LIFE OF SIR ASTLEY P. COOPER, BART. | umph the proud position which he so long and so patiently has sought. From the Dublin University Magazine. Life of Sir Astley Paston Cooper, Bart., &c. 1843. THE work before us-although, as its author observes in his preface, "it must be always to the relatives, the friends, and even the acquaintances of the person whose life is delineated, a source of melancholy satisfaction"-will not prove so generally interesting as though it were the history of one who, without any aid from station or fortune, had risen from an humble position, and attained the highest honors of his profession solely by the perseverance of his industry and the exercise of his abilities. who entered on his professional career But the biography before us is of one with all the adventitious aids of birth, position, and fortune. His road to eminence, although requiring the energies of his talent to enable him successfully to journey over it, was yet without the many hills and hollows-the obstructions which comparative poverty and the want of a connexion have thrown so often in the way of some of the brightest ornaments of the medical profession. There is always a certain degree of interest attached to the life of any one distinguished above his fellows, whether his position be attained by the power of his own talents, or by those fortuitous circumstances which so frequently place a man of little more than ordinary intellect in a situation which without them he never would have reached. So far as an interest of this description. goes, we think the work before us may well excite it; but we repeat, there is but little claim on the sympathies of that class of readers who should be expected to reap the greatest benefits from it and from the example of its subject, viz.,-the young members of the medical profession. The author appears to take the greatest pains to prove how totally independent Sir Astley Cooper was both by birth and fortune, of the difficulties which others have been obliged to encounter in the commencement of their career; and we really think there is nothing so peculiarly worthy of admiration in the successful life of, as he is pleased to designate him, "one of the most illustrious surgeons that ever adorned the science he professed." The young aspirant for fame and distinction in any profession-particularly if his means be humble, and his success therefore in a greater degree dependent on himself-loves to contemplate the career of those who have toiled on through all the cares and troubles that beset the first steps in the path of life-who, perhaps, with the cold sneers of the world, have felt all the bitterness of poverty amid the many sore and trying difficulties of their "early struggles;" but who have at length overcome them, and by the exercise of their talents, and the ceaseless efforts of untiring, indefatigable industry reached the goal of their ambition, and won for themselves a name which the world could withhold no longer. In the life of one who has thus attained to eminence, the young tyro in the outset of his own career can feel his interest aroused, and all his warmest sympathies awakened. He can trace in every circumstance of the life that is pictured before him—in its There are certainly many things to inevery struggle-its every disappointment terest us in these volumes, but not by any at first-some resemblance to his own, and means, to that absorbing degree which the he can thus be led to believe that for him author seems to think must be felt as a too the course is open, and to hope that he matter of course. That Sir Astley Cooper also may reach the goal-a winner in the was a clever man there is no doubt; but race of fame. There is something in every that his talents were so exceedingly presentence to rivet his attention, and he is eminent as to warrant his biographer in ascarried on through all its details-un-suming a tone of such ultra-laudation, we wearied, because they come home to his own feelings, and he can say, "such diffi He tells us that Sir Astley Cooper was culties I too have surmounted, and such his uncle, and that if, in his undertaking, will I yet overcome." He can then read (as his biographer,) his expressions may be with breathless interest the visions of hap-thought to savor somewhat of extravapiness which are opened to the eye of the gance, the respect he entertained for him poor beginner by the receipt of his "first guinea," and can follow him from that moment eagerly and anxiously, as step by step he steadily advances until he reaches in tri deny. from the period of his boyhood, the gratitude he owes him for the instruction he derived at his hands, and the affection he always bore towards him as a relative, may surely be admitted, if not in justification of acquirements for a distinguished member the fault, at least in extenuation of its degree, and that "partiality can scarcely be considered culpable when its absence would be almost criminal." We can fully appreciate and respect the feelings which have prompted Mr. Cooper to display so strong a partiality for the character, private and public, of his uncle. There can be none more willing-none more anxious to make every allowance for such feelings, and to give them the full meed of credit which is their due; but still we must say, that as a biographer Mr. Cooper should not have suffered them to betray him into the error of letting them appear so visibly upon the surface of his work. Considering the very high position to which Sir Astley Cooper attained-a position which we might naturally expect would afford so rich a field for the biographer-the book is very little remarkable either for anecdote or entertaining correspondence; and we cannot deny ourselves the pleasure of believing how much more of interest would be attached to the life of one of our own professional men (we speak of Dublin) of the same standing, or of a grade or two below it. Sir Astley Cooper's success in life was, we think, in a great measure owing to his easy kindness of manner, steadiness of nerve, and pleasing personal appearance, qualifications which he possessed in an eminent degree, and the more likely to win success, as they were rarely to be met with among his cotemporaries. We have no hesitation in saying that there are many members of the medical profession amongst us, who, if they moved in the same sphere and with the same opportunities as Sir Astley Cooper, would prove themselves in the knowledge and science of their profession, at least fully his equals,and in general information and literary attainments immeasurably his superiors. Sir Astley Cooper's biographer statessomewhat unnecessarily-that in literature and science unconnected with his profession he was by no means proficient, and that at no period of his life was the amount of his classical knowledge such as to induce him to peruse the works generally read by the more advanced in such pursuits; the gratification which they are capable of affording to the polished scholar, being to him more than counterbalanced by the drudgery he had to encounter in arriving at the interpretation. This is, indeed, a very low standard of of a most accomplished profession, and we are happy to think, is rather the exception than the rule. We know of no class, who in all times and all countries have laid general science and literature under heavier obligations than the members of the healing art; nor are there any who have been more conspicuous for purity and elegance of style, classical neatness, and graceful learning, than such, when they have appeared before the world as authors. Astley Paston Cooper was the fourth son of the Rev. Dr. Samuel Cooper-the descendant of an old and highly respectable Norfolk family-and was born at Brook Hall, near Spottesham in Norfolk on the 23d of August, 1768. His mother appears to have been a lady distinguished for her literary pursuits no less than for her private virtues, and from her and his father Astley received the rudiments of his early edu cation, his only other preceptor being a Mr. Larke, the master of the village school. It is stated that at this time he was remarkable for any thing but assiduity and attention to study of any sort, although he occasionally exhibited traces of an unusually quick perception and active intellectual powers. It appears he was at this period, and even for years after, extremely wild, and delighting in all kinds of mischief-escaping whenever he found it possible from his teachers to join in whatever sports were going forward in the neighborhood, and continually engaged in a variety of pranks which created alarm in the minds of his family, and occasionally were of such a nature as to bring upon him his parents' displeasure. There are several anecdotes of his adventures at this time to be found in the first volume; but we can see nothing more in them than the life of any school-boy would afford. We will, however, give our readers one or two specimens, and let them judge for themselves. CC Having climbed one day to the roof of one of the aisles of Brook church, he lost his hold, and was precipitated to the ground, but providentially escaped with only a few bruises. He was always fond of playing with donkies, or dickies, them till they kicked him, and he bore many as they are called in Norfolk, and provoking marks for some time of their violence. One day when he was riding a horse which he had caught on Welbeck Common, near the house, he directed the animal with his whip to leap over a cow which was lying on the ground; but the horse and its rider, who had his collar-bone cow rose at the instant, and overthrew both the broken in the fall. "On one occasion the bell to summon the scholars had rung, and they were all hastening to the school-room, when some one snatched a hat from one of the boys' heads and threw it into one of the 'meres,' or ponds of water, which are situated in the village, and by which they were passing. The boy, lamenting the loss of his hat, and fearing he should be punished for his absence from the school, was crying very bitterly, when there came to the spot a young gentleman dressed, as was then the fashion of the day, in a scarlet coat, a three-cocked hat, a glazed black collar or stock, nankeen small clothes, and white silk stockings-his hair hanging in ringlets down his back. He seeing the boy crying, and being informed of the cause of his sorrow, deliberately marched into the water, obtained the hat, and returned it to the unlucky owner. This young gentleman was no other than Master Astley Cooper, &c." Mr. Cooper, in relating these adventures and pranks of his uncle, says: "Although by some they may be looked upon as merely the acts of a careless, headstrong child, and unworthy of notice in a life so signalized as that of Sir Astley Cooper, they nevertheless, to those who delight to trace the man in the boy, possess an abundant share of interest." arrived. The bleeding was continuing, or probably having for a time ceased, had broken out afresh. All was alarm and confusion, when the young Astley in the midst of the distressing scene, alone capable of deliberating, and perceiving the necessity of instantly preventing further loss of blood, had the presence of mind to encircle the limb with his pocket-handkerchief above the wound, and afterwards to bind it round so tightly that it acted as a ligature upon the wounded vessel and stopped the bleeding. To these means his foster-brother owed a prolongation of life until the arrival of the surgeon who had been sent for from London." The gratitude of the friends of this poor boy, and the flattering applauses of his own for his conduct on this occasion, appears to have given his thoughts their first bent towards the profession of surgery. The success of his uncle, Mr. William Cooper of London, together with his own previous inattention to study and perhaps positive dislike to a college life and literary pursuits, had also considerable weight with him; but it was not until a later period that he determined to devote his life to it. Now, with every possible deference to Mr. Cooper, we cannot exactly understand. The anecdote above related is the only by what course of reasoning he can prove one of his "boyhood years" in which we any analogy between a love for provok- can trace the slightest approach to "the ing donkies and a fondness for anatomical character of the man in the boy ;" and we pursuits, or between directing a horse to hope Mr. Cooper will not be angry with leap over a cow and the performance of us for our inability to perceive any great a successful surgical operation; and we can only say, that if a predilection for such pursuits be an omen of future greatness in the medical profession, there are sundry young gentlemen of the present day for whom we may augur a most brilliant and successful career. There is one anecdote, however, which we think well worthy of notice, as it is strikingly illustrative of that readiness and self-possession which so eminently distinguished him in after life;-the circumstance to which it relates occurred when he was about thirteen, and happened as follows. After alluding to his foster mother precocity of intellect displayed by his uncle in such feats as climbing on the roof of a church-ripping open old pillows, and letting the feathers fly from the belfry to fall as if they had been a shower from the clouds, and thus frighten away the little wits the poor rustic possessed, with sundry other similar performances which in our days-doubtless owing to our lack of prophetic vision-instead of being looked upon as forebodings of future distinction, would very probably entail upon the unfortunate perpetrator no other reward than a sound flogging. In such wild freaks as these, Astley Cooper seems to have spent the greater portion of his time until his thoughts were again brought back to surgery by the representations of his uncle, Mr. William Cooper, who was himself a surgeon of "A son of this person's, somewhat older than Astley Cooper, had been ordered by his father to convey some coals to the house of Mr. Castell, the vicar, and while on the road, by some accident the poor lad fell down in front of the cart, the wheel of which, before he could recov-considerable eminence. er himself, passed over his thigh, and, among other injuries, caused the laceration of its princi pal artery. The unfortunate boy, paralyzed by the shock of the accident and sinking under the loss of blood-the flow of which was attempted to be stopped by the pressure of handkerchiefs applied to the part only-was carried almost exhausted to his home, where, Astley Cooper having heard of the accident which had befallen his foster-brother, almost immediately afterwards "The animated descriptions of London and its scenes, and the numerous anecdotes which his uncle, who mixed much in society, would narrate in the presence of his young nephew, led him earnestly to bend his thoughts towards the metropolis, and determined his selection of that profession which, from his uncle's position and influence, offered him above all others, an advantageous opening. suit." "Still, however, there can be but little doubt ions is dispelled-let him but feel the that much of this anxiety to visit London was touch of that sacred finger which is proattributable rather to his taste for pleasure and verbially gifted with the power of curing excitement than to any wish for industrious em- the "king's evil," and, like that disease, ployment. For when he had finally determined on becoming his uncle's pupil (which was not, all his preconceived ideas of radicalism and Sir Astley used to say, until after witnessing an democracy are dissipated as by a spell, and operation for the extraction of stone by Dr. Dou- he comes forth a highly respectable Tonee of Norwich,) there was no evidence of his ry! Democracy is an exceedingly conmaking any special resolution of devotion to his venient creed for those who have nothing adopted science, or exhibiting any unusual de- to lose-the professed object of its followsire for achieving greatness of name in its pur-ers being to reduce all above them to their Accordingly in August 1784, being then own level; but we never knew any to carabout sixteen, he went to London and ry the feeling so far as to consider themselves took up his residence at the house of Mr. on a level with those below them. Clive, a man of some note in the profes- to have devoted himself to the acquisition Astley Cooper does not appear at first sion, and one of the surgeons of St. of professional knowledge with any greatThomas's hospital, who was in the habit er degree of zeal than he had previously of taking a few pupils to board with him. bestowed on his literary studies; his social qualities opened the way to an intimacy with young men of his own standing in London, and in their company he suffered the metropolis afforded. However, in the himself to be led into all the dissipations year following he became as remarkable for his industry as he had formerly been for his idleness, and had attained a degree of anatomical knowledge far beyond that pos sessed by any other of the pupils of his own standing in the hospital to which he was attached. Here he appears to have imbibed those democratic feelings which shed their bane ful influence on the circle which now sur rounded him, and which were at the time fast spreading themselves over Europe. Mr. Cooper, speaking of this period, remarks: "Nothing could have been more probable than that a young man of ardent and sanguine temper like Astley Cooper should be captivated by a set of opinions at variance with those of the stricter aristocratic school in which he had been educated; possessing to him all the charms of novelty, freedom from restraint, and ostensibly having for their object a state of social perfection which he had not then experience enough to determine to be altogether Utopian." Even the religious principles of Astley Cooper seem to have been infected for a time by his association with Horne Took, Thelwall, &c., among whom subjects of religion were either ridiculed, or wholly disregarded. However his intercourse with such men affected for a time his opinions, he appears to have afterwards exchanged them for others of a somewhat more loyal nature, which change was partly brought about by the inhuman scenes he witnessed during the progress of the French Revolution, partly by other rea sons. It is a curious fact, and one which may well afford considerable scope to the inquiring mind of some political philosopher, that a decided tendency to whig-radicalism has always been a characteristic of the medical profession. From this period his rise in his profes sion was steady and rapid. He had made such progress in his knowledge of anato my, in his second session, that he was frequently called upon by the pupils to assist and direct them in their dissections, and proving by his ready concession to their wishes that he had both the knowledge and industry requisite to facilitate their la bors, he at once established a reputation which made him sought after by his fellow pupils as their demonstrator, and afterwards procured him, immediately on the office becoming vacant, the offer of this desirable position. Thus early did Astley Cooper arrive at distinction; doubtless his talents and the considerable portion of knowledge which they had enabled him to acquire in so short a time, were, in a great degree, the cause of his success; but it cannot be supposed that they were the sole means which led to it. If he had been, like many others of his profession, thrown entirely upon his There seems, however, to be one infalli- own resources, without friends and without ble means of exorcising this half rebellious any influence, save what his talent could spirit. Let the most ultra whig-radical of procure him, it is more than probable that them all come once within the influence he would have been left to struggle on of a royal smile, and, as if by magic, the through all the difficulties which so many cloud which enveloped his political opin-others have been obliged to overcome, until time, or perhaps chance, should have brought him into notice. However the partiality of his biographer may lead him to suppose that to his own powers alone he was indebted for this early advancement, we must believe that at least an equal share of thanks is due to his connexion with Mr. William Cooper, and the influence of eminent medical men, the personal friends and professional associates of that gentleman. There are too many instances of men of first-rate abilities, possessing a thorough knowledge of all requisites for success, wasting away whole years of life without obtaining it, to allow us to believe that so very young a man as Astley Cooper then was, both in years and in professional knowledge-no matter how commanding his talents might be-could have attained to such a position without other assistance than his own. We, therefore, by no means advise any young student to be led by this portion of Sir Astley Cooper's life into the ignis fatuus belief, that he may commence the first session of his professional studies in idleness and dissipation, and in the second be chosen as a demonstrator. If he does, he will be apt to find the bright dream of his ambition fade away into "airy nothings," unless indeed he happens to have an uncle surgeon of a chief, of a metropolitan hospital. By whatever means Astley Cooper was thus early distinguished, it seems to have given a spur to his assiduity and to have caused him daily to become more and more attached to anatomical pursuits: for, from this period, no labor was too great, scarcely any obstacle sufficient, to prevent his becoming acquainted with every feature the most minute, of any case attended with circumstances of peculiar interest which happened to come within his notice. Every study unconnected with the immediate matters of his profession was wholly neglected; indeed he never displayed any fondness for literature, so far as we can learn from his biography, and he seems to have given up his entire mind to the practice of anatomy and its various details. necessary not only for occupying, but maintaining his station in society. The world can, in a great measure, constitute itself the judge of a surgeon's suc cess, and to a certain degree appreciate in him those powers which, in a physicianbecause he possesses not the same means of showing them-it does not understand. The cases in which the former is called upon to act are, comparatively speaking, open to every eye; and if he possess a manner of cool and perfect self-possession, unflinching nerve, a quick eye, confidence, and a steady hand, the odds are at least twenty to one in his favor, that the world will pronounce him a clever fellow, and never give itself the trouble to inquire, how far his skill be the mere exertion of manual dexterity, quickness of eye, and steady coolness, or the result of profound anatomical knowledge, and thorough intimacy with his subject. But to return to Sir Astley Cooper. In 1787 he visited Edinburgh, where he studied for some months. In this portion of the book there are some brief but amusing sketches of the leading characters of the medical profession of Scotland at the time, and there is one short anecdote related by Sir Astley, which we think worthy of laying before our readers, although unconnected with the subject of the work before us: "At one of the meetings of the Royal Medical Society a discussion took place between two Scotchman. The former maintained that canyoung surgeons, one an Irishman, the other a cer never occurred in women who had borne children. The young Scotchman vehemently opposed this doctrine, and mentioned the case of a lady who twice had twins, and yet had cancer afterwards. To this apparently conclusive evidence the Irishman immediately replied, Ah, but don't you know that's an exception to the general rule; where's the wonder in cancer following gemini? it always does.'" "In 1791, Mr. Clive seeing the advantages that were likely to arise no less to the school than to his pupil, by associating him with himthe time of his pupilage had not yet expired. self, made him an offer to this extent, although Accordingly an arrangement was entered into that Astley Cooper should give a part of the lectures and demonstrations, Mr. Clive promis ing him a sum of one hundred and twenty pounds per annum, to be increased twenty pounds annually until he gave one half the lectures, when the proceeds should be equally di vided." It appears strange that a man should have occupied the exalted position of Sir Astley Cooper for such a time, and in a country so pre-eminent for literary acquirement as England, with so small a share of learning and general information as he possessed. But these are qualifications by no Here, then, we find Astley Cooper, while means indispensable or essential to his the period of his pupilage was still unexbranch of the medical profession, when pired, a lecturer and a demonstrator, with compared with what the physician finds a salary the amount of which for one year |