Page:Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Vol 4.djvu/430

Rh also published " Illustrations of Dr. Paley's Evidences of Natural Theology."

In 1836, he accepted the Chair of Surgery in the University of Edinburgh, to which he was invited by the unsolicited and unani- mous vote of the patrons of that institution ; and he left London to place himself at the head t.f the profession in his native city. In this new sphere of usefuhiess he continued to pursue with undimi- nished ardour the cultivation of surgery and physiology until his death, which took place on the 29th of April, 1842, at Elallow Park, in Worcestershire.

With this brief sketch of the professional career of Sir Charles Bell, I proceed to notice those original and important investigations into the nature and functions of the nervous system, upon which his high reputation as a physiologist is based, which entitle him to be ranked among the most distinguished Fellows of this Society, and for which he v/as deservedly awarded the first Royal ^Nfedal v/e had to bestow.

The earliest contribution of Sir Charles Bell to our Transactions was in 1821, "On the Nerves, giving an account of some experi- ments on their structure and functions, which lead to a new ar- rangement of the system." This was followed by other essays on the same subject, Avhich were severally published in the Philoso- phical Transactions for 1822, 1823, 1826, 1829, 1832, 1834, 1835, and 1840.

In the last communication, entitled " On the Nervous System," the author gives a condensed view of his investigations and disco- vieries, the result of more than thirty years of indefatigable labour and research.

As long since as 1806, in the first edition of his beautiful work

On the Anatomy of Expression in Painting," we perceive the germ of those original views of the nervous system, Avhich it was the labour of his life to elucidate and establish. " If," he observes, " we had but a perfect knowledge of the functions of the nerves, they would on all occasions inform us of the cause of those actions which now appear to us so inexplicable." And here I may observe, that the drawings which illustrate this w^ork are in the first style of art, and show, that had the author chosen painting as a profession, he would have attained a distinguished rank as a,n artist.

In 1811, in a small w-ork entitled " An Idea of a new Anatomy of the Brain, submitted for the observation of his friends, by Charles BelljF.R.S.E," he distinctly enunciates those original opinions, which, modified and extended by subsequent investigations and discoveries, have led to those enlarged and philosophical views of the pheno- mena of the nervous system, which have so largely contributed to the advancement of physiological science.

In short, w^hatever we may owe to the genius and labours of other men in this field of research, the discovery of the grand fundamental principle upon which a correct knowledge of the functions of the nervous system depends, is unquestionably due to Sir Charles Bell.