398 NOTICE OF THE LATE SIR CHARLES BELL. 



and a surgeon second to none in his time ; he was a man of enlarged mind, of 

 extensive acquirements, of elegant accomplishments, and of refined taste ; and 

 those who remember his powers of conversation, and the keenness of his wit, 

 will probably acknowledge that they have rarely seen them surpassed. If in the 

 later period of his life he was so unfortunate as to have " fallen on evil days and 

 evil tongues," we can only lament that prudence and discretion should not always 

 accompany genius such as his. 



Under the guidance of this enlightened teacher, CHARLES BELL soon began 

 to give evidence of the talents which seem to have been inherited by every 

 member of his family. JOHN BELL found in his younger brother a distinguished 

 pupil, an able coadjutor, and then a worthy rival in the race of usefulness and 

 of fame. In the preface to the third edition of his work on the Nervous System, 

 Sir CHARLES acknowledges how greatly he was indebted to his first instructor. 

 " The author," he says, " began his public labours as an assistant lecturer to his 

 brother JOHN BELL, who gave up to him that part of the course of anatomy 

 which treats of the nerves, and he advised him to demonstrate the relations of 

 the brain to the base and spinal marrow, instead of cutting it into horizontal 

 sections. The intelligent student will at once perceive, that much of what is 

 contained in this volume may be traced to the aspect in which the author was 

 accustomed, during all his after labours, to look upon the relations of the brain 

 to the rest of the nervous system." 



While yet a pupil, Sir CHARLES BELL had published the first volume of his 

 System of Dissections, illustrated by engravings from his own drawings, a work 

 which exhibited some originality, and which was regarded as a valuable guide to 

 the student of practical anatomy. On the 1st of August 1799, he was admitted 

 a member of the College of Surgeons, and his admission to that body brought 

 him at once into a situation which tested his practical proficiency and skill ; for 

 the whole surgeons of Edinburgh were then, in rotation, Surgeons of the Royal 

 Infirmary. His knowledge of anatomy, and the admirable use of his hands, 

 exhibited both in his dissections and in his drawings, Avere already conspicuous ; 

 and in the hospital, he distinguished himself by the dexterity and the simplicity 

 of his operations. He also eagerly availed himself of the opportunities which his 

 attendance there afforded him, to improve his knowledge of pathology; and 

 having now been associated with Mr JOHN BELL in his lectures on anatomy and 

 surgery, he was assiduous in making preparations, drawings, and models, for the 

 use of the class, from the dissections at the hospital. He even invented a method 

 of representing morbid parts in models, of which some specimens were long after- 

 wards purchased by the Royal College of Surgeons, in whose museum they are 

 still preserved. 



But a controversy arose respecting the arrangement of medical attendance 

 in the Infirmary. This contest, which was carried on with great ardour, some 



