Benjamin Bell (1749 -1806) is considered to be the first Scottish scientific surgeon, called the father of the Edinburgh school of surgery. He published a surgical textbook entitled, A System of Surgery, which became a bestseller throughout Europe and in America. It was popular, influential, authoritative, comprehensive and made use of up-to-date published material from all over Europe His treatise on venereal disease was the first to suggest that syphilis and gonorrhea were different diseases. 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 an early advocate of routine pain relief in surgery. It has been said that Arthur Conan Doyle based his fictional detective Sherlock Holmes on Joseph Bell.