William Cowper (anatomist)

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William Cowper (1666-1709)

William Cowper (* 1666 in Petersfield (Hampshire) , England, † March 8, 1709 in Bishop's Sutton (Hampshire)) was an English surgeon and anatomist . The bulbourethral gland ("Cowper's gland") is named after him in human anatomy .

Life

Cowper began his surgical apprenticeship with a surgeon in London in March 1682 . In 1691 he was accepted into the Barber-Surgeon's Company , received the barber-surgeon diploma and began practicing in London. In 1694 in London he published his much-acclaimed anatomy atlas Myotomia Reformata, or a New Administration of the Muscles , in German for example Myotomia Reformata, or a new way of handling the muscles . Two years later he was elected a member of the Royal Society . His work The Anatomy of the Human Bodies , published in 1698 , German Die Anatomie der Menschen Körper, for which he used over 100 engravings made for G. Bidloo without permission , brought him great fame and fame. During the following eleven years he published various treatises on subjects in the fields of surgery, pathology , physiology and anatomy. In 1699 he became a corresponding member of the Académie des sciences . Cowper died on March 8, 1709.

plant

Cowper's Anatomy of the Humane Bodies has been accused by some as one of the greatest cases of intellectual property theft. In 1685 Govard Bidloo (1649-1713) published his Anatomia Humani Corporis ( Anatomy of the Human Body ) in Amsterdam . For this he used 105 panels painted by Gerard de Lairesse (1640–1711) and engraved by Abraham Blooteling (1640–1690). A Dutch version was printed under the title Ontleding des Menschelyken Lichaams in 1690. However, when this was only selling slowly, Bidloo's publisher sold 300 unbound plates to William Cowper or his publisher.

Cowper added an English text to them so that they illustrated much of his own research and new discoveries. In addition, he commissioned nine new panels, including a view of the entire musculature from the front and back, drawn by Henry Cook (1642–1700) and engraved by Michiel van der Gucht (1660–1725). The book was eventually published under Cowper's name with no mention of Bidloo or Lairesse. It had the original title page, in which only the Dutch title was replaced by the English one. Thereupon a biting exchange of blows developed between Cowper and Bidloo, which found expression in several pamphlets. Cowper claimed that the picture panels did not come from Bidloo at all, but had been commissioned by Jan Swammerdam (1637–1680) and sold to Bidloo by his widow after his death. Regardless of this dispute over authorship, however, Cowper was an outstanding anatomist and surgeon due to his own achievements, and yet he has denied Bidloo recognition of his part in his work.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Hampshire History: William Cowper .
  2. ↑ Barbara I. Tshisuaka: Cowper, William. 2005, p. 276.
  3. ^ List of members since 1666: Letter C. Académie des sciences, accessed on November 2, 2019 (French).
personal data
SURNAME Cowper, William
BRIEF DESCRIPTION English surgeon and anatomist
DATE OF BIRTH 1666
PLACE OF BIRTH Petersfield , Sussex, England
DATE OF DEATH March 8, 1709
Place of death Petersfield , Sussex, England