B.A. in 1803, M.A. and M.B. in 1804. Some difficulty (instigated, it is said, by members of the College of Physicians) prevented his proceeding to M.D. at Oxford, but he was created M.D. of St. Andrews on 16 Dec. 1805, and admitted licentiate of the Royal College of Physicians on 23 Dec. 1805. Settling in Savile Row, he lectured there on the practice of medicine for many years to large classes. He made a special study of pathology, and formed a large collection of illustrative specimens. While carrying on an extensive practice, he was a most industrious writer, and his books had a large sale. Revised editions of several of them continue in sale. He retired from practice in 1829, having made a fortune, and lived at Stanmore. He died in Bentinck Street, Manchester Square, on 6 May 1835, in his sixty-third year.
Hooper wrote: 1. ‘Observations on the Structure and Economy of Plants; to which is added the Analogy between the Animal and Vegetable Kingdoms,’ Oxford, 1797, 8vo. 2. ‘The Hygrology; or Chemico-Physiological Doctrine of the Fluids of the Human Body. From the Latin of J. J. Plenck,’ London, 1797, 8vo. 3. ‘A Compendious Medical Dictionary, containing an Explanation of the Terms in Anatomy, Physiology, Surgery,’ &c., London, 1798, 12mo; 6th edit., 1831; numerous American editions were issued. The edition of 1811 was issued as a new edition of John Quincy's ‘Lexicon Medicum,’ a work of long-standing repute which had gone through thirteen editions, and had been largely copied by Hooper. Subsequent editions bore the title ‘Lexicon Medicum, or Medical Dictionary,’ without reference to Quincy. 4. ‘The Anatomist's Vade Mecum, containing the Anatomy, Physiology, and Morbid Appearances of the Human Body,’ London, 1798, 12mo; 4th edit., 1802; American editions, Boston, 1801, 1803. 5. ‘Anatomical Plates of the Bones and Muscles, reduced from Albinus, for the use of Students and Artists,’ London, 1802, 12mo; 3rd edit., 1807. 6. ‘Observations on the Epidemical Diseases now prevailing in London,’ London, 1803. 7. ‘The London Dissector,’ London, 1804, 8vo. 8. ‘Examinations in Anatomy, Physiology, and Pharmacy,’ London, 1807, 12mo; 4th edit., 1820. 9. ‘The Physician's Vade Mecum, containing the Symptoms, Causes, Prognosis, and Treatment of Diseases,’ London, 1809, 12mo; enlarged edition, 1833; many American editions. 10. ‘Anatomical Plates of the Thoracic and Abdominal Viscera,’ 3rd edit., 1809. 11. ‘The Morbid Anatomy of the Human Brain, being Illustrations of the most frequent and important Organic Diseases to which that viscus is subject,’ London, 1826, 4to. 12. ‘The Morbid Anatomy of the Human Uterus and its Appendages, with Illustrations of the most frequent and important Organic Diseases to which those Viscera are subject,’ London, 1832, 4to.
[Munk's Coll. of Phys. iii. 29; Lancet, 11 July 1835, pp. 493–4.]
HOOPER, WILLIAM HULME (1827–1854), lieutenant in the navy, after having passed his examination at Portsmouth was in November 1847 appointed mate of the Plover, under the command of Commander Thomas E. L. Moore, one of the earliest vessels sent out to search for and relieve Sir John Franklin [q. v.] The Plover's orders were to pass through Bering Strait and examine the coast eastward. She sailed from Plymouth on 30 Jan. 1848, and from Honolulu on 25 Aug. On 15 Oct. she was off Chutsky Nos, and the next day went into Port Providence, where she wintered. Hooper led a party along the coast as far as Cape Atcheen, and through the winter was much among the natives, whom he calls Tuski, and whose language he learned. The next summer the Plover moved over to Kotzebue Sound, and near Icy Cape, on 25 July, her two boats, under the command of Lieutenants Pullen and Hooper (who, though he did not know it, had been promoted to be lieutenant on 12 May), left the ship for a voyage along the coast. This they examined as far as the mouth of Mackenzie River, and going up it, Hooper wintered (1849–50) on the shores of Bear Lake, close to Fort Franklin, Pullen going a little further up the river and wintering at Fort Simpson. In the summer of 1850 they descended the river and examined the coast as far as Cape Bathurst, whence they returned to Fort Simpson, and there they both wintered (1850–1). Leaving their boats they afterwards travelled overland to New York, and reached England in October. Hooper's health had given way under the hardships of three arctic winters, and he became a confirmed invalid, relieving the tedium of his illness by writing the account of the expedition in which he had shared. This, under the title of ‘Ten Months among the Tents of the Tuski, with Incidents of an Arctic Boat Expedition in search of Sir John Franklin,’ was published in 8vo in 1853. It is an interesting, well-written book. Hooper died in London on 19 May 1854.
[The only account of Hooper's service is in his own book mentioned above. There are short obituary notices in Gent. Mag., 1854, vol. cxliii. pt. ii. p. 91 (reprinted in Annual Register, xcvi. 304) and in Journal of the Royal Geogr. Soc., vol. xxiv. p. lxxxiv.]
