Robert Bell (physician)
Robert Bell FRFPSGlas (1845 – 1926) was a British physician and medical writer, who advocated for alternative cancer treatments and vegetarianism.
Robert Bell | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 1845 |
| Died | 1926 (aged 81) |
| Occupation | Physician, writer |
| Medical career | |
| Institutions | |
| Sub-specialties | Gynaecology, oncology |
Biography
Bell was born in 1845.[1][note 1] He worked for 21 years at the Glasgow Samaritan Hospital for Women as senior physician.[2]
Bell moved to London in 1904.[3] In 1909, he declined an offer of a baronetcy.[2] He was a council member of the Order of the Golden Age.[4] Bell advocated for uncooked vegetables and fruit, along with eggs and dairy as an optimal diet for maintaining health.[2]
Bell later led cancer research at Battersea Anti-Vivisection Hospital and worked to publicise his view that surgical treatment for cancer was unnecessary and that cancer was preventable. An article was published by the British Medical Journal, in 1911, accusing Bell of quackery for his cancer treatments; he successfully sued the author and journal for libel.[3]
Bell died at the age of 81 in 1926.[2]
Selected publications
- Sterility (London: 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)
- Cancer and Its Remedy (London: Medical Times Pub. Co., 1909)
- Reminiscences of an Old Physician (London: Murray, 1924)
Notes
- Bell's obituary in The Vegetarian Messenger and Health Review incorrectly gives Bell's year of birth as 1846.
References
- Bates, A. W. H. (2017). Anti-Vivisection and the Profession of Medicine in Britain: A Social History. Springer. p. 112. ISBN 978-1-137-55697-4.
- "Dr. Robert Bell, M.D. (1846-1926)". The Vegetarian Messenger and Health Review. February 1926.
- Brown, P S (January 1991). "Medically qualified naturopaths and the General Medical Council". Medical History. 35 (1): 50–77. doi:10.1017/s0025727300053126. ISSN 0025-7273. PMC 1036269. PMID 2008122.
- Kuhn, Philip (2017). Psychoanalysis in Britain, 1893–1913: Histories and Historiography. Lexington Books. p. 74. ISBN 978-1-4985-0523-9.
