Luther Vose Bell

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, and the first medical specialty society in the United States. He was also Superintendent of the McLean Asylum near Boston, from 1837 to 1855. Early life Bell was born in Francestown, New Hampshire, son of state governor and two-term U.S. Senator Samuel Bell. With his younger brother John, Bell attended Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, for a year. He then entered Bowdoin College 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 in 1826. Because of his youth, he worked in New York in business until 1831, when he returned to Derry, New Hampshire, to establish his medical practice. Physician In the 1830s, Bell submitted essays for the Boyleston Prize offered by Harvard Medical School. 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 in New York. He assumed office at the McLean Asylum in February 1836.