SIR CHARLES BELL. 267 



wonderful facility for making himself known through 

 the manipulations of the pencil -point. 



In 1816, Mr. Bell commenced the publication of 

 Surgical Operations ; being a Quarterly Report of Cases 

 in Surgery treated in the Middlesex Hospital, in the Can- 

 cer Establishment and in Private Practice. This series 

 of annotations was never finished, but is valuable as 

 far as it goes. The clinical details are illustrative and 

 practical, being the product of a mind trained and ac- 

 customed to impart information most needed by the 

 surgical student. 



In 1819, Bell published an interesting Essay on 

 the Forces which Circulate the Blood; being an Examina- 

 tion of the Difference of the Motions of Fluids in Living 

 and Dead Vessels. The argument, carried on at some 

 length, is that the heart alone does not propel the 

 blood, but much is left to arterial tension, tortuosity, 

 elasticity, capillary attraction, etc. There is some 

 plausibility in the statements made, and additional 

 force in the illustrations, yet I fail to see all points 

 just as the author does. In 1810, Bell issued a small 

 work depicting some cases of an instructive character 

 for the operative surgeon. While we do many things 

 much as they were done a century ago, it is not as- 

 suming to say that we have occasion to smile at a few 

 of the methods once in vogue. 



In 1824, Sir Charles Bell published Observations 

 on Injuries of the Spine and of the Thigh Bone. This 

 brochure is also controversial, being an attempt to sup- 

 port principles enunciated long ago, and to overthrow 

 certain other doctrines set up by Sir Astley Cooper in 

 regard to trephining in the event of fracture of the 

 vertebrae; and in regard to the pose the leg and thigh 

 should take after fracture of the femur. 



