825 



BELL, JOHN. 



BELL, GEORGE JOSEPH. 



826 



thirty-two, with a high character for learning and virtue. The father* 

 the Rev. William Bell, a learned scholar and eloquent preacher, was 

 in the course of his education for the Presbyterian Church led, by a 

 perusal of the English divines, to become a member of the Episcopal 

 Church of Scotland. He was settled for many years in a small cure 

 at Doune in Perthshire. His wife, the mother of the three gentlemen 

 whose biographies follow, was of a family which, in a long descent, 

 had furnished clergymen to the Episcopal Church of Scotland during 

 its splendour and in its decay. She was a woman of masculine under- 

 standing, tempered with great mildness and gentleness of manners, 

 and improved by an excellent education under the care of Bishop 

 White, her maternal grandfather. There were eight children of the 

 marriage, two of whom died in infancy. John, George Joseph, and 

 Charles, became eminent in their several professions. The Rev. W. 

 Bell died September 26, 1779. 



JOHN BELL, the elder of the brothers, was born at Edinburgh, 

 May 12, 1763. About a month before the birth of this son the father 

 had submitted to a painful and difficult surgical operation ; and his 

 admiration of that science to which he owed his safety led him to 

 devote to the service of mankind, in the medical profession, the talent 

 of the son born while his heart was warm with gratitude for the relief 

 which he had obtained. 



John Bell was educated at the High School of Edinburgh, and at the 

 usual age was entered as a pupil in surgery with the late Mr. Alexander 

 Wood of that place. He was early remarkable for enthusiasm in his 

 profession, and engaged with great ardour in whatever he undertook. 

 During the time that Bell was pursuing his studies, the medical 

 school of the University of Edinburgh stood very high, ranking 

 among its professors Black, Cullen, and the second Monro. It was 

 while attending tha lectures of the last-mentioned professor that Bell 

 saw the way to professional advancement. Monro was a zealous 

 anatomist, and anatomy was well taught as the groundwork of 

 medical science, but its application to surgery was quite neglected. 

 This deficiency Bell was determined to supply ; and in the year 1790, 

 whilst yet a very young man, he built a theatre in Surgeon's-square, 

 Edinburgh, where he delivered lectures on surgery and anatomy, 

 carried on dissections, and laid the foundation of a museum. 



As there was then scarcely any private teaching, or means of culti- 

 vating anatomy by private dissections, the establishment of a school 

 naturally excittd great hostility against Mr. Bell, every attempt at 

 private teaching being considered as an encroachment on the privileges 

 of the professors and the rights of the university. In his lectures he 

 was wont to speak of some of Monro's anatomical opinions with less 

 respect than the character of that great man deserved, and he made 

 no scruple to expose many mistaken doctrines and erroneous practices 

 recommended in the system of surgery of Mr. Benjamin BelL The 

 tone and spirit of these criticisms raised up a host of enemies among 

 the friends of these two gentlemen. 



In 17U9 a pamphlet was published entitled ' Review of the Writings 

 of John Bell, Esq., by Jonathan Dawplucker.' It was an affected 

 panegyric of Mr. Bell's works, and was dedicated to him ; but the real 

 design was to criticise his first volume of 'Anatomy,' to represent him 

 as a plagiarist, " to pluck from him all his borrowed feathers," and to 

 vindicate Dr. Monro and Mr. Benjamin Bell from his criticisms. The 

 author was supposed to be some near friend of Benjamin Bell's. 

 Mr. John Bell published a second number, under the eame name of 

 J. Dawplucker, addressed to Mr. Benjamin Bell. It contained ironical 

 remarks on this surgeon's system of surgery, ami had such an effect 

 on the popularity of his work that it soon ceased to be the text-book 

 for students. At this time Mr. (afterwards Sir) Charles Bell was asso- 

 ciated with bis brother in teaching, the latter taking the surgical, the 

 former the anatomical department. 



The College of Surgeons in Edinburgh then presented a very 

 anomalous condition. It was a college of surgery and a corporation, 

 forming an integral part of the town-council of Edinburgh. The 

 first character had fallen comparatively into neglect and oblivion, 

 while the privileges belonging to the body in its relation to the burgh, 

 exposed its members to the temptation of mixing in the politics of 

 the town. This state of the college Mr. Bell was very anxious to 

 alter ; he wished to convert the college into a literary and scientific 

 body, and to separate it from tho politics of the city. It was a part 

 of his plan that the college should resume the right, vested in them 

 by their charter, of appointing a professorship of surgery, and take 

 upon them their proper duty of watching over the interests of anatomy 

 and surgery ; that the examination should be placed on a more respect- 

 able footing; that the candidates should compose a thesis on some 

 subject of surgery or anatomy, suggestions which have since been 

 adopted, but the proposal of which at that time excited against 

 Mr. Bell great opposition. The change which was at this time pro- 

 posed in the surgical attendance at the infirmary, and which, on being 

 ultimately carried into effect, proved fatal to Mr. Bell's prospects as a 

 teacher, was supposed to have had its origin in this feeling. The 

 members of the College of Surgeons were in rotation the surgeons of 

 the establishment, and each surgeon during his attendance chose his 

 own assistant for his operations, and those whose talents or 

 inclinations did not lead them to take their share in the duties of 

 the hospital devolved those duties on others, and thus the surgeons 

 particularly qualified for this situation soon distinguished them- 



BIOO. civ. VOL. i. 



selves. Mr. Bell, from his expertness as an operator, was among the 

 number. 



Dr. Gregory drew up a pleading or memorial to the managers of the 

 infirmary against this system, and proposed that two or three ordinary 

 surgeons, the best qualified that could be got, should be permanently 

 appointed, with assistant and consulting surgeons. Mr. Bell, seeing 

 that the proceedings were intended to affect his interests and bis plans 

 of teaching, made an appeal personally to the board of the infirmary, 

 but in vain. In the end he found himself and his brother, with many 

 other surgeons, deprived of the use of the institution. Mr. Bell 

 brought the question before the courts of law, whether the managers 

 had power to exclude him from the infirmary, and it waa adjudged 

 against him. 



In 1798 he went to Yarmouth to visit those who had been wounded 

 at Camperdown, and he there applied himself with the zeal and 

 activity of the most devoted student to the proofs exhibited in the 

 wounded of those great principles of surgery which it has been the 

 business of his life to explain. In 1803 he made an offer to govern- 

 ment for the embodying of a corps of young men, to be instructed in 

 military surgery, and in the duties of the camp and hospital, in order 

 to aid in the service of the country, then supposed to be on the 

 eve of an invasion. This offer was first accepted, but subsequently 

 declined. 



After the loss of the infirmary, Mr. John Bell never resumed his 

 lectures ; he settled his mind to private study and professional occu- 

 pation. He renewed his classical pursuits, and perused and enjoyed 

 the authors of antiquity with his characteristic ardour. In 1805 he 

 married a very amiable and accomplished lady, the daughter of Dr. 

 Congalton, a physician long retired from practice, and he enjoyed in 

 the society of Mrs. Bell and a large circle of friends twelve happy 

 years in Edinburgh. Mr. Bell was always of a delicate constitution, 

 and towards the end of this period his health declined so much that 

 he was induced to visit the continent, in the hope of regaining his 

 strength by travelling and relaxation. In the course of his travels 

 through Italy he made notes of his observations, which, siuce his 

 decease, have beeu published by his widow. He finally sunk at Rome, 

 under the effects of his complaint, a confirmed dropsy, on April 15, 

 1820. 



In 1793 Mr. Bell published the first volume of his ' Anatomy,' con- 

 sisting of a description of the bones, muscles, and joints. In a short 

 time afterwards the second volume was published, containing the 

 anatomy of the heart and arteries. The work was afterwards com- 

 pleted by his brother Charles. His next work was on surgery, entitled 

 ' Discourses on the Nature and Cure of Wounds," in 2 vols., 8vo. The 

 'Principles of Surgery,' in 3 vols., 4to, was his next and most formidable 

 undertaking ; and his last production is the ' Letters on Professional 

 Character and Education,' addressed to Dr. Gregory. 



The great principle which Mr. Bell enunciated and established, and 

 that on which his celebrity is founded, was that of free anastomosis ai 

 the foundation of the modern practice of the surgery of the arteries. 

 The character of this celebrated man may be summed up in a few 

 words. He was a man of varied talents, and possessed great energy 

 and industry, great facility in communicating his ideas, and great 

 acuteness and discrimination in availing himself of all that knowledge 

 which is essential to perfecting surgical science ; but he had little 

 patience with the very slow retreat of ancient prejudices, and little 

 acquaintance with the world, of which he was so much in advani-s. 

 He was an entertaining and instructive writer, and a popular and 

 eloquent teacher. As a controversialist he was acute and powerful ; 

 and as a writer puugent, even beyond his intention and desire. His 

 work on Italy has shown that his talent for general literature, had it 

 been exclusively cultivated, would have made him at least as eminent 

 as his professional attainments have rendered him. 



GKOROE JOSEPH BELL was born at Fountainbridge, near Edinburgh, 

 on the 26th of March 1770, and was educated at Edinburgh, Ho 

 became a member of the Faculty of Advocates in 1791. In 1804 he 

 published in two volumes Svo, ' A Treatise on the Laws of Bankruptcy 

 in Scotland.' In 1810 he published an enlarged edition of the same 

 work in 4to, with the title ' Commentaries on the Laws of Scotland 

 and on the Principles of Mercantile Jurisprudence considered in 

 relation to Bankruptcy, Composition of Creditors, and Imprison- 

 ment for Debt.' For the third edition of this great work in 1816, he 

 received the rare honour of a vote of thanks from the Faculty of 

 Advocates, conveyed to him officially by their Dean. Six editions of 

 this work were called for, a test of merit unprecedented in a large and 

 expensive book so exclusively professional. Mr. Bell also wrote the 

 ' Principles of the Law of Scotland,' which has likewise gone through 

 many editions ; and ' Illustrations of the Principles of the Law of 

 Scotland,' &c. These were designed for the instruction of his pupils 

 in the university, but they, as well as his commentaries, soon became 

 standard text-books in the law courts, were constantly referred to as 

 authorities by the judges from the bench, and were quoted as con- 

 clusive in argument at the bar, not only of his own couutry, but of 

 England and America. 



Mr. Bell was a member of a Commission of Legal Inquiry in 1823, 

 and in consequence of its report, he was called on by the Secretary of 

 State, Mr. (afterwards Sir Robert) Peel, to take an active part in. 

 introducing and carrying out important changes in the administration 



2 s 



