
See: CresswellCH. The Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh Historical Notes from 1505 to 1905.Edinburgh and London: Oliver & Boyd, privately printed for the College, 1926: pp. 265–9.
48.
See: CresswellCH. The Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh Historical Notes from 1505 to 1905.Edinburgh and London: Oliver & Boyd, privately printed for the College, 1926: pp. 81, 269; See also KaufmanMH (op. cit. ref. 20): p. 78.
49.
Since October 1804 he had been the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh's Professor of Surgery, and since 1806 Regius Professor of Military Surgery in the University of Edinburgh.
50.
ThomsonJ (op. cit. ref. 28): vol. 1, pp. 32–3.
51.
ThomsonJ. Observations on Lithotomy; being a republication of Dr. James Douglas' Appendix to his History of the Lateral Operation for the Stone, and of the other original papers relative to Mr. Cheselden's invention and improvement of that operation, to which is added, a proposal for a new manner of Cutting for the Stone. Edinburgh; William Blackwood; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, & Orme, 1808; Thomson J. Appendix to a Proposal for a New Manner of Cutting for the Stone; containing an account of some cases operated on after that manner in the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh. Edinburgh: William Blackwood, & Brown & Crombie; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, & Orme, 1810. John Bell was an authority on lithotomy, and had also written on this subject (op. cit. ref. 32) (especially Volume second, Part first, pp. 39–208).
52.
Anonymous (op. cit. ref. 3): p. 168.
53.
BellJ. Observations on Italy by the late John Bell. Edinburgh: W Blackwood; London: T Cadell, 1825: (‘dedicated to the King … Rosine A Bell’); Anonymous.
54.
BellJ. Observations on Italy by the Late John Bell. 2nd edn. Naples: Fibreno, 1834 (no editor cited).
55.
ChambersR (op. cit. ref. 3): vol. I, p. 200.
56.
Gordon-TaylorGWallsEW (op. cit. ref. 1): p. 160.
57.
ShepherdTHModern Athens! Displayed in a Series of Views: or Edinburgh in the Nineteenth Century: Exhibiting the Whole of the New Buildings, Modern Improvements, Antiquities, and Picturesque Scenery of the Scottish Metropolis and its Environs, from Original Drawings. London: Jones & Company, 1829. The pages on which the engravings are displayed are unpaginated.
58.
For further details of what was taught in each of these premises, and by whom, see KaufmanMH (op. cit. ref. 20).
