Robert Bell (physician)

Robert Bell

FRFPSGlas
Robert Bell; FRFPSGlas
Born	1845
Died	1926 (aged 81)
Occupation	Physician, writer
	Medical career
Institutions	Glasgow Samaritan Hospital for Women; Battersea Anti-Vivisection Hospital;
Sub-specialties	Gynaecology, oncology

Robert Bell FRFPSGlas (1845 – 1926) was a British physician, naturopath and medical writer, who advocated for alternative cancer treatments and vegetarianism.

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 fasting and a diet of 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 by dietetic and hygienic measures.^[3]^[5] Bell recommended his cancer patients fresh air and a vegetarian diet of uncooked vegetables, nuts and dairy products.^[6] An article by Ernest Francis Bashford published by the British Medical Journal, in 1911, accused Bell of quackery for his cancer treatments; he successfully sued the author and journal for libel and was awarded £2,000 damages plus costs.^[3]^[7]

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)
Health at Its Best V. Cancer (Unwin, 1908)
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.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "Dr. Robert Bell, M.D. (1846-1926)". The Vegetarian Messenger and Health Review. February 1926.
^ ^a ^b ^c 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.
^ Granshaw, Lindsay; Porter, Roy. (1989). The Hospital in History. Routledge. p. 228. ISBN 9780415003759
^ "Medico-Legal". The British Medical Journal. 1 (2685): 1403–1407. 1912. JSTOR 25297611.
^ Austoker, Joan. (1988). A History of the Imperial Cancer Research Fund, 1902-1986. Oxford University Press. p. 66. ISBN 9780197230756

External links[]

Portraits of Robert Bell at the National Portrait Gallery

[2] Bell's obituary in The Vegetarian Messenger and Health Review incorrectly gives Bell's year of birth as 1846.

[1] 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.

[:0-3] "Dr. Robert Bell, M.D. (1846-1926)". The Vegetarian Messenger and Health Review. February 1926.

[:1-4] 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.

[5] Kuhn, Philip (2017). Psychoanalysis in Britain, 1893–1913: Histories and Historiography. Lexington Books. p. 74. ISBN 978-1-4985-0523-9.

[6] Granshaw, Lindsay; Porter, Roy. (1989). The Hospital in History. Routledge. p. 228. ISBN 9780415003759

[7] "Medico-Legal". The British Medical Journal. 1 (2685): 1403–1407. 1912. JSTOR 25297611.

[8] Austoker, Joan. (1988). A History of the Imperial Cancer Research Fund, 1902-1986. Oxford University Press. p. 66. ISBN 9780197230756

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v t Naturopathy
Practices	Acupuncture Apitherapy Aromatherapy Balneotherapy Barefoot running Bates method Chelation therapy Chromotherapy Chiropractic Colon cleansing Ear candling Fasting Grape therapy Halotherapy Hydrotherapy Naturism Herbalism Homeopathy Iridology Mud bathing Nature therapy Oil pulling Ozone therapy Reflexology Reiki Rolfing Sungazing Urine therapy Yoga as therapy
Naturopaths	Otto Abramowski Bertrand P. Allinson Thomas Allinson R. F. E. Austin J. Ellis Barker Robert Bell Henry G. Bieler Friedrich Eduard Bilz Rudolf Breuss Haydn Brown James Burns Otto Carque Paul Carton Thierry Casasnovas Eugene Christian John Christopher Emmet Densmore George J. Drews Gaston Durville Arnold Ehret August Engelhardt Emanuel Felke Jesse Mercer Gehman Theodor Hahn Gayelord Hauser Adolphus Hohensee J. Stenson Hooker Christoph Wilhelm Hufeland Adolf Just Hans Kalm Henry Valentine Knaggs Sebastian Kneipp Louis Kuhne Heinrich Lahmann Gordon Latto Elmer Lee Henry Lindlahr Benedict Lust Reddie Mallett Catherine Nimmo Ernest Nyssens Cyril V. Pink Vincenz Priessnitz Edward Earle Purinton Arnold Rikli J. P. Sandlands Edgar J. Saxon Gustav Schlickeysen Johann Schroth Ernst Schweninger Herbert M. Shelton Russell Thacher Trall Frank Newman Turner Alfred Vogel Ann Wigmore Robert O. Young Arno Wolle
Beliefs	Detoxification Germ theory denialism Holism Leaky gut syndrome Mucoid plaque Natural hygiene Vaccine hesitancy Vitalism
Critics	Kimball Atwood Stephen Barrett Barry Beyerstein Arthur J. Cramp David Gorski Martin Gardner Morris Fishbein Britt Marie Hermes Terence Hines Carl Malmberg Steven Novella Wallace Sampson
Related	Alternative medicine Pseudoscience Quackery
Category Commons

Robert Bell FRFPSGlas

Born	1845 (1845)
Died	1926 (aged 81)
Occupation	Physician, writer
Medical career
Institutions	Glasgow Samaritan Hospital for Women Battersea Anti-Vivisection Hospital
Sub-specialties	Gynaecology, oncology