COOPER, SIR ASTLEY PASTON English surgeon, was born at Brooke, Norfolk, on Aug. 23, 1768, the son of a clergyman. He studied under Henry Cline, surgeon at St. Thomas's Hospital, London, and attended the lectures of John Hunter. He was connected with St. Thomas's as demonstrator in anatomy (1789-91), joint lecturer with Cline on anatomy and surgery (1791-1800) , and then went to Guy's as surgeon. In 1813 he became professor of comparative anatomy to the Royal College of Surgeons, of which body he was president in 1827 and 1836. He was vice-president of the Royal Society in 183o, and received a baronetcy in 182o. He died in London on Feb. 12, 1841.
Sir Astley Cooper was a great surgeon and his operation (1817) of tying the abdominal aorta for aneurism is historic ; the achievement can only be appreciated when it is borne in mind that the operation was accomplished before the days of anti septic surgery. In the first volume of the Transactions of the Chirurgical Society, of which he was one of the founders, he published (1805) an account of an attempt to tie the carotid artery. Of his numerous works the most important is The Anat omy and Surgical Treatment of Hernia.
See Life of Sir Astley Cooper, by his son, B. B. Cooper