joseph bell (1837–1911) was an edinburgh surgeon who was president of the royal college of surgeons of edinburgh between 1887–89. he was a popular teacher noted for his diagnostic acumen, based on his powers of observation of meticulous detail, which were enhanced by his interest in the analysis of handwriting and of the origin of dialects. among the medical students he taught was arthur conan doyle, whom bell selected as his clerk, or assistant. doyle, gave up medicine to become a writer, and, having achieved fame and wealth through the sherlock holmes stories, wrote to his former chief "...it is most certainly to you that i owe sherlock holmes.”