HUNTERIAN ORATION. 
149 
several public appointments, but by neither of them had the litera¬ 
ture of the profession been much enlarged. Mr. Callaway was the 
author of a work on Surgery, and Mr. Briggs one on Aneurism. 
Appreciating, as he did, the zeal evinced by the Council for the 
cultivation of literature among its members some short time ago, 
he would venture to add that the library of the Institution had 
been since considerably increased at a large expense, in which in¬ 
crease Mr. Briggs felt a warm interest, and was a liberal contri¬ 
butor. The library at the present time contained as many as 
23,000 volumes, and was the most complete, in every department 
of the sciences connected with medicine, of any library in the king¬ 
dom. The possession of 2500 volumes upon subjects of natural 
history evinced the desire of the Council to promote also the study 
of more general literature ; while the fact of 5808 visitors having 
availed themselves of the benefits which such a library afforded, 
was a sufficient proof that the Council was right in its conjectures 
as to the literary character of its members. 
The third loss which the Council had to deplore was that of Mr. 
S. Cooper, whose surgical erudition had earned for him a wide¬ 
spread reputation. Educated at Dr. Birnie’s, he began his pro¬ 
fessional studies at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital, for which Institu¬ 
tion he had a warm attachment. His public services in connexion 
with the army were first called for during the short interval of 
peace, and then in that great victory which secured the longest 
peace ever known. He occupied many high stations. For seven¬ 
teen years he was surgeon to the University College Hospital, 
where his kindness procured for him the regard and warm attach¬ 
ment of the students. He was also for many years Examiner of 
this College, and in 1845 he filled that highest of offices in it which 
you, Mr. President, now occupy. While he was quite a young 
man, he wrote a treatise on the diseases of the joints, which gained 
him the “ Jacksonian Prize” of this College. His great work was 
a Dictionary of Practical Surgery. That book, though perhaps 
imperfect, was a work of inconceivable labour, and presented a 
great mass of surgical information from many valuable sources, 
and the best authors in Germany, France, and Austria. It had 
been translated into three languages, and had been also published 
by their Transatlantic brethren, who, however, affected to find 
fault with it. Seven large editions had appeared in this country 
up to the year 1838, and for the thirty years preceding it had 
formed the text-book of every student. That work, however, had 
been in a great measure superseded by many other manuals, espe¬ 
cially adapted for young students. In the work of Mr. Cooper, the 
very richness of its illustrations perplexes the young beginner, for 
VOL. XXII. X 
