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After the battle of Waterloo, he also repaired to
Brussels, and took the charge of an hospital; and
here he was engaged for three successive days and
nights in operating upon and dressing the wounds of
three hundred soldiers. Of these cases he made
various drawings in water-colouring, which are
reckoned among the best specimens of such pro-
ductions in our anatomical school.
The time at length arrived when Bell was to ac-
quire that full amount of reputation for which he
had toiled so long and laboriously, and amidst such
unmerited neglect. From an early period his
favourite subject of investigation was the nervous
system, upon which the most erroneous opinions had
hitherto prevailed. Even professional men of high
medical and anatomical knowledge rested satisfied in
the belief that all the nerves were alike, and that the
superior amount of susceptibility in any organ merely
depended upon the greater number of nerves allotted
to it. But even before he left Edinburgh, a suspicion
had grown upon the mind of Bell, that this prevalent
opinion was erroneous, and further inquiry satisfied
him that his suspicion was right. He found that
the nerves were distributed into different classes, to
each of which belonged its proper function; and that
the same puncture which, applied to any other of
these conductors to the senses, would produce a sen-
sation of pain, when applied to the eye would give
only the impression of a flash of light. He saw,
also, that the two roots by which the spinal nerves
are connected with the vertebral medulla, impart two
different powers, the one of motion, the other of
sensation. In this way he accounted for those cases
in which the motive or sensitive powers are singly or
severally lost. This discovery, which was as wonder-
ful as that of the circulation of the blood, astonished
the whole medical world: it was a revelation that
had remained unknown till now, and when an-
nounced could not be controverted; and under this
new guidance, practical anatomists were directed to
the proper seat of the ailments that came under their
notice, as well as taught the right mode of cure.
His theory, which was published in 1821 in the
Philosophical Transactions, in the form of an essay
on the "Nervous System," produced immediate at-
tention, and when its value was appreciated, attempts
were made to deny him the merit of the discovery.
Fortunately, however, for his claims, he had printed
a pamphlet for distribution among his friends as
early as 1811, in which the principal points of his
theory were already announced; while his letters,
written to his brother upon the subject, were suffi-
cient to put to flight the numerous pretenders who
claimed the discovery as their own. His subsequent
publications on the Nervous Circle, and On the Eye,
completely established the existence of a sixth sense,
by which we are enabled to ascertain and estimate
the qualities of size, weight, form, distance, texture,
and resistance.
Bell had now reached the summit of his ambition,
and established for himself a European reputation.
His improvements were adopted in every country
where the healing art was studied as a science, while
the leading men of the Continent united in testifying
to the value of his labours. In 1824 he was appointed
to the senior chair of anatomy and surgery in the
London College of Surgeons, while his treatises on
Animal Mechanics, and On the Hand, and his Illus-
trations of Paley's Natural Theology, secured that
professional distinction which seemed capable of no
further extension. On the accession of William IV.
to the throne, it was resolved to commemorate this
event by conferring the honour of knighthood upon
a few of the most eminent scientific men of the
period, and in this chosen number Bell was included,
with his countrymen Brewster, Leslie, and Ivory.
An opportunity now occurred for Sir Charles Bell
to return to Scotland, after an absence of thirty-two
years, by an offer in 1836 of the professorship of
surgery in the university of Edinburgh, which he
accepted. It was his prevailing desire, notwith-
standing his wide and lucrative practice in London,
to have leisure for prosecuting his scientific re-
searches, and to prosecute them among the friends
of his youth, and in the place where they had com-
menced. But unfortunately he found Edinburgh too
limited a field for his purposes, and especially for
a new and great work upon the Nervous System,
which he wished to publish, with numerous splendid
illustrations. Instead of this he was obliged to con-
tent himself with a new edition of the Anatomy of
Expression, which he greatly extended and improved,
in the course of a tour through Italy, during the in-
terval of a college session. He also published his
Institutes of Surgery, containing the substance of his
lectures delivered in the university. In 1842 during
the vacation of summer, Sir Charles left Edinburgh
on a journey to London; but, on reaching Hallow
Park on the 27th of May, he died suddenly the same
night. The cause of his death was angina pectoris,
brought on, as was supposed by his friends, from
disappointment, chiefly arising from the new medical
reform bill, which he believed was hostile to the
best interests of the profession. His intellectual
originality, acuteness of perception, and steady per-
severance, by which he attained such distinguished re-
putation and success, were connected with an amenity
and gentleness of disposition, that endeared him to
the circle of his friends and the society in which
he moved. An excellent portrait and striking like-
ness of Sir Charles Bell was painted by B. Mantyne,
of which an engraving by Thomson will be found in
the third volume of Pettigrew's Medical Portrait
Gallery.
BELL, HENRY, the first successful applier of steam
to the purposes of navigation in Europe, was born at
Torphichen in Linlithgowshire, April 7, 1767. He
was sprung from a race of mechanics, being the fifth
son of Patrick Bell and Margaret Easton, whose
ancestors, through several descents, were alike well
known in the neighbourhood as ingenious mill-
wrights and builders; some of them having also dis-
tinguished themselves in the erection of public works,
such as harbours, bridges, &c., not only in Scotland,
but also in the other divisions of the United Kingdom.
Henry Bell, after receiving a plain education at the
parish school, began in 1780 to learn the handicraft
of a stone-mason. Three years after he changed his
views in favour of the other craft of the family, and
was apprenticed to his uncle, who practised the art
of a mill-wright. At the termination of his engage-
ment he went to Borrowstounness for the purpose of
being instructed in ship-modelling; and in 1787 he
engaged with Mr. James Inglis, engineer at Bells-
hill, with the view of completing his knowledge of
mechanics. He afterwards went to London, where
hewas employed by the celebrated Mr. Rennie; so that
his opportunities of acquiring a practical acquaintance
with the higher branches of his art were altogether
very considerable.
About the year 1790 Bell returned to Scotland,
and it is said that he practised for several years at
Glasgow the unambitious craft of a house-carpenter.
He was entered, October 20, 1797, as a member of
the corporation of wrights in that city. It was his
wish to become an undertaker of public works in
Glasgow; but either from a deficiency of capital, or