Page:Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Vol 4.djvu/371

Rh his class soon increased to four hundred, which was by far the largest that had been known in London. His popularity as a teacher rapidly increased : he made no attempts at displays of oratory, but always studied to render the subject which he treated as plain and intelli- gible as possible to his hearers, wisely avoiding distracting their atten- tion by entering on controversial topics connected with physiology.

On the close of 1791; the year he commenced as a lecturer, he married the daughter of Thomas Cock, Esq., of Tottenham, who was a distant relation of Mr. Cline : but as a proof of his constant soli- citude never to neglect the performance of any public professional duty, it is remembered that on the evening of the day on which the marriage ceremony was performed he delivered as usual his lecture, without the slightest intimation to his class of what had happened in the morning ; and even at the time when he was most fully en- gaged in this exceedingly laborious practice, he never omitted to deliver his regular lectures at the hospital.

In 1792, after spending some months at Paris and attending the lectures of Dessault at the Hotel Dieu, and also those of Chopart, he commenced practice in London, taking up his residence in the city, where he dwelt for many years before he removed to the west end of the town. The popularity he enjoyed as a surgeon, and the extent of his practice, have probably surpassed that of any of his predecessors : and the large fortune which he acquired was the just and honourable reward of distinguished merit and the most unre- mitting application.

Sir Astley Cooper was elected a Fellow of this Society on Febru- ary the 18th, 1802. He had previously contributed to the Philoso- phical Transactions two papers : the first entitled " Observations on the Effects which take place from the Destruction of the Membrana Tympani of the Ear*," and the second containing "Further Ob- servations on the same subject, together with an Account of an Operation for the removal of a particular kind of Deafness f." The operation of puncturing the membrana tympani for the relief of that species of deafness which arises from an obstruction of the Eusta- chian tube, suggested itself from observing that, in several cases, an aperture in the membrane did not essentially diminish the powers of the ear, and that even its total destruction by disease is not followed by total deafness. Several cases are described in which the opera- tion proved successful ; but of course, when deafness proceeds from any other cause, the operation is not likely to be of the least benefit.

The other professional publications of Sir Astley are exceedingly numerous ; they all bear the stamp of the peculiar character of his mind : simple and unaffected in point of style, and without pretension to elegance, they contain a plain relation of facts, unbiassed by preconceived theories, the fruits of a long and extended experience, and leading to sound practical conclusions. He never sought pecuniary advantage by his publications ; and while he spared no ex-

t Phil. Trans, for 1801, Part II. p. 435.
 * Phil. Trans, for 1800, Part I. p. 151.