Chapter XVII: Part I (2)

It is hardly to be wondered at that so young and inexperienced a person should have found attendance at the meetings of the society very irksome; them matters discussed being necessarily beyond his comprehension. We find, therefore, that during the first session he was continually fined for nonattendance. The first paper which he communicated was, singularly enough, on cancer in the breast--a subject to which, throughout his life, he paid great attention, and on which he was earnestly engaged when death terminated his labours.[45] Whether he had selected this subject himself, or any one else had suggested it, does not appear; but the coincidence is curious and interesting. A very few months after Astley's introduction to the profession, he found the yoke of his stern and rigid uncle too heavy for him; and, in compliance with his own request, he was transferred as a pupil to Mr Cline, at the ensuing Christmas, (1784.) From that moment his character and conduct underwent a signal change for the better. This was partly to be traced to the stimulus which he derived from the superior fame of his new teacher, and the engaging character of his instructions and professional example. Certain, however, it is, that Astley Cooper had become quite a new man. "After six months," says he himself,[46] "I was articled to Mr Cline; and now I began to go into the dissecting-room, and to acquire knowledge, though still in a desultory way." His biographer states that "Astley Cooper seems at once to have thrown away his idleness, and all those trifling pursuits which had seduced him from his studies; and at the same time to have devoted himself to the acquisition of professional knowledge, as well by diligent labour in the dissecting-room, as by serious attention to the lectures on anatomy, and other subjects of study in the hospitals."[47] He had, at this time, barely entered his seventeenth year; and such was the rapidity of his progress that, by the ensuing spring, (1785,) he had become as distinguished for industry as formerly he had been notorious for idleness, and had obtained a knowledge of anatomy far surpassing that of any fellow-student of his own standing.[48] His biographer institutes an interesting comparison between Astley Cooper and the great John Hunter, at the period of their respectively commencing their professional studies. Both of them threatened, by their idle and dissipated conduct, to ruin their prospects, and blight the hopes of their friends; both, however, quickly reformed, and became pre-eminent for their devotion to the acquisition of professional knowledge, exhibiting many points of similarity in their noble pursuit of science. Astley Cooper, however, never disgraced his superior birth and station, by the coarser species of dissipation in which it would seem that the illustrious Hunter had once indulged--for illustrious indeed, as a physiologist and anatomist, was John Hunter; a powerful and original thinker, and an indefatigable searcher after physical truth. Mr Cline had the merit of being one of the earliest to appreciate the views of this distinguished philosopher, whose doctrines were long in making their way;[49] and Mr Cline's sagacious opinion on this subject, exercised a marked and beneficial influence on the mind of his gifted pupil, Astley Cooper. During Astley Cooper's second year of professional study, (1785-6,) he continued to make extraordinarily rapid progress in the study of anatomy, to which he had devoted himself with increasing energy; and his efforts, and his progress, attracted the attention of all who came within his sphere of action. From a very early period he saw, either by his own sagacity, or through that of his skilful and experienced tutor, Mr Cline, that an exact and familiar knowledge of anatomy was the only solid foundation on which to rest the superstructure of surgical skill.

[45] Vol. i., p. 107.

[46] _Ib._, p. 112.

[47] _Ib._, p. 113.

[48] _Ib._, p. 114.

[49] _Ib._, p. 94.

"We now find him," says his biographer, "devoting himself with
the most earnest activity to the acquisition of a knowledge
of anatomy,--one of the most valuable departments of study to
which the younger student can devote himself, and without a
thorough knowledge of which, professional practice, whether
in the hands of the surgeon or physician, can be little
better than mere empiricism. The intense application which
Astley Cooper devoted to this pursuit, in the early years of
his pupilage, was not only useful, inasmuch as it furnished
him with a correct knowledge of the structure of the human
frame,--the form and situation of its various parts, and
the varieties in position to which they are occasionally
liable,--but it paved the way for those numerous discoveries
made by him in 'pathological anatomy,' which have already been,
and must continue to be, the sources of so many advantages in
the practice of our profession."--(Pp. 117-118.)

He was chiefly stimulated to exertion in this department by the ambition to become a "demonstrator" of anatomy in the dissecting-room--an office greatly coveted, being "the first public professional capacity in which anatomical teachers of this country are engaged."[50] Mr Cooper thus clearly indicates the duties of this important functionary:--

[50] Vol. i. p. 119.

"There is scarcely any science, in the early study of which
constant advice is so much required as in the study of anatomy.
The textures which it is the business of the young anatomist
to unravel are so delicate and complicated,--the filaments
composing them so fine, and yet so important, that in following
them from their sources to their places of destination, and
tracing their various connexions, he is constantly in danger
of overlooking or destroying some, and becoming bewildered
in the investigation and pursuit of others. To direct and
render assistance to the inexperienced student under these
difficulties, it is the custom for one or more accomplished
anatomists, _Demonstrators_ as they are styled, to be
constantly at hand."--(Pp. 119-120.)

At the time of which we are speaking, a Mr Haighton, afterwards better known in the profession as Dr Haighton, was the demonstrator in the school presided over by Mr Cline; but he was extremely unpopular among the students, on account of his coarse repulsive manner and violent temper. Young Cooper's great affability and good nature, added to his known connexion with Mr Cline, his constant attendance in the dissecting-room, and his evident superiority in anatomical knowledge, caused him to be gradually more and more consulted by the students, instead of Mr Haighton, who was greatly his superior in years. Astley Cooper perfectly appreciated his position. "I was a great favourite," says he,[51] "with the students, because I was affable, and showed that I was desirous of communicating what information I could, while Mr Haighton was the reverse of this." Astley Cooper knew that, in the event of Mr Haighton's surrendering his post, he himself was already in a position to aspire to be his successor, from his personal qualifications, his popularity, his growing reputation, and the influence which he derived through his uncle Mr Cooper and Mr Cline. Yet was the ambitious young anatomist barely in his eighteenth year!

[51] P. 134.

Feeling the ground pretty firm beneath him--that he had already "become an efficient anatomist," he began to attend Mr Cline in his visits to the patients in the hospital; exhibiting a watchful scrutiny on every such occasion, making notes of the cases, and seizing every opportunity which presented itself of testing the accuracy of Mr Cline's and his own conclusions, by means of _post-mortem_ examinations. At the Physical Society, also, he had turned over quite a new leaf, being absent at only one meeting during the session, and taking so active a part in the business of the Society, that he was chosen one of the managing committee. At the close of his second session,--viz. in the summer of 1786--he went home as usual to Yarmouth, and was received by his exulting parents and friends with all the admiration which the rising young surgeon could have desired. His mother thus expresses herself in one of her letters to him at this time, in terms which the affectionate son must have cherished as precious indeed:--

"I cannot express the delight you gave your father and me,
my dearest Astley, by the tenderness of your attentions, and
the variety of your attainments. You seem to have improved
every moment of your time, and to have soared not only beyond
our expectations, but to the utmost height of our wishes. How
much did it gratify me to observe the very great resemblance
in person and mind you bear to your angelic sister!--the same
sweet smile of complacency and affection, the same ever wakeful
attention to alleviate pain and to communicate pleasure! Heaven
grant that you may as much resemble her in every Christian
grace as you do in every moral virtue."--(P. 134.)

During his sojourn in the country, he seems to have devoted himself zealously to the acquisition of professional knowledge, and to have formed an acquaintance with an able fellow-student, Mr Holland, who in the ensuing year became his companion at Mr Cline's, at whose residence they prosecuted their anatomical studies with the utmost zeal and system. During this session, Astley Cooper found time, amidst all his harassing engagements, to attend a course of lectures delivered by John Hunter, near Leicester Square. It required no slight amount of previous training, and scientific acquisition, to follow the illustrious lecturer through his deep, novel, and comprehensive disquisitions, enhanced as the difficulty was by his imperfect and unsatisfactory mode of expression and delivery. Nothing, however, could withstand the determination of Astley Cooper, who devoted all the powers of his mind to mastering the doctrines enunciated by Hunter, and confirming their truth by his own dissections. The results were such as to afford satisfaction to the high-spirited student for the remainder of his life; but of these matters we shall have occasion to speak hereafter. During this session, he caught the gaol-fever from a capital convict whom he visited in Newgate, and, but for the affectionate attentions of Mr Cline and his family, would, in all probability, have sunk under the attack. As soon as he could be safely removed, he was carried to his native county, and in a month or two's time was restored to health.

It was during this session that he seems to have commenced his experiments on living animals, for the purpose of advancing anatomical and physiological knowledge. The following incident we shall give in the language of Mr Holland, the companion above alluded to, of Astley Cooper:--

"I recollect one day being out with him, when a dog followed
us, and accompanied us home, little foreseeing the fate
that awaited him. He was confined for a few days, till we
had ascertained that no owner would come to claim him, and
then brought up to be the subject of various operations. The
first of these was the tying one of the femoral arteries.
When poor Chance, for so we appropriately named the dog, was
sufficiently recovered from this, one of the humeral arteries
was subjected to a similar process. After the lapse of a few
weeks, the ill-fated animal was killed, the vessels injected,
and preparations were made from each of the limbs."--(P. 142.)

It is impossible to peruse this paragraph without feelings of pain, akin to disgust, and even horror. The poor animal, which had trusted to the mercy, as it were to the honour and humanity, of man--was dealt with as though it had been a mere mass of inanimate matter! One's feelings revolt from the whole procedure: but the question after all is, whether reason, and the necessity of the case, afford any justification for such an act. If not, then it will be difficult, as the reader will hereafter see, to vindicate the memory of Sir Astley Cooper from the charge of systematic barbarity. On this subject, however, we shall content ourselves, for the present, with giving two passages from the work under consideration--one expressing very forcibly and closely the opinions of Mr Bransby Cooper, the other those of an eminent physician and friend of Mr Cooper, Dr Blundell.

"By this means only," says Mr Cooper, speaking of experiments
on living animals, "are theories proved erroneous or correct,
new facts brought to light, important discoveries made in
physiology, and sounder doctrines and more scientific modes
of treatment arrived at. Nor is this all; for the surgeon's
hand becomes tutored to act with steadiness, while he is under
the influence of the natural abhorrence of giving pain to the
subject of experiment, and he himself is thus schooled for the
severer ordeal of operating on the human frame. I may mention
another peculiar advantage in proof of the necessity of such
apparent cruelty--that no practising on the dead body can
accustom the mind of the surgeon to the physical phenomena
presented to his notice in operations on the living. The
detail of the various differences which exist under the two
circumstances need hardly be explained, as there are few minds
to which they will not readily present themselves."--(P. 144.)

"They who object," says Dr Blundell, "to the putting of animals
to death for a scientific purpose, do not reflect that the
death of an animal is a very different thing from that of
man. To an animal, death is an eternal sleep; to man, it is
the commencement of a new and untried state of existence....
Shall it be said that the objects of physiological science are
not worth the sacrifice of a few animals? Men are constantly
forming the most erroneous estimates of the comparative
importance of objects in this world. Of what importance is it
now to mankind whether Antony or Augustus filled the Imperial
chair? And what will it matter, a few centuries hence, whether
England or France swept the ocean with her fleets? But mankind
will always be equally interested in the great truths deducible
from science, and in the inferences derived from physiological
experiments. I will ask, then, whether the infliction of pain
on the lower animals in experiments is not justified by the
object for which those experiments are instituted,--namely, the
advancement of physiological knowledge? Is not the infliction
of pain, or even of death, on man, often justified by the end
for which it is inflicted? Does not the general lead his troops
to slaughter, to preserve the liberties of his country? It is
not the infliction of pain or death for justifiable objects,
but it is the taking a savage pleasure in the infliction of
pain or death, which is reprehensible.... Here, then, we take
our stand; we defend the sacrifice of animals in so far as it
is calculated to contribute to the improvement of science; and,
in those parts of physiological science immediately applicable
to medical practice, we maintain that such a sacrifice is not
only justifiable, but a sacred duty."--(Pp. 145-6.)

We have ourselves thought much upon this painful and difficult subject, and are bound to say that we feel unable to answer the reasonings of these gentlemen. The animals have been placed within our power, by our common Maker, to take their labour, and their very lives, for our benefit--abstaining from the infliction of needless pain on those whom God has made susceptible of pain. _A righteous man regardeth the life of his beast_, (Proverbs, xii. 10,) that is to say, does not wantonly inflict pain upon it, or destroy it; but if a surgeon honestly believed that he could successfully perform an operation on a human being, so as to save life, if he first tried the operation upon a living animal, but could not without it, we apprehend, all sentimentality and prejudice apart, that he would be justified in making that experiment. _Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten before God? But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore; ye are of more value than many sparrows._--(Luke, xii. 6, 7.) The reader need not be reminded whose awful words these are; nor shall we dilate upon the inferences to be drawn from them, with reference to the point under consideration.

Availing himself of a clause in his articles of pupilage, entitling him to spend one session in Edinburgh, he resolved to do so in the winter of 1787,--taking his departure for the north in the month of October. Seldom has a young English medical student gone to the Scottish metropolis under better auspices than those under which Astley Cooper found himself established there at the commencement of the medical year. He had letters of introduction to the most eminent men, not only in his own profession, but in the sister sciences. He was little more than nineteen years of age, and even then an admirable anatomist, and bent upon extracting, during his brief sojourn, every possible addition to his professional knowledge. He instantly set about his work in earnest, hiring a room for six shillings a week at No. 5 Bristo Street, close to the principal scene of his studies, and dining for a shilling a-day at a neighbouring eating-house. This he did, not from compulsory economy, for he was amply supplied with money, and free in spending it, but from a determination to put himself out of the way of temptation of any kind, and to pursue his studies without the chance of disturbance. His untiring zeal and assiduity, with his frequent manifestation of superior capacity and acquirements, very soon attracted the notice of his professors, and secured him their marked approbation. During the seven months which he spent there, he acquired a great addition to his knowledge and reputation. His acute and observant mind found peculiar pleasure in comparing English and Scottish methods of scientific procedure, and deriving thence new views and suggestions for future use. The chief professors whom he attended were, Dr Gregory, Dr Black, Dr Hamilton, and Dr Rutherford; and he always spoke of the advantages which their teaching and practice had conferred upon him with the highest respect. Of Dr Gregory, Mr Cooper tells us several interesting anecdotes, illustrative of a rough but generous and noble character.[52] On the 1st December 1787, Astley Cooper was elected a member of the Royal Medical Society, the meetings of which he attended regularly; and so greatly distinguished himself in discussion, by his knowledge and ability, that on his departure he was offered the presidency if he would return. He always based his success, on these occasions, upon the novel and accurate doctrines and views which he had obtained from John Hunter and Mr Cline. His engaging manners made him a universal favourite at the college, as was evidenced by his fellow-students electing him the president of a society established to protect their rights against certain supposed usurpations of the professors. He was also elected a member of the Speculative Society, where he read a paper in support of Dr Berkeley's theory of the non-existence of matter. From the character of Sir Astley Cooper's mind and studies, we are not disposed to give him credit for being able to deal satisfactorily with such a subject, or, indeed, with anything metaphysical. Though a letter from Professor Alison[53] represents Astley Cooper as having "taken an interest in the metaphysical questions which then occupied much of the attention of the Edinburgh students," we suspect that for "metaphysical" should be substituted "political." He himself speaks thus frankly on the subject,--"Dugald Stewart was beyond my power of appreciation. _Metaphysics were foreign to my mind, which was never captivated by speculation._"[54] Throughout his career he proved himself to have here taken a proper view of his capacity and tendency. He was pre-eminently a _practical_ man, taught in that spirit, and enjoined the cultivation of it. "That is the way, sir," he would say, "to learn your profession--look for yourself; never mind what other people may say--no opinion or theories can interfere with information acquired from dissection."[55] Again, in his great work on _Dislocations and Fractures_, he speaks in the same strain:--

[52] Vol. i. pp. 161, 164.

[53] _Ib._ p. 213.

[54] _Ib._ p. 172.

[55] Vol. ii. p. 53.

"Young medical men find it so much easier a task to speculate
than to observe, that they are too apt to be pleased with some
sweeping theory, which saves them the trouble of observing
the processes of nature; and they have afterwards, when they
embark in their professional practice, not only everything
still to learn, but also to abandon those false impressions
which hypothesis is sure to create. Nothing is known in our
profession by guess; and I do not believe that, from the
first dawn of medical science to the present moment, a single
correct idea has ever emanated from conjecture alone. It is
right, therefore, that those who are studying their profession,
should be aware that there is no short road to knowledge; that
observations on the diseased living, examinations of the dead,
and experiments upon living animals, are the only sources of
true knowledge; and that deductions from these are the solid
basis of legitimate theory."--(P. 53.)

In one respect, he excelled all his Scottish companions--in the quickness and accuracy with which he judged of the nature of cases brought into the Infirmary--a power which he gratefully referred to the teaching and example of his gifted tutor Mr Cline.[56] The young English student became, indeed, so conspicuous for his professional acquirements and capabilities, that he was constantly consulted, in difficult cases, by his fellow-students, and even by the house-surgeons. This circumstance had a natural tendency to sharpen his observation of all the cases coming under his notice, and to develop his power of ready discrimination. This, however, was by no means his only obligation to the Scottish medical school; he was indebted to the peculiar _method_ of its scholastic arrangements, for the correction of a great fault, of which he had become conscious--viz., the want of any systematic disposition of his multifarious acquirements. "This order," says Mr Cooper, "was of the greatest importance to Sir Astley Cooper, and gave him not only a facility for acquiring fresh knowledge, but also stamped a value on the information he already possessed, but which, from its previous want of arrangement, was scarcely ever in a state to be applied to its full and appropriate use. The correction of this fault, which gave him afterwards his well-known facility of using for each particular case that came before him, all his knowledge and experience that in any way could be brought to bear upon it, Sir Astley always attributed to the school of Edinburgh. If this advantage only had been gained, the seven months spent in that city were, indeed, well bestowed."[57]

[56] Vol. i. p. 173.

[57] Vol. i. pp. 174-175.

At the close of the session, Astley Cooper determined, before quitting the country, to make the tour of the Highlands. He purchased, therefore, two horses, and hired a servant, and set off on his exhilarating and invigorating expedition without any companion. "I have heard him," says his biographer,[58] "describe the unalloyed delight with which he left the confinement of the capital to enter into the wild beauties of the mountain scenery. It seemed as if the whole world was before him, and that there were no limits to the extent of his range." He has left no record of the impressions which his tour had produced on his mind. On his return, while in the north of England, he suddenly found himself in a sad scrape: he had spent all his money, and was forced to dismiss his servant, sell one of his horses, and even to pawn his watch, to enable himself to return home![59] This dire dilemma had been occasioned, it seems, by a grand entertainment, inconsiderately expensive, which he had given to his friends and acquaintance on quitting Edinburgh. He himself said, that this entertainment made a deep impression on his mind, and prevented him from ever falling into a similar difficulty.[60] To this little incident may doubtless be referred a considerable change in his disposition with regard to pecuniary matters. When young, he was liberal, even to extravagance, and utterly careless about preserving any ratio between his expenditure and his means. Many traits of his generosity are given in these volumes.

[58] _Ib._ p. 175.

[59] _Ib._ p. 178.

Astley Cooper always spoke of his sojourn in Scotland with satisfaction and gratitude: not only on account of the solid acquisition of professional knowledge which he had made there, and the generous cordiality and confidence with which he had been treated by both professors and students; but also of the social pleasures which he had enjoyed, in such few intervals of relaxation as his ravenous love of study permitted. He was, we repeat, formed for society. We have ourselves frequently seen him, and regard him as having been one of the handsomest and most fascinating men of our time. Not a trace was there in his symmetrical features, and their gay, frank expression, of the exhausting, repulsive labour of the dissecting-room and hospital. You would, in looking at him, have thought him a mere man of pleasure and fashion; so courtly and cheerful were his unaffected carriage, countenance, and manners. The instant that you were with him, you felt at your ease. How such a man must have enjoyed the social circles of Edinburgh! How many of its fair maidens' hearts must have fluttered when in proximity to their enchanting English visitor! Thus their views must have been darkened by regret at his departure. And let us place on record the impressions which the fair Athenians produced upon Astley Cooper. "He always spoke of the Edinburgh ladies with the highest encomiums; and used to maintain that they possessed an affability and simplicity of manners which he had not often found elsewhere, in conjunction with the superior intellectual attainments which at the same time generally distinguished them."[60] But, in justice to their southern sisters, we must hint, though in anticipation, that he twice selected a wife from among them.

[60] _Ib._ p. 172-3.

_Printed by William Blackwood and Sons, Edinburgh._

[Transcriber's Note:

Inconsistent spelling and hyphenation are as in the original.]