details, and the spirited style of the illustrations from the pencil of the author.
In 1799, Mr. Charles Bell was admitted a member of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, and soon afterwards was ap- pointed one of the surgeons of tiie Royal Infirmary in that city, where he acquired a high reputation as a skilful and dexterous operator.
In 1806, he removed to London ; and by his own unaided exer- tions, established himself as a lecturer on Anatomy and Surgery. He was subsequently associated with Mr. Wilson in the celebrated anatomical school of Great Windmill Street, and speedily became one of the most popular and effective lecturers in the surgical schools of London ; although at that period, Cline, Cooper, Aber- nethy, and other eminent men, were in the zenith of their fame as professional teachers.
He was elected Surgeon to the Middlesex Hospital in 1812.
A few years afterwards he was appointed Professor of Anatomy and Surgery to the Royal College of Surgeons of London, in which capacity he delivered a series of lectures, which excited in an extra- ordinary degree the interest and attention of the profession, the theatre of the College being crowded to the conclusion of the course.
Immediately after the battle of Waterloo, Mr. Charles Bell, with that humanity and zeal for the pursuit of professional knowledge which marked his character, proceeded to Brussels, and tendered his assistance to the wounded soldiers in the hospitals of that city ; and after his arrival he was incessantly engaged for three successive days and nights in the operations and dressings of upwards of 300 cases.
In 1826, Mr. Charles Bell was admitted a Fellow of the Royal Society.
On the institution of the London University College, in 1828, Mr. Charles Bell was chosen Principal of the Medical School ; and he delivered the opening lecture in that department of the College, and also a course of lectures on Physiology.
On the accession of William IV. to the throne, Mr. Charles Bell, together with a limited number of other men of distinguished scientific attainments, received the honour of knighthood.
A "Treatise on Animal Mechanics," composed by Sir Charles Bell for the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, being the substance of some of the lectures which he had delivered before the College of Surgeons, contained so powerful and lucid an expo- sition of the proofs of creative design, as exemplified in the struc- ture of the human frame, that our late President, Mr. Davies Gilbert, was led to select the author as one of the Bridgewater Essayists. "An Essay on the Hand, its mechanism and its vital endowments as 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 v/ith Lord Chancellor Brougham,
