Taking up the study of medicine under the guidance and tuition of his elder brother John, who was already becoming notable as a lecturer, he very rapidly found his true vocation, and gained such proficiency that before he was twenty-one he was able to take part of his brother’s lectures. In 1799 he published the first part of his “System of Dissections.” Edinburgh, then embittered by the controversy between his brother and Dr. Gregory, and other untoward occurrences, did not give him fair scope for his talents; and it was decided that Charles should adventure himself in London. This was an enterprise of hardihood at that time, for Scotchmen were still looked upon with suspicion; yet he had already become known in London by his association with John Bell in the “Human Anatomy,” by the first two volumes of his “System of Dissections,” and by his engravings of the arteries, brain, and nerves. The impression made upon him by his first experience of London, on a Sunday in November, was thus expressed: “If this be the season that John Bull selects for cutting his throat, Sunday must be the day, for then London is in all its ugliness, all its naked deformity; the houses are like ruins, the streets deserted.” He was soon rather unceremoniously told by a hospital surgeon that they could manufacture their own raw material, and if he had difficulties in Edinburgh, he would have more in London. Some of his early friends in London were cautioned that he was a sharp insinuating young man, who would drive them out of their hospitals. His friend Lynn answered such an innuendo thus: “I liked his brother, and I like himself. He is no humbug. His conversation is open and free.” Lynn indeed discerned that a worthy successor of William Hunter was among them. Charles Bell gained considerable notice by his criticisms on artistic anatomy, and by the profound knowledge of the human body which he made evident. The manuscript of his “Anatomy of Expression” being in a forward state, it was shown to many persons of influence, including Sir Joseph Banks (President of the Royal Society), Benjamin West, Sydney Smith, &c., and the general opinion was that he would make a great name. But Charles did not deceive himself into the idea that his path into situations of importance would be easy. “I can make a few good friends,” he says, “but cannot engage the multitude.” After many discouragements, having at one time resolved to return to Edinburgh, Mr. Bell took a house, formerly Speaker Onslow’s, in Leicester Street, Leicester Square, and fitted up a lecture-room in it. Here he started as a public lecturer on anatomy and surgery, with an attendance of forty, but only three paying pupils, on January 20, 1806; and the second lecture was delivered to an audience of ten. In February he lectured to a dozen artists, much to their delight. On the 10th February 1806, after nearly fifteen months in London, he received his first fee in consultation.