Number second, being remarks on the first volume of Mr. Benjamin Bell's system of surgery

Description:

"Jonathan Dawplucker 2" was written by Mr John Bell, surgeon in Edinburgh, and it was published anonymously in 1799. It was not written by Mr John Barclay, who was the author of "Jonathan Dawplucker 1". The first Jonathan Dawplucker book, which was also published anonymously, was an attack on Mr John Bell himself. It was this gentleman's belief that the attack had been written by Dr James Gregory, a distinguished Edinburgh physician, and Mr John Bell seized this opportunity to take revenge on Gregory by attacking one of Dr Gregory's closest friends, the celebrated Edinburgh surgeon, Mr Benjamin Bell. Accordingly, Mr John Bell launched his savage and dishonest attack on the work and personality of Benjamin Bell. With great cunning, he opened his book by pretending to sympathise with the said Benjamin, and, by affecting to attack himself, John Bell, as the surgeon portrayed in John Barclay's "Jonathan Dawplucker 1", he was able to sustain the mystery of the second book's authorship. Mr John Bell's work on the heart and arteries had been the subject of John Barclay's criticism in "Jonathan Dawplucker 1". By using the same nom de plume, "Jonathan Dawplucker", Mr John Bell could attack Benjamin Bell without being suspected of being the author, preserving, in this way, his chances of professional advancement. Although Mr John Bell was a man of immense talent and achievement in the fields of anatomy and surgery, he died an unhappy man in 1820. His attacks on Benjamin Bell were never forgiven by this great surgeon's friends, and it is noticed that Benjamin Bell was too busy with his professional work, and also too ill, to engage in this unhappy form of controversial writing.

subjects: The JONATHAN DAWPLUCKER CONTROVERSY,  Surgery,  General Surgery

People: BENJAMIN BELL,  Surgeon in Edinburgh [1749 - 1806]

Places: EDINBURGH,  Scotland

Times: 1799