Bell’s palsy

Bell’s palsy fully recovers in the great majority of cases. What may not be sufficiently appreciated is how distressing it can be. This Perspective recounts a personal experience; describes an unrecorded puzzling physical sign; and details the interest the experience generated in Charles Bell and in the infamous Robert Knox, whose paths crossed. Both deserve to be better known than just for a palsy or a murder-for-bodies scandal. Bell made a seminal contribution to neurophysiology, regarded by some as important as Harvey’s discovery of the circulation of the blood.