Volume 6

The life of Sir Astley Cooper, bart.: interspersed with sketches from his note-books of distinguished contemporary characters / By Bransby Blake Cooper.

  • Cooper, Bransby Blake, 1792-1853.
Date:
1843
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The life of Sir Astley Cooper, bart.: interspersed with sketches from his note-books of distinguished contemporary characters / By Bransby Blake Cooper. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    honorary favour, for the best experiment produced within the year, and bestowed in such a manner as to avoid any envy or disgust in rivalship.” For many years this medal was awarded to persons nominated by Mr. Hill and Sir Hans Sloane, who were appointed by Sir Godfrey Copley as the trustees of his donation; but in 1753, these gentle- men being both deceased, the adjudication devolved on the President and Council of that time; and the President, in making the first award under these circumstances,—which was to the celebrated Dr. Franklin,—stated, that the benefaction was devoted to the advancement of science and useful know- ledge, and was not confined “to the narrow limits of any particular country, much less of the Society itself,” It was a circumstance of no little credit to Mr. Cooper, that so early in his professional career he should obtain this honourable testimony to his superior abilities and enterprise. His great pre- ceptor, John Hunter, to whom the Copleian medal was awarded for certain researches in comparative anatomy, had received it only fifteen years previ- ously, at a period when his professional career was drawing to a close, while that of his pupil may be said only to have been at its commencement, when he obtained this mark of distinction. In the month of February, 1802, Mr. Cooper was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. The balloting paper, which was suspended according to the regulation at that time, on ten successive