Benjamin Bell of Hunthill FRSE FRCSEd (6 September 1749 – 5 April 1806) is considered to be the first Scottish scientific surgeon. He is commonly described as the father of the Edinburgh school of surgery, or the first of the Edinburgh scientific surgeons. He published medical works of significance, notably his surgical textbook A System of Surgery which became a best seller throughout Europe and in America. His treatise on venereal disease was one of the early works that suggested syphilis and gonorrhea were different diseases, a hypothesis which was not accepted by mainstream medicine until many decades later. Bell's main contribution to surgical practice was his adage 'save skin', which led to improved rates of wound healing in operations like mastectomy and limb amputation. He was also an early advocate of routine pain relief in surgery. Early life Benjamin Bell was born in Dumfries on 6 September 1749, the eldest surviving child in a family of 15 children. His father George Bell (1722–1813) farmed at Woodhouselees, a mile south of the village of Canonbie in Dumfriesshire. In addition to farming, George Bell was involved in a series of business ventures which met with mixed success. This background of modest wealth was to prove important for Benjamin in later life, allowing him to visit surgeons in London and Paris and enabling him to take time away from his surgical practice to write a major textbook. The family tradition in agriculture was to re-emerge towards the end of his life. They owned Blackett House in Middlebie Parish (Dumfriesshire), which was later sold to fund the education of the family. Benjamin's early education was at Dumfries Grammar school. Surgical training He became an apprentice to James Hill (1703-1776), a surgeon in Dumfries, before moving to Edinburgh in 1766 to study medicine at Edinburgh University under the tutelage of some of the most inspiring medical teachers of the day, including Alexander Monro secundus (1733–1817) the anatomist, Joseph Black (1728–99) the chemist and John Hope (1725–86) the botanist. In November 1767 he was appointed dresser in the surgical wards of the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, and surgeons' clerk 2 years later. He visited London and Paris, writing to his father that had he been planning a career as a physician he would have been happy to stay in Edinburgh, "but for a surgeon I assure you Edinburgh comes greatly short of either Paris or London