Robert Bell (physician)
Robert Bell FRFPSGlas | |
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Born | 1845 |
Died | 1926 (aged 81) |
Occupation | Physician, writer |
Medical career | |
Institutions |
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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
- 1845 births
- 1926 deaths
- 19th-century British male writers
- 19th-century British medical doctors
- 20th-century British male writers
- 20th-century British medical doctors
- Alternative cancer treatment advocates
- Anti-vivisectionists
- British gynaecologists
- British medical writers
- British oncologists
- Cancer researchers
- Fasting advocates
- Fellows of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow
- Naturopaths
- People associated with the Order of the Golden Age
- Raw foodists
- Vegetarianism activists