Robert Bell (physician)

For other people named Robert Bell, see Robert Bell (disambiguation).

Robert Bell FRFPS
Bell in 1921
Born	Robert Bell (1845-01-06)6 January 1845 Alnwick, Northumberland, England
Died	20 January 1926(1926-01-20) (aged 81) Kensington, London, England
Alma mater	University of Glasgow
Occupation(s)	Physician, medical writer
Years active	1868–1924
Spouses	Christina Catherine Alexander ​ ​ (m. 1869; died 1861)​ Mary Allan Dobie ​ ​ (m. 1893; died 1899)​ Clara Ellen Ross ​ (m. 1900)​
Children	5
Medical career
Institutions	Glasgow Hospital for Women Battersea Anti-Vivisection Hospital
Sub-specialties	Gynaecology, oncology

Robert Bell FRFPS (6 January 1845 – 21 January 1926) was an English physician and medical writer. He specialised in gynaecology and oncology and was vice-president of the International Cancer Research Society. He was also a naturopath and published several books on cancer and other diseases. Bell was an advocate for alternative cancer treatments, including raw foodism, fruitarianism, and vegetarianism. In 1912, he was accused in the British Medical Journal of quackery. He successfully sued them for libel and was awarded £2000 damages.

Life and career

Early life and education

Bell was born in Alnwick, Northumberland, on 6 January 1845. His parents were Scottish and his father was a tanner.

Bell was educated at Alnwick Grammar School. At the age of 15, he was apprenticed to a local medical practitioner. He went on to study for a M.B. and M.D. at the University of Glasgow. He also studied in Paris.

During his time at university, studied under highly esteemed individuals, including Lord Kelvin and Joseph Lister. As he transitioned to clinical practice, he took on the role of a dresser in one of Lister's wards.

Medical career

Early career in Glasgow

Bell started practicing medicine in Glasgow in 1868. In 1870 he was elected a Fellow of the Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons, Glasgow, and was also a Licentiate of the Royal College of Surgeons, Edinburgh.

In 1876, he founded the Glasgow Hospital for Diseases Peculiar to Women (later the Glasgow Hospital for Women). He worked there for 21 years as a senior physician.

In the 1870s, Dr. Bell gained recognition for pioneering a new technique for treating diphtheria and creating a method to address smallpox that prevented the occurrence of secondary fever. By the 1880s, he identified a link between constipation and illness, coining the term "autotoxemia" to describe the absorption of toxins into the bloodstream.

Alternate cancer treatment advocacy

Bell moved to London in 1904. In 1909, he declined an offer of a baronetcy from King Edward VII, who had a strong interest in the problem of cancer and who had read one of Bell's books on the subject. In the same year, Bell gave a speech on the benefits of a fruitarian diet at the newly opened international headquarters of the Order of the Golden Age in London. He also served as a council member of the Order and as vice president of the International Cancer Research Society.

From 1910, Bell led cancer research at Battersea Anti-Vivisection Hospital. He worked there to publicise his view that surgical treatment for cancer was unnecessary and that cancer was preventable by dietetic and hygienic measures. He recommended his cancer patients fresh air and a vegetarian diet of uncooked vegetables and fruit, nuts, and dairy products.

Controversy and legal challenges

His advocacy for such treatments led to a sharp critique in 1912, when the British Medical Journal published an article titled "Cancer, Credulity, and Quackery" accusing him of promoting pseudoscience. Bell successfully sued the journal for libel and was awarded £2000 in damages.

In 1923, Bell was charged with an allegation of breaching medical etiquette. The charge was that he had prescribed treatment for and attended to a woman with cancer without having seen her in person. However, he was cleared of these charges.

Other interests

Portrait of Bell from his autobiography (1924)

Micrography

Bell pioneered a form of micrography, crafting his own camera and persevering through significant challenges. One micrograph, captured in 1872, required a minimum exposure time of three-quarters of an hour, as dry plates were not yet available. He included a selection of his micrographs in his autobiography.

Poetry

In 1893, Bell published a collection of poetry titled A Physician's Poems, which led to him being featured in David Herschell's One Hundred Modern Scottish Poets. The feature included a biographical notice and selection of Bell's poems.

Later life and death

Bell published his autobiography in 1924, Reminiscences of an Old Physician. He died at his home in Kensington, London, on 20 January 1926, at the age of 81. His funeral was held on 25 January at Golders Green Crematorium.

Personal life

Bell married three times. His first marriage was to Christina Catherine Alexander in 1869 in Govan, Scotland. They had five children, before her death in 1891. In 1893, he married Mary Allan Dobie at the parish church in Keir, Scotland, who died in 1899. His third marriage was to Clara Ellen Ross (née Sims) at St Mary Abbotts in Kensington, in 1900.

Selected publications

• Tuberculosis and Its Successful Treatment (Glasgow: David Bryce and Son, 1892)
• A Physician's Poems (Glasgow: David Bryce and Son, 1893)
• Sterility (London: J. & A. Churchill, 1896)
• The Pathogenesis and Treatment of Cancer Without Operation (Glasgow: R. L. Holmes, 1900)
• Ten Years' Record of the Treatment of Cancer Without Operation (London: Dean, 1906)
• Health at Its Best V. Cancer (London: Unwin, 1908)
• Cancer and Its Remedy (London: The Medical Times Publishing Company, 1909)
• "The Cancer Enigma" (Medical Record, 1920)
• "Cancer is a Blood Disease and Should be Treated as Such" (Medical Record, 1922)
• Reminiscences of an Old Physician (London: John Murray, 1924)

External links

• Works by or about Robert Bell at the Internet Archive
• Works by Robert Bell at HathiTrust
• Works by Robert Bell at the Wellcome Collection
• Portraits of Robert Bell at the National Portrait Gallery, London