title: Scientific surgeon of the Enlightenment or 'plagiarist in everything': a reappraisal of Benjamin Bell (1749-1806).
abstract: The Edinburgh surgeon Benjamin Bell has been regarded as a scientific thinker in the Enlightenment tradition, despite being accused during his lifetime of both plagiarism and a failure to be innovative. Yet subsequent historical accounts regard him much more favourably. A review of his life and work discusses possible explanations for this apparent lack of concordance.
authors.affiliation: Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK. iainmacintyre@blueyonder.co.uk
authors.forename: I M C
authors.initials: IM
authors.lastname: Macintyre
mesh_terms: D013502:General Surgery / Q000266:history*; D049671:History, 18th Century; D049672:History, 19th Century; D015714:Plagiarism; D012606:Scotland; D013782:Textbooks as Topic / Q000266:history*