Who’s Who in Orthopedics
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Sir Astley Paston COOPER
1768–1841
Sir Astley Paston Cooper was the leading surgeon of London in his day. He was probably John Hunter’s most prominent pupil and Guy’s Hospi- tal’s most popular personage. Although Paré described fractures of the hip, his observations other than diagnostic were not contributive.
Cooper not only described the fracture but added the classic discussion of its major problem, the circulation of the femoral head and the circum- stance of what subsequently became known as its vascular necrosis.
With subsequent editions of his long-lasting book, A Treatise on Dislocations and Fractures, Cooper would add notes from his very popular lectures at Guy’s.
Frederic Jay COTTON
1869–1938
Frederic Jay Cotton was born in Newport, Rhode Island, and educated at Harvard. After receiving his Doctor of Medicine degree in 1894, he studied bacteriology in New York and spent 2 years in the medical and surgical clinics in Vienna. His career was spent in Boston where he was a professor of surgery at Tufts College Medical School.
He served as a surgeon during the Spanish–American War, and during World War I was Chief of Surgery at Walter Reed Army Hospital. His major interest throughout his career was in injuries of the musculoskeletal system. He actively collaborated with Charles L. Scudder in the publication of Scudder’s book on fractures, published in 1900. He published his own book on dislocations and fractures in 1910. An accom- plished artist, Cotton supplied many illustrations for his book. He promoted the use of impaction in the treatment of fractures of the neck of the femur in both the nonoperative and operative methods. The publication of his paper on the use of fascia lata for the reconstruction of ligamen- tous injuries of the knee in 1934, only 4 years before his death, indicates that his interest in mus- culoskeletal injuries never waned.
As a founding member of the American College of Surgeons, a member of the first Board of Regents of the College, and founding member of the Committee on Fractures, later the Com- mittee on Trauma, of the College, he had an important influence on the standards of treatment
