COOPER, Sir Asrnuv, a celebrated English surgeon, was born at Brooke, in Norfolk. where his father was a curate, in Aug., 1768. In his 16th year, he went to London, and placed himself under the care of Mr. Cline, one of the most noted surgeons of his day. He devoted himself with ardor to his profession, and was a constant attender at the dissecting-rooms, and also at the lectures of the famous John Hunter. In 1787, C. was appointed demonstrator of anatomy at St. Thomas's hospital; and four years after, he assisted Mr. Cline, who was surgeon at St. Thomas's, in the course of lectures on anatomy and surgery. In 1792, lie was appointed professor of anatomy at surgeons' hall; and in 1800, surgeon to Guy's hospital. In 1813. he received the professorship of comparative anatomy in the college of surgeons.. Meanwhile, C. had been enriching medical literature by various contributions. An essay on the effects resulting from the destruction of the membrana tympani gained him, in 1802, the Copley medal of the royal society, of which he was elected a fellow three years afterwards. In 1804-7, appeared his great work on hernia, with illustrations mostly of life-size, a contribution of the utmost value to medical science—the anatomy of the disease and the mode of operating for its relief being alike ill understood before—though in a pecuniary point of view it proved very unprofitable to himself. The practical part of his profession was not neglected during this time. lie was the first to attempt the tying of the carotid artery, an attempt which, though unsuccessful in bis.hands, has since proved effectual in the hands of other practitioners. His annual income, which in the fifth year of his practice only amounted to £100, had in 1813 risen to the enormous sum of L'21,000, perhaps the largest ever received by a surgeon. In 1817, he tried what has been con
sidered the boldest experiment ever attempted in surgery, the tying of the aorta, which did not prove successful; and it has since been tried with no better result. In 1820, C. removed a steatomatous tumor from the head of George IV., who marked his appre ciation of the operation by conferring a baronetcy upon C. some six mouths after. In 1822, he was elected one of the court of examiners of the college of surgeons, and in 1827, president. In the following year lie received the appointment of sergeant-surgeon to the king, and in 1830 was made vice-president of the royal society. Other honors flowed in upon him. lle was made a member of the French institute, and correspond ing member of the royal academy of sciences, a D.O.T.. of Oxford, and an LL.D. of Edinburgh. Ever busy with his pen as with his knife, he, in 1822, published a work on Dislocations and Fractures, which threw much new light on the subjects discussed, and also suggested improved methods of treatment. His treatise on the Anatomy and Diseases of the Breast (1829-40) was characterized by all the care, research, and originality which distinguished his previous works; so likewise was his Anatomy of the Thymus Gland, 1832. C. died 12th Feb., 1841. A colossal statue to his memory is erected in St. Paul's cathedral, Loudon. As a teacher, C. possessed the faculty of communicating knowl edge in a manner at once easy and agreeable; and he elevated medical surgery, the operations of which before his time have been described as a series of " frightful alter natives, or hazardous compromises," into a science.