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Luther Vose Bell, M.D. (1806 – February 11, 1862) was one of the thirteen mental hospital superintendents who met in Philadelphia in 1844 to organize the Association of Medical Superintendents of American Institutions for the Insane (AMSAII), now the
American Psychiatric Association The American Psychiatric Association (APA) is the main professional organization of psychiatrists and trainee psychiatrists in the United States, and the largest psychiatric organization in the world. It has more than 37,000 members are involve ...
, and the first medical specialty society in the United States. He was also Superintendent of the
McLean Asylum McLean Hospital () (formerly known as Somerville Asylum and Charlestown Asylum) is a psychiatric hospital in Belmont, Massachusetts. It is noted for its clinical staff expertise and neuroscience research and is also known for the large number of ...
near Boston, from 1837 to 1855.


Early life

Bell was born in
Francestown, New Hampshire Francestown is a town in Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 1,610 at the 2020 census. The village of Francestown, population 201 in 2020, is in the center of the town. History Incorporated in 1772, Francestow ...
, son of state governor and two-term U.S. Senator Samuel Bell. With his younger brother John, Bell attended
Phillips Academy ("Not for Self") la, Finis Origine Pendet ("The End Depends Upon the Beginning") Youth From Every Quarter Knowledge and Goodness , address = 180 Main Street , city = Andover , state = Ma ...
in Andover, Massachusetts, for a year. He then entered
Bowdoin College Bowdoin College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Brunswick, Maine. When Bowdoin was chartered in 1794, Maine was still a part of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The college offers 34 majors and 36 minors, as well as several joint eng ...
at age 12, and graduated in 1823. He moved to New York to study medicine under his older brother, John, and later received a medical degree from
Dartmouth College Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native A ...
in 1826. Because of his youth, he worked in New York in business until 1831, when he returned to
Derry, New Hampshire Derry is a town in Rockingham County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 34,317 at the 2020 census. Although it is a town and not a city, Derry is the most populous community in Rockingham County and the fourth most populous in the ...
, to establish his medical practice.


Physician

In the 1830s, Bell submitted essays for the Boyleston Prize offered by
Harvard Medical School Harvard Medical School (HMS) is the graduate medical school of Harvard University and is located in the Longwood Medical Area of Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1782, HMS is one of the oldest medical schools in the United States and is consi ...
. In 1835, he won the prize with an essay on diet, and in 1836, he was one of three winners for his submission, "How Far are the Means of Exploring the Condition of the Internal Organs to be Considered Useful and Important in the Practice of Medicine?" In addition to his medical practice, he carried on the family tradition of serving in politics and public office. He was elected in New Hampshire as a state representative and served on the legislative committee to investigate the status of the insane in New Hampshire. He lobbied vigorously for a state institution. He succeeded when the state legislature authorized its construction in Concord in 1838, and it opened in 1842. He stayed politically active: campaigning for a seat in Massachusetts in 1852 and for governor in 1856, both were unsuccessful. Dr. Bell's efforts for a state mental institution in New Hampshire became known to the Trustees of McLean Asylum after the death of the then superintendent. In 1836, Bell went to Boston to meet several trustees, and the Board offered him the position. He accepted and began traveling to other asylums. He visited asylums in Worcester, Massachusetts, the Hartford Retreat in Connecticut, and the
Bloomingdale Insane Asylum The Bloomingdale Insane Asylum (1821–1889) was an American private hospital for the care of the mentally ill, founded by New York Hospital. It was located in the Morningside Heights neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City, where Columbia U ...
in New York. He assumed office at the McLean Asylum in February 1836. The McLean Asylum was the first mental hospital in Massachusetts and was established in 1818 as an affiliate of the
Massachusetts General Hospital Massachusetts General Hospital (Mass General or MGH) is the original and largest teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School located in the West End neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. It is the third oldest general hospital in the United Stat ...
under Dr. Rufus Wyman (1818-1835). Wyman established a treatment program known as "Moral Treatment," which had been instituted by the
Quakers Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belief in each human's abil ...
in England. Bell continued this treatment method. The establishment of the Worcester asylum under state auspices in 1833 diverted indigent patients from McLean, which allowed the staff there to treat more affluent patients and to provide patients with comforts including occupation and recreation. As the superintendent at McLean, Bell was interested in hospital ventilation, and in 1848 presented the annual address to the
Massachusetts Medical Society The Massachusetts Medical Society (MMS) is the oldest continuously operating state medical association in the United States. Incorporated on November 1, 1781, by an act of the Massachusetts General Court, the MMS is a non-profit organization th ...
on this subject. Bell served as a
forensic examiner Forensic science, also known as criminalistics, is the application of science to Criminal law, criminal and Civil law (legal system), civil laws, mainly—on the criminal side—during criminal investigation, as governed by the legal standard ...
for the Massachusetts courts. In 1850, he became a member of the Executive Committee to advise the governor in cases of application for the pardon of criminals under sentence. In 1853, he was appointed to a Board of Commissioners to examine convicts in the penitentiary who presented symptoms of mental illness, and attributed cases of mental illness to masturbation.Helen Lefkowitz Horowitz (Ed.), Attitudes toward Sex in Antebellum America, 2006, Pg. 74. In the 1850s, Bell became interested in
spiritualism Spiritualism is the metaphysical school of thought opposing physicalism and also is the category of all spiritual beliefs/views (in monism and dualism) from ancient to modern. In the long nineteenth century, Spiritualism (when not lowercase) ...
. Twice he made presentations on this subject at the annual meetings of the AMSAII. He attributed his interest to scientific research but the lack of objective findings led him to abandon his interest. He continued to write papers about the architecture of asylums, statistics of mental hospitals, the use of restraints on patients, and aspects of medical jurisprudence. One of his papers described a new form of mania he had observed which was briefly termed Bell's mania but this later faded away. In 1844, the Trustees of the proposed
Butler Asylum A butler is a person who works in a house serving and is a domestic worker in a large household. In great houses, the household is sometimes divided into departments with the butler in charge of the dining room, wine cellar, and pantries, pantry ...
in Rhode Island asked the McLean Trustees to allow Bell to visit asylums in Europe, and then serve as a consultant to the new Butler Hospital. Bell was granted leave by the Board of Trustees of the McLean Asylum, and toured England and France. Upon his return, Bell was offered the superintendence position at Butler Asylum but declined and remained at McLean. Bell was a firm believer in the efficacy of moral treatment. He wrote to
Dorothea Dix Dorothea Lynde Dix (April 4, 1802July 17, 1887) was an American advocate on behalf of the indigent mentally ill who, through a vigorous and sustained program of lobbying state legislatures and the United States Congress, created the first gene ...
, "Each year … has served to diminish my confidence in an active medical treatment of almost every form of disease of the mind and to increase my reliance on moral means." Bell was active in the AMSAII. He served as vice president (1850-1851) and as president (1851-1855). He served as president of the
Massachusetts Medical Society The Massachusetts Medical Society (MMS) is the oldest continuously operating state medical association in the United States. Incorporated on November 1, 1781, by an act of the Massachusetts General Court, the MMS is a non-profit organization th ...
in 1857. During his tenure at McLean, three of Bell's seven children died and his wife died in childbirth. He suffered bouts of pneumonia and
hemoptysis Hemoptysis is the coughing up of blood or blood-stained mucus from the bronchi, larynx, trachea, or lungs. In other words, it is the airway bleeding. This can occur with lung cancer, infections such as tuberculosis, bronchitis, or pneumonia, and ...
. In 1856, he retired from McLean and set up a home in
Charleston, South Carolina Charleston is the largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina, the county seat of Charleston County, and the principal city in the Charleston–North Charleston metropolitan area. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint o ...
. When his successor at the McLean Asylum died a year later, the Trustees asked Bell to resume his position until a new superintendent was hired. He stayed for four months. With the advent of the
U.S. Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states t ...
, Bell applied for a commission as a surgeon in the U.S. Army and was assigned to the Eleventh Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteers. He took part in the Battle of Bull Run in Virginia. He advanced to the post of Division Surgeon in the Eleventh Regiment under General
Joseph Hooker Joseph Hooker (November 13, 1814 – October 31, 1879) was an American Civil War general for the Union, chiefly remembered for his decisive defeat by Confederate General Robert E. Lee at the Battle of Chancellorsville in 1863. Hooker had serv ...
. He became ill in February 1862 and died. Dr.
Isaac Ray Isaac Ray (January 16, 1807 – March 31, 1881) was an American psychiatrist, one of the founders of the discipline of forensic psychiatry. In 1838, he published ''A Treatise on the Medical Jurisprudence of Insanity'' (Boston), which served as an ...
, one of the thirteen founders of the AMSAII, published "A Discourse on the Life and Character of Dr. Luther V. Bell," which he read at the annual meeting in 1862. The meeting adopted a Resolution expressing its sympathy of Dr. Bell's passing.  


Works

* Bell, Luther V. ''An Attempt to Investigate Some Obscure and Undecided Doctrines in Relation to Small-pox, Varioloid and Vaccination''. Boston: Marsh, Capen, and Lyon, 1836. http://resource.nlm.nih.gov/64910280R * Bell, Luther V. ''A dissertation on the Boylston prize-question for 1835 : What diet can be selected which will ensure the greatest probable health and strength to the laborer in the climate of New England? --quantity and quality, and the time and manner of taking it, to be considered''. Boston: D. Clapp Jr., 1836. http://resource.nlm.nih.gov/101163642 * Bell, Luther V. ''Report made to the Legislature of New Hampshire on the Subject of the Insane: June session, 1836''. Concord, NH: C. Barton, printer, 1836. * Bell, Luther V., and Dorothea L. Dix. ''The Practical Methods of Ventilating Buildings: Being the Annual Address before the Massachusetts Medical Society, May 31, 1848: with an Appendix on Heating by Steam and Hot Water''. Boston: Damrell & Moore, 1848. http://resource.nlm.nih.gov/63110770R * Holmes, Oliver Wendell, and Luther V. Bell. ''Dissertations on the question How far are the external means of exploring the condition of the internal organs to be considered useful and important in medical practice?'' Boston: Printed by Perkins & Marvin, 1836. * Ray, Isaac. ''A Discourse on the Life and Character of Dr. Luther V. Bell: Read to the Association of Superintendents of North American Institutions for the Insane, at its Annual Meeting, in Providence, R.I., June 10, 1862''. Boston: J.H. Eastburn Press, 1863. https://archive.org/details/9609410.nlm.nih.gov


References

3. Biographical Catalogue of Phillips Academy, 1778-1830, Andover, MA, 1903, p. 94.


Bibliography

* Andrews, Jonathan, et al. ''The History of Bethlem''. London; New York: Routledge, 1997. * Garraty, John A., and Mark C. Carnes, eds. ''American National Biography''. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999. * Hunter, Richard A., and Ida Macalpine. ''Three Hundred Years of Psychiatry, 1535-1860: A History Presented in Selected English Texts''. London: Oxford Univ. Press, 1963. * Parry-Jones, William LI. ''The Trade in Lunacy: A Study of Private Madhouses in England in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries''. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1972. * Porter, Roy. ''Madness: A Brief History''. Oxford; New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 2002. * Scull, Andrew T. ''The Most Solitary of Afflictions: Madness and Society in Britain, 1700-1900''. New Haven: Yale Univ. Press, 1993. * Sutton, S. B. ''Crossroads in Psychiatry: A History of McLean Hospital''. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Press, 1986. {{DEFAULTSORT:Bell, Luther 1806 births 1862 deaths American psychiatrists American Psychiatric Association People from Francestown, New Hampshire Physicians from New Hampshire Bowdoin College alumni Geisel School of Medicine alumni People of Massachusetts in the American Civil War McLean Hospital physicians