- Scottish anatomist
and surgeon who carried out pioneering research on the human nervous
system. He gave his name to Bell's palsy, an extracranial paralysis
of the facial nerve, and to the long thoracic nerve of Bell, which
supplies a muscle in the chest wall.
Bell was born in Edinburgh and became a surgeon at the Edinburgh Royal
Infirmary, having learned from his surgeon brother
John Bell (1763-1820).
Charles went to London 1804, held various academic posts, and returned
to Edinburgh 1836 as professor of surgery.
Bell discovered that nerves are composite structures, each with separate
fibres for sensory and motor functions. His findings first appeared
1811; his main written work was The Nervous System of the Human Body
1830.
|