Eminent venereologists 2. Benjamin Bell.

The late 18th century was a time ofsexual latitude, and genital discharge and ulceration following "impure coition" were common. Gonorrhoea virulenta and Lues venerea (syphilis) were recognised clinically, but they were thought to be the same disease. The natural history of syphilis itself was poorly understood, and little was known about other causes of genital ulceration. Surgeons, physicians and apothecaries undertook the care of people with venereal diseases, with a good deal of squabbling about who was best qualified for the work. Mercury had been used for the cure of syphilis for two centuries, but it was also inappropriately used for the treatment of other genital infections. Many doctors were not clear what they were doing or why they were doing it, and there was a flourishing quackery.' This confused situation could not continue, and during the next century the natural history of the venereal diseases was gradually clarified by surgeons and physicians through meticulous clinical observations of patients and their consorts, supplemented by inoculation experiments. Their achievements were remarkable. Gonorrhoea was distinguished from syphilis, the genital ulceration/lymphadenopathy complex was unravelled and the stages of syphilis were classified, all without the aid of laboratory tests. Benjamin Bell was the first of these pioneers. Bell was a Scot, his family having been landowners in the southern part of the country since the 15th century. His father George had as a young man traded in the Near East, but in this he was unsuccessful, as in a later attempt to found a business in Dumfries. After this failure he spent the rest of his long life as a farmer. He was described as "genial, light-hearted and waggish", and given to playing complicated practical jokes. His wife was evidently placid and pious, and they had 15 children, of whom Benjamin was the second. He was born in Dumfries in 1749. He received a classical education at the local grammar school. He had always been interested in surgery, so after leaving school he became apprenticed to a well-known local surgeon. He was able and industrious, and in 1766, at