Royal Society. 139 
born at Edinburgh in the year 1778. While a mere youth, he was 
instructed in the elements of anatomical science by his brother Mr. 
John Bell (himself a distinguished surgeon and anatomist), and at 
a very early period he published the first part of “ Plates of Dissec- 
tions ;” a work alike remarkable for the fidelity of the anatomical 
details, and the spirited style of the illustrations from the pencil of 
the author. 
In 1799, Mr. Charles Bell was admitted a member of the Royal 
College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, and soon afterwards was ap- 
pointed one of the surgeons of the Royal Infirmary in that city, 
where he acquired a high reputation as a skilful and dexterous 
operator. 
In 1806, he removed to London; and by his own unaided exer- 
tions, established himself as a lecturer on Anatomy and Surgery. 
He was subsequently associated with Mr. Wilson in the celebrated 
anatomical school of Great Windmill Street, and speedily became 
one of the most popular and effective lecturers in the surgical 
schools of London ; although at that period, Cline, Cooper, Aber- 
nethy, and other eminent men, were in the zenith of their fame as 
professional teachers. 
He was elected Surgeon to the Middlesex Hospital in 1812. 
A few years afterwards he was appointed Professor of Anatomy 
and Surgery to the Royal College of Surgeons of London, in which 
capacity he delivered a series of lectures, which excited in an extra- 
ordinary degree the interest and attention of the profession, the 
theatre of the College being crowded to the conclusion of the course. 
Immediately after the battle of Waterloo, Mr. Charles Bell, with 
that humanity and zeal for the pursuit of professional knowledge 
which marked his character, proceeded to Brussels, and tendered 
his assistance to the wounded soldiers in the hospitals of that city ; 
and after his arrival he was incessantly engaged for three successive 
days and nights in the operations and dressings of upwards of 300 
cases, 
Tn 1826, Mr. Charles Bell was admitted a Fellow of the Royal 
Society. 
On the institution of the London University College, in 1828, Mr. 
Charles Bell was chosen Principal of the Medical School; and he 
delivered the opening lecture in that department of the College, and 
also a course of lectures on Physiology. 
On the accession of William IV. to the throne, Mr. Charles 
Bell, together with a limited number of other men of distinguished 
scientific attainments, received the honour of knighthood. 
A “Treatise on Animal Mechanics,” composed by Sir Charles 
Bell for the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, being 
the substance of some of the lectures which he had delivered before 
the College of Surgeons, contained so powerful and lucid an expo- 
sition of the proofs of creative design, as exemplified in the struc- 
ture of the human frame, that our late President, Mr. Davies Gilbert, 
was led to select the author as one of the Bridgewater Essayists. “An 
Essay on the Hand, its mechanism and its vital endowments as 
