JACOB BELL. 459 



practice of physic at King's College, he proved himself a 

 diligent student. At a later period he worked at practical 

 chemistry in the house of business in Oxford Street, converting 

 his bedroom into a laboratory, and fitting it with a furnace and 

 other apparatus. 



About this time he also amused himself in leisure hours 

 by the study of comparative anatomy, and especially by the 

 preparation of skeletons of animals, in which, being a nice 

 manipulator, he was very successful. These specimens were 

 mostly prepared on his father's premises at "Wandsworth, where 

 bitter denunciations sometimes arose when the odious effluvium 

 of some dead monkey, rat, or porcupine, undergoing its term of 

 maceration, penetrated unbidden the quarters of the family. 



But his predilection for animals extended to the living also, Amusements. 

 and the Zoological Society was therefore an object of much 

 interest with him. It was, however, in horses and dogs that he 

 specially delighted. He was himself an admirable horseman, 

 and as his father's country house was some few miles out of town, 

 he could indulge in the pleasures of riding without interfering 

 with business. At one time hunting was a favourite pastime, 

 but the urgent entreaties of his father, who highly disapproved 

 of such an amusement, induced him to relinquish it. The 

 gaieties of London life had, however, strong attractions, and, as 

 with everything else that he undertook, he entered into them 

 with great spirit. 



At school, drawing had been a favourite pursuit, and in order Drawing. 

 to continue it when settled in London, Mr. Bell used to attend 

 the morning class at Sass's drawing school, and he also received 

 lessons in oil-painting from his friend, Mr. H. P. Briggs, E.A. 

 His taste in this direction was natural ; and had he been able to 

 pursue painting as a profession, success would in all probability 

 have attended his efforts. As it was, he saw he could attain 

 only mediocrity. The progress of his fellow-students, who 

 could count their days of study while he could reckon only upon 

 hours, discouraged him, and ultimately caused him to abandon 

 the practice of art. In humorous sketching, however, he was 

 very clever, and many a page of a journal kept in his early days 



