140 Royal Society. 
evincing design,” is the title of the admirable volume which Sir 
Charles Bell, in accordance with the provisions of the appointment, 
contributed to those celebrated essays. 
Sir Charles Bell, in conjunction with Lord Chancellor Brougham, 
also published “ Illustrations of Dr. Paley’s Evidences of Natural 
Theology.” act 
In 1836, he accepted the Chair of Surgery in the University of 
Edinburgh, to which he was invited by the unsolicited and unani- 
mous vote of the patrons of that institution; and he left London to 
place himself at the head of the profession in his native city. In 
this new sphere of usefulness he continued to pursue with undimi- 
nished ardour the cultivation of surgery and physiology until his 
death, which took place on the 29th of April, 1842, at Hallow Park, 
in Worcestershire. 
With this brief sketch of the professional career of Sir Charles 
Bell, I proceed to notice those original and important investigations 
into the nature and functions of the nervous system, upon which 
his high reputation as a physiologist is based, which entitle him to 
be ranked among the most distinguished Fellows of this Society, and 
for which he was deservedly awarded the first Royal Medal we had 
to bestow. 
The earliest contribution of Sir Charles Bell to our Transactions 
was in 1821, “On the Nerves, giving an account of some experi 
ments on their structure and functions, which lead to a new ar- 
rangement of the system.” This was followed by other essays on 
the same subject, which were severally published in the Philoso- 
phical Transactions for 1822, 1823, 1826, 1829, 1832, 1834, 1835, 
and 1840. 
In the last communication, entitled “On the Nervous System,” 
the author gives a condensed view of his investigations and disco- 
veries, the result of more than thirty years of indefatigable labour 
and research. 
As long since as 1806, in the first edition of his beautiful work 
“On the Anatomy of Expression in Painting,” we perceive the 
germ of those original views of the nervous system, which it was 
the labour of his life to elucidate and establish. “If,” he observes, 
“ we had but a perfect knowledge of the functions of the nerves, 
they would on all occasions inform us of the cause of those actions 
which now appear to us so inexplicable.” And here I may observe, 
that the drawings which illustrate this work are in the first style of 
art, and show, that had the author chosen painting as a profession, 
he would have attained a distinguished rank as an artist. 
In 1811, in a small work entitled “‘ An Idea of a new Anatomy of 
the Brain, submitted for the observation of his friends, by Charles 
Bell, F.R.S.E,” he distinctly enunciates those original opinions, which, 
modified and extended by subsequent investigations and discoveries, 
have led to those enlarged and philosophical views of the pheno- 
mena of the nervous system, which have so largely contributed to 
the advancement of physiological science. 
In short, whatever we may owe to the genius and labours of other 
