Trifles

His great grandfather, Dr Benjamin Bell, is considered to be the first truly scientific surgeon in Scotland. In the late eighteenth century. You see, Edinburgh became one of the leading centers of medical education in Europe, and many think that this explosion of influence and progress would never have happened without doctor Bell. His illustrious career helped all of Europe

move forward medically speaking. His son Joseph also became a surgeon, as did his son Benjamin, and it was that Benjamin, along with his wife Cecilia, who welcomed young Joseph into their lives. Obviously, the boy grew up to become a doctor. How could he not, being surrounded by so much of that world, And apparently he was amazing at it, probably the most talented physician the Bell dynasty had ever known. All of that brilliance was apparently on full display when

Bell taught at the University of Edinburgh. His reputation as a diagnostician was practically legendary by the end of the nineteenth century. Bell believed that medical doctors could better serve their patients if they were more observant. As he said himself, he believed in the vast importance of little distinctions the endless significance of trifles. The trouble, according to Bell, was

that people saw things without really observing. They needed to be able to look past the obvious and see the important details, and he proved this time after time in his lectures by bringing in strangers and telling the students all about the person's occupation, history, and medical needs, all before the person spoke a word, and he was almost always correct. Hundreds of students learned from Dr Bell over

the years that he taught there at the university. Most of them went on to be physicians just like their professor, but a few of them went into other careers. In fact, a good number of authors came out of his classroom. James M. Barry was one of them. He would later go on to create the story of Peter Pan. Robert Louis Stevenson, author of many popular novels including Doctor Jekyll

and Mr Hyde, was also among them. But it was another student who turned his memories of Dr Joseph Bell into the central character of a series of novels and short stories that he published for decades. They were wildly popular tales about a man with an amazing sense of observation and ability to see things that others ignored, and the true value of paying attention to all the little

trifles and distinctions around him. Of course, the world would never know this character as the great Doctor Joseph Bell, because that's not the name this author used when he wrote about him. No, this author, Sir Arthur Ignacious Conan Doyle, made up an entirely fictional name for the character his medical professor had inspired, Sherlock Holmes. When the King arrived in the small town just a few miles from Milan, Italy, he was exhausted and hungry from his long day of travel.

He had come there to oversee a sporting competition the following day and to present all of the awards to the winners. But first order of business was to find a meal and then get some rest. King Umberto the First was born in eighteen forty four and had been King of Italy for over twelve years when he arrived in town that day in July of nineteen hundred. Historians consider him to be a fairly unimpressive king, even after taking his prior military career into consideration. That's all right,

though not every ruler can be extraordinary. Umberto and a friend located a small restaurant nearby and found a seat in the back. Honored to have the king in his restaurant, the owner himself came out to take their orders, which was when the conversation stopped. There was something familiar about the owner that caused the king to stare in astonishment. The two men were nearly identical in appearance, and both of them mentioned as much same face, same height, aim weight.

The two of them could easily have passed as twins, so the king asked for more details. It turns out they both even shared the same birth date, right down to the year and each of them married a woman with the same name on the same date. The coincidences continued to pile up similar military careers, although with different ranks, and two separate occasions when both men were in the same promotional ceremony at the same time. The king was

astounded and said as much. After the restaurant owner left to have the food prepared, the king told his friend that he would give this amazing stranger the gift of a royal position the following day and asked that the man be invited to the award ceremony, which he dutifully did, but the man never showed up. With the events of the day playing out around him, the king had taken a seat and asked his friend where the restaurant owner

had gone. His friend was sad to inform him of the terrible news that the man had gone hunting that morning and been killed by at a bullet. The king's double, a man who had mirrored every significant moment of his own life and even looked just like him, was gone less than a day after meeting him. The king didn't

have time to grieve, though. A moment after learning of the man's death, a number of gunshots rang out in the crowd around him, and the King toppled over the red blossom of a gunshot wound appearing on his clothing. They had shared everything, it seems, even death. I hope you've enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, or learn more about

the show by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. The show was created by me Aaron Manky in partnership with how Stuff Works. I make another award winning show called Lore, which is a podcast, book series, and television show, and you can learn all about it over at the World of Lore dot com. And until next time, stay curious. H