Sir Astley Paston Cooper Biography

Dromo's Den

COOPER, Sir Astley Paston (1768-1841).

A celebrated English surgeon, born in Norfolk. In 1784 he began the study of surgery in London under Mr. Cline and in 1789 was appointed demonstrator of anatomy at St. Thomas's Hospital. In 1793 he 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. 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 afterward. In 1804-07 appeared his great work on Hernia. His other works include: The Principles and Practice of Surgery (1836-37); On Dislocations and Fractures (1822); Anatomy and Diseases of the Breast (1829-40); Anatomy of the Thyroid Gland (1832). He was the first to attempt the tying of the carotid artery-an attempt which, though unsuccessful in his hands, has since proved effectual in the hands of other practitioners. In 1817 he tried what was considered the boldest experiment ever attempted in surgery-the tying of the aorta-which did not prove successful.. Consult his Life and Correspondence, 2 vols. (London, 1843).

The New International Encyclopaedia, Vol. VI (New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1920) 37.